Disappointment in the Kitchen

You know you're lazy when your back hurts from laying down too much. In my defense, I was sick today. But that doesn't mean I can't get Lucille Bluth's voice out of my head purring to her daughter that her twin brother had called her, "'A stay-in-bed mom...' Probably because you're lazy and you don't work. His words! Not mine..."

Yup. That was me today. The good news was that I didn't have much of anything going on today, and the kids mostly let me get away with being sick. This would have been worse if I'd had to cancel any big plans for the day. The bad news is that Craig is even worse off than I am, so I still got to be in charge of feeding the kids and putting them to bed. He did, however, conveniently schedule a doctor's appointment for himself tomorrow within ten minutes of Kendra's 4-year-check-up, so I guess we'll have a nice family outing in the morning!

The really annoying thing about all this is that I can't help but blame it on the awful dinner I made last night. Last night's dinner was so sad. I've said before on this blog that my cooking has come a long way since I first got married (when I knew how to make about three dishes, and they all served no less than 12 people). I can make breads and soups from scratch (the key is as much sour cream, heavy whipping cream, and cheese as you think your arteries can handle!), and desserts and all kinds of stuff now. I can even sometimes have it all ready at the same time! So I've also gotten more confident in my ability to spot a yummy recipe. But boy did I fail with this one.

It sounded so good: Thai vegetable curry. Doesn't that sound delicious? And it was from Dr. Fuhrmann's book, so it was healthy, too! Now, at this point, I should probably admit that I did not follow the recipe exactly. Usually when I'm trying something new, I follow it to. the. letter. That way, if I don't like it, I don't have to second-guess myself, wondering if it would have been better if I'd made it properly. So I didn't give Dr. Fuhrmann the chance I usually would give him. But in my defense, I have no idea where to find watercress (so I left it out) or Vegi-Zest seasoning (so I did what I usually do for that, and used a little bit of Mrs. Dash instead). I also used a little extra coconut milk, because I figured why not?

And this recipe was a pain. It called for a ton of ingredients (eggplant! bamboo shoots! watercress! coconut milk!) AND a bunch of fresh spices (mint! basil! cilantro!) so it was expensive to put it all together. And I had to do a lot of chopping, washing, and making rice. Expensive and it took a long time.

But I was excited to try it. I was even willing to inflict peanut butter on Craig for this one (he says this is the other reason he feels lousy today-- guess I can't pull that little trick any more)! I spent money like we had it and slaved away in the kitchen and sat down excitedly to eat this meal. And with the first bite I realized that it tasted...

...like

...nothing.


Seriously. It tasted like absolutely nothing. How could all those ingredients add up to no flavor whatsoever???

I was so disgusted I only ate half of what was on my plate. Then I turned to cereal for a little comfort. And flavor. I couldn't even count on Craig eating the leftovers (thanks to the peanut butter), so I just threw it all away.

What a waste.

So then when I got up this morning and realized that I couldn't stay vertical without feeling dizzy, I went from being disappointed to being utterly disgusted with this meal. When I was at my worst, I couldn't even type out the words "Thai vegetable curry" to Craig without wanting to throw up.

Down with Thai vegetable curry!!!! Down with watercress and coconut milk! I hate you all. Never will I waste my precious time and money on you again.



Okay, I'm finished now. I'm going to go lay back down again.