One of these things is not like the others

rancid brown goo

disposing of rancid brown goo

burnt goo at bottom of pot

what the goo was supposed to look like

Three of these things do not belong. 


Lobsters, here's a little thought about a good friendship: you have a nice balance of things in common, and things that make you different. While Emily grew up in a family that focused more on working out, I grew up in a family that focused more on eating. In order to have eating as a prioritized passion, cooking becomes a critical means to an end. I really love to cook. I don't claim to be any kind of expert, I just enjoy it. But all the effort I put into cooking the recipe you see above could not possibly yield anything I could actually eat. This was no "joy in the journey" kind of experience.

See how beautiful that last photo is (credit to Cooking Light Magazine)? Wouldn't you want to see that on your table? Wouldn't you enjoy eating it? It includes several beautiful shades of my favorite color, green, against the nice clean white of the rice and cheese. Lovely. Not so in my kitchen. 

The road blocks:

1. The recipe called for frozen shelled edamame, our grocery had no shelled option, which I only discovered at the point in the cooking when I was supposed to be adding the edamame. 
2. The recipe called for Arborio rice. I thought I could force a brown rice substitution. I still don't understand why I couldn't make this work, but this seemed to be the key downfall.  
3. Baby girl decided she was hungry about 15 minutes into the cooking process, so while I might have found some creative ways to course correct after the above two incidents, after a 45 minute feeding de-rail, it was just too late.  

So after about 2 and a half hours, I finally had to throw in the towel. Be glad the internet does not have a scratch-n-sniff feature (yet). 

The things I will take away from this experience to help me feel better about myself:

1. Respect the recipe. While substitutions can be a handy cooking tool, its probably the minority that are actually effective. I should have done my research. Lesson learned. 
2. Its ok if I'm not simultaneously a gourmet chef and good mom to a newborn. Guilt assuaged. 
3. Sometimes the best thing to do is to quit. My tenacity in pushing through adversity to make something amazing out of a seemingly impossible situation can be a strength that helps me to shine. In another light, this is an incurable stubbornness that gets me into trouble. There does come a point when you have to admit defeat. This was apparently a difficult lesson, as it took over 2 hours for me to finally give up. Self-awareness embraced.
4. There's a first for everything. Here's a little back-door-brag for you, after cooking for and with my husband for almost six years, this was the first meal that completely failed, forcing us to find something entirely different to eat. Vanity relished.
5. If at first you don't succeed, remember you can always get a blog post out of it. Laughter enjoyed.