Hi! Happy Monday! Did you have a good weekend? I worked some, and cleaned and shopped a lot. And spent some time outside 🙂
Oh, and I baked the following on Saturday:
The verdict: I would add chocolate chips… and more peanut butter. As is, they could use a little more flavor.
The verdict: I would change zero things. Make this!
The verdict: Cute, simple, and delicious!
The verdict: AMAZING. So much peanut butter. And look at all the chocolate.
Okay, time for a little story.
Every few weeks, when my mom and I plan out our dinner menus, we ask my dad if there’s anything he’d like for dinner in the near future. He usually throws out tacos and hamburgers, both of which we pretty much automatically add to the menu anyway.
He and I were at the grocery store a few weeks ago, though, and he mentioned that lasagna sounded really good. I said we could add it to the next menu or something. Apparently, he mentioned the same thing to my mom recently.
Well, we knew he would have to go into work for a while on Sunday, but he intended to be home for dinner. Since lasagna is kind of a project, we decided to take advantage of his absence and surprise him when he got home with a lasagna recipe he cut out of the Wall Street Journal a while ago: World’s Best Lasagna.
Mid-afternoon – after our lasagna-making endeavor was well underway – my dad called and said work was taking longer than he’d expected and he didn’t know what to do about dinner. If he came home, he’d have to go back. If he didn’t come home, we might not eat together…
That, lovely people, is when my mom and I grudgingly ruined the surprise we were so excited about. We told him what we planned to do and that we’d already started, but could put off assembling the lasagna and baking it until the next night. He decided to come home, and we all ate together.
It is the world’s best lasagna. It is incredible.
And my dad did have to go back to work, but he was still grateful for the thought and for the delicious meal (and leftovers).
This is getting to be rather a long story about a very small event in my life. My point is that the fact that the lasagna-making wasn’t the surprise we had hoped it would be doesn’t diminish the thought behind it. I tend to be an “all-or-nothing” person. If it doesn’t work exactly how I had hoped, it obviously didn’t work at all. Case in point: I think I used the word “failure” when describing the ruined surprise to my mom. But this was just a bit of an exercise in flexibility. It wasn’t a failure at all. After all, my dad got his lasagna. 🙂
Are you good at executing surprises?
Do you ever find yourself falling into an all-or-nothing mindset?
How was your weekend?
I really did appreciate the thought. It’s nice to be loved and cared for, especially by people who make delicious food. Thanks again to you and your mom. ❤️
Love you, Daddy! <3
At least you all got to enjoy it and be together!!
Exactly 🙂
What a sweet story, and love your dad commenting btw ^^^!
In all honestly, nothing is as important as having genuine thoughts of caring for someone. While the ‘plan’ may not have been executed to perfection, your dad realized the gesture and you and your mom has a fun time planning it and baking the lasagna together.
I often find myself in situation where I feel that since the plan did not go as expected, I should not participate at all. However I have to remind myself that life works that way, and we have to roll with the punches :).
I’m always working on rolling with those punches 🙂
What a special surprise!! That was so sweet of you and your mom. And it sounds like your dad was pretty blessed by the gesture (and the delicious lasagna)! 🙂 Thank you for sharing that story!
I am pretty horrible about giving surprises, but usually because I am terrible at fooling people (especially those closest to me 😉 ) and my face typically gives me away. Yes, I kind of wear my heart on my face. 🙂 I, like you were saying, tend to think that even if the surprise is “spoiled” partway through, it was a failure. What a good reminder that the person being surprised *was* surprised, just maybe not at the time the giver expected/hoped…and regardless of the time, the recipient will feel grateful and special.
I had a pretty great weekend, and actually found myself rejuvenated and ready to start the week and take on another Monday! Have a terrific week, Ellen! <3
Haha you said it: the people who know me are the ones who I want to surprise, and also the hardest – because they know me.
So glad you had a great weekend! I hope your week goes well, too!
That banana bread sounds *really* good! Of course you can’t go wrong with the words “dark chocolate” and “raspberry”, especially when they are together! 🙂
I think you have a great point, and it’s something we (or at least I) often forget. Thanks for the reminder! I am ok at doing surprises, but things like what happened to you this weekend will also happen to me/us. I also tend to think that a surprise is “ruined” if it doesn’t go as planned, even though it’s not. 🙂
My weekend was not at all how I expected it, but it was pretty good. A movie would have made it perfect, but I’m not complaining. 😀 😛
Surprises are pretty tricky to pull off 😉
Glad you had a great weekend! 😀
My husband came home when I was baking some surprise cookies for him, so while it was still a surprise, the presentation was lacking! Hehe. And I love your honest comments on the recipes you tried, the peanut butter chocolate chip cookies look insane!
Cookies are a lovely surprise, whether perfectly presented or not 🙂 Thanks so much, Kate! And yes, they were pretty insane 😀
I LOVE making and eating lasagna! So yummy. And the cookie you made look fantastic!
It was my first time making lasagna and it was so fun!! Thanks, Liv 🙂