I would like to preface this post by saying my husband is a great cook...he does roast dinner better than anyone I know, he always manages to get the timing right when cooking several odd-timed things at once, and he even bakes birthday cakes when I don't have time. But tonight...tonight...he made something really special. The evening went a little bit like this:
I had a late meeting which meant hubs would be in charge of dinner - and I had stopped at the store this afternoon to get all of the right ingredients. Recent posts notwithstanding, we've been trying to lighten up our meals a bit and as such we've cut out a lot of meat from our diet (a temporary measure let me assure you!). Anyway, I had planned for tofu & broccoli stir-fry with steamed basmati rice for dinner this evening. It's a spin-off from the usual beef & broccoli spiced up with the addition of a bright red chilli from our abundant windowsill plant, some extra garlic, and of course replacing the beef with tofu. It's become quite a staple in our house since it's quick, easy, and satisfyingly savoury so although it is a light meal you feel as though you've had a bit of a takeaway treat. Hubs has made this many times for us before...
So...at 6pm off he went into the kitchen to get things prepared. My meeting ended at about 7 and I went into the kitchen to see how things were going. All looked perfectly in order, tofu already lightly fried and marinating, rice in the rice cooker, broccoli cut up and ready to be thrown in.
Perfect timing I thought...
I poured myself a glass of wine and went to sit down for a few minutes before dinner.
Not ten minutes later did my fantastic husband bring my dinner in to me and we began to eat...
I had one bite and thought to myself, Hmmmmm....he's done something different, I wonder what it is. I won't ask yet, wouldn't want him to think I don't like it.
Had another few bites and thought, No, I must ask, because this tofu tastes like cheese.
So I said: "Mmmmm, this is lovely, what did you do differently?"
And he said: "Oh thanks...nothing".
Pause
"Oh actually I had to use sherry instead of rice wine vinegar but that's it".
And then I thought, It can't be the sherry that made this tofu taste like cheese...WHAT could it be?
So then I said: "Babe, are you sure you didn't do something differently? What did you put in the marinade?
He responded: "Just what it said on the recipe - soy sauce, cornflour, and a bit of oil."
"Ok then", I said, "but I just gotta let you know this tofu tastes a lot like cheese".
And he said: "Really? I hadn't noticed. It's good though right?"
Me: "Oh yes, it's good, thanks for dinner".
Zut! A lightbulb goes off in my head!
Me: "Oh, um, did you get the tofu off of the top shelf of the fridge?"
Him: "Yeah, the one in the blue and white package".
Me: "That was feta cheese".
Him: "I thought something was different with the tofu but I just went with it".
Me: "Did the picture of Athens on the cover of the package not alert you to the fact that it was feta cheese?"
Him: "Nope didn't even look at the package!"
So there you have it folks, feta & broccoli stir-fry comin' to a chinese take out near you. Any minute now.
@noteaafter12
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