Supper

OK! After that philosophical, spiritual post, I think it's time for a more light hearted post to ease some of the weight off this blog.

Recently, my mother has been giving me cooking lessons. It's been over basic stuff, like pasta, chicken, and salad. The other day was her birthday, so I planned to surprise her by putting her lessons to work.

I let my dad in on the plan, so I would have a little bit of support, since my memory was a bit sketchy over the chicken part, but he made me realize that it wouldn't work out logistically anyway: our church was observing the Lord's Supper that night, so it would have to at least wait until after the service.

It still could be done, though, and if crafty enough, I could have kept it a surprise, if only my dad, tired after a meeting, hadn't come home the night before and started discussing it with me in front of my mom. My mom thought the thought was still sweet, so she would still let me do it, if I still wanted to. And of COURSE I still wanted to. I love doing nice things for my mom.

So, the next night, after the Lord's Supper service, I came home, defrosted some chicken breasts, seasoned them, then started on a salad while they marinated. I looked in the refrigerator and took out what I thought was lettuce, and some cherry tomatoes, and began making a salad. Cutting the lettuce, though, I thought that its texture was a bit... off.

"Hey, Dad," I called. "Is lettuce supposed to be rubbery?"

"It can be," He replied, so I thought nothing else of it. But, in the back of my mind, I thought, What if this is something completely non-lettuce, like cabbage? 

Anyway, after I made the salad and put it in the fridge to chill, I put the chicken in the oven and put on a pot of water to boil for pasta and began preparing the sauce for it. I didn't heat it, because I wanted to wait until the pasta was done so I didn't risk burning it or something from waiting to pour it over the pasta.

Speaking of the pasta, I thought that the water was taking a long time to boil. I looked over it, and it barely had some tiny bubbles on the bottom of the pan. Dad came over, and he said that the amount of water in a pot as big as the one I was using would take a longer time to boil, since I was making enough water to cook pasta for four people, instead of just enough so I could make Ramen when I am by myself for lunch.

So, I was pacing at that point, because the chicken was almost done, and I was nowhere near close to having pasta for my side. I lowered the heat as soon as they were done, and put in the pasta as soon as the water was finally boiling, and was able to put everything together, with Mutt setting the table, even though the chicken was a bit more golden brown than my family usually has it, and it was way later than we usually eat dinner.

Sitting down, I dished out the chicken and passed around the pasta and the salad. Mutt looked at the salad weird.

"What?" I asked.

"What's wrong with the salad? It's pale," He replied.

"I don't know."

"Let me see," My dad looked at the salad for a little bit. "I think that's cabbage!"

Everyone laughed at my accidental coleslaw. In my defense, it was green, and it was leafy, just like lettuce. It tasted almost the same, anyway, albeit a bit chewier. The rest of the meal was fine (the chicken was my favorite part, but everyone else loved the pesto angel hair pasta!)

So, my first time cooking a whole dinner was about an eight on a scale of one to ten. Hey, at least now I know to put water on to boil earlier, and the difference between lettuce and cabbage. The most important thing was, I did something nice for my mom, and she really appreciated it, which always makes me feel great :)