$20 on Hand

I do the majority of the cooking for my family.  Over the years, I've learned to enjoy cooking and the experimentation that comes with it.  Stacy doesn't necessarily like to cook, so it just worked out that I do most of the cooking.  Before children (and this habit has clung to life since Grayson was born), cooking started with shopping.  I would make 4-5 trips to the grocery store every week, buying just enough for a meal or two, getting inspired by what I saw when I shopped. 

Some creations work out beautifully.  Others are edible.  Occasionally, my creations fail miserably.  Stacy is a great sport about it, often hiding her discontent with the final product.  But I can tell.  Before I serve something new, I joke that if it is bad, I've got $20 and Domino's on speed dial; an acceptable dinner is always just 30 minutes away.  I've yet to actually call for a pizza; there is always something in the pantry I can whip up (or a frozen pizza in the freezer), but the joke remains.

Tonight, I made steak, spinach and herb butter pinwheels for dinner.  I paired it with cheddar garlic mashed potatoes and roasted balsamic asparagus.  The pinwheels were awful.  The meat tasted overcooked even though is was rare, and the butter melted away, but never really melted into the meat.  Stacy was a good sport; we both tried our best to like the steak.  But midway through the meal, I spoke up and said I thought it was horrible.  Stacy simply said that she wasn't sure she could finish it.

Thank goodness I made extra mashed potatoes.... otherwise I was going to have to call the pizza guy.

Hopefully my next experiment goes better.