There’s Always a Silver Lining

November 20th, 2009 | Posted by Alison Spath in Dinner Time

Tonight, in the history of cooking in my own kitchen, I had an EPIC FAIL dinner. It was a disaster – completely to blame on a new ingredient that I’ve never cooked with before: Polenta.

I will attempt this meal again next week and will share more details on tonight’s disaster then. Until that time I’m going to be annoyingly cryptic.

Fortunately though, there’s always a silver lining.

Like a giant salad? Thank goodness there’s always a Plan B.

Salad Makes It All Better

Packages from sweet friends named Whitney would be part of tonight’s silver lining as well.

Whit very generously sent us an awesome house warming package from a great little pottery shop she likes, The Muddy Muse.

Some house numbers to go with our new casa!

65

Along with a totally sweet and very Waldorf homeschooly Fairy Door for the girls that they are going to love!

Fairy Door

I was so touched by Whit’s sweet gesture, I am in love with all three pieces! The numbers are the perfect compliment to our new yellow house! I’m not even going to show the Fairy Door to the girls until after we have moved in to the new house. I’ve got big plans to put it on one of the big old trees in our new back yard and tell them we have a tree with fairies living in it. They are at the perfect age for this and I can’t wait to play.

Thank you Whit for these beautiful pieces of pottery, this care package totally made my day!

Silver lining #3? The discovery of some holiday teas from Stash Tea.

New Holiday Teas

I am enjoying some Christmas Eve Tea as I type, even though it’s only Saturday Eve. It’s a spearmint tea with cinnamon and orange peel and is quite enjoyable. I really wanted to try the Chai but it’s going to have to wait until the morning lest I lay in bed awake all night wondering if I hear reindeer hooves on the roof.

Cranky toddlers that finally collapse in an exhausted heap on the couch? Let’s call this tonight’s fourth silver lining. Although bumping this up to number THREE might be more appropriate.

Formerly Grumpy Child

And last, but very far from least, another silver lining that came in a cardboard box tonight.

At least I was entertained as I made ruined dinner. See? There’s always a silver lining.


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17 Responses

  • Cindy says:

    OH I LOVE polenta…so sorry to hear it wasn’t nice to you! POOEY.
    Is that Ava in the box? At first I guessed it was one of your cats and JJ was glued to see where the cat was. He is still asking me..CAT?

    and Max sleeping is SO ADORABLE!

    and putting the fairy door on a tree IS THE BEST IDEA!!! They will love it!
    you got to stop taunting us with tea…I hawked my car for the last tea stash I finally found ! HAHA

  • Holly says:

    hahahahaha i thought it was a cat under the box!

    ummm stash holiday teas? maybe for the love of Hay-suss i will actually be able to find these. i had an epic cupcake fail this week if it makes you feel any better. we live, we learn :)

    love you!

  • Love the collapsed toddler.

    Polenta. Choosing Raw Gena just did a post yesterday on recreating a raw polenta inspired meal. However I glossed over the post b/c it’s not my flavor mojo. I am a chocolate girl :) Or a salad. I would have adored your salad!

  • Jennifer says:

    Those pottery pieces are BEAUTIFUL!!! I love them!!! They will look perfect at your new house. That was very nice of her. :)

    The box video cracked me up!! What is it with kids and boxes? We always joke that we could of just given them boxes instead of the actual gift. (haha)

  • Erica says:

    Hmm I’ve cooked with polenta a few times. I like it in the more mushy version. Whenever I’ve tried to get it into a more shaped/solid version- I usually hit a fail too! I think the best way to get polenta solid is to buy in that way in the freezer section :) Beautiful house numbers. And love the video

  • Sorry about the polenta!! I had it come out once successful and once in the form of a tragedy. The good news is that when it *does* come out successful, it’s totally worth the effort. ๐Ÿ˜€

    I used to love cardboard boxes as a kid..haha! Adorable video. ๐Ÿ˜€

  • Robin says:

    My first time with polenta was a disaster but since I have made a few good things with it. I hate cooking disasters. I think every time I pull out my blender there is a cooking disaster and I end up with a burnt hand.

  • Nicole says:

    Isn’t that funny when they play with the box instead of the toy that came it? I remember that my sis and I got a good week out of a refrigerator box. It was awesome!!

    Good luck with another polenta trial! It is amazing when you get it right!

  • Jane/you-know-who says:

    I bought the prepared organic polenta recently, was shocked at how bland it was and decided to use it (thinly sliced) as a substitute for lasagna noodles. Now THAT was good.

  • Julie says:

    Oooh polenta is tricky. I made it once (actually I bought a polenta log and cut off a slice and grilled it) and it was mushier than I thought it would be. It wasn’t very good either.

    Love the fairy door! So cute and fun for the girls! Speaking of which, how the heck was Ava moving around under there?! It looks like an animal trying to escape, she was moving so fast!

  • I’ve never cooked with polenta either. Good luck the next time you try it ๐Ÿ˜€

    That chai tea sounds SO good. I love chai during the holidays.

  • Sharon says:

    I made Haylee guess what was under the box, a kitty or Ava. She guessed right. Love the house numbers!

  • I was expecting a cat under that box LOL!

    Those house numbers and plaque are beautiful!

  • Bernadette says:

    God there is nothing more precious than a sleeping baby!! Look at those little hands, so angelic!!

    That video reminded me of my son when he was little. I swear the happiest day of his life was when I got a new dishwasher…no joke, that boy played with the box for weeks after. He would cut it into airplanes, cars…you name it. Every night he’d say “please don’t throw it away ok mama?” We had that box until it was limp and he couldn’t do anything more with it, then he said I could throw it away…. Awwwww

    Have a wonderful saturday!!

  • Pat says:

    I have never even attempted polenta. All I hear is how hard it is to get right! Good luck with it – there has to be a trick to it.

  • Whit says:

    I LOVE the video! And you are right, the numbers match perfectly! The new house is gorgeous, btw. Thanks for sending me the pics so I could see that it matched.

    I can’t wait to see how the girls like the fairy door. ๐Ÿ˜€

  • Pat says:

    Hey I was looking into polenta and there was a hint to cook it in a slow cooker. Check Wikopedia. There are a bunch of interesting wsys to prep it there.
    Hugs to all of U!