Lesson learned

In the early stages of my young marriage, I am trying hard to be a good wife.  I am trying to lay down a path that Josh and I will be happy to follow and share with each other from now until forever.  I try to set precedences and start traditions that we enjoy now and can one day hopefully share with our children.  So the story begins...

In trying to be a good wife, I tried to cook one of my husband's favorite dishes the other night.  Even though I have lived in southeastern Louisiana for the past five years, I still haven't quite master the whole Cajun cooking thing.  Mostly this is because I was hanging on to my Mississippi for so long that I didn't want to become "Louisiana", I was fighting the transition.  Now though, I am happy.  I feel like I am at home.  I have friends, and I am setting roots.  I still don't want to give up my background, but I am ready to embrace my present.  And embrace it I did.

There is nothing more Cajun than knowing how to cook a roux.  I have been practicing this skill and three burned rouxs and one second degree burn later, I have just about got it down pat.  So when I decided to cook shrimp stew for my little family of two earlier this week, I was happy to see that the recipe started with, "first you make a roux".  I have got this!  I worked on my roux for what seemed like forever, I stirred until I thought my arm would fall off, but as I grew tired I began to see my concoction turning that perfect caramel brown color and I knew that once again I had done it!  The next step seemed easy...saute chopped onions in the roux until golden brown.  Being a true Cajun Mississippi implant who has learned so much, I knew that if onions would be good in the roux then onions, bell pepper, and celery would be great.  And that is just what I added.  But just sauteing chopped vegetables seemed too easy for such an avid cooker as myself, I decided that I could handle sauteing the vegetables and peeling fresh shrimp at the same time!  This proved to be harder than I thought, but it was do-able.  Now this shrimp stew was really coming together, and I was beginning to swell with pride.  With all the ingredients in, all I had to do now was let it simmer for about an hour!  I was feeling so confident and domesticated that I decided to walk outside to our garden and pick some fresh vegetables to serve with supper.  Apparently though, I have failed to master the task of knowing when a vegetable is really ripe and ready for picking.  Eggplant was a little too fresh, so we just scratched that from our dinner menu.  No biggie...this shrimp stew will be delicious and plenty for the two of us!

Finally, Josh came home from work.  The house was smelling DEVINE with all the aromas from a fresh roux, to sauteed vegetables, to finished and simmering shrimp stew swirling around.  I made him go get comfortable in his chair, and being the good wife that I am, I fixed our plates and brought it in the living room to eat with my husband (yes the living room, isn't that where all normal people eat?!).  Josh was pretty impressed with all I had accomplished with my first shrimp stew, and as he went to take the first bite he asked a very surprising question.  "Where's the rice?"  What do you mean where's the rice?  What rice?  I scanned the recipe again...no mention of serve over rice.  It's shrimp STEW...isn't that like soup? That answer is no.  In Cajun language, stew is more of a gravy type food.  All stews are meant to be served over rice.  Obviously, the Cajun website I used for the recipe thought that stew could go without saying serve over rice...it is kind of just an understood thing around here.  Understand that part, this Mississippi girl did not.  I encouraged Josh to just eat it like soup and I followed suit.  The problem with that we quickly found out is if you eat basically a gravy with no rice the richness of it will give you a stomach ache quick!  OK, lesson learned!  Stew and rice go hand in hand here in Cajun country!

The next chore around the house that was up for grabs was cutting the grass.  Poor Josh has been working so hard lately and to have to think about coming home to cut grass after work all day just seemed cruel.  I decided that I was perfectly capable of cutting grass.  I disagree with those who call it a "man's job".  If  it's acceptable for a man to cook supper and clean house then it is certainly acceptable for a woman to cut a little big of grass!

Unfortuantely, cranking the lawn mower proved to be no easy task.  The battery was dead, and I had absolutely no prior experience with jumper cables.  I mastered that task, cranked the lawn mower right up and began to cut away.  Early in my job though, I decided it would make life a whole lot easier if I could cut the grass as I backed up the lawn mower.  Apparently that's a safety no-no that kills the engine on the lawn mower on the spot.  Lesson learned, but now the lawn mower is yet again refusing to crank, and this time I am in the middle of the front yard.

So I did what anyone would do...attempt to jump the lawn mower off using my car battery (yes that is what you would do in the same situation).  However, this time the lawn mower was not coming back to life as easily.  I gave up, went inside, came back outside, tried again, had a neighbor stop and offer to help, and finally came up with a brilliant plan.  I videoed myself attempting to crank the lawn mower and then texted the video to Josh so he could diagnose the problem.  Thankfully he had a little break at work and was able to call me right back!  A simple fix and the lawn mower cranked right up.  I cut grass until my little hearts content, and I was so proud of myself for all my hard work and determination that I sang along with my Pandora radio at the top of my lungs while I cut.  Again sorry to all my neighbors...we all know that my singing isn't always making a joyful noise!  Now the grass is cut, I have showered, and it is currently raining.  Perfect timing if you ask me!

What's on the agenda for working on my wifely skills for the rest of the day?  I think I may try my hand at using Josh's new hibachi grill tonight.  I know I can make fried rice...or at least I am willing to try!!