1/10/04

I was so ready to send a nasty e-mail to the editors of this cookbook I have about an hour ago. I got the bright idea to try to make chicken and dumplings. What can I say, since moving to CT it’s not something I get very often so I figured if I could cook it well, problem solved. This would be true if the recipe hadn’t called for a pot that was too small!! The recipe specifically called for a 3qt saucepan. I happen to be the owner of a very lovely 3qt saucepan so I put it on the stove and proceeded to follow the rest of the instructions. About the time I was to start dropping the dumplings into the soup I started to realize that this saucepan seemed a tad small. I thought to myself “Hmm, would the cookbook say to use it if it wouldn’t work? Nah.” So I continued figuring the dumpings wouldn’t rise as much as I thought they would or something of that nature. I put full faith into what the trusty little cookbook told me and continued on leaving the concoction to simmer while I rinsed the cans that had once held condensed soup. I kept looking over and the pan was pretty full but not on the verge of overflowing so I continued rinsing. Next thing I know the dumplings are expanding at an amazing rate and soup is pouring over the edge. At this point in time hubby happens to be on a ladder just outside the kitchen window removing the storm window. I wave frantically and point at the stove, he’s inside in an instant. I was ready to dump the whole mess down the garbage disposal and call it done and go order a pizza. Hubby convinced me to try to salvage it, he transferred the mess to my 6qt dutch oven and continued on with his storm window removing. Then I got another bright idea. I should take Sara outside to “do her business”. Sara was happy to go out, she went straight out to pee and came back to the porch where she promptly found a peice of wood and runs back out into the yard with it refusing to come inside. Keep in mind it’s 11 degree’s outside and I’m sick and my dinner just boiled over and made a horrid mess of my stove, so I’m in no mood for this. I start yelling at her to “Get over here right now dammit”, when my poor hubby comes running around the side of the house thinking I’m yelling for him. He wrestled Sara into the house and we crated her, didn’t give her her dinner and shut her door so she can’t see us. BAD DOG!! I proceeded to clean off the stove while hubby once again continued trying to remove the storm window. Dinner turned out okay, it was a little more bland than I would have liked, but okay overall. It’s been one hell of a night. I was going to call an old friend of mine from Tulsa but never got around to it, now I’ve only a half hour before a show I want to see comes on so maybe tomorrow. For now, I think I’ll go give the dog her dinner, she’s been punished long enough.