Mama Diaries

Friday, February 20, 2015

A Meal for Davy Jones' Locker

Yesterday, I thought I'd make a nice meal for my family:  Coconut Thai Shrimp.  The recipe called for it to be cooked in a crock pot.  So I assembled the ingredients and threw them in the pot. After four hours, the thing was supposed to be ready.  But it wasn't.  The rice was still uncooked. I shrugged, replaced the lid, and let it continue cooking - for two more hours.

 It wasn't supposed to be in there that long, but I had gotten a little distracted.  I had totally forgotten the crock pot was still on. When I came downstairs, my nose told me something was amiss.  I opened the lid and peeked inside.  Gruel is the only word I can use to describe it. The rice was a sticky mess, the snap peas had lost their form, and the red bell peppers looked like floppy worms.

Mmmm. Delectable! I thought.  I grabbed some plates and scooped the gruel on them.  "Dinner time!" I called.

My family assembled around the table. They took one look at that stuff and decided there was no way they were going to eat it.

"It looks like school cafeteria food," my daughter said.

My husband agreed. "Argh," he said. "It had potential, but now it's only fit for Davy Jones' Locker!"

Ay, Maties.  Another Mama masterpiece!



74 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. I really need to pay attention to what I'm doing when I'm cooking!

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  2. Tell the family they can eat what's cooked or walk the plank (-:

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    1. Haha! Except I'm outnumbered, so they'd probably throw me overboard if I tried that. ;0)

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  3. What Angela said!
    Really hard to overcook in a crockpot. Yours must be extra powerful.

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    1. You just can't have rice and pea pods in a crock pot too long. The result isn't pretty!

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  4. Lol! Here's to gruel! Your family's lucky. My mom would've said, "It tougher where there isn't any." And continued with dinner! ;D

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  5. Lol! and it was all going so well ...!

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    1. It would've been really good. Better luck next time.

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  6. Oh dear. That sounds unappetizing indeed. My hubby's used to things like that from me occasionally. He's nice enough to lie through his teeth and tell me it's a great "invention." Have a good weekend! :)

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    1. Ha! I'm actually surprised my husband said it had potential. Usually when I screw up, he shows no mercy. ;0)

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  7. Use the pressure cooker, your rice , vegies, lentils everything would be cooked to perfection in just 20 minutes, that is the beauty of Indian pressure cooker. It is so versatile, quick non messy and time saving.
    Better luck next time though!

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    1. That is quick. Does it have to sit longer when you have meat in the recipe?

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    2. No Sherry, it would cook meat also in the same amount of time. You would get it any Indian stores,They are very quick and hassle free, they come with their own containers to stack it one over the other, depending on the size you are looking for. Some of the best brands are Hawkins and Prestige, I prefer the Hawkins brand as because of its narrow mouth it cooks much faster than other pressure cookers. Check it out for yourself. And it comes with a recipe book too. And it has no maintainence. except for washing it like any other vessel after use.

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  8. My family didn't like my cooking even if it wasn't in the oven for too long.
    Try it again perhaps all will be well.

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    1. I'll give it another go when I don't have so much to distract me. ;0)

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  9. Oh dear, hope you still had some dinner!

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  10. food has no vitamins or nutrients after being cooked for more than an hour, even half an hour is too much :)

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    1. So, does cooking a chicken for an hour and a half remove all the vitamins?

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  11. Pizza time? My family would not even think twice.
    I have never used a crockpot I stir a lot of vegetables so I guess crockpot would not work for me.

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    1. Crockpots are convenient, especially when you don't have much time during the dinner hour to prepare the food.

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  12. Sadly, there no worse comparison than "It looks like school cafeteria food,".

    Yup, I'd have ordered pizza.

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    1. Yes. You know it was bad if she made a comment like that!

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  13. Heck I would have at least given it a try. Some food tastes much better than it looks!

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    1. I was the only one who gave it a try. It tasted okay. The consistency was weird, though.

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  14. That's the problem with crockpots... they vary so much in temperature that you just have to experiment, and with that comes the occasional misfire. It's the hallmark of a creative cook!

    As for critics, I say let them eat pb&j.

