Thursday, August 21, 2008

When Things Don't Work Out Quite the Way You Planned:

I was listening to my iPod while I was working out the other night and didn't even realize I'd run three miles, which was farther than I'd intended to go. I was preoccupied listening to the Great Cooks Radio Podcast, hosted by none other than Jill from Simple Daily Recipes. She was interviewing one of my favorite bloggers, Ben from What's Cooking? They started talking about their failures. You know, recipes that don't turn out well. Photos that are hopeless, even with Photoshop. It got me thinking. There are a lot of things I'd intended to blog about but didn't for one reason or another.

There was the Adobo Chicken Salad from Picky Palate. It was delicious. So delicious in fact that we ate it ... twice... without ever once thinking we should take a picture of it. Duh! At the other extreme there was the Chicken and Rice with Black Beans from We [Heart] Food. It was delicious as well. A bit spicy for the kids , of course but dh and I really enjoyed it. I took pictures. Dh took pictures. We took lots of pictures. Really. Really. Bad. Pictures.

This Pork Scallopini by Mario Batali was terrific. Sure wish I could find the recipe again. It tasted great and was easy to make. Apparently I got it from a library book that has long since been returned and I didn't have any luck Googling for it. Not to self: Be sure to write down good recipes!




Oven Baked Bacon from Simple Daily Recipes is probably my single favorite recipe and the one I make over and over and over. Quick, easy, no mess. Crisp, perfect bacon in 20 minutes. Put it in the oven and walk away. And yet I've never blogged about it. I've mentioned it several times but this one definitely deserves it's own post. If you haven't tried it, you should. You can make a whole package of bacon in 20 minutes. Woohoo!


I went shopping at a Penzy's Spice store on my last trip to Indianapolis. It was an awesome store. I intended to blog about all the incredible spices they carry. All the unusual spice mixes. The exotic spices you can't get at your local Kroger. The amazing smell that hits you when you walk in the door. I was gonna. But now it's been so long, I can't remember what I was going to write! Heck, by now I can't even remember what I bought. I went to to Trader Joe's and found something really cool on that trip. Now I can't remember what that was either.


These Mini Taco Appetizers were great. I made them twice in the same week. I even made them when my Mother-in-law came for dinner. I remember where I got the recipe but I waited so long to post it, I can't even remember what they were like! I mean, we must have liked them. I made them for my MIL after all. But I just can't remember anything about them. ::sigh:: I really need to not procrastinate (and to make them again so I can take a decent picture!)

This one was yesterday. I found the recipe for Eggplant and Tomato Appetizer over at Laylita's Recipes. Incredibly simple. grilled eggplant slices, topped with a juicy slice of tomato and a dollop of creamy, garlicky mayo. Definitely an OMG moment. So good that I took a few pictures and then ate them all. Every. Single. One. Before I looked at the pics and saw how really bad they were. ::sigh::

4 comments:

Jill@SimpleDailyRecipes.com said...

You, my dear Teresa, are a busy Mom. That's why you can't remember. It happens to us ALL.

This is a great post, by the way! The way the photos cascade across the post is very good.

If you could see inside my photoshop folder system, you'd find some odd pics and stories that haven't been told. I often wrestled with whether I should tell them like they just happened or just come right out and say, "this happened two months ago."

Oh & I can totally relate to eating the food before checking out the clarity of the pictures. Have you seen my pics where the food has a bite already taken out of it?

Chris said...

You could always do what we do and post them anyway, with the caveat that it's "ugly" or "bizarre". ;)

To wit:
Bizarre! ... well, really unappetizing-looking... :)
Ugly! ... just looks like a plate of indistinguishable mush... but so delicious!

Then again, there are a few recipes we've made that I've decided mid-preparation not to even bother!

Anonymous said...

I could really relate to your blog! We, here at PGC, have laughed ourselves silly at all the mishaps in the kitchen. Or, the food all eaten up with no thought of even photographing until after the meal. I was brave enough to post pictures of a well used kitchen one time. Good job on your blog, lots of "food for thought" going around. Nella

Megan said...

Great post and I can so relate! I need to check out that podcast!
And I've been toying with the idea of ordering Penzy's spices. But there are so many, which ones?