My thoughts on Super Bowl XLV...?? What a joke! It should have been called the "Recession Bowl!" I never watched a more boring Super Bowl in my life! By this I mean, the whole production, not the game- though that was a bit of a snooze also! Is it just me or did the Packers not seem that excited to have won?!? I'm more a Steelers fan but I thought both teams played well. Still, it was just ho-hum. Let's face it, if something exciting doesn't happen on the field, than you are stuck relying on all the other features of the show. In which case, utter disappointment! The advertising was lame! Terrible! What happened to the two-million dollar commercial slots?! I guess the recession has hit advertisers as well because I can't recall one witty or funny commercial worthy of being aired during game-time. The half-time show sucked. The performances were boring, the artists poorly miked, and the singing mediocre at best. While I'm a fan of the Black-Eyed Peas, I don't feel they were a good choice. Their latest album is overly-digitized and does not translate well to a live performance. Despite having also sung tunes from previous albums and a slightly awkward rendition of a Guns N' Roses song, both singing and performance was not up to par for an event of this magnitude. And let's not forget about Christina Aguilera's blunder of The Star Spangled Banner. Which I would be more sympathetic about had I not seen her botch it at least once before. It begs the question, "how many times do you need to sing the national anthem before you learn the lyrics, and how many times do you get to f*ck it up before they stop asking you too?!?" Geez, pop culture is on a fast this week.
Speaking of fasts, I'm sure you're dying to know what went on at my house during the game. I did not cancel our little get-together, though once the news of illness got out a lot of people RSVP'd- no. What's a matter, no one wants a side of sick with their Super Bowl!? LOL. One brave soul did choose to attend so I carried on with my game-day meal plan against better judgment. On the menu for Packers fans was Wisconsin Cheddar Soup. I had painstakingly prepared every last detail of this dish perfectly. While I still had no sense of taste, I could start to detect the aroma of beer and garlic starting to take shape in this soup. The final step- pureeing the contents in a blender until perfectly smooth. So with thirty minutes to spare, I poured half the stockpot of soup into the blender. Doubtful it would all fit, I pulsed the first batch. Hmm...let's see if I can get the second half in without having to do it in batches. Wow! Every last drop fit. Now the question is, did I leave enough room to blend without the steam blowing the lid sky-high. We have success! Perfectly pleased with myself and the result and happy to have completed the last task necessary to be finished with this ordeal, I began to lift the blender jar by its handle to pour the soup back into the stockpot. As I do, the bottom of the blender jar unscrews from the base, and the entire contents of the stockpot of soup dumps everywhere. Now here's where it gets interesting...
I have elected to use the blender on top of my ceramic cooktop because it makes transferring the soup back and forth from the very heavy and hot stockpot easier. So I have cheese soup pouring down the front of my oven and underneath my stove. It has seeped down the sides of my oven, in-between the stove and the counter-top, and has splashed all over the front of me. It soaked the floor mat which I am half standing on and is finding its way across my wooden floor. As if this isn't bad enough, I am screaming "HELP!!!!" at the top of my lungs for my husband to come and help me, and I am making no sound. It is just like a horror film where a girl is about to get stabbed by the boogieman and she screams but no sound comes out! Damn Laryngitis! I start stomping my foot on the floor hoping my husband, who is in the basement below, will detect this distress call while I simultaneously rip my soup-soaked clothes off and throw them into the sink. My husband eventually arrives with a look of disbelief on his face. I start to cry not sure if I am more upset at the mess that lay before us or the fact that I just spent two hours preparing a kettle of soup that is now completely gone! Within five minutes of the disaster our guest has arrived and is probably rethinking his decision to attend.
In short, we had to pull the stove out from the wall and wipe the top, sides, and front. We had to pull the bottom drawer out and hand wash all the baking sheets, cooling racks, and cutting boards that were stored inside. Because the soup seeped down the sides of the stove and, therefore, under the gap of the ceramic top, we had to unscrew and remove the top of the cooking surface. This was after several attempts to clean the cheese out of the gaps using toothpicks and paper towels. But before we could complete this task we had to first figure out, "how do you remove the glass top from the stove?" We had to take the oven door apart, as it seeped into the air vents in the door. My husband worked tirelessly to get the mess off the floor, while I tried to rinse the base of the blender which also has vents that were now clogged with cheese goop. Anybody feel like having a party!!!?
The moral of the story is...when you don't feel up to something, let it be. While this truly was an accident that could have happened to anybody, I'm sure my medication-educed stupor contributed to my lack of judgment. Never ever, no matter how tempting, use your ceramic smooth-top stove as a works surface. And last, but not least, always check to make sure the blender jar is secured tightly to the base. I use my blender a lot and have never had the bottom come off before. What luck! I find it only slightly humorous that the first time it unscrewed had to be on a day where it was filled to the top with a very messy liquid that I had blended for the first time on my stove top. Lesson learned.
