The Family Signature

Or maybe it's just my signature. But I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one.

So, I cook dinner 5 nights a week. And, not to boast, I'm pretty good. But gradually there has crept in a new family joke. The Family Signature. It happens often enough to have merited a title.

Here's an example:

Dad sits down at the table: "What's for dinner?"

Me: "Um, "

(Dad: "We don't start every sentence with Um.")

Me: "Um...oops, didn't say that. We're having Ham and Noodle Cassorole, only we didn't have noodles so I used rice, and we didn't have ham so I used chicken. But the spices are the same!"

And then there's the time I made Baked Burritos, (A family recipe) The only problem was, I didn't bake them.

You see, the oven had been on earlier in the day. When I made dinner, the oven was still warm. That made me think it was on. But, it wasn't.

So, we sat down to eat, and...it was cold!

Or, there's the time I made up a recipe. (I'm getting better at those.) But when mom took a bite, she got a funny look on her face.

Mom: "What spices did you put in this?"

Me: "Oh, salt, pepper, thyme, oregano...and a little cardamom.

Mom: "Cardamom!!!"

Me: Well, I figured I've never used it before, so I might as well try it.

The dish wasn't bad. It just had a slightly...unusual flavor.

In fact, very few of the Family Signatures have tasted bad. So, if you come over to our house for dinner sometime, and are told you're having a signature, don't worry that it will taste bad, just keep in mind that it might have a few substitutions, omissions, or additions and won't taste anything at all like the recipe.