Sunday Morning Coffee Musings 7/22/18 – Mistakes were made
This is ridiculous.
How can we be out of onions? We don’t use cumin seed for 10 years, all of a sudden we’re out of it? What the hell happened to the regular paprika? Where are the coriander seeds?
It’s the last day of vacation. I decided that I would make a slow cooker lamb curry because hey, we have a boneless leg of lamb in the freezer that should get used, we both like curry, and it’s too hot and muggy to cook. Also, I’m getting a little sick of eating burgers.
So, dear reader, I did the thing that I make fun of people for doing: I didn’t read the recipe thoroughly before I started. Oh, I had the right amount of lamb, and I actually had ghee, and I was certain I had all the spices (see the picture) since I happen to own most of the Penzey’s collection.
What I had forgotten is to check. We had used the onions up a couple of days ago, and it was on the list to purchase. The regular paprika was so old we had thrown it out months ago, and now all we have is Hungarian Hot and a smoked paprika. Both tasty, but not what was called for in the recipe. We also used up the cayenne pepper, but I did have a back up for that one.
I used up my dried shallots and dried minced onion, added extra water to the recipe to account for the dried vegetables, and went ahead anyway. That was my plan B.
Yes, I know better. Yes, I know I should have checked, especially on a dish that requires a lot of pre-cooking prep before you start to heat the skillet to brown the meat. I, too, am a human and I will make mistakes.
So today’s lesson for me is humility. When I think I’m all that and a bag of chips, I need to check in and remember that I have made mistakes in the past, and I’m going to make mistakes in the future as well. Is it the end of the world that the spice mix is going to be a little different than what was called for in the recipe? Not really, as I have a pretty good idea of how I can substitute when I’m out of certain things. Could I have just used the rogan josh spice mix I had and been done with it? Fairly certain I could have, had I remembered I had it.
Most mistakes people make aren’t fatal. They aren’t even life-threatening or life changing. They are little things for the most part, and as such are usually forgivable.The mistake I keep making is to make fun of other people for their mistakes. That is a habit I am slowly working on getting rid of.
A mistake made repeatedly is one of two things – forgetfulness or a choice.
Today I am choosing to be nice, and I’m choosing to be nicer to myself as well.