Epic Fail: ADHD Strikes Again

Okay, so the meal itself wasn't an epic fail, but the events leading up to it were. I'm not sure if I have mentioned it here before, but I unofficially suffer from ADHD. I say unofficial because ADHD is actually a medical diagnosis, as a school social worker Hive account@mrsbozz can not label kids with ADHD, but she is trained with to identify the symptoms and in a way make a recommendation.

Like the diagnosis itself, she can't officially make the recommendation because then by federal law the district would be legally bound to pay for any services associated with the diagnosis. She can say things like "this kid is exhibiting symptoms consistent with ..." Things like that. Well, given those decades of experience and close to two decades living with me, she is fairly confident I have ADHD.

As I said, I've never been officially diagnosed, and through the years I have developed strategies to help me live a decent life without medication or much trouble.

Every so often though, I screw up.

That was the case this past Friday night when I went out to a lenten fish fry with my buddy Hive account@a4xjeeper. Before I left, my wife said "be sure to take something out of the freezer when you get home tonight because we are going to grill tomorrow". Pretty simple request right? Unfortunately, for someone with ADHD, it isn't quite that simple. It was about three hours from the time she said that to me until the time I got home and in that time, my mind absolutely blanked on what I was supposed to do when I got home.

I feel bad, because I am sure she feels like I don't listen to her. I definitely heard what she said, but due to the way my brain works, that simple direction was lost probably about fifteen minutes later. Thankfully, she understands the condition and she loves me despite the fact. It kills me knowing how many times I have let her down because I forgot to do something she asked me to.

It wasn't until the next morning that I realized I never took meat out of the freezer for us to grill. I knew I had to go to my parents later that morning, so I decided I would just stop at the meat market and pick something up for us to grill that night. There was zero chance anything I pulled out that morning would have time to thaw by that evening.

I picked up these massive garlic butter marinated chicken breasts that my wife enjoys and then for myself I snagged a nice looking porterhouse steak. Hive account@mrsbozz also made some homemade macaroni and cheese that we threw in one of my little cast iron pans and finished off on the grill. You can see in the photo above that it was starting to get all golden brown and delicious.

I threw some Kinder's buttery steakhouse seasoning on the steak as I let it char away on the grill. A lot of people like to put butter on their steak while it is cooking and while I appreciate that technique, I personally don't need all the extra calories it imparts. The Kinder's seasoning gives it a bit of that buttery goodness without the extra fat. Plus there are other herbs and spices in there that help make the meat sing a little more.

As you can see, what started out with the potential to be a disaster due to my crazy brain turned into something quite delicious. The mac and cheese was bubbling pretty good and by the time I pulled it from the indirect side of the grill it had a nice crispy crust that matched well with the soft creaminess of the noodles and sauce.

The chicken came out perfect as always, but it did take a bit longer due to how large the breasts were. I'll be the first to admit, that just isn't natural. They might claim to be hormone and antibiotic free, but you know they are doing something genetically to make them grow that big. My wife had some that night, we ate some the other night on nachos, plus she has been taking some every day for work and we have maybe only used half the chicken from the two breast halves.

Meanwhile, the steak came out perfectly. The tenderloin was absolutely amazing and basically melted in my mouth. The other side which would be the strip and that sits right next to the sirloin that a lot of people outside the US are familiar with.

Just in case you were concerned, we did have some greens with our dinner. During our weekly grocery shopping pick up, we grabbed some asparagus that she cooked off on the stove top. It was kind of weak looking asparagus, but we are a bit out of season right now. It came out pretty delicious either way.

Finally, as I mentioned I had visited my parents that morning. My mom gave me this amazing blueberry turnover to take home and share with Hive account@mrsbozz. When we were kids my parents bought an electric pocket pie maker and they are still using it to this day. The crust is homemade, but the filling it just your basic pie filling from the store.

To finish it off she throws a glaze on it made of powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla I think. It's pretty amazing. I let my wife eat both corners and then she gave me the rest to finish off. I haven't had one of these in forever and it was amazing!

Thankfully, what could have been a massive mistake on my part turned into a pretty decent meal. What do you think?