It's official.

Since our wedding, the wife and I have never been apart this long.

And many days yet to go.

For over a year, I have been wanting to try cooking a particular dish. And being home alone with just the heelers, now seemed the time to experiment.

Now this particular meal is certainly nothing complicated, but it lies in a whole ethnicity that I have never dabbled in. Nor was it ever in any meal that I enjoyed growing up.

I looked up recipes starting over a year ago. I was happy to see they were all fairly simple, but there were not any two of all I read that actually matched.

Everybody pretty much cooks it different.

Probably the way their mothers taught them.

So I opted for the simplest, went shopping this evening, and began.

Only to find that one basic ingredient, which I assumed just naturally we would have in stock somewhere in the kitchen or pantry, was nowhere to be found.

Drive back to town to buy some, on the icy highways? (Yes, it snowed again this afternoon.)

Or substitute?

I substituted.

It wasn't good.

It wasn't bad, either. But nothing like it is supposed to taste.

What I created was edible and filling, but nothing to love. Good thing I experimented when I was only feeding myself. (Heelers loved it, but they tried to eat a dead raccoon yesterday, so that's not saying much.)

Unfortunately, I made enough for two. So guess what I'll have for dinner tomorrow.

Maybe tomato sauce would help...