The best laid schemes of mice and men / Go oft awry
That statement, from Robert Burns’s poem, “To a Mouse” and inspiration for George Steinbeck’s iconic Of Mice and Men, was never truer to me then it was this weekend when I finally began working on recipes from Hors D’Oeuvres.
I had an extensive day laid out for myself; I’d spent a decent amount of time writing out my shopping lists and an extensive prep list. I’ve made a significant amount of recipes from this book in the past with good to great results, so I wasn’t concerned at all as I set off to the store, visions of bouchees and galettes dancing in my head.
Well, none of this was meant to be it seems. It started out harmless enough. No crème fraiche? That’s okay, I’ll substitute sour cream. No lobster meat? I’ll use crab. No fresh tarragon? I guess I’ll just use dried. When I began passing off no wonton skins or puff pastry as simple fixes I should have known I was in trouble. Instead, I toiled away for hours trying to salvage a menu that was doomed from the start leaving me, ultimately, spent and depressed (Must give my man credit for taking the bad attitude and bland food like a champ!).
The next morning I decided to treat myself to a little comfort food to numb the pain. I decided to make a baked eggs recipe that Lara Ferroni had recently featured on her blog. Usually opting for tomato sauce with my baked eggs, I was looking for a change of pace.This experiment went much smoother than the first. My step by step after the jump…
