Real quickly I’ll type this 'cause the board keep shutting me down.
You go out and buy four really great tuna steaks. You take your time and pepare them perfectly. Fresh cracked pepper, fresh cracked mustard seed, dill, celery seed and a couple of other spices ( I won’t give it all away but a teeny tiny pich of arrowroot is needed), you toss 'em, brown 'em, pu t 'em in a pan and strat to finish baking 'em.
I’ve already got the potatoes in.
Making a long story short, you serve tuna steaks, baked potatoes, cauliflower and broccoli flourettes (fresh), french bread and all the fixin’s…
Dessert is waiting… strawberry sorbet that you made two days ago and have been obsessing over.
Etc., etc…
Anyway, the tuna turned out a little tough and I feel the meal was a total wash.
GBS thinks it’s the best thing since the coming of Christ.
I think I’m right.
Why would anyone think tough tuna was good. Give me 15 minutes back and I could make it right!!
Does anyone else think that when you do something, it should be done right? And if it is not done right you should get no complements?
All in all dinner sucked because the tuna was tough.
You are now leaving a “Smiley-free zone”!
A public service message brought to you by G.R.O.S.S.
I love to cook for people, and I know exactly what you mean. I think it’s because we have the vision of this perfect meal in our heads and what we actually produced didn’t quite live up to it. Our guests, on the other hand, only know that they were served up some pretty darned good chow.
Chief, maybe you are right for your palette and maybe your sweetie is right for hers. Sometimes things taste completely different to people. Not only that, its the thought that counts and sometimes that makes things taste wonderful!
We are, each of us angels with only one wing,and we can only fly by embracing one another
a) I think that if you go to that much trouble you’re going to get compliments even if the food tastes terrible.
b) I think the compliments are deserved.
c) Come on, Chief, look on the bright side! Most of it turned out OK. Tuna a little too tough is good for the teeth.
d) So smile! Since I know you love them, here’s a smiley for you.
Fish is just plain demanding. (Hey, you’re a naval professional; you should know this!) I usually undercook it, chew my nails nervously and wait for the residual heat to finish it to the perfect point.
But you’re missing a key element here. You planned, prepared and served a boffo meal with care and love. You may have judged it objectively but the compliments were genuine; food served with love always tastes great.
Besides, some people like fish “well done”. Must be a meat-related thing. So sit, back, bask in the praise and enjoy a great meal shared with someone you love. Just next time try slightly undercooking the fish and see the reaction.
Man you are hard on yourself! I would appreciate anyone cooking me dinner even if it turned out more like jerky than steak! Of course if it had chunks of stewed tomatoes and okra next to it I would prolly find the nearest place to hide it too.
I really try to be good but it just isn’t in my nature!
They’re right. It’s in the eye or the beholder. Besides, at that point you can’t change it. Life’s too short, Chief, to let stuff like this get to you. Relax and bask in the compliments. Sometimes “perfect” isn’t worth it.
Ya know there is always gonna be something that just isn’t quite right no matter how hard you try. Take the compliments and smile, you did a great job.
Chief Scott - I came home to a cheap microwave dinner zapped for 5 minutes and eaten out of the box. Which I ate alone. I’m sure the fish (and the company) was wonderful.
ChiefScott, I know exactly what you mean. It doesn’t matter HOW well the meal turned out, if it didn’t match up to my mental picture of how it was supposed to be, it’s a failure. I’ll still eat it, but I’ll complain all the while.
Sorry Chief, but I’m gonna have to go with GBS here.
It was yummy! What, you think she’s lying?
Pet peeve. I hate it when people don’t take compliments. I was gracious enough to think of something nice to say and actuallly said it to you. If you can’t truly appreciate the compliment, at least be polite. Just say “Thank You”, with a smile on your face, and move on.
I hear ya, Chief. I ran into almost exacty the same situation cooking for my then girlfriend (now wife). It was poached salmon, and I had neglected to check the fish for bones. To me, it was like eating a cactus leaf, but my beloved thought it was great. I was so pissy about it, though, that I ruined the meal for both of us.
The moral–you’re cooking to please her, not you. If she’s happy, you should be happy. Next time, though, I’m sure you’ll knock her socks off (or other items of apparel) with your cooking.
Not good enough, Frankie. After you insult his fish, you have to say something mean about his mom, and then refuse to have sex with him.
Tuna steaks are pretty damn good no matter what you do to them heatwise…I’ve enjoyed bloody rare tuna (not to mention sashimi) all the way up to the chewy stuff.
Pepper, dill, celery, mustard…I’m writin’ this down…
ARGH!!! Chief, you are sounding like my mother. She is an excellent cook, but can’t ever put anything on the table without accompanying commentary as to how the beans should have been a little less cooked, or the meat is not quite right, or the salad dressing isn’t as good as she’d hoped. This drives me batty. It’s great, we are all enjoying it. Just shut up!
Ok, I feel better now.
“I should not take bribes and Minister Bal Bahadur KC should not do so either. But if clerks take a bribe of Rs 50-60 after a hard day’s work, it is not an issue.” ----Krishna Prasad Bhattarai, Current Prime Minister of Nepal