Is The Smoke Detector Part of Every Meal?

I should have known when I came home and found that hubby had removed the shower enclosure from the bathtub to fix a crack that had emerged and was now causing the structure to seep water, that it was not going to be a good day.  The shower is out of commission for, well, not sure how long.  And baths are something you lounge in, not try to have a quick clean up in early in the morning.  Sigh.  I missed the omen surrounding all of that.  Instead, I ventured forth anyway with my plan to prepare the occasional vegetarian meal.

Why was this a deal?  Well, I cook rarely now - why cook when someone does it better?  There was a time I was a fairly good cook, if the barks were any indication - great as far as canine meals went.  Unfortunately, those days are gone - at least for now.

Just part of the cooking sprawl - uglier than urban sprawl.

I began what the recipe assured was an  "easy" vegetarian supper.    I began chopping up a potato and then grabbed the bag of rice.  Oops, forgot to soak.  Not only that I got a type that required longer than normal soaking.  Small oversight - I managed to compensate for that.  Rice came out unscathed.  But the tofu - don't let anyone tell you that cooking tofu is easy.  And if you're one of those that think it is, stop right there.   I don't want to hear about it.

I had a second cookbook that said one should marinate and slightly crisp the tofu.  I think the slightly crisping may have been the first problem.  The kitchen began to fill with smoke before any browning had even appeared and the smoke detector went off.  I flapped my tea towel at it and it quit only to go off again and again and again...  A few choice words finally caused it not only to go off but kick in a second detector that I swear hubby hid, just to persecute me in such a moment. Okay, maybe not but I sure felt so at the time.  So I got hubby out of the garage to resolve the smoke detector issue as cool spring air ran through the open doors at both ends of the house.  Meantime there was still all that vegetation to chop and a lime to zest - did I mention I also zested a piece of my finger.

I survived - I think.

Juice of this, juice of that, pinch of this, can of that - if I could find the person who said it was under twenty minutes I'd give them a piece of my mind.  As it was - production time was closer to an hour and a half and the result - edible.  I didn't save the leftovers.

So I live to cook another day and a midweek vegetarian meal cooked by me is still on the table but hubby doesn't have to worry that he can no longer barbecue burgers.  That might be something to look forward to after last night's meal which I'd rate as on par with a good bowl of porridge - it was filling.

Oh, and this morning, I'm pretty sure I saw a trail of hickory sticks leading to the couch.  Someone was having a late night snack, maybe something about last night's supper...

Just saying.

Ryshia
www.ryshia.kennie.com
...a world you never imagined.

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