I did it

I julienne'd.

I broiled.

I stuffed chicken skins full of cheese.

I chopped.
My fingernails still smell like onions.

That's four onions for the french onion soup. I didn't even cry when I was slicing them. I think it's because I turned into a maniac. I was a slicing machine and I just went for it full steam ahead.
The boys played so nicely and so independently.

Thank goodness for Christmas gifts that inspire creativity and hold my boys' interest for more than fifteen minutes!
It definitely took more time than I thought it would to start everything. The boys were up before I even peeled the carrots; not my plan. And then once I started, I couldn't stop. There was always something to stir, bake or check. But thankfully the boys were good sports; they knew that we were making a special dinner for Patrick and they were happy to help by playing nicely. Phew, it doesn't always work that way!
And then in the end, it all turned out

Well, sort of.
The rice was a near disaster. I cut my finger first trying to julienne. And the carrots were ready way before anything else.

So the timing proved to be an issue. First for the rice, the recipe very strictly warned against checking the rice, lifting the lid, or stirring the rice during the lid-on-cook phase. So when the timer went off, I just assumed it was done and slid it off the burner to cool. Then when I started putting our dinner on plates, I lifted the lid and saw water and broth and crunchy, uncooked rice. Oh no! I told Patrick, sorry, there would be no rice pilaf, I tried, but it failed. He turned the burner back on for a few minutes while we ate our soup and let the rice cook a bit longer. And then when we were ready to eat the main course, it was done. Almost. It was still a little bit undercooked, but it wasn't liquid. I ate it anyway, determined to enjoy every bite of that meal. I loved the carrots. But they were done first. At least 20 minutes before everything else. I had to warm them up before we ate. But even with all of their timing issues, they were delicious. Sweet and crunchy; glazed with melted butter, brown sugar and grated orange peel. I would eat them again and again.

Even though I don't really like pictures of food, at least the ones I take {they never seem to look very appetizing}, here's one more of the finished products, for posterity.


To remind me to try new things every once in a while.