Wednesday, January 9, 2013

(Mis)Adventures in Cooking

Adventures in Cooking aka What Happens When You Rush While Cooking

It was just after 4 pm and I decided to make the scalloped potatoes recipe I shared last Friday. I looked in my printed off recipes and couldn't find it, so I had to find it on my blog. 1.5 hours it was going to take. Perfect: it will be ready for 5:30, my tired brain said. Except, of course, it was now even more after 4 pm and there was still all the prep to do.

No problem! I would be speedy! I grabbed 5 potatoes and an onion from the basement, came back upstairs and got started on the sauce. Trying to measure 1/4 cup of Veganaise, half of it ends up on the counter. Is the counter clean? I think so. Scooped some of it into the measuring cup and continued.

Oh, yes, the sauce requires constant whisking. Can't prep the rest while it cooks. I decided to try anyhow, whisking very quickly in between grabbing a potato and starting to slice. I made a mess of the stove top with my whisking. At least it's a glass top and can be easily cleaned later. I end up going between whisking and slicing, making sure to use the hand protector thingy after the first potato since my finger got awfully close to being sliced.

Back and forth I went, deciding finally on only 4 potatoes since I was trying to be speedy AND my family tends to love saucy. On the last potato, I didn't use the hand protector thing. Felt the blade against my finger at one point, but it didn't really hurt, so all's well, right? Finally, the sauce is done and it can sit on the stove top while I cut the onion. Should I cut the whole onion or just put in half? I started slicing it and felt my finger--the one that touched the mandoline blade earlier--stinging a bit. I looked: I was missing some skin. Not enough to bleed, but enough to wonder if somebody's going to end up eating it tonight. Would that mean I'm turning them into cannibals?

I got a bandage and went back to slicing the onion. It didn't take long--I'd barely cut anything--before my eyes started stinging. And watering. Severely. So badly, as a matter of fact, I could barely see what I was doing and am not even sure I really cut them up well. I decided at that point that 1/2 the onion is plenty. I saw at one point a kind of pinky part below one of the onions. Oh no! my onion-and-speed-induced irrationality said, did I bleed onto an onion? Of course, I hadn't bled at all, so it was a really stupid thought. But I was still trying to quickly get this onion done. I didn't care if there were long pieces still hiding in between the chopped onion, I put it all in anyhow. Sauce got poured over top, paprika sprinkled on top of that and into the oven.

I checked the time: 4:34. Oy. Won't be ready until 6. At least we don't need to head out tonight, so it's okay if supper's later than usual. Of course, there is still the rest of the supper to cook in a little bit--who knows what more could happen? :p

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