Sunday, February 3, 2008

Distractions

Yesterday I had company for dinner. I wanted to prepare a nice meal so I planned on a roast. The butcher didn't have the cut I asked for, so I took a substitute. I was a little worried, especially when I read in the cookbook that it's not as tender as most cuts. But I went ahead with the preparations.


To cook a roast, I preheat the oven to 500 degrees, then immediately lower it to 350 degrees when I put the meat in. As I was putting the meat in the oven, the phone rang, then I dropped the meat thermometer. I had a nice conversation, then went about with other preparations. I noticed that the thermometer didn't seem to be registering the internal temperature of the meat, so I switched thermometers. After I opened the oven, the smoke alarms went off all over the house, so I went around opening windows and hoping none of the neighbors heard. A little while later, the phone rang again. While I was on the phone, I saw that I hadn't lowered the temperature of the oven. After that conversation, I lowered the temperature, opened the oven, looked at the meat and found that the second theremometer had hit the heating element and had a bubble in the plastic. Of course, once the oven was opened, the alarms again sounded and I had to open more windows.


The rest of the cooking was uneventful. Fortunately, the meat was not ruined and it was as good and tasty as my usual cut, and my company and I enjoyed our visit.



The dinner was good and I was able to enjoy my company. It turned out to be a good day.

No comments: