Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Chicken Broth and Walnuts - - Oops!

I haven't published much fiction lately, but today I'm picking up where I left off, with Part 8 of my fiction story about Mindy, an adorable compulsive shopper and hoarder of cleaning products. 
To catch up with the story so far:
I wrote this segment of Mindy's story (like all the others) using word prompts from the Words for Wednesday Challenge 

The Words for Wednesday Challenge was originally started by Delores of Under the Porch Light. It was continued for a while on the blog Elephant's Child, then moved to River's blog Drifting Through Life in July and now to Randomosity this August. Next month it will be my turn to provide the word prompts for the challenge!
When you are ready, here is Part 8 ...
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Chicken Broth and Walnuts - - Oops!


Mindy wiped sweat off her brow. She had gotten up that morning when the grass was still dewy, and
had she'd been hard at work ever since. Ryan's parents were in town visiting, and she had invited them all for a late lunch. She wanted everything to be absolutely perfect.

Three months had passed since Ryan had fixed her disposal. Since then, they had spent a part of nearly every day together. She was realizing that she really liked and trusted him, and she believed he had similar feelings about her. When he mentioned he wanted her to meet his parents, it had thrown her into a bit of a tizzy.

Ryan had already told Mindy quite a bit about his Mom and Dad. They had lived quite a hippy lifestyle when he was younger, and hadn't even gotten married until Ryan was four and his sister was six. They had become more conservative with age, but had recently both become vegetarian.

“Not for moral or health reasons,” Ryan had explained. “They just always try to keep up with the latest trends. They have this notion that most younger people are really into yoga and don't eat meat.” 

Mindy wanted to please them. Even though she didn't know much about vegetarian cooking, she had worked hard to prepare a meal Ryan's parents would enjoy.

“Drat,” she thought. “I have just over an hour until they get here. I sure could use a team of elves or the seven dwarfs right now to help me with the rest of the cooking and cleaning. I'd better finish quickly and get myself presentable.”

After showering and putting on her favorite dress, Mindy set to work washing the dishes in the sink. She didn't hear the knock, but whirled around when Ryan opened the front door and called out that they had arrived. Drying her hands hastily, she took one last look around the house for to gain a little confidence from its uncluttered appearance. Then, she hurried to the front hall to greet her guests.

~~*~~

"Mindy, you have a lovely home and dinner was absolutely delicious," said Ryan's mother Teresa. “It was so kind of you to adhere to our dietary preferences and not serve us any meat. The soup was perfect. I'd love to have the recipe. What are the ingredients?"

“I'm so glad you enjoyed it - it's very easy to make,” replied Mindy. “I was going to make a Lima bean soup, but that called for a bacon garnish. Instead, I made Ina Garten's recipe for Fresh Pea Soup.  I used leaks, fresh shelled peas, fresh mint and chives, chicken broth and - -  ”

Mindy stopped talking, and slapped a hand over her mouth. Her guests were all looking a little shocked, and Ryan had choked back a chuckle. As soon as she had uttered the words chicken broth, Mindy had realized her huge faux pas. A few tears threatened to spill over her lower lashes. 

“Oh,” she said, her face bright red. “How could I have done such a stupid thing?  I was so intent on making a vegetable soup - I never even thought about the broth I was using not being vegetarian. You must hate me so much. I am so very, very sorry!"

Suddenly, Ryan and his parents were all laughing and trying to console her. 

“Don't worry Mindy dear,” said Teresa. “Ryan's dad threatened to leave me all week because I wouldn't agree that it was okay to eat a steak. To be truthful, I was getting awfully hungry for a hamburger! Becoming vegetarian was probably not the best choice for us. You simply helped us admit defeat sooner than we might have otherwise.”

“You're not the first person at this table to make this sort of mistake,” said Ryan's dad, Mark. “When Ryan was very small, we often entertained a very close friend with a nut allergy. For years, Teresa had always been very careful about what she served him. He trusted her cooking.”  

“One evening when this friend was visiting, Teresa served a beautifully iced chocolate cake for dessert,“ said Mark. “Thankfully, Ryan took the first bite and spit it right out. He cried, and told us he didn't like the cake because of the nuts in it!”

Teresa continued the story, “I got distracted, and completely forgot to omit the walnuts from the recipe. Had Ryan not complained about it before our friend took a bite, we could have had to call 911 that night. So you see, by comparison your oversight is really not that big of a deal!”


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dewy, whirled, vegetarian, peas, elves, hippy

Be sure to stop by the blog Randomosity, and see all the different ways other people used these words as well ... or better yet, take the challenge and write something using them yourself!

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Had I known from the beginning that I would continue to write about the fictitious Mindy, I would have given this short story a proper title. Lately, it seems to have just become known as "The Mindy Story.”

Can you suggest a better title?

This post may be linked to one of the great link-up parties I follow and list on my blog. Check them out!







12 comments :

  1. Oh I love this... and I may have pulled a Mindy once myself, lol. I'll be back later today to catch up on the rest of the story.

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    1. I think there is probably a touch of Mindy in many of us Jacqueline .... I once served a disastrous vegetarian meal myself. Fiction based on fact :-)

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  2. Love it. Some of the early stories were definitely 'mayhem with mindy' but she is growing.
    And chicken stock in soup is very, very common. To the point I ask in restaurants...

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    1. I would suspect the recipe for pea soup would be just as good if vegetable broth was substituted for the chicken broth.

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  3. Such a great chapter - and thanks for the pea soup recipe. Looks delicious!

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    1. Let me know what you think if you try the soup recipe Lana!

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  4. Great story, had to laugh at the chicken stock mistake. I wondered briefly if Mindy had used a vegetarian chicken-style stock as I do.
    What about Mindy's Adventures or Mindy's Mishaps? Life with Mindy is Never Dull?

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    1. Vegetarian chicken-style stock? Now I am curious!
      All your titles are great - I especially like the last two!

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    2. Massells Chicken stock - and their beef stock have no meat in them at all. And totally fooled my partner's carniverous nephews.

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    3. I found Massells stock sold on Amazon. Great tip EC!

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  5. My son and his family are vegetarians. They are in it because of the treatment of animals. I think they would be like Mindy's guests, though, if I made a little mistake like that. I really have to read my labels, though. I will have to check out these "chicken" and "beef" stocks. Love this series! I can hardly wait for Mindy's next adventure.

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    1. Check on Amazon Lynn. I think I found them there. No description offered, but the stocks are called "Chicken Style" and "Beef Style", so I assume they are the ones EC is referring to.

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