Hell's...Whoops...Aunt Tommie's Kitchen

I love to cook! I really do, maybe in part because I love to eat and I love food. Anorexic? Yeah...definately not me. But I think it also has to do with the fact that I love to make people happy and what makes people happier than a full stomach? The look on a person's face after they've had a really good meal is just one of pure bliss and for that short period of time everything is good.

Follow up:

So when I make food I always like to wait until after everyone has taken their first bite before I start to eat, because I like to look for that sudden change in expression of WOW this is really good! Then I begin to eat, but as any good cook knows nothing always turns out exactly how it is supposed to.

Well let me rephrase, most of the time the end product turns out fine but sometimes the getting to it is...well...interesting.

Have you ever gone to make something and were doubling the recipe and halfway through you forgot you were supposed to be doubling it and then had to go back and add in the extras?

Have you ever tried to make something from scratch without a recipe(now these instances can be the exception to "everything working out fine" in the end)?

Yeah, well stuff like that happens all the time even to the best of cooks. But here is a little story about my Chicken Tetrazzini extraordinaire.

So I was over at my Aunt's house and she had an emergency errand to run so she told me and my Uncle to start dinner. We were supposed to be making Chicken Tetrazzini, so like all good cooks we pulled out all of the contents and arranged everything on the counter. First the flour, the 14 oz. of chicken broth, the vermicelli, and all of the other stuff. And, we encountered our first problem. We couldn't find the cooking sherry! During a frantic call to Auntie Tommie we were reassured that there was a substitute (real sherry;o) and we were back in business...sort of.

I guess we didn't read very carefully because we didn't realize that the recipe called for 2 14oz. cans of chicken broth and despite the fact that the broth and flour mixture was a little pasty we carried on. In went the vermicelli and the cheese and what not...well about this time my Aunt returned home and our calm, cool, and collected cooking style turned into HELL's KITCHEN. She took one look at the chicken broth mixed with flour mess and was like "ewww what is that"? We were quick to point out in the recipe that we'd added the exact amount of flour to the one 14oz. can of chicken broth...and she was equally quick to point out where the recipe called for two cans. This is when it got bad!

After adding the second can of broth, Aunt Tommie began looking for the vermicelli. I held up the partially empty packadge and quickly let her know that Uncle Ray and I were just adding it to the flour and broth when she got home (I really was trying to look like I knew what to do!) I thought I was on the set of the Exorcist the way her head spun around! With a totally incredulous look she gasped, "You have to BOIL the vermicelli first!" Uncle Ray and I confidently replied in unison, "Nuh uh...it says one package of vermicelli!" We apparently missed the all important adjective...hot.

By this time the drill sargeant in Aunt Tommie came out. My uncle was quickly tasked with boiling the vermicelli and I was given the job of grating the cheese. Yes, we missed that descripted adjective too.

Finally, after what seemed like centuries we threw it in the oven and waited...and waited...and waited for the little oven buzzer to ding and rescue us from the dressing down we were getting over our cooking aptitude...or lack thereof...and how we'd probably be eating Sonic at midnight. You have to understand my tiny Japanese Aunt. She is the kind of person that tells you exactly what she thinks...loves food as much if not more than I do...and because of that she takes her meals very seriously and is very...very picky. Judgment time arrived with the dinging of the timer. As my Uncle and I exchanged aprehensive looks my Aunt slowly dished out the food(it didn't look too bad).

But like I said before the look on peoples' faces is priceless when they have tasted something delicious...I waited for it and there it was! Her face after she took her first bite relaxed and for a brief second she closed her eyes. Like I said it may be a bumpy road getting there but in the end it is usually all good. Aunt Tommie still brings up that day and tries to say that we are bad cooks but all Uncle Ray and I have to do is to remind her of just how many servings she had.