Monday, August 02, 2010

Food that Flopped (And How We Laughed About it Later)


I tried to be thrifty.

There was nothing much in the house for dinner, but determined not to spend any more money that week I decided to wing it with what I had. I found a beef stroganoff mix but no beef, so I improvised with sausage thinking it might add a little zing. Don't try this at home, people. Ew.

It smelled a little weird, but so does Chinese food, right? It only took a few bites to make my eyes water. My husband politely ate some and watched me closely.

"This is horrible," I said, bursting into tears.

And he laughed. He LAUGHED!

Then he gave me a hug, kissed my cheek and asked, "What do you want from Burger King?"

Another time I tried to be healthy.

Wanting to expose my children to a bigger variety of vegetables, I cooked brussel sprouts for dinner. I thought they might think the little buggers were cute. My four-year-old took a bite, looked at his plate and asked, "Do we have to eat this again?" Before I had a chance to answer my husband looked me straight in the eye and said, "No. No we don't."

I tried to be exciting.

We received a wok as a wedding gift and I was anxious to test it out. Though my husband worried about the smoke coming from it, I assured him it was okay. The instructions said it had to be seasoned. The smoke was only part of the seasoning process. But when the smoke instantaneously burst into a ball of fire, I had to admit he was right.

I guess I didn't get the protective plastic coating scrubbed off before I fired it up.

We were able to douse the flames without help from the fire department, but it took a while to clear the smoke out of our apartment. The wok wasn't even ruined, but every time I took it out to use it, my husband teased me, so the maiden fiery voyage became its last trip in our house.

You know that adage, "Sex begins in the kitchen?" We started a fire in ours!

Thankfully I've been blessed with a man who doesn't care too much about the food served. He's happy with a hot dog if it keeps me sane. Now that's not to say I don't cook his favorites from time to time. I'm no dummy. I know the other phrase--"The way to a man's heart is through his stomach."

Join the Marriage Monday gang or read other participants' stories at Chrysalis.

Happy Monday, friends!

12 comments:

Miriam Pauline said...

Love the stories! It is so good to be able to laugh at ourselves when it does not go as planned.

Constance said...

Sometimes the best of intentions don't quite go as planned! Thank the Lord for grace-giving husbands! Over the years Dave has become so much more thoughtful. It used to be when we were on vacation and camping all the time, (so we could afford to go on vacations) I was ALWAYS cooking at our campsite. Not as easy as home especially when it comes to cleaning up! Now, when we camp, we eat at a restaurant or fast-food place so I don't have to be bothered-so that I can enjoy being in camp. Sometimes I actually miss cooking in camp! Did I really say that out loud? Don't tell Dave!
Connie

Julie Arduini said...

I relate to a lot of what you share. My husband used to be the stir fry cook and the first time he made it in our new house he put in a lot of oil and waited awhile before putting meat in...I STILL remember how high those flames went.

I never thought about how food gives so many memories!

Great post!

April@The 21st Century Housewife said...

What a great post - you really made me smile! And I did laugh at the wok mishap :-) I've certainly had my share of disasters in the kitchen-thankfully I too am blessed with a husband who has a sense of humour!

tonya said...

Your post made me laugh out loud over the wok. Humor in marriage makes everything easier. Thanks for sharing!

Susannah said...

HA Tami... I thought you'd pick this topic! I think it's because I remember a very funny post about something in your oven that flopped? (I forget what.)

Your DH is an easy going sort of guy... the BEST!

Thanks for joining us today, Tami, as always.

Denise said...

I loved this.

GodsOwn/Bernice said...

I'm still laughing Tami!!
it is good if our husbands can laugh about our flops....

And you are welcome to come and taste some samples of our food dishes over in Amsterdam!

Have an great week
Bernice

Tami said...

e-Mom reminds me of a colossal flop I completely forgot about!

Julie and Julia Meet the Pioneer Woman or Adventures in Failed Imitations

Faith said...

om goodness...i loved reading this...it is morning here in NYS and I am just getting around to reading everyone's posts...(on tuesday!)...this one just made me laugh..thanks!! I especially liked how you joked about the fire in the kitchen...CUTE! God bless....

Joyfull said...

Those were so cute! I can relate to most of them! While pregnant with our second child, I tried the brussel sprout thing too...was NOT a hit! Thanks for sharing!

Unknown said...

Hi Tami,

Absolutely delightful girl. You had me giggling and I think I did some of the same silly things. What I love the best, your husband asking what you wanted from Burger King. God bless him.

Loved this post. BIG hugs, Lynn