you win some, you lose some
While it would be nice to say that everything I cook is perfect, we all know that world of food simply doesn't work out that way. Some things turn out just the way they should, some flop spectacularly. And then sometimes, things fall somewhere in between. Like Sunday night.
Alan, in Seattle for business from Austin (where he works for a company I won't name, but think "exploding batteries") came over for dinner. He mentioned several times that he wanted fish, so I picked up some fresh salmon at the farmer's market from the young and friendly fish guy.
The night started a bit rocky - someone overslept and only got to my house because his phone rang. By the time I grilled the fish (using Cooks' glazed recipe), it was dark. At first pass, the fish was barely even cooked. Strike one. The corn salad (from Cooking for Mr. Latte) was great. And the sliced heirloom tomatoes with fresh basil, fresh mozarella, olive oil and a few sprinkles of truffle sea salt was not only pretty, but delicious.
I made a lemon meringue pie for dessert. For only the second time in several years of cooking from Cooks Illustrated, the recipe just didn't work. The crust was delicious (regular pie crust rolled in crushed graham crackers) and the meringue turned out well. But the filling, oh the poor filling, was a runny mess. Luckily, it was still tasty and edible, meaning that the gaffe was user error rather than a bad recipe: I just didn't cook the cornstarch, sugar and water (the first step in the filling recipe) long enough. After a few pieces were removed, I noticed that the filling had spread to cover the entire bottom of the pie plate. The meringue had broken off from its anchor of crust, floating in the middle of lemon, almost like the floating island dessert (french), only not planned and not nearly as pretty.
I don't think Alan really noticed the gaffes. He ate well, mentioning something about home cooked meals and how he never got them. Alas, you win some, you lose some.