A lesson learned in my kitchen

Yesterday was a strange day and a strange comparison came to my mind when I was falling asleep last night.

Life is like cooking

At least in my case or in a case of yesterday’s day.

My cooking started early. While having breakfast I’d decided to make bread for lunch. As soon as I finished feeding our daughter and myself I started mixing all the ingredients for bread. I heated up water for the yeast. I put the yeast into the warm water and waited 15 minutes for it to have activated. Nothing happened. I had to throw it out. I started this part all over. After 10 minutes I saw a few bubbles but nothing more. I knew it’s not gonna work this time either. All together I had repeated it 5 times. After 4th time (and I don’t know why I thought about it) I decided to change the water I’d been using to activate the yeast. From tap water I switched to bottled water. It worked like a charm. The mixture got foamy and bubbly in 5 minutes.

By that time it was almost 11am and I knew I need to make something else for lunch because bread won’t be ready. In addition I was really mad and discouraged. I had thought that if that’s how it started then it means nothing good will come out from it, but I kept kneading. After I was done I left the dough to rest for about 2 hours or longer. I knew that at this point I don’t have to rush with it.

After those few hours the dough hadn’t risen enough, in my opinion but I couldn’t wait any longer. I added rest of the ingredients, rolled it up and left to rest for the second time.

For dinner I decided to make a chicken noodle soup for my husband and our Little Picky Eater. For myself I planned to make spinach souffle I saw the other day on Jennifer’s blog. I didn’t have the cheese but oh well… sometimes you try to make the best from what you have not wishing you had more – one of my many lessons about life learned straight from my kitchen 🙂 All of it would go perfect with fresh-baked bread.

I was so eager to try this souffle.

While I was making it almost everything seemed to be going wrong. I screwed up the sauce, separating yolks from the whites seemed to be so hard like I haven’t done it hundreds of times in the past. I coursed out loud like crazy while my daughter was watching me with a strange look on her face. Not enough, I noticed my bread is not rising as it supposed to. At this point I was ready to give up and ask my husband to order a take-out.

To make a long story short.

The dinner was delicious. It didn’t have to be perfect for us to enjoy it. Life is not perfect. Life not always goes as we plan. Life always brings surprises, obstacles, ups and downs, and there is many things missing now and then. We just need to make the best from what we have at the moment. We need to be patient and try to finish what we have started. If something goes wrong we need to rethink it.

Even if the dinner was awful I would be able to say that at least I tried and I gave the best out of me to finish it and to make it work.

At the end there is always somebody who won’t like your cooking anyway (even if the dish(es) is perfect in your opinion). On the other hand, you might be positively surprised when somebody who you thought from the beginning is not going to like it, eats up an entire plate. That happened yesterday with my Little One. She ate an entire plate of spinach souffle. She couldn’t surprise me any more than that.

The same happens in every aspect of our life.

I ate so much of everything I could barely move after all. The time and my heart I put in it paid back. After dinner it was great to enjoy a piece of chocolate my husband brought me from the store.

If you’re interested:

here is the recipe for bread. Instead of all-purpose flour I used half whole wheat flour and half all-purpose. In addition before rolling it into a shape I spread over the top flax seeds meal and fresh parsley. Yumm!!!

here is the recipe for Spinach Souffle

the recipe for chicken noodle soup still needs to be written down as I always make it from scratch and every time I improve it in something new. This time, for example, I discovered arrowroot, and I have to tell you all: “I’m in love in arrowroot”. That’s the next lesson from yesterday’s cooking. I don’t know if I’ll ever use corn starch again!!!

Hugs from my a little bit wiser corner!

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9 thoughts on “A lesson learned in my kitchen

  1. Lil' Suburban Homestead

    I do love your photography! I also really like your words of wisdom….life is not perfect…and there will always be someone who won’t like your meals that is so true and it just resonated with me that we have to be true to yourself. Thanks also for linking up to the Ole’ Saturday HomesteadingTrading Post I love connecting with fellow kindred spirits!

    Reply
  2. Jennifer Ward-Pelar

    I’m sorry you had such a hard time with dinner, but good lesson learned indeed. You were wise to see it. I think I might have ordered take-out. And I’m flattered you tried my recipe. No one ever makes my recipes. So that really made my day. The fact your picky eater liked it, was even better! Hope today is beautiful for you!

    Reply
    1. Mom Photographer Post author

      No worries, Jennifer. It wouldn’t be the first time I screwed a meal. In the past I would got all upset and depressed. Now I laugh (sometimes).lol
      And your recipe is definitely a keeper! I LOVE IT! Thanks for sharing it!

      Reply
      1. Jennifer Ward-Pelar

        You know, I think the more you cook, the less you care about whether people like your food or if it turned out perfectly. In the process, the better you get. You’re a young thing, you have time on your side. You’re just going to keep getting better. And I bet your food is wonderful. If I go by pictures, you win every time! I’m sure your hubby agrees! 🙂 He gets the full effect! And in the company of his two favorite ladies. I’m sure it couldn’t taste any better!

        Reply

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