Kitchen

[GCR18]

It wasn't for thanksgiving, but last year I screwed up cupcakes.  I was making them as a special thank you for the nurses in the oncology dept.  I even used a box of cake mix.  I've made cupcakes lots of times.  I was so excited to make these, then decorate them.  I have no idea what went wrong, but they didn't come out well.  I was so upset, I threw out the second box and everything that went with it.  It was sad.  We stopped at Panera and got bagels instead.

[Annabellethecat66]

@GCR18 Maybe the yeast that would make them rise was old.  I've made flat cupcakes too.  My aunt back in the 50's used to make cakes from scratch (like most people) and they were amazing.  I would like the batter (as my girls did), no one ever got sick.  They still talk about licking the batter and who got gipped!  Ha!  My middle daughter always thought she got cheated no matter what the issue was.

My Aunt made amazing cakes.  She'd make an orange cake and use the zest from the oranges with real icing, I can almost taste it.  Wow!  I wish I'd paid attention!  Ha!

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

[PINKdogWOOD]

Not sure why but the one and only year we had both his family & mine at the dinner table DH decided he wanted to grill the huge turkey we had.  DId we practice on one a couple of weeks ahead of time to make sure we knew what we were doing? How long it might take? How many times we/he needed to add charcoal to the grill to keep the heat even? 

Of course we didn't!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It took FOREVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  And guess what - after HOURS on the grill, it still wasn't done.  I ended up putting it in the oven to finish.  And it tasted awful to boot!!!

What a hideous thanksgiving that was!  NEVER AGAIN!  Never had the entire fams at our home for a meal of this magnitude.  It was so disappointing, I looked and felt like a fool.  The meal was terrible.  No one even stayed after we finally did eat. 

It's a good rule to follow - NEVER try a new recipe or cooking technique unless you've tried it in advance to make sure you know what you're doing and have perfected what you plan to serve to family & friends at such a very big and important eating event!!!!

[Mmsfoxxie]

@Annabellethecat66, when you were telling you lasagna story, I thought about the Golden Girls as the older one ( mom) would tell her stories about Sicily.  She always started with "Picture it", lol, then begin to tell a funny, crazy story.

A couple of weeks ago, I messed up something that I've made a zillion times.  In Mary Beth's first QVC cook book there is a recipe for easy peach cobbler....the kind you make it one bowl and miraculously, the crust cooks to the top....soooo simple.

I was going to a funeral and was asked to make a dessert.  I chose to make the cobbler because I was short on time.  Well, I got busy and cooked it too long.  It was burned but was very dry.  Not knowing it was extremely dry, I took it anyway, along with some baked beans.    Everyone ate the beans but there was only about a teaspoon of cobbler eaten.  I was sooo embarrassed.  I'm known in my family for my desserts.  Later in the evening, I quietly took it off the counter and told my husband to take it to the car because I figured my niece (her house, her daughter had died) would throw it out.  It was humbling.

[Annabellethecat66]

Thanks to all of you who took the time to post and 'divulge' your boo boos.  We've all done it (a time or two)...Ha!  Yet we get right back in that kitchen and never miss a beat!  Ha!

After all!  What choice do we have?  Everyone has to eat and if they're smart they'll realize (if they haven't done it yet) the time will come when THEY will screw up something culinary!  

For those who have never 'messed up' a meal or a particular dish.....fear not!  Because I've messed up enough things to satisfy the "SCREW UP gods" for me, you and everyone!  Your time might not be coming because I've probably taken care of your turn for you.  You can thank me now!  Ha!

[Poodlepet2]

My son's second sentence was " You're trying to poison me".....after my first attempt at making lasagna. I thought I was being very resourceful in using a bread pan that I lined with foil (I didn't have a baking pan). What didn't burn was one gummy mess. Even though we had virtually no money in our bank account, my DH took pity on me and took us out to the local diner.

I was absolutely elated when our baby uttered his first sentence at the age of six months: if that was his second sentence, what was he going to come up with next????  I vowed to phone my almost nonexistent cooking skills!

Poodlepet2

[Othereeeen]

Thirty years ago....new house, newish cook...His Mom over for Thanksgiving.....(She was an EXCELLENT cook!!!)....

My turkey gravy had a few lumps so I decided to put it in the blender to make it nice and smooth...

Into the blender goes the HOT gravy, pushed the "Start" button, and sprayed hot turkey gravy ALL OVER EVERYTHING in the kitchen......!!!

Forgot the lid.

Thank goodness his Mom and he helped me clean up....we were finding gravy spots for MONTHS after that incident!!!!!  Thankfully no one got burned!!!!

You can bet I NEVER forgot the lid again!!!!!

[Pooky1]

i remember when i was young my mom made a white layer cake that she had made many times before. but this time when she tried to take layers out of pan  the cake cracked. and she punched the cake and it was cake crumbs every  where.

[chickenbutt]

This time I messed up the pumpkin pie a bit.  It just wouldn't get done and by the time it was, the bottom crust was a bit tough.   I guess I'm glad it wasn't something else.   But then, since it cooked so long, the crust got stuck on the round thing you put over the crust to keep it from burning.  So it also looked not so great.

I've also not removed all the guts on a turkey, the first time I did one.  Oops!  I didn't know there were a bag of stuff in the other end.  

Usually I'm pretty lucky and my recipes are all pretty tried and true - some of them written by me and some obtained from online, tv, or magazines, over the years.

The pie thing was weird, though.  It's the first time I just made one, with a 15oz can of pumpkin.  Usually I make two of them with the 29oz can and I think that there was too much bulk with this so if I do it again I will just not use all the pumpkin mix.  I think that was where I messed up.

[In-x-s]

This year mine was the pumpkin pie -- first I made a chocolate pudding pie since that's what the kids and grandkids want.  I have to have my pumpkin pie once a year for my Thanksgiving treat since I don't care for the turkey.  Pie turned out beautifully!!  Took it out of the oven and set on a cooling rack and asked DH to take it to the back porch table to cool since I was short on counter space.  Just as he was setting it onto the table, the pie plate slid off the cooling rack upside down on the floor. 

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh, so much to be thankful for -- nobody got hurt and the family was thankful that it was the pumpkin pie and not the chocolate pie!