Meat loaf and a corkscrew

I don't claim to be Bobby Flay or anything, but I like to think I know my way around the kitchen. I enjoy cooking and experimenting with different flavor combinations to see what I can create.

Sunday evening I decided I was going to try my first crack at a meat loaf, sounds simple enough. Now, I can't just stop at a meat loaf, I have to add mashed potatoes, gravy, and corn. Coming from a larger family, I would cook a lot of food, not just enough for two people. I was smart to call my mother and as her how much meat I should use and how to make white gravy. However, I was definitely wrong when it came to the potatoes.

I would watch my mother peel about eight potatoes when she would make mashed potatoes for us so I thought two would be fine for my fiancé and I. I didn't realize that the two potatoes I used equaled the quantity of about the four my mother would use. I learned it is hard to judge how many potatoes you need before you have them cut up. Needless to say, we have plenty of mashed potatoes left over. As far as the meat, gravy, and corn ... I did a pretty good making the proper amount.

My meat loaf tasted fine -- I'm glad my fiancé isn't going to marry me because my food presentation skills are superb. It was a little dry, nothing some gravy couldn't fix. The biggest problem was the fact that I used ground turkey rather than ground beef. Because I used the turkey, (according to my mother) I need to put more liquid, i.e. egg, in the mixture. Because of this oversight, my meat loaf crumbled when I attempted to remove it from the pan.

To top the evening I thought I would have myself a nice glass of wine with my "mangled" dinner to help relieve some of the stress from the process. I have had this bottle of wine for a while because I hadn't been in the mood to drink it. I purchased this bottle as a gift for some one and it never got passed on. I didn't know when I bought it that it has a cork, not a screw off cap ... must be the cheap-fancy type. Upon this discovery, my evening was tarnished yet again because I do not own a corkscrew. I guess I will just have to wait until I get a corkscrew to enjoy my wine.

Despite my dinner debacles, I did get to sit down and enjoy a home cooked meal with my wonderful fiancé.

Just in case you were wondering ... YES, I cleaned up my mess when I was done eating.

If anyone else out there has any humorous dinner disasters, I would love to hear about them.

* I received a phone call from my mother. She informed me that my statement I had made about the number of potatoes she used was incorrect. The change has been made. Sorry Mom.