Books We Love Insider Blog: #RIHP

(The actual date is June 13th--but I blog on the 28th of each month, so this gives you ample time to celebrate!)

Even those who know her/his way around the kitchen, are able to relate to the occasional--or daily kitchen mishaps.

Writing, Painting/Drawing, Music, and Cooking are classified as the 'Arts". I find creative people are usually gifted, to some degree, in all of the Arts. (I'm also inclined to include gardening under the Arts umbrella, however, that's another blog post.)

Culinary Arts, in which culinary means "related to cooking", are the cuisine arts of food preparation, cooking, and presentation of food, usually in the form of meals.

I must admit most of my 'heroines/heroes" are able to cook. However, as in real-life, there are Kitchen Klutzes in my novels, too. I must also confess, I routinely have more than my share of kitchen mishaps. Especially, since we have all been spending a great deal of time cooking family meals these past couple of months.

June 13th honors those who would like to cook and be in the kitchen, but it just doesn’t seem to work well for them. After all, it is National Kitchen Klutzes of America Day.

Klutz: most commonly referred to as a clumsy person.

Kitchen Klutzes are the people who set out with the intentions of being like Ree Drummond, Molly Yeh, Gordon Ramsey, or even the great Julia Child as they open up the cookbook. Mixing bowl or Kitchen Aide mixer and ingredients on the counter, they imagine knife cuts as swift as Wolfgang Puck or Bobby Flay. However, reality quickly dissolves all those dreams as smoke billows from the oven, skillets erupt in flames, and salt is mistaken for sugar. Those knife cuts turn bloody, cookies and fingers are burnt, cakes go flat. The Kitchen Klutz has struck, and visions of spilled milk are pitifully cried over.

It may be necessary to keep a first aid kit and fire extinguisher handy when Kitchen Klutzes are around. Eat a sandwich before going over to dinner. Be ready to call 911 and have your favorite take out restaurant on speed-dial if things don't go well.

HOW TO OBSERVE #NationalKitchenKlutzesDay

There several ways to celebrate this humorous holiday.

Laugh at yourself. Share your mortifying stories of kitchen failure over a slice of microwave pizza.

Give your favorite Kitchen Klutz the gift of cooking classes. Or, better yet, offer to cook.

Watch your favorite cooking flops show.

Don’t forget to share your stories and celebrations using #NationalKitchenKlutzesDay on social media.

Or try a few of these never fail meals.

Walking Tacos

Heat a can of chili in the microwave (in anticipation of stove top misadventures).

Take smaller single-serving packs of Fritos and then slice them open on the side, then serve the chili right inside the packets of Fritos. Add in additional toppings of cheese, diced onions and minced jalapeños. You just hand everyone a fork and they each have their own individual servings of Frito Chili. It makes for an easy cleanup too!

Crab Fondue (For that Romantic Evening Meal)

Nobody really needs a reason to eat more cheese, but this crab fondue recipe is a good one. Crab meat (or imitation crab) and packaged cheese, this fridge and pantry meal is easy yet satisfying.

8 ounces cream cheese, cubed and softened

1 pound processed cheese, like Velveeta

1 cup dry white wine

12 ounces canned crab meat

1 dash of Old Bay seasoning, or to taste

In a fondue pot, slowly melt the cheeses in the dry white wine.

Fold in the crab meat.

Heat through.

Serve with crusty French bread, cut into squares.

Please share a recent, or memorable meal, you prepared. You know, it's the story which is forever embedded in the family oral history.

I'll go first!

Let me share my first kitchen mishap. I was a new bride and prepared Gumbo for dinner (my husband is from Louisiana).

Gumbo requires a thickening agent. I like okra (my paternal grandmother was from Texas and she prepared fried okra). I also added ground sassafras powder. This adds a fruit sweet flavor and also smells like root beer. It is part of Cajun and Creole cooking--also a thickening agent.

Well, my gumbo had to be pried from the pot because it had the consistency of a paste. Very thick, very hard paste. The rice, cornbread and pecan pie were delicious. Not a healthy meal, for certain, but it stuck to our ribs for several days.

HAPPY NATIONAL KITCHEN KLUTZES DAY EVERYONE!

For fool-proof kitchen recipes and Cajun Romance, remember to read my latest novel: Gumbo Ya Ya!