Cooking Dinner

Flash Fiction

Cooking Dinner

Early in our marriage I decided to surprise my husband by making him dinner. We had dinner daily, but we both worked. Weekdays we went out, or ate take out, or easy things like hotdogs and beans. I got home earliest, but I was never an excited cook.

John loved to cook. He always cooked, weekends. He’d been cooking since he was old enough to stir something. His parents both loved cooking. Me? Not so much…

I did fine with hotdogs, soup was OK, the occasional hamburger… but this time I was going hog wild! Cooking an entire chicken, potatoes! vegetables!! (Well, frozen vegetables…)

I had to pin the directions up to remember what to do. I kind of forgot parts while worrying over other parts… I burned the chicken a bit, and I forgot they stuff things inside it that you’re supposed to take out before cooking… I cooked them.

I did better with the potatoes until I decided to add some salt and the top fell off the shaker. I tried washing it all off, but the potatoes started falling apart, I think I might have over cooked them already, concentrating on the chicken… I thought about mashed potatoes; but, can you do that with skins still on?

Well at least I still had the vegetables I thought, as I looked over noticing I had turned on the wrong burner, they were still frozen.

Fortunately, I had not told John I was cooking. I had everything cleaned and the food outside five minutes before he got home! I pulled out a bottle of wine just as he got to the door.

As he came in, the first thing he said was, “What’s that horrible smell??”

It worked out well though. I happily, never had to learn to cook!