French Onion Puke. And some pretty good Linguini Alfredo.

It's almost too soon to talk about the French Onion Soup. I ruined it in many ways. First, I chopped an onion (which always makes me cry to the point that I can't even keep me eyes open, and spreads whatever godawful eye-irritant is in onions throughout our whole small apartment). Then, I proceeded to burn most of it onto the bottom of my Dutch oven, which created an unbearable, nauseating smell in the apartment that I can only imagine is what gorilla puke would smell like when boiled on the stove. For some reason, Betty decided to tell me to caramelize onions by first cooking them on high for five minutes. I won't turn on you now, Betty. I'm sure this disaster was due to my error. But let's just say next time I won't be doing it that way. While those were cooking, I "toasted" some bread under the broiler. Our last four pieces of French bread. I took them out of the oven blackened and had to scrape off the burnt parts into the sink. After transitioning the onion mixture into another pot in an attempt to get rid of the burnt nastiness, I added beef broth and a bay leaf to the mixture. I heated that up to a boil, then poured it over the toasted bread into my oven-proof Fiestaware (thanks for the hand-me-downs, Mom and Dad!). On top of that I added mozzarella and parmesan cheese, then put them under the broiler again, this time watching very closely and for a very short time.

Now, having worked very closely with the gorilla puke smell for almost an hour now, I was nauseated and could only handle one bite of the soup. Shane told me it was good, and that it was better than some he'd had at Jason's Deli. He even ate the leftovers today. But for some mysterious reason, he just doesn't like it enough for me to make it again. Who knows if that's because he didn't like it, or because he'd rather not have anger cooked into his food, but I will gladly oblige.

Okay. French Onion Puke, check, move on. Yesterday, I actually made something really good! H-E-B whole wheat linguini with homemade alfredo sauce. I melted butter in heavy whipping cream in a sauce pan, stirring constantly. Then I turned down the heat and added parmesan cheese, salt, and pepper, and stirred until the parmesan cheese was melted and the sauce was smooth. Shane ate half the pot, and now counts this among his favorites, although it hasn't entered his top three, which are meatloaf, strawberry shortcake, and lasagna. I loved the linguini alfredo, and ate the leftovers for lunch at work today. It didn't re-warm too well. The butter separated from the sauce when I warmed it up again. It still tasted fine, but didn't look too pretty. Maybe that's just how alfredo sauce rolls.

All in all, I am happy with my recent Abby/Betty efforts. I will be on hiatus this weekend, as we are attending Katherine (grad school buddy) and Michael's wedding. I find myself looking forward to the break! But still, I love cooking more than I ever thought I would. Guess it's genetic (from Mom's side, NOT Dad's!). I'm also glad that my future children will have something other than Kraft Mac'n'Cheese and PBJs to eat :)