Chinese Chicken Salad and Apple Pie

Last night I made Chinese Chicken salad for dinner and apple pie for dessert. I must say it was quite delicious, though it took more time than I would have liked. May I begin by saying last night was not  good night. I was clumsy, and frustrated, and ready to give up on cooking. It first started with the chicken, I took it out of the plastic and put in under the faucet to wash. While doing this I managed to drop half of it down the garbage disposal. That's a rat way to start off, right? So after I got everything back under control, I put the sauce over the chicken and shoved it in the oven. Though this required help from my dear mother because I had no idea when the chicken was done. It ended up being way over cooked. I chopped up the lettuce and mixed the rest of the ingredients into the salad. Once the chicken was done, I cut it into thin slices over the salad.  I tossed the salad and it was ready to go, but ,of course, not before I dumped piles of it on the floor. I don't think I was gifted with good coordination.




While making the salad I made the apple pie. I made the dough and once again it was way too gooey and wouldn't harden. That was another frustrating aspect of dinner last night. Peeling the apples and cutting them into thin slices too much longer since I did it by myself this time. When rolling out the dough to make the crust, it tore in a couple places, which was disappointing. But everything ended up coming together and the dinner tasted great.




With the extra dough and apples, I made a pandowttie. I just put in the apples and ripped up the dough and placed it over the apples. Into the oven it went and this was the turn out. It was delicious.



Cooking is really difficult for me. I hate feeling like I just don't understand something, and I constantly feel that way when i'm cooking. I want to be comfortable cooking and baking, but it's hard when it's so discouraging when things don't want to work out the way they are planned. But I am starting to see a difference. I really like baking - apple pies that is - and with more practice, hard work, and time, I can see myself getting there. Getting to a place where cooking is something I can say I like to do.