The Worst Day...

The week had been dragging by ever so slowly and I was finally relieved to be home and happy to be cooking. I chopped a quarter of a brown onion, neatly lined up the cinnamon, bay leaf, and rosemary sprig, and crushed the chile de arbol between my fingers as I waited for the oil to heat up in the cute little red Le Creuset pot that my mom had purchased at Costco. I tilted it briefly to spread the oil over the bottom surface of the pot and turned slightly to scoop up the chopped onion with my knife and the assistance of my left hand.

Then, "crack!" The pot basically cracked/exploded on top of the electric burner and the oil caught on fire. I quickly swatted the fire with my handy red and white kitchen towel. The moment was brief but at this point my already moody mood was on a accelerated downward spiral. My mom packed up the broken pieces so that she could take it back to Costco and tell them that our Le Creuset, a pot that could handle anything and everything in the world, exploded on our stove. [But it's a good thing she just threw it away because cooking with Le Creuset stoneware on top of the stove is a no-no].

Mentally I moved on, the exploding pot was just another little speedbump in my already miserable tired week. Not wanting any stove top drama and or even any auditory excitement of sizzle and sear I broiled the leftover marinated ro-seu-gui (ribeye). *sniffle* I had been feeling under the weather and sniffles was what I was condemned with. I blew my nose and although my hands never touched my already slightly raw nose it started to burn like crazy. Arg! I ran over to my mom and she put a small dollop of lotion on my nose. Ahhh, relief - well sorta.

I had also planned to bake a chocolate cake, my first cake from scratch ever, but a nice cup of green tea was in order for a bit of relaxation before I tackled this new challenge. I got out my new white tea pot from Surfas, nothing special but a welcomed addition to my tableware at only $8. I filled the the strainer with premium loose leaf green tea that I had given my parents as a gift and waited for the water to boil.

Well things continued to go wrong as I had forgotten to warm the tea pot and filled the strainer with way too much tea. What ususally is a pleasant combination of soothing nuttiness marked by a subtle floral note came out bitter, dark, and downright unenjoyable. Sigh. And is it impossible to pour tea without spillage as you attempt to taper the flow? Sigh~

I think my decision at this point to 86 baking my first cake ever was a brilliant idea. What are the chances of that working out when all these other more simpler tasks came to a screeching failure. On the bright side at least the tea cup I used to drink the bitter out of was pretty.