blog #126 >> The Successful Failure.

Like Apollo 13, this Jello mold was a successful failure. Yeah, it looks okay, it came out of the mold, it tastes great. But that's not how it's suppose to look. I guess I went wrong by pretending I was on a cooking show when I was making it. Ah, cooking shows... They're nice really. But not very practical in the real world. In cooking shows the chefs make everything look so easy. They just dump everything into a bowl without a second thought. Then they throw it up into the air and catch it. I'm not sure why this is so important to cooking, but they all do it. (I think it's just for show.) I've also learned it's not such a good idea to try this at home... while making Jello... unless you want it to end up on the floor. But that's okay on cooking shows too. They can just edit that part out. It never happened. What the chef burn his hand because the hot pad slipped? Never! Burn an entrée? Impossible! Cut their finger with a knife? Only Julia Child. And time is so wonderful in Cooking Show Land. "Yes," the amazing chef on t.v. says, "I'll just bake this right here, in this wood oven, in the stone cottage on this Parisian hillside, at 450 degrees for 35 minutes, decrease the temperature to 300 degrees bake for 4 hours, increase the oven temperature to 350 degrees, bake for 2 additional hours and... (The scene fades out... fades in...) Oh look! Here's one all finished from backstage... mmmm... it's delicious." If only life were so simple. Yes, I just totally screwed up the one I was making, but it's okay. I have a perfect one finished backstage.

Well, my small apartment doesn't have a backstage. And when I just dump things into a bowl without a second thought, I usually regret it. And most importantly, I live in real time, not cooking show time. And that was my fatal mistake. My Jello mold was suppose to have a lemon layer with Marciano cherries for fruit dots, and then a bananna layer and finally a cherry Jello layer on top. (Well, I guess it's on the bottom once you flip the whole thing over.) Anyhow I made the lemon and bananna part perfectly. Let it cool for a half hour... Only, it should have been longer. Last time I let it cool overnight, I should have done what I did last time. It felt set up enough, so I poured the cherry Jello on top and put it back in the frig. And a half hour later... all the banannas had floated to the top and the lemon layer was mixed with the cherry. I felt bad.

But it will be okay, it's just a Jello mold. And most importantly, it still tastes great!

T