Here’s the setup. I go over to my father and stepmom’s house nearly every Friday after work for dinner. I know you’re thinking, “Wow, Warren. Are you Lorelai Gilmore?” Yes, I am. In reality though my Friday night dinners have less of an air of my-parents- are-holding- me-hostage- because-they- paid-for- my- daughter-to- go-to- Chilton feelings, but that feeling of guilt and sarcasm is all there. Sorry, I just love making a GG reference, especially if it includes some classic Emily Gilmore guilt.
Continuing on though, on one of these special Friday night dinners included a dinner that I was never expecting. My stepmom has made plenty of good meals including steaks, lasagna, etc. She generally tries something new in the kitchen (or at least new to me), and it lands well, unfortunately in the instance I am about to share, it was like she was Phillip Seymour Hoffman shooting hoops in Along Came Polly. He thinks it’s going to be a winner, but it’s just not working. You know the scene right?
Okay, here’s the dinner. It was a breaded chicken patty. You know the kind. Foster Farms sells them in the yellow bag. I have definitely indulged in those patties before. I like them fine. Then there was cream cheese. The cream cheese was Philadelphia brand cream cheese. I love cream cheese. However, as you’ll find in a minute, I was not expecting cream cheese. Finally, there was a cinnamon raisin bagel. Yep, the Sara Lee kind. I should probably also preface this by saying: I haven’t been a fan of raisins in probably 15 years. I’m just not a fan of things that are that wrinkly.
Now that you’ve seen the ingredients, you use them and make a sandwich. That’s it. It was so weird! Sure a bagel sandwich is good. Sure I like cream cheese. Sure chicken patties are a part of me. This meal though just couldn’t come together. Was it the bagel, the chicken or the cream cheese? I’m going to venture out on a guess and say that it was the bagel. Also, the bagel wasn’t toasted.
Being reflective now and reading this post back, maybe I’m being too dramatic….nah! It was a weird meal. However, this isn’t a standalone incident in my life. I feel like I could write a whole blog series on the different weird meals I’ve eaten at the hands of others being “creative.” Perhaps I could tell you about the kidney bean and tuna alfredo my own blood mother made for us a few months ago, or I could tell you about the whole setting of a meal that I experienced with Holly near the Wildlife Safari in Winston, OR, or maybe I could tell you about my dad’s ex-gf’s pancakes that I will never forget or forgive (okay, I probably can’t share that one because of the people involved, but I just have to get it off my chest…PANCAKES ARE MORE THAN JUST WATER AND FLOUR).
I think this is why I love doing this food blog. I can make, share and tell stories about food that I enjoy (or not). I would say that I’ve definitely had my own duds, of course. But now I am curious. What kind of weird meals have you had recently? Make sure to share with us in the comments!
UPDATE: My stepmom just texted me and reminded me of our "dessert" that night too. We knew it was weird, but couldn't remember what it was. She just reminded me it was a fortune cookie. I think enough has been said about this meal now.
