Redemption Dinner

July 3, 2020, was a bit of an embarrassment and a day I’d just as soon forget. In fact, I pretty much did, as evidenced by my day-after post. Without going into too many sordid details, there were many hours spent in the summer heat; a bunch of gin and sodas; a botched video call with Tara, who was in Nevada; and a forgotten lawn sprinkler. Hardly my finest moment, and believe me, I’ve had a long string of those.

Kind of lost in the shuffle was the dinner I made for myself that evening. As you may recall, Tara is a picky eater, so when she goes out of town I make myself meals she doesn’t like. That evening, I dusted off the recipe for a spicy pork stir-fry I hadn’t made in years. Only, in my inebriated state, I screwed up the recipe and left out an essential ingredient—chili garlic sauce. I realized this as I was dishing up my plate and tried to make amends by mixing it into the finished product, but the end result was a fail because the pork needs to marinate, and then cook in, a combination of stir-fry and chili garlic sauce. It wasn’t the same (though honestly, I was too blitzed that night to even notice).

I knew I’d screwed it up the next day, though. Because it’s one of those dishes I make so rarely, I wanted to try again the next time Tara was out of town. So last night I gave it another go, and I’m happy to report that I redeemed myself. It was delicious!

Lesson learned: alcohol and cooking don’t mix. It’s one thing to have a glass of wine while preparing a meal, but hard liquor on an empty stomach? It’s a wonder the meal turned out edible and I didn’t chop off a finger.

Still not sure if I’m writing every day this month…