When Sean said to me, as we’re driving home in the rain last night: “Mom, I need to make something for my Spanish class tomorrow!”...I choke and say: “Yes, of course dear. Now, google search Brazilian appetizers and we’ll pick one.”
((((But, in my head, I’m say: “What the whaaaaaat?!?!? I’ve worked 4 days straight, getting up at 3:30 every morning (or as some might think- in the middle of the night!!!), I’m fending off a cold that’s been brewing for 2 weeks and all I want to do is go home and go to sleep......)))
He sees fried polenta and I say: Great! I can do that ...call Cecilia and ask her to pull out the corn meal. Don’t have any ....grrrrr. I have everything except 2 cups of corn meal. “Whyyyyyyyy not????” Ok, so now I’ve gotta make a pit stop. I dart through the the pouring rain and pick up 2 boxes of corn meal, get home and he rushes to the basement “to do homework.” (Remember that line....)
So, I make the polenta. Which, by the way, is the easiest. But the truth is, I added too much of my roasted garlic and shiitake mushroom salt. (Gotta keep it real) I should have made another batch... cringing...I should have. But, I actually liked it but chased it with 3 glasses of water. Yes, I should have made a new batch....ugh. Oh well. It’ll be quite the mouth watering surprise today. (God forgive me....) Then I left it cool and, as my grandma would do, I cut the pan into pieces and fried them. She always added cheese on top but I added the Parmesan to the batter while I was cooking it. Sigh...it was too salty. And, let’s be honest, if I’m admitting that (the salt queen) well, oh well. You can’t undo too much salt in polenta because it gels up quickly. Even if I had made more without salt, I couldn’t combine them.
Here’s a trick though: if you over salt a stew or soup of pasta sauce (any sauce like recipe), add a raw peeled potato to your recipe. It will draw out some of the salt. I’ve tried it before and it works.
At any rate, a Mom-moment to forget but I know I won’t. All we can do is try to reach the marginal-at-best quota and keep moving forward.
Those are my thoughts for the day.
PS...remember when I said he went to do homework...? Yep, he comes up and I asked: “Did you finish your homework?” He says, sheepishly: “Um, I left it in dad’s car when you picked us up.....” Great! And, being 15, he wouldn’t think to tell me this the moment he realized it.....boys!
Happy Friday!
Xo j