Saturday, February 27, 2010

I Have Permission to Tell You This

Number One took an Intro to Foreign Foods last semester, a precursor to this semester's Italian Cooking class. She made an excellent Kung Pao Chicken for us all, and recently decided to make Fettuccini Alfredo, her favorite Italian dish, for family dinner.

We tried. Hard. I thought it was odd that it didn't thicken very much, but she'd done everything right, as far as I could tell, and we all made enthusiastic and encouraging noises as we dished up. On first bite, it was pretty good, although sweet. On additional bites, it tasted sweeter and sweeter. I got up to check the basil, to see if she used sweet basil, but she hadn't. Then I thought maybe the basil was old and had therefore changed flavor or something.

After a few minutes in which it became harder and harder to eat the pasta, I suddenly had a brain flash. An image, as I walked through the kitchen, of Number One measuring the flour. From a yellow canister out of the cupboard. Not the glass canister from the counter.

Yeah. She used powdered sugar.

I'll be a good mom and take some of the blame. I walked through the kitchen while she was measuring it, and I was there as she mixed it into the butter. I half noticed how bright white it was, and attributed it to the lighting. But it never occurred to me that she was inexperienced enough not to be able to tell that it was too fine or smelled different. And I wasn't actively supervising her or anything.

She tried again last night, and it was perfect. :)

3 comments:

Susan Gourley/Kelley said...

One of my favorite dishes also. If she wants to try again and make sure she has it perfect, she's welcome to come over and cook a meal for my hungry boys anytime.

Cindy Procter-King said...

LOL. I made chicken Caesar salad last night, and the dh always likes to get served first (an off-shoot of having teenage boys who eat like cannibals at a violent rugby game). So I poured dressing over his massive bowl and mixed it up, then asked the son how much he wanted. He insisted on washing the mixing bowl and spoons first because apparently I poured Ranch dressing all over dh's "Caesar" salad. It never occurred to son to warn me what I was doing.

Natalie J. Damschroder said...

LOL, Sue. I told her, and she said "Oh, yay, cook for boys, I'll have to quadruple the recipe." She's a smart one!

Oy, Cindy! But that's not that big a mistake. Ranch and Caesar dressing look almost identical! :)