Tonight I asked some of the family over for dinner. The picture above is NOT the dinner I prepared...but it does look good doesn't it? I made what's commonly known in my family as simply chicken and rice. It's long grain brown rice with an Asian flavored sauce with strips of green peppers and chicken in it. It tastes great but tonight I couldn't get the sauce to the right thickness...irritating but not a disaster. The last step is always to thicken it with corn starch and tonight I just couldn't get it to thicken. I think the problem was that I made it in a pot this time and doubled the amount. It's usually made in a large skillet but when my family comes to dinner it's always best to have more than you think you need. Nothing worse than running out of a favorite dish with these guys around....they are not above gnawing on a table leg to get their point across.Mark didn't make it to dinner tonight. He wasn't feeling well. Too bad...it's always gratifying to feed Mark. He's not fussy and he's very appreciative. I do most of my best work when I have an appreciative audience!
I really just consider myself a basic cook. I don't do anything that is really fancy for the main meal. Hell, in my house you only see gravy at Thanksgiving and that's because there would be a revolt if it didn't appear on the table!
My real love is making decorative and tasty desserts... although I think I'm the only one that gets a thrill out of it. Everyone else spends a token amount of time telling me how pretty it is while cramming the goodies in their mouth. I used to decorate cakes with real flowers but found that my family thinks I know the difference between edible and non edible flowers...while I assumed they would admire the presentation and then place the flowers to the side of their plate. Imagine my surprise when a sister came to me with half a flower hanging from her lips saying I thought these flowers were supposed to taste good but these suck! I choked on my drink while laughing at that one.
I've tried using small plastic decorations only to have a brother complain that these little things are stale! Obviously we have no brain surgeons in my family.
Ahhh but I have to love them. They all will soon be asking me if I'm going to be making my famous "Buckeyes" for Christmas. Buckeyes are balls of a peanut butter mixture hand rolled and then dipped in chocolate and they actually look like a bucks eyes if done correctly. They are labor intensive and a little tricky. If the texture of the peanut butter mix isn't just right...you've got trouble. Can't tell you how many times I've been totally frustrated by losing my balls in the chocolate! (insert grin here)
