a new little venture

Melanie and Alison work late on Tuesday nights so about three months ago I decided to grill out and surprise them one evening with a meal prepared and sitting on the table when they came home. I didn’t know how it would go. I do well to cook poptarts. When Mel was pregnant with Philip was the last time I tried to cook for her. My problem is twofold - I experiment and I burn most everything. That time I cooked her spaghetti but tried it with sausage instead of ground beef and burnt the sausage - FAIL.

So this was a big test and a big attempt at a surprise. I grilled steaks with baked potatoes and bread on the grill. It was, well, wonderful. So the next week I decided to try it again. This time I tried pork chops with sweet potatoes on the grill and a special cinnamon sauce I created for the potatoes. I had Hawaiian bread and a salad with it. They loved it. I was two for two and kinda enjoying it. So the next week I went for stir-fry. It was a colossal failure. I burnt the meat and used a whole bottle of soy sauce. And I put only a pan of rice on but I think I could have fed China with it. Not to be discouraged the next week I went back to the grill and tried a grilled chicken marinated in a great sauce I found wrapped in bacon with some melted jalapeno cheese over it. Wonderful. Last week I went back to spaghetti but didn’t experiment and then tonight I stovetop fried some chicken strips (thanks for the recipe CR), had some corn and baby carrots to go with it and some yeast rolls. Not too shabby.

I’m not going to sermonize here and I’m not looking for a gold medal as a good husband (Mel puts up with so much as a result of being married to me), I’m just enjoying experimenting and learning a little something new but more than that enjoying serving and surprising them each week. Tuesday is such a long day for her and she and Alison come home tired and I think they enjoy the surprise as I unveil my “creation” for that night. Melanie has done so much for me over the years it feels nice to do something back for her! I don’t guess there’s anything really here, just thought I’d share. Any thoughts on what else I should try.