Tomato Flop

Ryan decided that he wanted grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch today, and then he asked if we happened to have any tomato soup (he likes Progresso Hearty Tomato; I hate tomato soup in general, so this question was clearly only in his own interest). I didn't really feel like doing any work at the time, so I ventured downstairs to see what the pantry held. No tomato soup, no diced tomatos (despite the plethora we had--about 6 cans worth--a month ago. I have no idea where they went!), but two cans of tomato sauce (not that I know what use we have for that!) and two cans of tomato paste (vital ingredient in chili). Feeling ambitious (though only toward cooking--not graph theory, or topology, or representation theory, or the theory of what we're going to do next year, etc.), I looked on the internet for tomato soup recipes. Almost every one I found required fresh tomatoes, which we did not have, or whole canned tomatoes, which we also did not have. However, I did find a vegan recipe that only required tomato sauce (and cornstarch for thickening, but I figured flour would work just as well, and rice milk, which we did not have, but I figured cow's milk was a perfectly acceptable substitute since I didn't care about the vegan-ness at all), so I asked Ryan if he would like me to make him tomato soup. He sadly replied, "We don't have any?"
"No, but we have tomato sauce...."
"Do think you can?" Ryan asked.
"What, you think I won't be successful?!" I answered.
Of course, he reassured me that was not his thought at all; he just didn't want me to go to all that work. I insisted, so we made the soup. Ryan added some "Old World Spices," and I added the milk and flour. Then Ryan said it tasted like dough, so he added the other can of tomato sauce, since we had only used one at first (he was reluctant to waste the tomato sauce, but, as I have previously mentioned, I have no idea what we would do with it otherwise). It still tasted like dough, apparently, so Ryan ate his grilled cheese sandwich without tomato soup, which I dumped down the drain. Clearly, I was not successful. Maybe next time. Maybe there will never be a next time.

Cookbooks lie.

We have some apples that are getting old, so I decided to make applesauce. Most of my decision was based on the fact that the big red Betty Crocker cookbook says that it is "Fast." 5 minutes preparation, 20 minutes cooking, stir occasionally. So I could study while making it and not take a ton of time; therefore, I would have a lot of time left to study. I dutifully peeled the apples and cut them into fourths as directed by the recipe. Then I put them in the pan with 1/2 cup water, as directed, and brought it to a boil. I emptied the dishwasher during the 5 minutes that the apples and water were supposed to simmer, stirring occasionally to break the apples up. At the end of 5 minutes, the apples were still happily in fourths and had made no progress toward "tender." So I did the dishes while they continued to simmer for the next 5 minutes (the recipe did say 5-10 minutes of simmering). Then I stood over the stove for the next hour and fourteen minutes stirring occasionally and reading Contemporary Abstract Algebra. Finally, I gave up, added the nutmeg, cinnamon, and brown sugar, let simmer for one more minute, and ate chunky applesauce (in which some of the chunks were still not tender). Not fast. Not at all.

Pride goes before the fall

We went out to breakfast (brunch, I guess) this morning and I had a Belgian waffle with strawberries and whipped cream. My response was, "Ryan, you make better waffles." (He makes really good mixed berry waffles that are excellent with kiwi and/or strawberries and whipped cream on top). Then we went to the grocery store later to get a marinade for our steak and we had sample brownies. My response was, "I make better brownies." Then we had a real American meal: steak and potatoes (I think I once told Ryan that I would probably never make a meat and potatoes meal--so he had to do this one). We started off with a really good salad, and the steak was pretty good, but the potatoes, which were my baby, were not so great. Apparently grilling them is not the best way to go. I'm sure there are many places out there that make better spicy potato wedges than I do!