I tend to work later on Thursdays as DH has the day off (mostly), and can do any drop off or pick up needed. Last night he even made dinner and it was ready when I got home. He had thrown a bag of boneless, skinless, chicken breasts in the crockpot, took a few out and shredded them and added BBQ sauce, then put in a smaller crock to simmer and stew. He also attempted coleslaw. DH loves coleslaw on pulled chicken or pork style sandwiches. It looked, good, but my first bite was so disappointing. I asked how he made it. He didn't know why it had such a heavy taste. Unfortunately, he thought coleslaw was just a bag of cabbage, mixed with mayonnaise. I explained there is more to the slaw dressing than mayonnaise, and I attempted to correct it by stirring in a bit of cider vinegar that had some sugar dissolved in it, and a bunch of black pepper. Stirred around and thinned out, it tasted much better.
DD2 is just taking an interest in learning to cook. I know at 15 she should be well past learning, but better late than not at all. She's attempted a few things over the years and has proclaimed herself a failure in the kitchen. Not always one to read a direction twice, she has skipped steps in a recipe, like omitting salt, or adding 3/4 of a cup of something when it called for 1/4. I'm not a good role model there as I often just guesstimate, but I've been familiar in a kitchen for 40 years and you get familiar with how ratios work in baking and cooking. She has ingredients this weekend to make red velvet cupcakes for her friends and wants to give making curry a go by herself on Saturday. I say, welcome to my kitchen.
Besides being a basic skill every human should have. We all have to eat, and often the lack of time and energy pushes me to pick up take out or fast food. Having others take on the load once in a while for me means we are turning to those more expensive and less healthy options less and less. Sometimes smiling and just appreciating the effort goes a long way in encouraging more help. Next time DH's slaw will be better and over time DD2 will get a better comfort level baking and cooking.
The picture above is from 4th of July three years ago when DD2 was 12. She makes a desert every year for the cabin with some red, white, and blue theme. I thought it was an appropriate picture for Veterans Day. Thank you to all who served. We might be a nation of people without our crap together right now, but you exemplify what a great country we can be.
I'd like to show a picture of the mess I woke up to in the kitchen, but I can't. Said mess made my camera, hopefully temporarily, out of commission. When M move in to weeks ago, she came bearing a box of cooking supplies to make taffy candy, apparently one of her specialties. Word of advice, no matter how good a cook your 15 year old guest is, large amounts of sticky things and red Koolaid for coloring leave a trail of terror in their wake. After their hectic play week, yesterday after school she decided it was time. She made what I think was stage one, a sticky goo that she spread out on a baking sheet with wax paper to cool, or harden. I'm not really sure what the next phase was supposed to be. There it sat on the counter. Some time last night, the girls moved the pan from the counter to the table.Unfortunately, they didn't transfer it flat to the table but had it balancing kittywampus on a stack of brown paper grocery bags.
I must remember to talk to their physics teacher about deducting points for not remembering the laws of fluids. While it was think and gooey, the taffy matter was most certainly still a liquid. Spread out across the table was a wide puddle of dark pink goo. Surrounded by the goo was my camera, out of its case, the camera case, and camera cord for uploading to the computer and recharging. I tackled trying to salvage the camera and part, and DH tackled the table, chair, and floor as drips extended to and over the edge. Taking pup out this morning, I notice he must have gotten into it as he had a couple taffy spots on his head, but was cranky and not having it when I tried to clean it out.
I'm sure they will be disappointed that they lost the bulk of their taffy. I'm relieved becasue I think I was able to clean the camera carefully, and not get any wet in parts needed to operate. I ended up submerging the case several times in water as it was covered in taffy goo. I have it hanging outside on a shepherds hook to dry. The other parts are drying out, post fine scrubbing, waiting to all be returned. It's 7:09 on Saturday and I am already ready for a break. I've learned these last two weeks how mellow a teen my DD#2 is, and have forgotten the energy when you have a houseful all the time. It's not the end of the world-just not something I imagined waking up to. The girls have a party this afternoon at another friends and I may treat myself to a little side day trip excursion somewhere. I spent yesterday purging and transferring pictures from my phone as my SD card was full so I can snap away with the phone if I get an inkling to. I wonder if they'll try the taffy again. This batch was to have gone to the party, so that was an unfortunate bust. I'll turn them loose on something a little safer-maybe rice krispie bars. Those mallows won't go anywhere once in the pan.
