Father's Day - Burned to a Crisp in Effigy

I am not afraid to say that I am a good cook. I am also not afraid to say that there are some foods, very simple foods, that I cannot cook. Garlic bread is one of those things. I burn it every time. Rice is another thing. I know, this is along the lines of not being able to boil water. So, here goes the day that is supposed to be full of wonderful meals and delights for the father of the house.


Mark will sometimes request an unusual meal for Father's day breakfast. It is a meal that he learned to make and eat on his mission. Sweet rice and spam. Not a delicassy, but, nonetheless requested. No prob.

I wake up Sunday morning to get the rice going, which is steamed, not in a rice cooker which Mark bought for me so I would stop burning the rice, but on the stove over boiling water. I started at 7:30 am (we have church at 9 am). At 7:38 am, the smoke alarm goes off. Happy Father's Day!! I'm in the kitchen fanning the smoke alarm with a towel. The alarm stops and I try to figure out why the rice is still hard and why there is smoke. Can't figure it out. I wait to see if the rice will soften. Not working, try a different pan. The smoke alarm goes off. The children are awake and angry (Spencer). I fan the alarm with a towel again then cut up the spam. Smoke alarm goes off again. Fan again and open all windows and turn on the vent. Move the rice to a different colander (because the first one melted - never tried that one before) and a different pan because it ran out of water and burned on the bottom. Forget moving the rice. Start all over again at 8:15 am. I have not showered. 8:25 am. Rice not softening. Cook rice the old fashioned way - in boiling water - not how Mark likes it, but it will get done before church starts. Done at 8:50 am - everybody else eats while I shower. I asked Mark how the rice turned out. He said (after very many kind comments about the rest of the morning, the sweet man) "It's not the sweet rice I remember." Dang. Double dang.

By the time I got to church (15 minutes late) I was able to have a good laugh about the whole morning and laughed about it with my Young Women. I couldn't help laughing about it because I could see everything as if it were on a movie screen and if I were watching the movie, I would laugh at it.

Granna and Grandpa, Uncle Stephen and Aunt Jenny are coming for the big lunch after church 12:30 pm. Made apple pie and meatloaf last night (no burning) and the ribs baked while we were in church. Come home. The ribs leaked and although they were very moist, the juices burned onto the pan. I make rice pudding out of the leftover rice catastrophe. Scalded the pan. But the dinner turned out well, for the most part. Thank goodness there was dark chocolate in the pinata we made for Mark.

That was a fun thing. We made a pinata over the last week. We painted it white with a blue "Y" on it and filled it with red candy. Oh yes, and we sang the Utah fight song for Dad this morning to wish his a Happy Father's Day.

Mark's reaction to everything this morning and afternoon though just shows how wonderful he is as a husband and father - he didn't show disappointment or laugh at me (until I laughed first), he played with and helped his sons and acted like breakfast was not a big deal. We are blessed to have him.

P.S. (Mon) I thought I would include that a whole cup of milk was spilled on the floor, then one hour later a whole plate of food was spilled in the same spot, then a serving of spaghetti in the same spot today. Yeesh.