An Ingredient Too Far

So.

Remember Creamed Spinach 101 for My Beloved Ben Franklin? [And if you don’t, it’s the post immediately preceding this one, so it’s not a long journey to re-acquaint yourself! *smile*]

Well….

Last night I was invited to a lovely dinner party at Ben Franklin’s, where the aforementioned “Creamed Spinach” was to make its debut. I say “was” to make it’s debut…because it never actually arrived.

Did Ben Franklin prepare the large bag of baby spinach leaves for consumption last night?

Yes he did.

Did Ben Franklin follow, at least nominally, a recipe for Creamed Spinach?

Yes, he did.

And was that recipe, the one I had so painstakingly written out for him?

No, it wasn’t.

So I asked him, “Why didn’t you call me if you had any questions, etc.? I had offered to help, or come over and show you how to make it…..”

BF: “Well, to be perfectly honest, I thought it looked too involved for me as soon as I saw how long it was, but I thought, let me at least read it through, she was probably just being thorough.

So I printed it out and started reading…and I never made it past the list of ingredients. I mean, by the time I got to “Flour”….I thought, ‘There’s flour in this?’….wtf???! And promptly set it aside.”

So my beautifully articulated Creamed Spinach was abandoned.

For going one ingredient too far.

[I think it’s going to be a while before I call him “my beloved” Ben Franklin again…..*smile*]

***********

We sit down to dinner, where BF’s version of creamed spinach is served. Everyone around the table watches eagerly as I take my first bite.

I taste………….I chew………….I swallow…………

I make them wait…….

Finally, BF breaks down and asks: “So how is it?”

“Tasty,” I reply, “But not creamed.”

“Well, there was cream in it…but I kinda needed to drain it off before serving….don’t ask.”

Everyone laughed. And then dug right in! And truth be told, the spinach was in fact very tasty….but still not creamed! *smile*

***********

One fun little bit of payback:

As we were cleaning up from dinner, he says to me, “You know what the worst part of the recipe I followed? Removing all those stems….that was such a bitch!”

What???!!!

He told me that the recipe he did follow told him to remove all the stems from the spinach—and he actually did it! All five pounds of beautiful baby spinach leaves were plucked from their tender stems. [I explained to him that only would have been necessary if he were using more ‘mature’ leaves.]

Imagine how long that took!

I giggle a bit gleefully at the thought—That’ll teach him to throw aside my advice for another’s!

*Smile*