Oops Week: Melissa

Miserable fail: Cooking to impress

"I like to think I'm a pretty good cook. My husband definitely put on weight when we started dating. In fact, he used to brag to his friends about how good of a cook I am. So, to prove it, we invited his buddies over for Sunday dinner. I made my mom's chicken dumplings. Or at least I tried to. I didn't realize that she uses bisquick brand mix for her dumplings. I, inadvertently, used Krusteaz. I knew that it was some sort of pancake mix.

For the record, dumplings made with Krusteaz don't work. At all. It may have been the nastiest thing I'd ever made.

This seemed to be a trend. Everytime I cooked for someone who had been told that I was a good cook by Matt, it failed miserably.

When my future in laws came out to meet me, I made them lasagna, accompanied with a freshly baked bread and a beautiful green salad. For dessert, I had strawberry sorbet planned. Well, for some reason, the lasagna ended up being runny beyond belief (I still haven't figured out why!) And one of my oh so thoughtful roommates had taken my ice cream machine out of the freezer, and replaced it just a few hours before I needed it. This caused major problems with the sorbet. It never set and was just a really sticky mess. We ended up going to the Malt Shoppe instead. I was horrified.

My father in law, fortunately, was not privy to that awful dinner. But he too, would have his turn. We lived with my in-laws that first summer when we were married. Occasionally, it would just be Matt, Eric (FIL) and I for dinner. One night, I planned a very simple but tasty meal. Chicken and Rice. Impossible to mess that up, right? Wrong. After the casserole had been in the oven for 3 hours because the rice wouldn't cook, Eric realized my mistake. "Did you know that we don't use instant rice in this house?" he asked me. Well, that explained that. After a few more minutes, I tried to salvage the chicken, which was dry beyond belief. At this point, it was almost 9 pm. Eric took us to McDonalds for dinner that night.

So, Matt isn't allowed to brag about my cooking now. It seems to be a curse. I still think that I can cook well, but clearly not under pressure!"

I think we can all sympathize. Thanks for your bravery, Melissa. We would still be thrilled to come to your house for dinner any day. :)