Look How Far We’ve Come

Two years ago, I decided I would cook a 3-course dinner for Joey and I’s anniversary.

We cooked about once a week — yes, making Kraft mac and cheese and frozen chicken nuggets was totally cooking — so I figured I could pull it off.

I picked 3 Cooking Light recipes from their site. Wait, let me elaborate. I picked 3 Cooking Light recipes that I’d never tried before from their site. And one of them was a soufflé. Even now, I’m not really sure what a soufflé is, so why I thought I could make one when I had barely any cooking experience is beyond me. Let’s not add in the fact that I didn’t have oven-safe dishes to bake said soufflé in.

If memory serves correctly, this is how it all went down.

Course One: Zucchini Fries

Soggy, bland, nearly inedible and highly disappointing.

Course Two: Homemade Pizza

Okay, so I thought topping our own pizzas would be really fun. Little did I know someone was going to spend 20 minutes decorating their pie. Showoff. Did I mention I was hungry and losing all patience?

But really, the lengthy decorating time was nothing compared to how long it took the actual pizza to cook. Nowadays, I pre-bake my crust, then add the toppings and put it back in the oven. Two years ago, I didn’t have that all figured out. The toppings burned, but the crust was still extremely doughy.

Course Three: Chocolate Soufflé

It never rose. Or whatever a soufflé is supposed to do when you bake it.

I spent 10 minutes in tears on the phone with my mom. Our special night had become a giant kitchen disaster, with not even one successful dish. And I was still hungry (read: extra dramatic).

I ate raw pizza for dinner and felt like crud the rest of the night.

Flash forward to last Friday. I decided I would cook Joey and I a big ol’ Christmas feast. It would be like our very own Christmas celebration, complete with dinner, dessert, presents and a Christmas movie. No pressure.

But guess what. There wasn’t any pressure. I picked 5 dishes I know how to make, gave myself lots of time and ate a snack. That last part was key.

So instead of spending the night on the phone in tears, I spent it eating a heaping plate of delicious food and laughing at Scrooged like it was the first time I’d heard all the jokes and not like I have the entire movie memorized 😛

Then I gave Joey some chapstick for Christmas and he gave me a diamond bracelet.

I guess he’s still a show off 🙂