Kitchen Emergency Tales: Even the Best Cooks Have Their Bad Days

So this weekend we “entertained” at our new place. It was pretty much impromptu. We started by just having a few friends over to just throw some chicken on the grill and it really turned out to be a lively party!

So the joke is on me this time. I regret to say I had a few pretty funny kitchen fails. Z is the go-to person for “cooking-for-the masses”, while I do all the everyday healthy and somewhat “gourmet” cooking.

I was charged with only making the shrimp-stuffed baked potatoes, a simple salad, and my signature almond cake. I had also eagerly planned on making breakfast/brunch the next morning for my BFFs (wait, can one have more than one BFF? Not sure how that works).

So here’s how it went, in a nutshell:

1) Almond cake burned on the edges and did not cook in the center. I blamed our foreign oven because I ‘ve baked this cake for years and never had this happen.

2) Baked potato melting of the cheddar on top charred to crunchy ashes. I blamed him for not checking on them since I was busy keeping my early arrivals entertained via enchanting conversation. 🙂

3) I ended up delegating the salad to one of the South African ladies I was engaged in conversation with because I was quickly losing confidence in myself.

4) The next morning, my pancakes were a flop. Not only did they not rise to that divine fluffy height that I love in pancakes, but the taste was not what I was aiming for. I was attempting to make coconut-pineapple pancakes (something Caribbean), but ended up with limp, dense flat cakes that tasted like cardboard. To bat, I also almost burned the omelet. At this point, I knew I was really having a bad cooking day — or days really. Why – oh why – did I not opt to make this deliciousness by  The Crucian Contessa instead! I doubt I could mess us up Honey Coconut French Toast.

So I blamed that last faux pas on the fact that I had not made pancakes from scratch in so long.

And of course, he blamed me for all. O_O

Since Z is not that crazy about pancakes, I don’t bother to make them much. So, my plans to shake up my sleepover guests’ morning were a fail.

The good news is all the other food he made was a hit. His jerk chicken will take anyone to the promised land! His curry goat was, hands down,  THE BEST  he’s ever prepared. The one thing I did do right was my Latte Macchiato Martini. But how can anyone mess that up, really? 🙂

Overall, everyone seemed happy and food drunk. So I think we did our job, despite my mishaps. I’ve posted this blog because I think it’s important to laugh at ourselves. Gotta take it all in stride and keep in moving is what I always say!

I dedicate this post to my FFFs (Foodie Friends Forever) because we all have these moments. You know who you are. 😉