Picture with Santa

Humbled

I'm not the best cook or hostess on the block and I would never claim to be, but I can put together a decent meal and pull off a nice evening with people in our home. Or at least I thought I could. 

Last night was a failure of EPIC proportions. Our friend and Brian's former roommate Zach is in town for work so we had him over for dinner last night. I planned on using my leftover turkey to make a homemade turkey pot pie. A friend of mine had rattled off a recipe to me with no measurements or specific instructions but I wasn't fazed. I don't much like to measure anyway.

I found a simple chocolate cake recipe for a 9x2 pan and made it strictly following the recipe, put all my fixings for the pot pie in the crockpot to soften and told myself that I would take a shower while the caking was baking.

Twenty minutes into the cake's baking time it quite literally EXPLODED in my oven. Cake on the racks, cake on the bottom, cake everywhere. Burnt cake. About this time Brian and Zach open the front door and smoke starts BILLOWING from the oven. And I look like I've never cooked a meal in my whole life.

Nothing like this has happened to me before, so stupidly I turned the oven temp up to 400 to bake the pot pie. And I thought there was smoke before. We opened the balcony door and got a fan. I asked Brian and Zach if they would see to the damage while I ESCAPED took that shower I'd been meaning to take all day.

It's amazing what a shower can do for ya. I felt better after washing away some of the embarrassment and Bran and Zach had some shoulder-to-shoulder man time cleaning out the oven. When the pot pie was done we found that the veggies were not. Most of them were still raw. And by this time all I could do was laugh.

Hospitality is about much more than a meal. So even though the food was gross, we had a great time. Zach is a gracious guest and ate the overcooked cake and undercooked veggies. And once I shook off expectations for the evening, I was able to enjoy some of the sweetest fellowship I've had in a long time.

Lesson: Don't take myself or my amateur culinary skills too seriously.

Blogging Again

I spent the morning blogging for Boundless and YoungMarriedLife. Unlike writing on this blog, I actually get paid for the other blogs. I know you probably thought Brian gave me an allowance to keep up our personal blog, but he doesn't. Go figure. Hope you'll check out those posts I wrote this morning as the snow fell on the cold, cold Colorado ground.

Weather Update

The HIGH is 24 degrees tomorrow. 

Just thought you'd want to know. 

New Poll

I added a poll to the blog. Nifty, huh? I've been contemplating joining a wholesale club for a while now. I hate going to the store every time I turn around for the same products and I think buying in bulk is a beautiful thing. 

I'd really like to make an informed decision, so I'd love your advice about which one to choose: Sam's or Costco. 

You can vote at the poll on the right there and you can leave me a comment.