Well I guess this is it

Feb 4th...

We invited Derrick's friend Mike over for dinner tonight so he wouldn't have to eat all alone on his last night here. He received his smallpox vaccination the other day so little Averi had to spend the whole time in her bedroom (lucky for me she is fast asleep so she didn't mind!) Him and Derrick have been together since their training at Ft. Benning last Fall, it's nice to know that my husband will have someone to talk with over there.

I (by my own admission) am really good at ruining dinners! So I was a little nervous tonight just because I wanted them both to have a good meal that they were going to really like. We had some big fat pork chops in the freezer that would probably take me year or two to eat if I didn't give them to the boys, but red flags were flying up all over the place! "Don't do it Darci....you're pork chops are always so bland...it will be a pity dinner!" Instead of just seasoning them and throwing them in the frying pan like I normally do, I decided to try something completely new! I looked up a recipe online for pork chops with mushroom soup and rice. I knew it had "Oh Boy..." written all over it, but I wanted to try it anyways. I realize I have been married for 2 1/2 years now, but that doesn't mean I am miss suzy homemaker yet, not once have I attempted to cook rice for Derrick. My mother-in-law is an amazing cook and set the bar really high for me, so I normally just steer clear of the tough stuff. I called Nikki and told her I wanted to try and she said she walk me through it, so I figured it might be ok. At least if I completely destroyed it, there were leftover enchiladas in the fridge that they could eat.

So I start cooking, and the first thing I do is burn the oil. Did you know oil could burn if you left it on long enough? well it does! By the time I put the pork chops in, the oil was like caramel and I had to pick it all off and throw it away (literally! throw it away...it was no longer a liquid) I just added more and crossed my fingers that it was OK to do that. After that things went alright, my sister walked me through cooking the rice (really easy, I felt a little dumb for thinking it was scary) and I just had to let the pork chops simmer in the soup for 30 minutes. By the time it was done, the soup was completely brown from the burned oil and the veggies had burnt to the pan...but the rice was perfect! I made everyone's plates and put them on the table and as I was making my plate, I noticed that neither of them were taking a bite, they were just looking at it. They said they were waiting for me but I know what was going through their minds! By the time they finally got their courage up and took a bite they were both so surprised! Derrick kept saying "Wow babe....Wow!" I don't think I have cooked that yummy of a dinner before, and he was as shocked as me! Well long, story short, I cooked rice tonight and it was good. haha!

I got a tad side tracked...the point of my blog tonight was Derrick and Mike leaving for Afghanistan in the morning, but oh well. None of us know what exactly is going to happen when the sun comes up in the morning...or what emotions we will all be feeling...but at least we know they were well fed for their flight!