On the outside, it may look like I have it all together in the kitchen. I mean, I have a food blog, teach cooking classes and have web series produced by DevHour TV.
Well, I’m here to tell you that it’s been a long journey getting here and I continually screw up just like everyone else. I think part of learning is making mistakes and I’ve had my fair share of embarrassing moments in the kitchen. In the end, from all the times I’ve messed up in the kitchen, I’ve actually learned a lot about what to do and what not to do. It’s also helped me learn what sort of things taste good together…and what doesn’t.
So without further ado, here are my 5 most embarrassing moments!
1) Don’t Drink and Cook: When I first started dating my boyfriend, he took me up to his family’s house in Maine where I told him I would cook him my famous Macaroni and Cheese. The whole drive up, I bragged about how delicious my cooking was and how I was kind of known for this Mac and Cheese. When we got there, I was a little nervous so I decided to have a cocktail (or two…). After calming my nerves, I started cooking, I wasn’t fully paying attention and I ended up adding the milk without turning down the heat and the sauce curdled up and there was NO way I could save it.
Needless to say, we ate curdled mac and cheese for dinner that night. I was mortified, but I know to ALWAYS turn down the heat before adding milk! Plus, Dan and I are engaged now and still laugh about that story, so it couldn’t have been that bad, right?
2) There is More than ONE Camera, Erica: Recently, DevHour TV asked me if I wanted to start doing cooking segments for them. They said they came across my blog and were impressed and thought I would do great behind the camera! I was SO excited and within a week, the camera crew was in my house and we were getting started.
The first recipe I filmed was for my Green Detox Smoothie (which I make every single morning), so I wasn’t too concerned with making it for the camera. Within the first 5 minutes of filming, I was describing my ingredients and I forgot that they had a camera pointing down on my them, so I held up my recently halved avocado for the main camera to see. When I went to take the pit out, I was trying to look at the camera at the same time and I almost cut my finger off. I had a huge gash and if you look closely at the video, you can see I go from having no bandaid in the beginning, to having a bandaid…whoops!
3) Red chiles are HOT!: A few months ago I had one of my girlfriends over for a cooking night. I was making a sauce and I wanted to add a little spice to it. I decided to add a dried red chile pepper, but I ended up using way too much (in hindsight, 1/8 of the pepper would have been sufficient). I taste tested the sauce and was so embarrassingly hot, I would have killed her.
I thought on my feet and decided to strain the hot peppers out of the sauce and add a bunch of chicken stock and sugar to counter the heat. In the end, the sauce didn’t kill us, but it sure cleaned out our sinuses. Note to self…chill out on the chile peppers.
4) Sugar is HOT when melted!: The other day my friends and I decided to do a sushi night. I’m a huge fan of homemade sauces, so I decided to make my famous unagi (eel) sauce. I was distracted by the other things I was making and ended up leaving the heat on too high and the sauce popped and splashed on my face. I ended up with a huge 2nd degree burn blister on the side of my mouth. Oops.
Side note…I was able to muster the strength to clean out the pan and re-make the sauce. It was amazing.
5) Ravioli stick together: The first time I ever made homemade ravioli, I actually cried. I spent about 6 hours trying to figure out how to make the dough and get them filled perfectly. Once I got everything complete, I boiled them and put them on a plate to cool. What I didn’t realize was that fresh pasta sticks together much easier than dried and by the time I was done, I had a mountain of ravioli all stuck together. I ended up cutting it and eating it like a lasagna.
I shared these with you not because I’m a sucker for punishment or want everyone to laugh and make fun of me, but to let you know that it’s okay to make mistakes in the kitchen and that shouldn’t stop you from trying again! If I stopped after after any of these things, I wouldn’t be here today, writing about my passion for food/cooking and inspiring you all to get in the kitchen!
So now that I’ve shared all my embarrassing moments with you, share some with me! What is your most embarrassing kitchen moment?
Love always,
Erica
