i give up

I've been working on a blog for a couple of days now and I just gave up on it.

Here's what happening today....

I've been cooking for about 10 days now. It's not as bad as I thought it would be. Norma, who I was supposed to be assissting is only coming in every two or three days now, so I'm actually in charge of the kitchen and most aspects of the kitchen. I'm learning as I go along and being creative. There are times though, when it would be really handy to know some basic things in the kitchen. For example, last night we had meatballs and mashed potatoes. Norma had helped me plan the menu, and had made the meatballs the day before when she was here. All I had to do was make the spuds, green beans, and heat the meatballs. Well I decided that we really needed gravy with this meal. No big deal right? Any one of those Mommy Bloggers out there could do it with their eyes closed. Like this one! Or this one! Or my darling sister who is out of the country! Hmm... Issue... Not a Mommy Blogger. AK! I'm cooking for 21 people and I don't know how to make gravy. I'm ashamed. Anyways... I decided to do this about 1/2 hour before dinner was supposed to be on. The potatoes were still boiling, the water for the beans hadn't boiled yet, the meatballs had just been put in the oven and I was texting my sister, Cate, to call me and tell me what to do. (Why must my mom and older married sister be out of the country right now?) Thankfully, Cate was available and mostly able to talk (she was grocery shopping). I quickly discovered that she mostly just uses the packaged stuff that you add water to, but she had a better footing in the kitchen so she could tell me what to do. So with my student helper/kitchen slave at my side (who is getting married so we were both learning important things), we tried to watch four things at once. Dahvede walked in about 3 minutes into the ordeal and asked me if I needed something. I quickly shoved my phone in his face and said "Tell me what she tells me to do!" Poor Guy.

Long story still long, we managed to get everything out ok, I learned how to make gravy (and in theory, a white sauce) and nothing burned. So dinner was 2 or 3 minutes late. It tasted good! Nothing is a better ego boost for me than having multiple 18-20 yr old guys tell me dinner was good! I think I'm getting the hang of this thing.