Epic Wins are Often Preceded by Epic Failures

     Yesterday I was going to whip up a blog about comfort foods because I was in the mood to make my special buffalo chicken recipe (buffalo chicken and brownies/ice cream are my top comfort foods). However, the chicken breast didn’t thaw in time, and my roommate’s dog got sick and we had to take care of her. By the time all that was over I was exhausted and the evening’s dinner plans seemed clear: Pizza Hut. It just goes to show you that life doesn’t always turn out like you intend. In fact, I’ve been living that life lesson at school lately too. On Monday I went to my last final of the semester only to discover that I had forgotten my carefully hand-written outline which I was allowed to use on the test. Because I had decided to hand-write this one (people say handwriting leads to better retention), it was not in a computer file that I could easily print out and even though I showed up to the test early I did not have enough time to zip back home and retrieve it. Alas, I took the test anyway and, even though I won’t get my grade for awhile, I feel confident that I did just fine.

     Mistakes, missteps and all out epic failures (read Thanksgiving turkey burns down house) are pretty common in the kitchen. If you think Martha never burned anything, think again. Sometimes life requires you to change your dinner plans. Sometimes you don’t get the timing quite right and the fish is ready before the veggies, or the veggies are overdone and the fish is still raw. If you’re still learning how to cook, like I am, you are likely to mess something up. Acknowledge the mistake, try to figure out why it happened and remember to correct that next time. This is how your cooking truly improves. Even when you’ve got everything in the recipe perfectly planned out, life happens and it may get screwed up. Just remember that when life hands you lemons, sour lemonade is not the only thing you can make out of it. Try: Lemon Risotto, Lemon Pepper Fish, Lemon Butter Fried Chicken on Angel Hair, or even Lemon Meringue Pie (if you’re up for a real challenge)!

Happy failures!

Ginger