Ok…Who’s the idiot that can’t cook?

I’d like to think that I am good at many things: planning, talking, organizing, socializing, writing (you can be the judge on that one), arguing debating, swimming, etc.  One thing that I have yet to master however is cooking. Don’t get me wrong, I’m definitely learning, and getting better. I’m really awesome at making pasta (especially when the sauce comes from a jar), I’m stellar at making casseroles (thanks to the fabulous recipes of my momma) and I’ve begun to master the art of some other fan favorites (like my meatloaf muffins – thanks Heather! – and my stuffed peppers). But event with those winners, Top Chef won’t be calling me any time soon to join the ranks of some of the best! Ya know, maybe I’m selling myself a little short. Usually, the finished product tastes great – but sometimes it’s getting to that finished product that can be, shall I say, a journey…

One of my goals for the new year is to cook more often, and to cook healthier. Let’s take last night for instance. I decided to cook thin chicken breasts dipped lightly in bread crumbs, topped with diced tomatoes and balsamic vinegar.  I had all of my chicken dipped and ready to go, and the olive oil heating up in the pan. I put the first two pieces in, and everything was going fine…until…the entire apartment filled with smoke.  In typical fashion, I first opened up the sliding glass door and began waving a dish towel at the smoke detector to divert the smoke. At first it worked. But then it quickly acted up again. Now both my roommate and I are trying to stop the smoke. Still no luck. So, I decided that the smartest thing to do was to disconnect the smoke detector. That also didn’t work! Our apartment is too smart for me and it’s connected to the other detectors in the apt that are now ALSO going of. So…in defeat, I prayed that the two pieces that had ignited my house with screeching noises were cooked enough and called it a night.

As I was lying in bed last night thinking about my night and my newest adventure in the kitchen,  I remembered a similar incident in college and I just started laughing out loud…to myself. I had a very similar thing happen to me while cooking almost exactly the same dish.  In college I was a one dish girl...penne with vodka sauce – from a jar. I rarely cooked anything else besides possibly Velveeta shells and cheese….which happens to still be a specialty of mine, however now I sometimes add tomatoes and meat…yummm-o! Any who…I decided to be daring one night and make me and my best friend Heather dinner. I was making my moms famous lemon chicken with a side of Velveeta shells (shocker). All was going well until I went to squeeze the lemon on the chicken that was still in the pan and the entire apartment filled up with smoke. Problem was – we lived in an on campus apartment with an EXTREMELY sensitive fire detector system. Soooo instead of just being able to fan the smoke away, the cops/firefighters need to come and make sure there isn’t a REAL emergency. So, while we waited for the inevitable embarrassment we continued cooking our dinner, sat down at our table and waited for the cops to come. As they barged into our apartment they asked one simple question:

“Who’s the idiot who can’t cook??”

I looked directly at him, raised my hand and smiled proudly.

While recalling this story last night I couldn’t help but laugh and remember all the crazy things that Heather and I have gotten ourselves into over the years, and how long we’ve been friends! We met the first week of college – and let’s just say it wasn’t love at first sight! Thankfully, it only took us about another week to get over ourselves and we have been best friends now for almost 9 years!  No matter how far apart our friendship has taken us, the ups and downs or the very different lives we now lead, she’s always the one I can count on for someone to listen to me bitch, laugh with, make fun of ourselves with and talk about nonsense with. But maybe most importantly she’s always there to push me…after all; she is the one who get’s the credit for this very blog!

After waking myself up from laughing and reminiscing I decided to get out of my bed and pull out photo albums that I haven’t looked at in years. Yes – photo albums, not Facebook albums, but actual photo albums with real pictures in them. The best part is the pictures are all from disposable cameras and in order to show them to you now, I had to scan them! I decided to save us both the embarrassment and only selected a couple oldies…the others were not suited for public viewing.

Funny how an almost cooking disaster can bring you down an unexpected memory lane!

Scan picture 1 - Freshman year at our first (of many) Kappa Sig Semi-Formal

Scan picture 2 - Sophomore year at one of many Formals

Ya know, just a little beer pong action

Celebrating her wedding!

And now getting ready for baby... man we're getting old!