Day 43 Big Ideas Sometimes Come With A Little Smoke

My love of food experimentation and jumping in way over my head, started very early. I was ten, when I made my first serious dinner, it was for my parent's anniversary and I was determined to do it by myself. I never once thought about making something easy like a cake, no!  I went big, I wanted to make the most difficult thing, a ten year old had ever made. I wanted them to gasp with surprise and wipe away a tear, while wondering how I, a child had pulled off this feast. My menu was manicotti and garlic bread. I found a recipe and enlisted an aunt to drive me to the market to buy the ingredients. As I picked out each item, she nervously wondered out loud whether I should try something easier, like burgers or spaghetti, no, no, no, it had to be huge, it had to be Italian, and it had to be manicotti. The day arrived and I had one hour, after school before my parents arrived home from work. I set to work, following the recipe to perfection, like a tiny Martha Stewart. I boiled the manicotti, I stuffed the slippery pasta without tearing even one, I covered it beautifully with sauce, and put it into the oven to bake. The minutes were ticking closer to my parent's arrival; everything was perfect, until it was time to broil the garlic bread. The bread began to burn and then smoke, I turned the oven off, but of course the smoke detector blared a nonstop, honking warning. I ran next door, like my hair was on fire and yelled for my aunt to help me. I wasn't so much worried that the house would burn down; I just didn't want to ruin the scene, where my parents came in and cried over my meal, I had to get the smoke out, fast! Of course, just as we reached the front door, my parents pulled up. They were met with a chaotic, smoke filled house, burned bread, and a halfway decent manicotti with a few chewy parts. They were impressed and went on and on about how I hadn't needed any help until the very end; they ate every bite and asked for more. I still consider it one of my biggest accomplishments and appreciate the encouragement and love that they showed me back then. That was 25 years ago this week and I'm still getting in way too deep, but learning a lot. Happy Anniversary!

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