For those that don't know, I am a recovering quadriplegic, as a
result I use a wheelchair and have restricted use of my arms. However, my
physical limitations never come to mind when I decide to fix dinner.
Today
I planned to make dinner to give my wife a break. I checked out our
supplies and read numerous recipes. I decided to make Chicken parmesan
with smoked mozzarella and a chunky marinara sauce over my wife's homemade pasta. Ooh, sounds good.
I chopped onions, mushrooms and garlic
and sautéed them. I managed to opened the diced tomatoes and barely
spilled any, as I added them to the pot. I found a 1/4 cup of sliced
black olives and their juice in the refrigerator. Being daring, I put them in the sauce. Wife
says, "Can I help?" "Oh no," I say. I'm thinking - doing good.
Time to get the cheese ready. Recipe says to layer slices of smoked mozzarella, about 4 oz. for 2 breast. I get the hand held cheese slicer out. You know the kind, it has a tear shaped, shiny metal top mounted on a handle. The shiny metal tear has a mouth like opening with one sharp lip. Usually you see these in food magazines lying next to a picture of a cheese that you've never heard of and will never eat. At any rate, I start slicing and manage to produce slices that are more sheer than saran wrap. At this rate we'll be having breakfast not dinner, so I grab a BIG knife and bend the cheese to my will. Wife says, "Can I help?" "Oh no," I say, "I'm good."
Ok, now its time to get the chicken breast ready. Fortunately, they had been defrosted already. But, I didn't remember how slimy a boneless, skinless breast can be. And I kept thinking salmonella as I handled them. I dried them off, using an unreasonable number of paper towels, seasoned them and got them on a plate. Immediately I used a hand sanitizer, because, you know, salmonella is everywhere.
I had this plan to sauté and bake the chicken in one pan. Because, you know, good cooks minimize the number of dishes they use. So I pour some olive oil in a pan and heat it up. I'd like to point out that "some" and "heat" are poorly defined terms. Wife says you might want to brown one breast at a time. Ha, I say to my self, I can save time by doing both at once. Do you know how much oil splatters when you put two cold chicken breasts in "some" hot oil? And, when you turn them over its worse.
Wife says, "Can I help?" "Yes please," I weep. So she gets the chicken in the oven and it bakes for 10 minutes while she boils the noodles. She plates the meal, kindly tells me how good it looks, and it really was tasty. This all started about 3:30 pm. It's now 7:42 pm and Wife is almost done with the dishes. The next time I want to give her a break from cooking, I'm ordering pizza.
Time to get the cheese ready. Recipe says to layer slices of smoked mozzarella, about 4 oz. for 2 breast. I get the hand held cheese slicer out. You know the kind, it has a tear shaped, shiny metal top mounted on a handle. The shiny metal tear has a mouth like opening with one sharp lip. Usually you see these in food magazines lying next to a picture of a cheese that you've never heard of and will never eat. At any rate, I start slicing and manage to produce slices that are more sheer than saran wrap. At this rate we'll be having breakfast not dinner, so I grab a BIG knife and bend the cheese to my will. Wife says, "Can I help?" "Oh no," I say, "I'm good."
Ok, now its time to get the chicken breast ready. Fortunately, they had been defrosted already. But, I didn't remember how slimy a boneless, skinless breast can be. And I kept thinking salmonella as I handled them. I dried them off, using an unreasonable number of paper towels, seasoned them and got them on a plate. Immediately I used a hand sanitizer, because, you know, salmonella is everywhere.
I had this plan to sauté and bake the chicken in one pan. Because, you know, good cooks minimize the number of dishes they use. So I pour some olive oil in a pan and heat it up. I'd like to point out that "some" and "heat" are poorly defined terms. Wife says you might want to brown one breast at a time. Ha, I say to my self, I can save time by doing both at once. Do you know how much oil splatters when you put two cold chicken breasts in "some" hot oil? And, when you turn them over its worse.
Wife says, "Can I help?" "Yes please," I weep. So she gets the chicken in the oven and it bakes for 10 minutes while she boils the noodles. She plates the meal, kindly tells me how good it looks, and it really was tasty. This all started about 3:30 pm. It's now 7:42 pm and Wife is almost done with the dishes. The next time I want to give her a break from cooking, I'm ordering pizza.
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