have you ever bite off more than you can chew?

[Terrytx]

I made a meal tonight that I thought would be good and fairly easy-well, it wasn't. There was too much chopping involved and by the time it was time to actualy eat it, it I wasn't hungry any more. Some of you read the menus/some do not.

Hoisin and Bourbon-Glazed Pork Tenderloin with Three-Fruit Salsa
Peanut-Noodle Salad
Sesame-Shiitke Bok Choy

I wasn't hungry for the wonderful dinner I just made and I got booed about it. Has that happened to any of you guys?

[Canice]

Wow, that's quite a statement coming from YOU! You always seem to me so ambitious in the kitchen. (And the menu looks excellent, I must say!)

I haven't had your exact experience, but I've expanded my Sunday evening soup-making sessions a bit. Maybe a salad for lunches, or a dip and a salad dressing, or a quickbread - something to enjoy later and to fill up the Sunday evening cooking period. But there's a magical line I sometimes cross when I just end up CRABBY about it having gotten too late and my having too many dishes to do. When the whole point was to have a pleasant few hours in my kitchen. :(

[Canice]

Hold the phone! I just re-read your post: Did you say you got "booed"??! I really hope that's a typo and you were bored. That's definitely a 3-cheer dinner!!

[Peweh]

Ditto Canice - did you get booed or bored? I find sometimes when I'm making complicated recipes and I'm ALREADY starving, I tend to snack while I'm cooking; a pepper here, a mushroom there...by the time it's done, I'm full! My antidote is to serve DH an 'appetizer' when he comes home, even if it's a few crackers & cheese, we nosh and DH sits at the island and we chat while I cook.

[veschke]

All the time. I would spend so much time shopping and cleaning and prepping -- and insist on doing it all by myself -- that by the time guests arrived I would be thoroughly cranky. In the past year or so I think I've finally learned my lesson, but it's not an easy one. I'm sorry things didn't go well for your dinner, it does sound like a nice menu. Better luck next time!

[Kingwell]

I'm right there with you and veschke.

I'll take on waayy too much, get too hungry, and cranky. I rarely get bored (and never get booed, thankfully...I hope you didn't either!) and I'm still hungry, but I get so disgusted with the whole procedure that even if the meal turns out ok, I'm beating myself up about it--that it wasn't as good as I had hoped (when you are doing that much work, you can get pretty high expectations), that I got cranky, whatever.

Then I try to just remind myself not to take on so much. In fact, that happened to me this Sunday! It was only three dishes, but each one had one, two or three steps or elements, and after all that work, I expected it to be amazing and when it wasn't, well I'm still disappointed!

[lindrusso]

Yes!

I'm much more selective in how I put a meal together now. If the main dish has a lot of chopping/prep work, I make sure to choose a simple side dish or vice versa. If I have a collection of dishes that have a lot of prep work, I try to do as much beforehand as possible.

I have very much simplified how I cook - for my family and for guests. We had a lot of really good food back when I did things more elaborately, but I was not happy being stuck in the kitchen all day - it took the fun out of it. I was killing myself with the cooking and that didn't even count the time it took to clean all that stuff up! I like to cook, but I also like to enjoy my friends and family!

There are still some dishes that surprise me with how time-intensive they are. Like lasagna - looks easy enough, but it always takes me forever to put it all together!

[Terrytx]

I did mean booed, not bored, but it was not over the food. The food all got great reviews, but the family booed me cause I didn't feel like eating any of it. Good to see that I'm not the only one. Yes, I guess the snacking (a nibble here and there) is a big part of it, and the tediousness of all the chopping, and just plain ole getting tired and cranky played a big part. It has happened before (not often), but no one seemed to mind that I didn't feel like eating-I wonder what the big deal about last night was. Thanks for letting me vent.

[ADM]

I did mean booed, not bored, but it was not over the food. The food all got great reviews, but the family booed me cause I didn't feel like eating any of it.

I thought that was what you meant, but only because "I've been there--done that!" That happened to me once, on Thanksgiving! (But that is a long complicated story!).