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    Replies
    1. Haha! I've had to resort to PBJ's a lot in my cooking career!

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  15. If I'd made that comment, I might have been en route to Davy Jones' Locker

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    1. Haha! Do you think it's too late to send him there? ;0)

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  16. Those cooking failures that are not funny at all when they happen...but always a funny story to tell later. I've had that happen mostly with cakes....burnt or a simple mess to throw away right away ;)

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    1. My husband has had many bakery item disasters. That's one thing I usually do right. I can bake. He can cook. ;0)

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  17. I've made those meals. I even made a soup/stew that our dog wouldn't eat . . . that one was the worst.

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  18. That is when it is time to order in

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  19. This is why I so rarely cook! But, I have been wanting to use my crockpot more. Maybe I need to start simple... :) Hope the next meal is more of a success. :)
    ~Jess

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    1. Crockpots are convenient. You can usually make some pretty good meals in them.

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  20. *LOL* Davy Jones might throw it back out of the sea! Reasons like that are why I don't cook often. hehehe! Have a good weekend and stay warm.

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  21. I'm sure that most of your meals are delicious. That was a bad recipe.

    Love,
    Janie

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  22. One time I managed to destroy pizza when all I had to do was reheat it. My boyfriend has also requested that I don't make tacos again. Cooking is a struggle.

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    1. I hear you. I've been trying to perfect my cooking techniques for thirty years. I still have a long way to go! ;0)

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  23. You can't win them all. The alternative is to do like I always do. I can't cook many things at all. I get so nervous about cooking when I do that I stand over everything obsessing that it's going to go wrong. I could be doing other things while I wait if I wasn't so nervous about it.

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    1. I should just stick to the things I make best and not get all experimental. But it's fun to step outside the box and try new things!

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  24. Ha ha mam your story made me to laugh and laugh.

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    1. Glad you liked it. (Be glad you didn't have to eat it!)

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  25. Kinda sounds like the right place for it

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  26. This made me laugh! I can just imagine that happening here too!

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  27. Haha, that bad? It happened to me..I was cooking cassoulet and I completely forgot the stove was still on while I was busy entertaining during a party. it completely dried up and was way too salty, I had to order KFC instead.

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  28. After four hours... the rice was still uncooked? The story of my life. School cafeteria food? Ouch!

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    1. The pot was on low, so maybe that had something to do with it. But that's what the recipe called for. When I cranked it up to high, things got done quickly!

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  29. I've eaten amazing things that looked like gruel.

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    1. This didn't taste bad. It just looked disgusting, and had a strange consistency.

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  30. It could always be worse. I once dated a woman who accidentally set fire to a sandwich. Just let that set in.

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    1. That is the single greatest story I've ever heard.

      Did it look like this?

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    2. Haha! That's hilarious! I'm sure the relationship didn't make it much farther after that! ;0)

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  31. I would have made my best attempt at eating it.

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    1. I tried some. The flavor wasn't bad. The consistency was pretty awful, though.

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  32. As I don't like seafood to begin with this wouldn't be a dish I'd try but to compare it to school dinners? Surely nothing is that bad?

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  33. At first I was ready to join the feast, at the end, I wanted run. (lol)

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    1. You definitely didn't want to stick around for this feast! ;0)

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  34. Time to order a pizza!!! My mother-in-law posted some garlic shrimp recipe on Facebook. I tried it and I thought it was great but my husband wasn't a fan. We visited at Christmas and my m-i-l said, "You used fresh shrimp, right?" I said, "No. Frozen. I couldn't find fresh." If I have to peel and devein shrimp, I'm out! Give me a recipe where I can use frozen shrimp, and I'm there... It wasn't like it was Gordon's shrimp. It was the real stuff over in the seafood section--just frozen.

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    1. Or visit the Rib Shack! ;0)

      Yeah - fresh shrimp is a little hard to find.

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  35. Time to phone Mr. Delivery! LOL

    (Sherry, yours was one of the winning definitions in my Play Along with Whacky Words challenge over at my blog!)

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    1. Cool! I'm glad you liked my definition! I'll have to go see which word it was I defined.

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