Overdue Orange Chicken

     Many months back I promised to make my granddaughter Orange Chicken. I seemed to keep forgetting this. I would like to think that getting old has caused this forgetfulness. Unfortunately I have a track record of forgetting things. Like the time that I left my youngest child in a neighboring town at a ballgame. My wife and I had traveled to the ballgame separately, her with my daughter and me with the youngest. We decided to leave before the games were over and she said she would go pick up some pizza for supper. I went home turned on the TV and waited for the pizza. After a while she came in the door, put the pizza on the table and said "where is Ty? ".  It dawned on me that I had forgotten to bring him home.
     Now my young son was in a distant town, late at night and alone at a ball field. Needless to say I made a quick trip back to see if I could find him. All the while imagining what might be happening to him. Fortunately he was with friends that were watching him until I made it back. He likes to tell stories of running behind the old station wagon waving his arms and yelling for me to stop, but I don't know if this actually happened. Fortunately this ended up okay but I still shudder thinking of what might have happened.
      I found a couple of recipes on Laura Vitale's Youtube channel and started prepping. The two Chinese style meals were all prep and quick stir fries. Again I was making Orange Chicken and I added Chicken and Stir Fry Vegetables. I cleaned a head of broccoli, sliced carrots, cleaned snow peas and sliced green onions. I put some rice on and started measuring the wet ingredients. This is when I realized I forgot to see if I had Soy Sauce. The bottle in the fridge had about a teaspoon in it. Who puts a teaspoon of anything back in the fridge ? On to the pantry. I found Mirin, Teriyaki sauce, rice wine vinegar but no Soy Sauce. If I wanted to follow the recipe I needed to make a trip to town for soy sauce. Dinner was put on hold and a trip to town was made. Actually after preparing the two dishes, I believe they turned out very good. There were no left overs!
     Forgetting to check on the Soy Sauce isn't nearly as bad as leaving a youngster in a distant city but it is frustrating not to have everything needed for a recipe. It may be a lesson for me to learn from? Can this old dog learn a new lesson? I wonder what other important things have been forgotten. And am I the only one that forgets things?
     Don't you forget to check out Laura Vitale on YouTube. Or her website, Laurainthekitchen.com .