Don’t forget...!

So I’m already back to the subject of forgetfulness... With a story that illustrates how it’s often the product of a busy and overloaded mind.

This is what happened in our kitchen this morning, when I spotted a large bowl of couscous being soaked for a taboulleh for one of Steve’s clients.

Me: ‘Oh, if there’s any taboulleh left, I’d love some to go with the chicken I’m cooking tonight. In fact could you just cook a bit extra so we definitely have some?’

Steve: ‘What chicken are you planning?’

Me: ‘The Moroccon chicken stew I cooked last week and got out of the freezer yesterday... Oh, where is it? What’s happened to it?’

Steve: ‘I put it back in the freezer. I thought I’d left it out when I got the chicken pieces out.’

Me: ‘What chicken pieces? Where are MY chicken pieces? I got thighs out to defrost with my chicken stew, because it needs more meat...’

Steve: ‘I got the chicken out – for a client!’

Me (shouting): ‘I got the ******* chicken out! It was with the stew, defrosting for tonight.’

Steve (shouting back): ‘It was my ******* chicken! It came from Tesco!’ (He knows I don’t shop it Tesco).

Me: ‘I got it out. You saw it and thought you’d got it out and that’s when you put the stew back in the freezer. You were planning to get chicken out and when you saw it on the side, you thought you already had...!’

Steve: ‘You have the thighs. I’ll use breasts.’

Me: ‘But they’re frozen!’

Steve: ‘They’re for tomorrow – they’ll be fine.’

Me: ‘My stew’s still frozen though.’

Steve: ‘You can defrost it in a pan...’

Temper tantrums over. Peace restored. But how was I to know, when I took chicken out of the freezer, that Steve was planning to do exactly the same thing – and would see HIS chicken and think he’d already done it?!’