Bitchin' in the Kitchen

So today has been a complete disaster in my kitchen.  I do not know if I should laugh or cry, but I do know I am about to pour myself a BIG glass of wine.  I was making a loaf of bread this morning.  It looked and felt fine.  It rose beautifully in 45 minutes and then I placed it in the oven.  I am not sure but I think I have an evil kitchen gnome who snuck into my oven and punched down one side of the bread.  Not only did it look horrible, but there was a wet/gummy line on the bottom of the loaf.  How is it that if all ingredients were weighed on a gram scale that you ocassionally get a loaf that just stinks?  ARGH!! When Food Network calls and I become rich and famous I am enrolling in a 9 week bread course at I.C.E. in NYC.  I am determined to figure this out.  In the meantime I am setting gnome traps all around the kitchen. 
 
That was just how the day started.  I am going to Dallas with Molly this weekend and need to bring some food samples.  I decided with Valentine's Day coming, I would try some low protein candy.  What I find is that if you are under tremendous time constraints, it is best to go in full panic mode and try something new.  Otherwise it might be manageable -- and what is the fun in that?  Well, I tripled a recipe for toffee since there are 300 people registered.  The recipe I was adapting it from claimed that the butter and sugar should reach 290 degrees within 15 minutes.  I had an hour until my son came home, so I decided to go for it (required constant stirring).  After 45 minutes and only at 250 I had to call a neighbor to pick my son up at the bus stop.  Eventually it reached the proper temperature but looked a little weird.  As the toffee was setting, it started to ooze oil/butter -- not a good sign!  I just dumped 6 lbs of low protein butter crunch toffee otherwise I am pretty sure I would have been responsible for a lot of dental work at the conference.
 
Now I need  to get dinner in the oven (no idea what it will be) and I still need to make samples.  ARGH!!!!!!!!!!
 
Okay I think I am done bitchin' in the kitchen, simply because it is not as much fun complaining online as it is in person.  If you meet me in Dallas do NOT ask about the toffee unless you have a glass of red wine in your hand and an hour to listen to me rant.  I really should take a picture of my kitchen right now.  It is a complete disaster.  The sink is overflowing with dishes, the dishwasher is running, the stove has almond bark and a sticky toffee substance all over it and there is no room on the counters for even my glass of wine. Today is a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.  But there are days like that, even in Cook for Love's kitchen.  
 
Hope to see many of you this weekend and hope to have some treats for you to sample!
 
Brenda