We had been planning an oxtail dinner for Valentine’s Day all week- bought the ingredients days before, had the meat marinating in a whole bottle of wine- so why are you looking at a photo of a sandwich?  This is an object lesson for all you other cooks out there to READ YOUR RECIPE ahead of time!

Saturday I got home a little later than expected from a baby shower and dropping off some of my Valentine goodie bags and was feeling a tiny bit stressed about the time, but we were planning to eat late anyway because Marvin had a quick job to do at 8pm, so I wasn’t too concerned about the fact that I wasn’t getting started until 5pm. After all, the meat was already marinating, and all I really had to do was chop some carrots and celery, right? Until I looked at the recipe and panic set in because I failed to notice the 4 hour cooking time required for this dish. Mind you, that’s not even counting the pre-braise browning time, or the time required to reduce the braising liquid before the dish goes in the oven.   Factor into the equation that I am one of the world’s pokiest cooks, and you can understand my anxiety levels rising.  A second wave of panic set in when I went into my cupboards and realized I had no tomato paste or canned tomatoes (I could have SWORN I did).  I had just been at the grocery store picking up a few last-minute items, but I decided to head back out and just quickly grab the tomatoes.  I was in the automatic checkout lane at Kroger and the machine asked me to scan my shopper card, so I started fishing around for my keys, when I came to the horrible realization that they were in the ignition of my car. I had been in such a hurry and so distracted that I had just rushed into the store, locking them in. At this point I was completely distraught. I called Marvin and had to tell him that the oxtails were not happening- we would have been eating at 11pm or later at that point. To add to the overall mood, the Hazel Park police officer who unlocked my car for me made a point of saying “Eww, gross!” multiple times when I answered his question about our supposed menu. (Like I care if he likes what we have for dinner, but I thought it was pretty insensitive!)

Fortunately, I was able to cobble together a respectable supper for us in spite of adversity. It involved a THIRD trip to the store, but at that point I didn’t care. I had already bought a good loaf of bread and a couple of nice cheeses at Holiday Market (a Zingerman’s fresh cow’s milk cheese with Tellicherry pepper, and a Point Reyes farmstead blue) and had happened to pick up a couple of red bell peppers since they were on sale for an unheard-of $1.67/lb. So I formed a plan: go retro-’90s and roast the peppers along with a couple heads of garlic, and serve that with the bread, cheeses, and a salad. The final trip to the store was to pick up some prosciutto and another bottle of wine (the bottle I had bought had been chosen specifically to go with the oxtails, and I wanted to save it for that).

Once I got over beating myself up over being so ill-organized, I was able to relax and enjoy the evening. It definitely made me question the wisdom of planning such an involved, lengthy dish on a special occasion (at least not when you have other obligations the same day). Of course, I could have been better prepared, but I also think that sometimes I sacrifice my own enjoyment for the sake of trying too hard to do something complicated for a dinner party, holiday or other occasion. My other problem is that I always use a special occasion as an excuse to try something I’ve never made before, which can lead to complications.  We enjoyed our “picnic supper” every bit as much as a meal that would have taken hours longer, and it gave us more time to sit across the table enjoying each other’s company. An added bonus was that we ate the oxtails the next day, so it was almost like having a whole Valentine weekend rather than just the one day. Not bad.  And I will be posting the oxtail recipe soon.

(Incidentally, the photo is of a sandwich I made the next day with the leftovers. I wasn’t about to try to take photos that night after all the hassles; I just wanted to eat and relax!)