Cooking Dangerously

When reading a recipe, it's crucial to pay attention to the details. This is essential for measuring out the amount of each ingredient. If one does not do this, specifically in the case of hot chilies, the results may prove fatal. (My poor husband; he's still breathing.)

Tonight, I thought I'd try this tofu and asparagus recipe. The recipe called for a teaspoon of Kame hot chili sauce. Maybe I wasn't as focused as I should have been the task at hand; I think I caught my 14-month-old son's cold. My bank has inexplicably put a hold on my entire checking account, and apparently some neighbors just sent a complaint to building management about my son's crying during the night. (The manager advised me to put my son to bed later, buy a rocking chair for his room, and make sure to go in at the first peep I heard. Weissbluth would roll over in his grave if he were dead.) So, somehow a tablespoon of chili sauce ended up in the bowl pictured above. (Note the inexpertly minced ginger.) I was all set to pour this deadly brew into the pan of unevenly pan-fried tofu (blame that on a too-small skillet), when I decided to taste the sauce. I momentarily turned into a fire-breathing dragon.

I realized that this dinner was in danger of becoming either compost or a life-threatening meal for the

dog that lives across the hall, so I considered my options. I could throw out the sauce, as the tofu and asparagus were still intact, or I could try to salvage it; a less expensive option. So, I tripled the amount of soy sauce and rice vinegar.


It might be difficult to see this in the photo, but the unfortunate, unforeseen result of this strategy was to plunge the tofu into several inches of excess liquid. Panicking, I turned up the heat - maybe I would create some kind of newfangled "reduction." I just boiled everything in the pan until the amount of liquid diminished somewhat.

Oh well. All's well that ends well.