Thanks everybody!
I'm really enjoying the posts and have a few more of my own to offer.
There's a lasagne story I heard on another site:
A man came in to return a box of lasagne noodles because they were 'defective'. The box looked a bit singed and he was asked about the problem. It was a great story.
He'd seen the 'serving suggestion' depicted on the box. He thought that, if he put this box of raw noodles in the microwave, it would come out with all the wonderful cheese and meat sauce shown in the illustration. It didn't happen that way.
There is the strudel story:
Some decades ago, my mother and I decided to make a home-made strudel. It would be wonderful because it would be filled with raspberry preserves from our own raspberries. We just didn't count on the rigors of making a strudel.
Making a proper strudel required rolling out dough approximately the size of a large dining room table. Folding it, rolling it again, folding and rolling it again and again and again.
The strudel did turn out well. My father really enjoyed it but my mother and I were so tired of seeing the thing in the making that it we couldn't enjoy it until a day had passed.
Finally, there is the strawberry-rhubarb pie story:
Mr. Thipu was the first suitor I had that my parents really liked. When he was coming to visit, my mother went all out with a wonderful roast and a strawberry-rhubarb pie made with our strawberries and rhubarb. Mother made excellent pies but was a bit cowed by her SIL who was (self-described) as the best pie maker in the county.
The pie looked great when it came to table but something was wrong. Mr. Thipu, always the diplomat remarked that it was 'a bit tart'. That was the understatement of the year. Mother, in her angst over pie-making had forgotten to add any extra sugar.
