The Goulash Dry Run

Karlo and I are participating in a group themed dinner party thing. Every couple that participates has to host a dinner in a particular theme and the guests each bring something to contribute to the dinner, also matching the theme. It sounded like a fun thing to do, at first . . . but then I realized that there are 12 people in the group and holy cow I need to cook for 12?!?!? Then to make matters even worse, the first couple picks ITALIAN as their theme. Uuuugh. How rude. Don't they know that is the only theme I have any chance at pulling off? We are doomed.

So the group collectively decided that Karlo and I should try a "Hungarian" theme. They seemed brave and excited about it so I was willing to entertain the thought. Because I would never a host a party without first test driving everything, I went and found a goulash recipe and bought all the ingredients. I had planned to try this out over the weekend and I guess I got really brave too because I mentioned it to our friends and told them they could join us in the experiment. I made no claims that it would be edible (or chunks of my fingers wouldn't be floating in the dish) and they surprisingly agreed to come over.

The recipe called for the slow cooker to be set to high for the first hour than turned to low for the next 6 hours. Well that was easy enough. Somewhere around the 30 minute point Karlo and I are sitting in the quiet house reading when suddenly our answering machine begins to talk and beep. Apparently our power just came back on! Holy smokes, I didn't even know it was out. How long was it out? I'm not 30 minutes into my meal and things are already getting screwed up. Just my luck.

Well, the day was windy like crazy and I feared we would continue to lose power on and off all day. We had to go shopping so I wouldn't even be aware if we lost it again and if so, for how long. God I hope the food would be cooked. And as a back up and side dish (just in case) we made the most delicious looking array of baked veggies. The labor involved with cutting these things was insane. 30 minutes of peeling and chopping, but it would be worth it . . .


Fast forward to the end of the night. The goulash came out just fine. Everyone loved it and it's a good thing . . . because I COMPLETELY FORGOT TO SERVE THE VEGGIES. All that stinkin' work and I forgot to pull them out of the oven. TWO things to serve and I forget one. Say it with me now . . . "hope ---- less."