Feeling like they’d be a healthy-for-the-new-year treat, a couple of weeks ago I made these fruit and nut bars from a recipe in Food and Wine magazine.
Killer. Like a grown-up version of a Rice Krispies treat, with caramel instead of marshmallows and a bunch of other righteous ingredients jammed in there with the puffed cereal, like nuts and flax seeds and dried fruit. I could hardly stop eating them.
Then I made another batch. Not so killer. I must’ve overcooked the caramel because they were more crunchy than chewy. Not poison, just not as good as before.
But guess what? That’s life. Sometimes things don’t work out.
I had a similar experience over the holidays—remember the holidays, about five minutes ago??? I was craving something braised, a long-simmering, cozy meal that’d fill the house with delicious smells and our bellies with warm satisfaction.
So I made Julia Child’s beouf bourguignon, not exactly a simple undertaking. And it was…eh.
But here’s the thing. Our friends were over, we were eating and drinking and playing cards and laughing and enjoying ourselves and each other and, given all that, who cares if dinner didn’t knock our socks off?
I mean—truly.
Did I make the fruit and nut bars again? You bet. They were great, and I’ll do it again and again.
Will I cross beouf bourguignon off my list? Of course not. That’d give mishap avoidance way too much importance. Mishaps are part of cooking—and life.
And that’s okay.
