When Life Gives You Lemons, Make Comfort Food...

It's the day before Mother's Day.

Happy Mother's Day to all the Moms out there.

This is how my day went.

We took my daughter to the local High School this morning to have a swim evaluation done. This is a prerequisite to being able to sign up for summer swim lessons. And she really, really needs swim lessons.

While waiting in line at lane four, a child about 4 families ahead of us started crying that he didn't want to get into the pool. I thought, "Boy, I'm glad I'm not that parent", because I would have no idea what to do in that situation. Thankfully, it seemed that my daughter was excited to do her swim evaluation and to take swim lessons.

When we got to the front of the line, the sweet High School girl evaluating this line of children, said to my daughter, "Do you want to come in?"

"Sure," said my daughter, throwing off her shoes.

But then came the task of figuring out a way to get in to the pool. Once my daughter realized she had no easy way to get in to the pool, but was going to have to rely on the kindness of strangers, she freaked out. She became a trembling mass of jell-o. She did what the sweet High School girl asked her to do, but she did it shaking all over and repeatedly saying, "I don't like this."

By the time sweet High School girl had brought my daughter back to the edge, she was crying, "I want my Mommy! I want to get out!"

I was THAT parent. It's too long and embarrassing to explain how I handled the situation. Let's just say that my daughter's pre-school teacher was in the next line and will have a lot to tell the other teachers on Monday.

We are still going to give swimming lessons a try, because I am determined that this child knows how to swim.

That was my morning.

This afternoon, I was helping my daughter with some project she was doing, and I went to go sit down on the chair next to our breakfast table, but I missed the chair completely and managed to land, hard, on my hand and right cheek. (My bottom cheek, not my face). It took me several minutes to convince myself I could stand up, and several minutes after that to attempt walking anywhere.

My whole backside is achy and it is a pain that is spreading up to my shoulder blades.

I have pain killers somewhere in this house, but I refuse to take any until both my children are asleep and I know I have several hours before I have to function.

Somehow I managed to drive myself to the store, buy a few groceries, and put together dinner.

I made guacamole for a snack while I was cooking, because guacamole is one of my comfort foods.

And here's what I did for dinner.

Pay close attention because when you have a bad day, you can make this sauce and then everything will seem better.

I browned some steaks in a skillet using olive oil and then put them on a plate in the oven to warm. I once overheard a co-worker say that olive oil releases toxins at a certain temperature and therefore should not be used for cooking, but only for salad dressing, but clearly this co-worker has some deep issues that I can't even begin to understand.

What am I going to use? Vegetable oil? Um, no. Canola oil? Did you know canola oil is really bad for you, because there's no such thing as a canola. I use it anyway, but I'm just saying. Butter?

Well, I could use butter, but we are on diets around here and I use butter enough as it is.

So I browned some steaks in a skillet. Alton Brown's rule is "you only turn the steaks once". I try. I really try. But I end up turning the steaks more than once, mentally beat myself for doing so, and then make a sauce to cover up any mistake I may have made with the steaks.

Here's the sauce:

*After removing steaks from the skillet and putting them on a plate (cover them with foil, or keep them warm in the oven), add a little more olive oil to the pan.
Make a mental note that the steaks will continue to cook, so don't overcook them in the pan.

*Add sliced onion to the pan and proceed to saute (saw-tay) in the oil until they are brown and translucent. Scrap up what brown bits you can.

*Add as much as 2 tablespoons flour to pan. Stir around the pan with the onions on not too high of a heat. Make sure the flour thoroughly coats the onion and starts to turn a golden color.

*SLOWLY add in 1/2 cup of soy sauce (I prefer low sodium)

*Continue to stir frequently, and SLOWLY add in 1/2 cup decent red wine. (If you use two buck chuck, I will slap you silly).

*Continue to stir frequently, scraping up any remaining brown bits on the pan, and SLOWLY add 1 cup milk. (I use two percent, but you can use whole milk or even heavy cream if you are particularly indulgent. Whatever you do, don't use fat free. Yuck!)

*Turn up heat a bit and stir frequently (close to constantly) until the sauce starts to bubble around edges and you can get a layer of sauce on the back of your spoon. Run your finger through the sauce on your spoon. If you leave a stripe, you can call it ready.

Take off heat.

Spoon over steaks and serve. I served this with a pear and gorgonzola salad and a nice red wine.

One last note, some people are steak purists. They think putting a sauce on a steak is evil and preach against it. In general, I agree with them. If I know someone good (like a nice restaurant) is cooking my steak, I will leave it "naked". Well, maybe I might order some grilled onions or blue cheese crumbles, but mostly have a naked steak. Once again, I state I was in pain and making comfort food so the evils of covering my steak can be further explored at a later date.

As the hours pass, my pain increases and I worry about my ability to make it to the Mother's Day champagne brunch I have been so looking forward to.

On the upside, my daughter lived through her swim evaluation and promised to give swimming lessons a try, my baby only threw up on my foot once tonight, and I was blessed with a pretty good Mom myself. Oh, and I had a pretty nice dinner.