Things I've been thinking about.

There are a few things I've been thinking about that I need to write down before I forget them.

Rebecca makes us laugh. Ever since she has been out on her own, she has used "Dadquest" to help her navigate the city. "Dad, I'm on Charleston and Buffalo. Isn't the temple close by here?" (For anyone who doesn't know Las Vegas, the answer is, "No, it's on the opposite side of the city.") And "Ask.mom" is her other favorite source. "Hi, Mom. When you cook corn on the cob do you just boil it or what?" My response is usually, "Don't you have a cookbook?" (I know she does, because I gave it to her.) She replies, "Yes, but I'm at the store." In her defense though, I wish I would have had those sources at my disposal when I was first married. A phone call to my mom was expensive, so I saved them for really important things like..."How do you make lima beans and ham?"

Which leads me to remember the three worst meals I ever cooked when we were first married. Craig was a trooper and tried everything I made, but even he agrees that these were BAD! One was a venison roast. Craig had gone deer hunting with his dad and brothers, and--lucky us!--he got a deer. We, of course, had it butchered and rented a locker at the meat company to store the venison steaks, venison burger, vension roasts, etc. Well, one day I decided to cook a roast. I put it in the crock pot with onion soup mix just like a beef roast. It cooked all day long, so it was really tender, but it was so gamey that we just couldn't eat it. I never did learn how to cook venison to make it enjoyable. Any suggestions?

The second disaster was chili. My mom made chili alot when I was growing up. I often saw her use what she called a chili brick. This was a block of chili--the saucey stuff with spices--minus the meat and beans. It always tasted so good when she made it that I thought I could figure it out on my own if I just had the chili brick. So, I bought the chili brick, read the directions, and made the chili. I was so excited for dinner that night, but when I tasted it, something was not right. I added a few more spices of my own; still not good. I added some tomato sauce; no good. I had Craig taste it; nope. We added ketchup; yuk! Finally we threw it out and probably had sandwiches for dinner, I don't remember. Anyway, it was bad. I don't even know if you can find chili bricks in the stores anymore, but I wouldn't recommend it.

I've saved the best for last. Chicken and rice is a staple in our household, as I'm sure it is in most. One Sunday, when we lived in Payson, AZ, I decided to try cooking it in the crock pot instead of the oven. Back then, I used whole pieces of chicken, bone and all. So I mixed up the rice with the cream soups and milk, put it in the crock pot with the chicken pieces, sprinkled the top with onion soup mix, turned on the crock pot, and we went on our merry way to church. When we got home, there was a terrible smell and when I lifted the lid on the crock pot, everything was foaming! It was so gross! We didn't want to just throw it away, because it smelled so bad, so we dumped it over the side of a ditch that ran along the house where we were living. I don't know if the chicken was bad or what, but I haven't tried cooking chicken and rice in the crock pot since then. I wonder if the javelinas ate the chicken?