So this fiasco has me questioning if I am fit to attend tomorrow's book seminar. I'd really like to go, but I am obviously still sick and too over-medicated to be operating a car if I wreaked this kind of havoc with a blender. I still don't have a voice, but I certainly feel better than I did a few days ago. Still, I sorta have this rule about not venturing out into public when sick. It always used to drive me crazy when sick people would come to work and were made to feel like heroes for it. While others were pinning the badge of courage on them, I always wanted to give them a slow drop kick to the head as I could almost predict that by the weekend I would be home sick with whatever germ they brought in. So I must bare this in mind before deciding. I can't wait until this is over so I can get back on track! We'll see how I feel tomorrow. Till then...
“Luck is largely a matter of paying attention.” -Susan M. Dodd
Speaking of fasts, I'm sure you're dying to know what went on at my house during the game. I did not cancel our little get-together, though once the news of illness got out a lot of people RSVP'd- no. What's a matter, no one wants a side of sick with their Super Bowl!? LOL. One brave soul did choose to attend so I carried on with my game-day meal plan against better judgment. On the menu for Packers fans was Wisconsin Cheddar Soup. I had painstakingly prepared every last detail of this dish perfectly. While I still had no sense of taste, I could start to detect the aroma of beer and garlic starting to take shape in this soup. The final step- pureeing the contents in a blender until perfectly smooth. So with thirty minutes to spare, I poured half the stockpot of soup into the blender. Doubtful it would all fit, I pulsed the first batch. Hmm...let's see if I can get the second half in without having to do it in batches. Wow! Every last drop fit. Now the question is, did I leave enough room to blend without the steam blowing the lid sky-high. We have success! Perfectly pleased with myself and the result and happy to have completed the last task necessary to be finished with this ordeal, I began to lift the blender jar by its handle to pour the soup back into the stockpot. As I do, the bottom of the blender jar unscrews from the base, and the entire contents of the stockpot of soup dumps everywhere. Now here's where it gets interesting...
I have elected to use the blender on top of my ceramic cooktop because it makes transferring the soup back and forth from the very heavy and hot stockpot easier. So I have cheese soup pouring down the front of my oven and underneath my stove. It has seeped down the sides of my oven, in-between the stove and the counter-top, and has splashed all over the front of me. It soaked the floor mat which I am half standing on and is finding its way across my wooden floor. As if this isn't bad enough, I am screaming "HELP!!!!" at the top of my lungs for my husband to come and help me, and I am making no sound. It is just like a horror film where a girl is about to get stabbed by the boogieman and she screams but no sound comes out! Damn Laryngitis! I start stomping my foot on the floor hoping my husband, who is in the basement below, will detect this distress call while I simultaneously rip my soup-soaked clothes off and throw them into the sink. My husband eventually arrives with a look of disbelief on his face. I start to cry not sure if I am more upset at the mess that lay before us or the fact that I just spent two hours preparing a kettle of soup that is now completely gone! Within five minutes of the disaster our guest has arrived and is probably rethinking his decision to attend.
In short, we had to pull the stove out from the wall and wipe the top, sides, and front. We had to pull the bottom drawer out and hand wash all the baking sheets, cooling racks, and cutting boards that were stored inside. Because the soup seeped down the sides of the stove and, therefore, under the gap of the ceramic top, we had to unscrew and remove the top of the cooking surface. This was after several attempts to clean the cheese out of the gaps using toothpicks and paper towels. But before we could complete this task we had to first figure out, "how do you remove the glass top from the stove?" We had to take the oven door apart, as it seeped into the air vents in the door. My husband worked tirelessly to get the mess off the floor, while I tried to rinse the base of the blender which also has vents that were now clogged with cheese goop. Anybody feel like having a party!!!?
The moral of the story is...when you don't feel up to something, let it be. While this truly was an accident that could have happened to anybody, I'm sure my medication-educed stupor contributed to my lack of judgment. Never ever, no matter how tempting, use your ceramic smooth-top stove as a works surface. And last, but not least, always check to make sure the blender jar is secured tightly to the base. I use my blender a lot and have never had the bottom come off before. What luck! I find it only slightly humorous that the first time it unscrewed had to be on a day where it was filled to the top with a very messy liquid that I had blended for the first time on my stove top. Lesson learned.
So this fiasco has me questioning if I am fit to attend tomorrow's book seminar. I'd really like to go, but I am obviously still sick and too over-medicated to be operating a car if I wreaked this kind of havoc with a blender. I still don't have a voice, but I certainly feel better than I did a few days ago. Still, I sorta have this rule about not venturing out into public when sick. It always used to drive me crazy when sick people would come to work and were made to feel like heroes for it. While others were pinning the badge of courage on them, I always wanted to give them a slow drop kick to the head as I could almost predict that by the weekend I would be home sick with whatever germ they brought in. So I must bare this in mind before deciding. I can't wait until this is over so I can get back on track! We'll see how I feel tomorrow. Till then...
“Luck is largely a matter of paying attention.” -Susan M. Dodd
OH NO Jennifer! I about split in two on this one. I am completely distressed at your soup travesty and all that hard work down the stove, but also cracking up because I got the visual of Dario's face finding you standing half naked drenched in soup. So sorry to hear the fiasco, brownie points to the hubbster for cleaning!
ReplyDeleteIt was indescribable!
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