John and Christine came over Monday evening because we try to get together once a week to have dinner. Monday’s get together was thrown together last minute. While driving home from work, I called Elise to tell her that John and Christine were coming over at 7:30. I asked if she would make the Mexican lasagna that we had recently bought ingredients for. She said she would as I had to run across town to get some Christmas shopping done.
I get home at 7:15. No Elise. No Mexican lasagna. I called my wife to find out when she would be home. She was stuck at the office. I had to make dinner. I found two Mexican lasagna recipes on the same page of the cookbook Elise wanted to use. Confusion ensued. I called Elise to ask which recipe to use. You see, Elise is (or was) very ‘by the book’ when it comes to cooking. When I cook, I base the meal on a recipe but improvise a lot.
I became flustered as this meal wasn’t from a recipe that I had chosen. It was a simple recipe but still, one that I hadn’t planned.
Since I thought I had to prepare the meal ‘by the book’ because it was Elise’s choice of recipe, I didn’t improvise (much). I would have made the lasagna more spicy. I did slice jalapenos and served those on the side.
Anyway – the meal was good. Everyone liked it and I took 70% of the credit and left Elise with the other 30% for her choice of the meal.
John and Christine left and Elise and I jokingly bickered about how I became flustered, didn’t improvise and had to call Elise for help with the recipe. She said I didn’t have to go by the book and that she is starting to improvise as well. It was a stubborn, still jokingly drawn-out conversation.
Christine went into labor the next day. It is speculated that the spicy meal from the night before might have helped induce labor.
Since I like to cook, I thought about creating a nice little placcard to hang above the stove that would read something like: “Chef de Cuisine Josh Janicek – specializing in fanciful fare that might induce labor”.
I mentioned this idea to my lovely wife. She then wanted MORE credit for the night before’s meal. Jokingly stubborn bickering ensued. Again.