Mis-steaks and Baked Potatoes - When Dinner Parties Go Wrong?

Mis-steaks and Baked Potatoes

When Dinner Parties Go Wrong?

I mentioned in my post about the Mom's Blues that my family participates in a monthly dinner party. I noted in that post just how much I enjoyed this monthly event and what a huge benefit it had been to my mood and outlook. Perhaps in the post I was being boastful or arrogant and I needed to have my attitude adjusted, perhaps it was the "meal was acting as a child does" you say they don't and they do, or perhaps I needed to learn something new and profound.  With the foreshadowing out of the way, I'll begin my story. 

The dinner party was scheduled to be at our house this month. My youngest son was taking his final ITBS test, the 10th grade test, of his homeschooling career. He was taking his test at home this year because there was only one other high school age student who wanted to take the ITBS. Thus, paying a proctor for two students was not as cost effective as allowing the testing to take place at home since each parent was a qualified proctor themselves. I felt like I had hit the "time lottery".  This was going to be the most laid back, stress free dinner party I had ever hosted.  I would have all day at home to prepare. Yippee!

Menu: 

1st course:   Asparagus soup with Wholegrain Batter Bread

2nd course:  Marinated T-bone Steaks with Baked Russet Potato or Baked Sweet Potato

3rd course:  Cream Puffs with Vanilla Filling and Dark Chocolate Drizzle

I had removed the steaks from the freezer the night before and had begun their marinading. (Italian dressing makes a marvelous and quick marinade for beef.) Additionally, I had started my whole grain flour to soaking in the acidic liquid, preparing for the batter bread. So first thing in the morning I rotated the steaks, picked some more asparagus, wrapped the potatoes in foil and placed them in the crock pot on low, and picked a variety of flowers for my centerpiece.  I headed back out of gather eggs. 

Cream puffs and their filling require very few ingredients but one of those ingredients is eggs, 7 eggs as a matter of note.  During the planning of the meal earlier this month, I called my mom and ran a "what if I" past her.  I was not willing to experiment first and ask questions later.  So I asked mom what if I . . . whipped the cream puff filling, which is a cooked pudding, with the whisk attachment of my stand mixer?  Would this increase the volume of my filling?  She felt it would.  

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By 1:30PM, having gathered enough eggs, I had created a double batch of dainty little cream puffs, and I had baked my batter bread.  I was feeling like the most marvelous homemaker.  I was calm.  It was time to fill the cream puffs.  During a break between test subjects, I placed the filling in the bowl of the stand mixer, affixed the whisk attachment, and turned the machine on five.  It took all of 20 seconds to realize this was a huge miscalculation. Twenty more seconds past before I could convince myself the filling was not going to fluff up.  In forty seconds, I had reduced my lovely vanilla filling to a thick vanilla flavored milk.. Inside my head, I'm saying, "Just return the filling to the frig; it might set back up." With dread and doubt, I returned the filling to the refrigerator.

We finished the first day of testing by 4 PM and I made an attempt to fill the cream puffs.  The filling didn't set back up and was too runny to stay in the pastry bag.  If I did get any filling in the puff, when I set it down the filling ran back out.  My dessert dreams were dashed.  I called mom. She was shocked.  She too was at a loss as to why it happened but it did.  So now what?  I'd use all the beautiful little crispy puffs and create a trifle.  I needed a cup of tea and a small piece of the batter bread.  It was cool now and I needed a break to regroup.  But first, I must remove the steaks from the refrigerator.  After all Rachael Ray, says a room temperature steak grills better.

I pull the bread knife from the drawer and fetch the cutting board.  I attempt, yes I said attempt, to cut around the loaf so I can free it from the pan.  I cannot not cut the loaf free. I had to chisel the loaf free.  You see in all the excitement of making the most lovely little cream puffs, my bread was also rising and when I placed the bread batter in the pyrex pans; I had forgotten to spray them.  That one small overlooked detail had left me clawing at the loaves, freeing one shred at a time from the pan. I make a cup of herbal tea and butter a torn piece of the bread.  "Maybe I can call it 'European Torn Batter Bread'", I say to myself as I sit for a short rest. 

Small Silent Prayer, "Dear Lord, I know many things come in 3's.  

Please let there not be a 3rd dinner failure. Amen"

By now, only an hour separates me from the arrival of my guests. It is time to make myself and my table presentable for company.   I asked my youngest son to preheat the grill.  We begin to set the table.  The time comes to set the steaks on the grill and we even remembered to set the timer so we won't get distracted and forget to turn the steaks.  I was planning on a serving a nice medium rare steak.  I warm the oven to hold the steaks during the steak course.  Six minutes later the youngest son is yelling from yard as he extinguished the flames leaping from grill.  A grease fire had charred the underside of all 8 steaks.  There it was faux-pas number three. 

Our guests arrived and we settled into our evening meal.  

Newly Adjusted Menu:

1st Course:     Asparagus Soup with European Torn Batter Bread

2nd Course:   Mis-steaks and Baked Russet or Baked Sweet Potato

3rd Course:    Cream Puff Trifle with Fresh Whipped Cream and Chocolate Sauce

Although the menu changed, one thing remained the same. We enjoyed the evening with our friends.  We chatted and laughed.  We filled each other with stories of the accomplishments and concerns of our families. We had great fellowship. It didn't matter that the menu had been altered by errors. There is a proverb in the Bible, "Better a small serving of vegetables with love than a fattened calf with hatred" (Proverbs 15:17)  I could have served peanut butter and jelly with the crust cut off beside bowls of apple sauce. It isn't the meal or the center piece.  It is the friendship we share and our concern for each other's welfare.  As the evening ended, we broke out our calendars and planned next month.  Next month, , , dinner is at their house.