Kells Kitchen

I was reminded of a funny cooking story because of Trixie's blog (www.trixiesblog.blogspot.com) (For some reason, Blogger won't let me link today... Who knew?!). She was telling a story about having to make a different dessert for Passover than she originally planned because all stores were out of the kosher product she needed). I commented that no one really knows I'm a good cook, mostly because I'm disorganized... Although, I made a killer guacamole the other day with bleu cheese dressing because I was out of yogurt and didn't realize it until all the avocadoes were already pitted...

Ok. I remember one cooking improvisation that was expecially interesting - my first foray into kitchen improv. I never really cooked until I went to college. When I moved into my first apartment, I had no choice but to cook. I was especially successful with a chili recipe that was a simple list of ingredients. "You'll have to figure out the amounts for yourself," said the cookbook author. I thought it would be fun to make chili for all my friends at home -but I forgot the list of ingredients...

I thought I'd just try and remember... So I started the chili - I browned the beef, added tomatoes and everything else I could remember... But I added too many tomatoes. I didn't have enough beans to compensate - so I figured I'd just add ingredients till I made something good and call it "Bean Dip for Chips." I started digging into my mother's refrigerator. I found sour cream. I dumped it in. I found sesame seeds. I dumped them in... I went a little crazy. My mother, meanwhile, sat at the edge of the kitchen and just laughed and laughed and laughed. In went salt, dried/fried onions, salad dressing, black olives... whatever. It was such a frenetic scene that I could not then, as I could not now, tell you the complete list of things that went into that bean dip.

When I was finished, I sampled a little. It was pretty (and shockingly) good, so I set it out on the table. As the guests arrived, everyone seemed content to sit around the bean dip and dig in... My friend Heidi arrived. She tried the "concoction" (which is what happens when a recipe goes haywire) -

"Hey," She said. "This is mighty tasty bean dip. Can I have the recipe?"

Then, after a short stunned silence, my mother just started laughing...

"No," I answered, "I'm afraid you can't."

In fact, I wish I had that recipe now. Everyone could use a good bean dip once in awhile.