Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Hamburger Havoc

One of the slogans for Hamburger Helper is: "An easy, delicious, one-skillet solution to the question, 'What’s for dinner?'" Our youngest daughter, the working mother, trusted that slogan. With a degree in marketing, she should have known not to believe phrases utilized by marketing wizards to tout their products.

She concocted a box of this “one-skillet solution” the other night for dinner, knowing she had worked all day, had Lil Man to care for, and had an assignment due in one of her graduate school classes. “Easy” was what she needed to prepare for dinner. The results were less than she and her husband had anticipated (and their anticipations had been low) so they tossed the culinary tragedy in the trash can. Not long after, she asked her husband what Lil Man was doing.

He replied, “I thought he was in the living room with you.”

She responded, “No, I thought Lil Man was in the bedroom with you.”

Panic. They both bolted up and ran in search of Lil Man, concerned that the newly walking baby was into mischief. He was located in the kitchen, covered in Hamburger Helper. He had discovered the remnants of dinner tossed in the trash can and had retrieved the paper plate and dumped its contents on top of his head and was wearing a head covering of Hamburger Helper.

He had discovered the true value of Hamburger Helper – he was finger painting a mini-masterpiece on the tiled floor with Hamburger Helper. Monet would have been pleased. A new art medium had been discovered! Chubby hands were covered in the red sauce. Chubby cheeks were coated. And laughter erupted from his parents as they discovered this hamburger havoc.

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