It was different. Yes. It was definitely different! I now believe that I'm incapable/unable to cook a meal any more!!
It started early on with cooking porridge for Hubby. Porridge just a word that I enjoy using ... It was oatmeal/raisins! I like to boil the raisins in a dab of water for just a bit and then put the oatmeal and cooking water in...got that super quick boil going and went to talk to Terry for a minute and the raisins burnt to a black crisp and smoke all over when I removed the lid!
From there the entire cooking Christmas dinner went downhill!! I'd been up since 3a.m. so - I'll give myself exhaustion as a partial pass - on creating more work and making more mistakes than thought possible! For instance- At one point I had all of the ingredients in the baking dish for a corn souffle- I poured the last can of corn on top and started to combine all of the ingredients and suddenly saw a huge rust colored streak across and mixed down in! What!!??? Checked the can and it was totally rusted down inside- one entire side and was thick and gloppy! I took the spatula and jammed it down the middle of the mess and thought evil thoughts as I glared at that upright spatula and thought it looked like Excalibur! (no. the can was not swollen or leaking.)
That was just one of many fails, and I won't retell the horror of the lost sack of groceries - plus...no stuffing/dressing...no cranberry salad...no rolls...no mincemeat pie...no sparkling water... and those made the top of the list of fails or no-shows! What did get cooked was so labor intensive that it tires me to think of it...like sweet potatoes boiling over and making syrupy stickiness over 25% of my flat-top! That blundering seeped over into other dishes!!
Previously I had plans for how beautiful the table would look and it did look lovely. I had planned to shower and dress for dinner and be all fresh and even had my favorite Christmas scarf (I only have one!) planned to wear. It matched my new napkins. The napkins, by the way, were huge so I ended up using them as place mats.
Plans gone awry on so many levels and I ended up looking a fright and steam was hissing out my ears and I was choking on an unsaid heartfelt epitaph.
Eventually the surviving food was ready to be eaten and hopefully somehow or other enjoyed and savored.
Then Grace was offered. (My Mother was not a believer but in her later years, if we were visiting, she would say...Terry, would you offer Grace? He could/would/did that deed.
So the food was blessed.
Prayer is powerful and the blessing had a calming effect on me. The gratitude and enjoyment of the meal, especially by our son, made every single solitary minute of fails, that had been rolling downhill like a snowball since the raisins burnt, so worthwhile. Peace descended and reigned.
This cooking incident does not override the beauty and wonder and enjoyment and peace we have felt from Thanksgiving right up to the meal prep- that I had such hopes and plans for. I read the last post that was written early on before the cooking began! This was a blip on the radar. It did linger for hours on end but we are fine and enjoying leftovers and...
the coming of a New Year!!
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