just follow the directions

we'll call this "a lesson in cooking: what not to do" or something like that.

wednesday night i decided to try out a new salmon recipe from my favorite cookbook because i had a massive hunk of salmon in our freezer from honey's dad from a fishing trip he went on.  soo i pulled out my cookbook, looked up salmon, and found a delicious, simple, and quick recipe and like with pretty much every recipe out of that book, i already had all of the ingredients on hand.  i was feelin' good.

well, the plan was for honey to watch baby girl outside while i got dinner together.  i thought this would be easier than the norm which is her clinging to my legs crying while i try to fumble through a recipe that takes me ten times longer than it's supposed to because i'm so add.  well, honey kept getting phone calls and was arranging a craigslist pickup for a bedroom set we wanted and well... baby girl was frustrated and neglected.  the add kicked in.  dinner was moving along painfully slow and when i got to this mixture... i knew something had to be wrong.

because that sure doesn't look like something that happens on purpose.  i reread the instructions.  here's what i was supposed to have done: 1. sprinkle salt and pepper over salmon. 2. mix melted butter, honey, and mustard, and brush over salmon.  3. mix crushed pecans, parsley, and breadcrumbs and spoon across salmon.

here's what i did: mix all ingredients together into thick, nasty, vomit-looking paste (see above picture), while neglected, angry toddler screams at you for not taking her outside to play with the neighbor girl (see below picture).

still, it turned out pretty close to the picture and it tasted fabulous.  that's what i call fool proof.

i'll take whatever success i can get when my baby looks like this...

so this is the before bake picture and sadly, i forgot to take a picture of it fresh out of the oven, but i swear it looked nice and pretty.

and i had to take a picture of this, because as i said before, baby girl is turning back into her normal self and taking an interest in toys again!  YEAY!

 

toes.  finally got a picture after at least ten attempts.

and really, i'm not sure either why i keep attempting this self portrait mother daughter thing.

 

i keep telling myself that maybe someday i'll need proof that i did more than follow my baby around with a camera.  y'know... that i held her every once in a while.

moral of the story: follow cooking instructions and hold your child.

ps- i just found a spider while i was writing this post.  neither of us have moved and i'm just praying it will stay perfectly still until honey can come home to kill it for me.  and i just texted my neighbor to ask if her daughter would kill a spider for me.  for a small fee of course.  i'm beginning to rethink that whole "loving this warm weather" thing.

spider spider go away come again never ever ever ever ever ever ever.

in all seriousness though, how old do you think baby has to be before she can kill spiders for me?  maybe by next summer?  that's definitely something a three year old should be capable of, right?  parents of older children... get back to me on that one.  asap.