Failed Meals

Three of my last four attempts at special dishes all failed in some form, all attributed to inattention or cutting corners on my part.  Cholent was great, Kosher beef cubes from Trader Joe's of better fat content than what Shop-Rite sells.  But cherry pie, macaroni & cheese, -lasagna all came out notably flawed.  For the pie, I used Crisco instead of half butter like I usually do.  Getting the portions for a double crust did not go well, nor did the added water.  As a result the crust was too short with the taste of the shortening, crumbly, not pasty like usual lapses.  For the M&C I added too much flour to the roux.  For the lasagna, I used mozzarella primarily, forgot to grease the pan before adding the first layer, and overbaked it.  Hard to take out of pan, edges burnt, topping more of a crust than that gooey coating which should have been more like pizza.  

Since this is one of my hobbies pre-retirement extending forward, I take these lapses as either loss of interest or loss of capacity on my part.  It's probably more inattention.  But the cholent was terrific, and I'll have occasion to make the others at some future time.