Brilliantly Botched Bunny

Ever had one of those moments where, despite warnings that your effort is going to fail, you stubbornly push ahead and it fails anyways? Up until 11pm the night before Thanksgiving, that was me.

So, a little background. I'm working Thanksgiving, just like how, for the past decade or so, I've worked every Thanksgiving. Yes, it blows and yes, you seriously do some soul searching at 4 am asking yourself if it truly was worth going to college for your job, but, eventually, you get used to it. Normally, at places where you're forced to work on a major holiday, your boss or coworkers try to make the best of it and have a holiday dinner anyways.

Normally.

This year, though, until two days prior to Thanksgiving, nothing was planned. At 4 pm on Tuesday, a frantic e-mail goes out pleading for volunteers to bring food for the 100+ individuals scheduled to work the holiday. Pulling my sleeves up and with a can-do attitude that would make Betty Crocker proud, I volunteered myself for mashed potatoes. After all, I was already making some for the dinner that I planned to attend after my shift and thanks to a recent Costco purchase, I have 15 pounds of potatoes at home. Plus, as I reasoned, I found a new recipe that this website and those that used it promises to expedite my holiday preparation. What could possibly go wrong?

Tuesday, 10pm - After working out and making a mad dash to the grocery store to pick up turkey gravy for the potatoes, I head home. I wash, peel and cut a good five pounds of potatos. I put them in plastic bag in the fridge, my prep work already done. I went to bed, happy, that all I would have to do on Wednesday was to add the potatos to the pressure cooker and it would be ready in a few hours.

Wednesday, 9 am - Upon opening the fridge to make lunch for work, I find that the potatoes, due to oxidation, had started to turn grey. Yes, apparently potatoes oxide. Where were the warnings about this fun fact on my recipe that assured me I could prepare potatos days in advance? Not wanting to waste the potatos, I quickly threw together the rest of the ingredients and turned the pressure cooker. The recipe's instructions were to cook, on low, for ten hours. Perfect. Just long enough for me to return from work.

Normally, I find, whenever I try a new recipe, it turns out acceptable and I'm able to tweek it to something I'll really like within another batch or two. I also find shortcuts, such as melting butter in the microwave in lieu of the stove, and employ them. Normally though, everything turns out right and I'm satisfied with the results.

Normally.

I return home at 8pm to find that the potatos are a wreck. Despite following the directions and greasing the pot, the potatoes absorbed the carmelized milk, and are either golden brown or stuck to the pot. My brilliant multitasking had been foiled.

I sighed, looking at the remaining ten pounds of Yukon potatos. At the rate at which I peel, pit and chop, those ten pounds represented another hour and a half of work. And another 30 minutes of cooking time. Exasperated but determined, I quickly set to task and finished. Ten pounds of potatos and almost two and a half hours later, the potatos were successfully cooked and drained. All that was left to do was pull out the mixer and finish them up. Butter and milk added, my mixer and I were in the home stretch. Just a couple more minutes until the potatoes would transform from a simple mash to a light and creamy dish fit to grace the dinner table.

...when, as luck would have it, that's when my mixer died.