Time to shout

There comes a time when you have to stand up and shout:

This is me damn it! I look the way I look, think the way I think, feel the way I feel , love the way I love! I am a whole complex package. Take me...or leave me. Accept me - or walk away! Do not try to make me feel like less of a person, just because I don't fit your idea of who I should be and don't try to change me to fit your mold. If I need to change, I alone will make that decision.


Saturday, March 20, 2010

Recipes that go wrong

Sometimes recipes don't work. Sometimes they just go wrong. You can do everything right, or at least try, but they still turn out bad, wrong, tasteless....yucky. Sometimes you just want to cry. You worked so hard to make the recipe right, you measured and added all the ingredients. You chopped, sliced and diced. You sauteed, steamed and baked. You stirred, whisked and beat. Still.....it didn't work. You poured your heart and soul into it, you slaved over it, sweated over it....still....it didn't work. You have no idea why. Sometimes a recipe just doesn't work. I've had a few such recipes, there was a casserole I got off the Internet with a four star rating and comments like "I didn't think these things would go together, but it was great!" and "wasn't too sure about this, but loved it!" I made it and.....these things DIDN'T go together! It was a big dish full of yuck. We certainly didn't "love it"! Then, there was this Risotto recipe with wonderful things like curry and coconut milk that smelled heavenly, but when finished and tasted was pretty bland and tasteless, not sure why, I measured it and stirred it exactly like the recipe said, but it was still a disappointment. Sometimes the recipe just doesn't work. No matter how hard you tried, no matter how much love you put into it, no matter how much work, it still goes wrong. I admit, sometimes a recipe doesn't work because the cook screwed up. The recipe wasn't followed, measurements were off, baking time was wrong. You don't get to bitch if you didn't follow the recipe. I know I always try to follow a recipe to the letter to begin with and after the first time I will add my own touch, maybe a little more garlic, maybe a little less hot pepper etc. But at first I try the recipe as written and THEN doctor it up. Sometimes you try to do everything right, and it doesn't work, it just isn't to someones taste, it's bland, or too spicy, or just doesn't taste good. So...you doctor it up, you change it and try to make it better, you add, you leave out, you stir it more, you stir it less, you bake it, steam it, boil it, freeze it, and it's still just not what someone wants and there is nothing you can do to make it taste good, or taste right to that person. Sometimes you have to give up on a recipe, you have throw it away because no amount of doctoring will fix it or make it taste better. Or maybe...you should just put it back in the recipe box to try again another day on another someone who just might appreciate it more, find it more to their taste. Find it just right, just spicy enough, with just enough garlic and just enough salt to be to their liking. Someone who appreciates the effort as well as the outcome. Sometimes recipes can go wrong and sometimes...it's just the person tasting them.

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