Gravy, anyone?

The other night I attempted to make gravy for the first time. Key word: attempted. I was excited to find a couple of recipes for a pan fried, breaded pork chop and some milk gravy. I knew that making gravy is the ultimate test of a good cook. So, I knew I had my work cut out for me. I followed a recipe that didn't have exact measurements of the ingredients being used. That was my first mistake. My next mistake? Ever stepping foot in the kitchen. I was in the kitchen for over an hour, had Sammy in his standing toy fussing for about 75% of the time, my pork chops wouldn't cook thoroughly, I burned the outside of most of them, had to put them in the oven for them to cook through, and of all the failures, my gravy was the ultimate. To sum it up, I could throw a ball of it into the air and catch it like a tennis ball!

When the hubby came home from a long day of work, he couldn't help but chuckle at the sight of me with no makeup, red cheeks from the hot kitchen, burned pork chops, Sammy fussing and my gravy as thick as mashed potatoes. We had a good laugh! After, of course, I got over the disappointment of all that transpired with my disaster of a meal. Turns out, the actual mashed potatoes I made were good, the pork chops actually were very tasty, the green beans were good and the gravy was an absolute spectacle. We laughed the rest of the evening about that darn gravy as it sat on the stove. I had to figure out what to even do with it because half of the "gravy" was stuck inside the whisk.

We made jokes all night about it. And, it's like Neil said, I'm learning. Even with that disaster of a gravy, I learned and am learning every day about cooking. The best cooks started somewhere. So, this is all part of the process! We took a picture of my gravy so that Sammy can see 20 years from now that his momma was not always a good cook. Well, that's not the only reason why we took the picture. It's a hilarious picture! It was a constant joke throughout the night. "Do you want some gravy with your pork chops?", "Don't forget to put up the gravy.", "Your mashed potatoes look like they need some gravy." I could have been upset about it all, which I was for a millisecond. But, it was just so funny to see this chunky blob of "gravy". Come to find out, I used maybe over a cup of flour which I later learned you only need a few tablespoons. Whoops!