Taking Things TOO Literally...
Jenn and I decided we would make chili Monday night. We were having a few friends come over for SYTYCD and dinner so we thought it would be an easy meal to make for crowd. I was in charge of picking up the ingredients after work and Jenn had left me a list on the counter of what we needed (see the photo). As Cheryl can attest, when it comes to things like cooking, I am extremely literal. I take it word for word and I follow what the ingredients are to a tee when both choosing them and preparing them.
I took a look at Jenn's list and thought it was pretty straightforward except for the veggies line. My head knew that chili had tomatoes, but what other vegetables normally went in, I wasn't really sure. Easy - I googled "vegetables for chili" saw peppers was an option and I like zuccini so I thought I would get that as well. So off I headed to Hartmans to fulfill my duties as sous chef.
I had a slight problem at the meat section. All of the meat came in kg measurements and not ounces as per the list. I knew that 8oz = 1 cup, but that didn't really help either... A quick phone call to Jenn and her iPhone conversion app got me to the right number of kg (0.68 ish). Whew! I would have purchased a lot more than that. Back to the meat section I go and I found a ground pork that was on sale and approximately that amount (all of the ground beef choices were too small or too big)- check! Onto the beans aisle. Per the list, I needed 2 cans of beans so I grabbed a can of kidney beans and a can of black beans, got my 4 cans of diced tomatoes (herbed and garlic flavour) and headed to check out.
Jenn was home by now so I proudly showed her my purchases... Upon a quick peruse of my bag, Jenn got a small smile on her face and I looked at her, "What?". Well, pork and Jenn don't really agree and hence, she avoids it. "I'm sorry", I said, "the list said 'ground meat'." "And zuccini is usually too watery to put in chili..." OK, no problem, I would eat that anyway. As she investiged further into my shopping bag , she noticed that I only had 2 cans of beans. "Yeah", I said, "The list said 2 cans of those options so I chose black and kidney!" (again, I was quite proudly stating this). "Oh, we actually 2 of each of the beans...". Well crap. "I'm going back to the grocery store" I said, "I'll trade in the meat and get the rest of the beans." Jenn insisted that this was unnecessary and she would go when she walked that dog but since dogs are not allowed in the store, I said I would at least come along and go in while she waited outside with Oliver.
"Well", Jenn said later, "Lesson learned. Put on the grocery list exactly what is needed in the correct quantities. Now I know." I apologized about a thousand times as the night went on for my anal list reading (completely unnecessary as Jenn kept telling me), but I knew if no one else does, Cheryl will love and appreciate this story as I have done the same thing to her many many times.
Good news is - the chili was awesome!
I took a look at Jenn's list and thought it was pretty straightforward except for the veggies line. My head knew that chili had tomatoes, but what other vegetables normally went in, I wasn't really sure. Easy - I googled "vegetables for chili" saw peppers was an option and I like zuccini so I thought I would get that as well. So off I headed to Hartmans to fulfill my duties as sous chef.
I had a slight problem at the meat section. All of the meat came in kg measurements and not ounces as per the list. I knew that 8oz = 1 cup, but that didn't really help either... A quick phone call to Jenn and her iPhone conversion app got me to the right number of kg (0.68 ish). Whew! I would have purchased a lot more than that. Back to the meat section I go and I found a ground pork that was on sale and approximately that amount (all of the ground beef choices were too small or too big)- check! Onto the beans aisle. Per the list, I needed 2 cans of beans so I grabbed a can of kidney beans and a can of black beans, got my 4 cans of diced tomatoes (herbed and garlic flavour) and headed to check out.
Jenn was home by now so I proudly showed her my purchases... Upon a quick peruse of my bag, Jenn got a small smile on her face and I looked at her, "What?". Well, pork and Jenn don't really agree and hence, she avoids it. "I'm sorry", I said, "the list said 'ground meat'." "And zuccini is usually too watery to put in chili..." OK, no problem, I would eat that anyway. As she investiged further into my shopping bag , she noticed that I only had 2 cans of beans. "Yeah", I said, "The list said 2 cans of those options so I chose black and kidney!" (again, I was quite proudly stating this). "Oh, we actually 2 of each of the beans...". Well crap. "I'm going back to the grocery store" I said, "I'll trade in the meat and get the rest of the beans." Jenn insisted that this was unnecessary and she would go when she walked that dog but since dogs are not allowed in the store, I said I would at least come along and go in while she waited outside with Oliver.
"Well", Jenn said later, "Lesson learned. Put on the grocery list exactly what is needed in the correct quantities. Now I know." I apologized about a thousand times as the night went on for my anal list reading (completely unnecessary as Jenn kept telling me), but I knew if no one else does, Cheryl will love and appreciate this story as I have done the same thing to her many many times.
Good news is - the chili was awesome!