I like it how needs can push us to our finest moments of creativity, ingenuity, genius, and discovery. For instance – how many inventions have been made simply because a farmer needed a better way to complete a process or a laborer needed a better way to complete a task? The cotton gin, the assembly line, interchangeable parts… such things are echoes of the Industrial Revolution. All of these things attempt to answer the same question, “How can we do something new or better with what we have?”
I love to take the same question and apply it to dinner. This is a very important field of innovation to me, because I’m often challenged by the ingredients, or lack thereof, of what I’ll have in my cupboard. It’s not that I’m lacking in the means to provide for myself… I like to blame it more on the fact that I’m a bachelor that’s constantly on the move, and I’m not used to shopping and cooking for myself, yet. Because of this, I’ve had to improvise in my cooking a few times. Yesterday was one of those times.

This is a picture of my latest creation. I think I’ll call it Garlic Peppercorn Chicken. Even with the exotic name, it actually doesn’t taste that good… yet. 😀 I’m still working on the recipe. I let the chicken marinate for 24 hours in a bag with red onions, peppercorns, bits of garlic, mayonnaise, and some white wine vinegar. Fortunately, the chicken came out tasting pretty good… Unfortunately, the sauce that I tried to make from the marinade tasted pretty much awful. I left the peppercorns in (BIG MISTAKE), and one of them almost got stuck in my teeth. I had to spit them out while I was eating.
I think next time I’ll just toss the marinade and use the chicken, because even the onions weren’t that good, even after I tried to sauté them. Like I said, the chicken was good, but that was the only good part.
Notes for next time:

• Toss the marinade after use (I know it sounds like a waste – but it served its purpose)
• Make an Alfredo sauce to go with some thick italian noodles (like fetuccini noodles or something) and add it to the chicken
• Eat it with a fresh salad and some strong, red grape juice

So… what have I learned from this? Life is like cooking – sometimes we can make mistakes, and there’s always something to clean up afterwards, but there are tasty times to enjoy. In the end, if you’ve made something bad, keep cooking.
Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. (James 1:2-4 NASB)