Thursday, February 21, 2008

The almost gumbo...

Every now and then I think that I should attempt to cook something. Something out of my norm and normally, out of my experience level. Yesterday, I thought I should attempt gumbo. Thanks to EB's recipes, I had several to choose from.

I chose this one, then headed to the nearest local grocery. Of course, this one called for a cast iron Dutch oven, which I did not have, but bought, in bright green no less. It also calls for file powder, as any self-respecting gumbo should. Of course, with my run of luck lately*, it should not come as a surprise that this grocery did not have any file powder. Luckily, I did marry the right guy, the guy who realized he is currently married to a woman on edge, the guy who responded to my desperate phone call by finding my file powder and therefore insuring that he would not need the bail money set aside for such an occasion.

After spending an extraordinary amount of money for something I'm not even sure will be edible, I headed to the house to start the cooking. I chopped, diced, seeded, roasted, stirred and waited. I had it timed down to the minute when Speedy would walk through the door. I was measuring out the water for the rice and fixin' to cut the homemade bread to spread the roasted garlic/butter on while the cookie dough rested on the counter. Every thing was going great. The house smelled like cajun roasted garlic.

Then, in the split of a pea, nothing. Total silence. Total loss of electricity. Total "you have GOT to be shitting me!" No worries, it will come back on in a minute, right?! No. It won't. In fact, it did not come back on until around 6:30 that evening. After we had eaten KFC. After the roasted garlic had cooled. After I had figured that the universe was totally not happy with me.

So, the gumbo will possibly happen Friday night. Hopefully. Very hopefully, so long as the universe doesn't decide to knock the power off again.

*Examples of my run of luck lately: Mother - died; Son - school called that he's running fever; Daughter - about to lose yet another tooth which will give her NO front teeth; wallet - left in the VW while I drove the Honda; much needed Wisconsin land deed of Mother's - none of the aunts has a copy, had to contact the office in Wisconsin and they won't send it without being paid their $2.00 fee and they don't accept credit cards (see wallet note)... and the list just keeps on going...

Take care - Me

3 comments:

tlm said...

First, I have to say that this post literally had me laughing out loud. I could clearly hear your voice when I read "you have GOT to be shitting me!"

I have known that you chose wisely in Speedy for quite some time now. Still, when he did not call, but instead went directly to the store for the file you needed, well, he earned a special place in the husband hall of fame.

Perhaps for your next culinary endeavor, you should just take one of EB's recipe challenges...if I can make them, anyone can!

Marcus said...

In my experience, there is no umbrella that can provide adequate protection from a shit storm. Fleeing the area of the deluge is the only way out. While I understand that you will be here in three weeks for Arts Festival, I think another escape, however brief, is required.

Anonymous said...

Well did it ever happpen? Were able to finish the gumbo and happily eat it once power resumed?