Let me share my "blonde moment" with the world

[Janna]

Because I can laugh at myself, I thought I would allow others to laugh at me too. Let me share my blonde moment with you (sorry all you blondes! Fwiw, I'm actually doing you a service as I'm not blonde and I made a major blunder! :lol:):

 

So I decided to make some cookies tonight that I have never made before. It called for whole hazelnuts. I've never used hazelnuts in a recipe before. When I bought the bag of "whole" hazelnuts, they were still in their shell. I knew this would be fine because the recipe spoke about how to get the skin off.

 

So the recipe tells me to boil the nuts with baking soda for 3 minutes when I can then easily peel the skin. So I do this. 3 min later, they're still as hard as a...nut (:D) So I put them back in the boiling water. 15 min later, still hard. I come online to Google about this and I realize that I have mistaken the very important word skin for shell.

 

So I then had to pound the nuts between oven mitts with a hammer to get them out of the shell, where they are now boiling so I can get the skin off and proceed with this recipe.

 

I am feeling quite foolish!:blush::lol:

 

Learn from me, will you? That way I know this mistake was not in vain!:D

 

Waiting for the nut jokes to ensue...

Edited December 9, 2008 by Janna

[Tree House Academy]

And the moral of this story is...buy the hazelnuts already shelled (LOL) and skinned. ;)

[gardening momma]

You're in good company...today I made bread dough so I could make my own hot dog buns. I misread the recipe. This is a bread recipe I've used many times, but this time I used 3 tablespoons of yeast instead of 3 teaspoons. And I was doubling the recipe, so it was actually 6 tablespoons instead of teaspoons. So I wasted quite a bit. They turned out just fine, though. The first batch turned out more the size of sub buns, so I froze those for sandwiches another time, and the second batch I did manage to make the right size for hot dogs.

[WTMindy]

LOL! My friend was making cinnamon popcorn and the recipe called for 3/4 cup unpopped popcorn. She missed the part about how you were supposed to pop the corn before you coat it with the mixture and bake it. So, she was waiting for it to pop in her oven.

[teamturner]

I've had similar difficult times trying to get the skin off or shelling (perhaps I was confused on this point as well) chestnuts. It's next to impossible. I will never put chestnuts in stuffing again even though it tastes so good.

 

First time (over ten years ago), we only had one oven and my dh was roasting the turkey in the oven so I decided to roast my chestnuts on the grill outside (this was in south Florida, btw). I went out to check on them and lifted the lid of the grill and the chestnuts exploded right in my face and I had chestnuts all in my hair! And even then we couldn't get the chestnuts out of the shells without a great deal of scraping with fingernails. :glare: At least we had a great time with our own versions of "Chestnuts roasting in an open grill...." etc. :tongue_smilie:

[Janna]

Oh, yes, I have worked with chestnuts too - never again! At least, not until someone can convince me there's an easier way, LOL.

 

I wanted to have chestnuts for Christmas one year as well. I don't even remember what the directions where, I just remember I had to cut an "x" in the shell first. That alone was near impossible. I empathize with your exploding chestnuts on the grill - at least we can learn from our mistakes, huh?

[Rich with Kids]

I was on my cell phone with DH and he asked me to find a friend's number. My desk, as always, is a mess. So I say to him, "Now, if I can only find my phone...where is it? My desk is such a mess...oh." And he says, "I was wondering how long this one was going to take you." :o :blushing: