Whoops! Hold on. I have to wear my scarlet letter for this
entry. I think it is in the bottom of
this drawer right…here… I know: just when we think we can forget…
I saw this recipe in the newspaper and just had to try
it. It sounds so damn GOOD!
SAGE’S CAFÉ SHIITAKE ESCARGOT (No snails! MUSHROOMS!)
¼ C balsamic vinegar
½ C burgundy wine
4 cloves garlic, minced
¼ C olive oil
1 t rosemary, ground
2 t mustard seed, ground
1 T sea salt
8 oz. shiitake mushrooms
Toasted baguette slices or crackers, for serving.
Place everything except the mushrooms in a blender, process
until smooth. Stir in the mushrooms and
marinate 4-8 hours. Heat the oven to 450
degrees. Place mushrooms and marinade in
a roasting pan and bake for 10-15 minutes until the marinade is reduced back
into the mushrooms. Remove from the oven
and serve with crackers, etc..
Don’t DO IT, though.
The recipe is faulty. After I
spent all that money on shiitakes, I followed it to the letter and ended up
with the saltiest concoction I have ever created. Inedible.
Today, I was telling my old friend M about how badly it turned
out, and she asked me why I had adhered to an obvious typo.
Well, I said lamely, I was doing it by the book.
Yeah, I know. What
for? I stopped doing a bunch of other things by the book a couple years
ago. M and I discussed that, too. No, she and her husband still do not feel
comfortable socializing with Chuck and me.
You would think that someone of my literacy skills would have better
comprehension. The chapter (Chapter 7) on
falling in love with someone who is not your husband clearly states that it is
immoral. I thumbed through the index, looking for references to “kids, doing
great”, “ex in new relationship” and “abuse, emotional”. There was a short section under “abuse,
emotional”, clearly stating that ending a marriage due to bullying is permitted
if you complain about it for a few years first, so all the couples in your
social circle understand and approve the end of the relationship. But, if there is an affair? Disregard the bullying clause and refer back
to Chapter 7: Affairs are Immoral. Was this one on the book club’s list? I must
have been absent for that meeting, but I am getting the feeling that they have
all read it.
Thank goodness Chuck’s friends are happy for him and don’t
judge me. Our social life revolves
around them. My old friends make occasional
appearances.
I tried this recipe for Sunday dinner yesterday. It was an experiment, so I was just going to
make a small batch for my family. But dinner-for-four
grew throughout the course of the day and became dinner-for-fourteen. This happens in my new life. Chuck is teaching me to fly by the seat of my
pants again. I was feeling a little
fussed about multiplying the making the food, the lack of drinkables in the
house and other things like that. But
then I thought: about how this is one of the ways I show Chuck that I love
him: by appreciating his spontaneity and
celebrating his friends. Thinking like
that smoothed my discombobulation.
Later, he thanked me and told me that not everyone would have been OK
with that rapid change of plans. Any
time, Chuck.
I know I am not a good person any more. But because I have had two years of happiness
and peace and acceptance, I can handle the consequences of fucking up when I
was supposed to live by the book.
Except for the mushrooms.
If I can throw away the rule book for the rest of my life, surely I can
manage to pull my nose out of a recipe once in a while? Maybe, once I learn to that, I could take the
barbs of my old friendship with a little more than a grain of salt.
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