Not My Fault!

November 15, 2019

“It really wasn’t my fault!” I protested to deaf ears on the other end of the line. Linda and daughter Jessie were laughing maniacally as I related how son-in-law Todd was greeted by a low-hanging pall of smoke as he walked into the kitchen. It’s hard to mess up tater tots and chicken nuggets, but if anyone can do it, I’m the man for the job. The smoke however, was wafting from the oven through any gap in the seal, and hit me in the face with an energetic puff when I opened the oven door. Oddly enough, neither the tater tots nor the nuggets were burning. It was the remnants of the overflow from last week’s scalloped potatoes. Linda had set a clever trap! 

After dinner when we were going around the table with “high-low,” Izzi opined that my chicken nuggets and tater tots were actually quite good. I’ll take that as exoneration after thirty years of culinary abuse! It didn’t hurt that in addition to the nuggets and tots, I had ordered a pizza from the Superette, and the kids were able to wash it all down with some of my fresh-pressed cider.

The Bailey saga began when our kids were young. Linda had decided (with much encouragement from moi) to go back to grad school, so the rest of us needed to pick up some slack, aka chores, around the house. On this one particular evening, knowing my culinary prowess, Linda had set out a couple cans of chicken noodle soup. It didn’t look like enough, so I added some Lipton’s, and then some Ramen Noodles. It still looked a bit thin, so I broke a couple eggs into it for egg drop soup. Son Nathan took one look and said, “Let’s get pizza; I’ll treat!” Such is the origin of my famous pizza recipe: three different kinds of noodle soup, a couple eggs, and voila! Pizza!

Linda is gone for the evening, enjoying some long overdue mother-daughter time with Jessie, so I have the grandkids all by myself. Aside from the smoky entrance, it’s a good evening; pizza, nuggets, and tots, bound together by lots of laughter. Tonight however, my cooking isn’t at the center of the hilarity. Well, maybe a little bit. The real heart of it however, is the love, for which I am grateful tonight.