Have you ever embarked on an adventure, a goal or a task, only to realize early on (but too late to turn back), “Uh-oh. This isn’t going to turn out well?”

As my readership is a bit fractured these days, let me relate a bit to my various followers:

* To my adventurous, “outdoors” readers: Imagine a hike to a promised idyllic lake only to find halfway there that it will be much longer than expected, all switchbacks, and all uphill. Uh-oh, walk faster! You gotta get back to camp before the afternoon lightning strikes start on the peaks where you are headed!!

** To  my goal-oriented, “reading” readers: Think of starting a big, meaty book suggested by someone you admire, hating it immediately but committing to it anyway, only to find out it’s the first in an ongoing, voluminous series.

*** To my task-minded, “culinary” readers: Maybe you volunteered to bake a custom wedding cake for dear friends, and find yourself waaaaaaay over your head? (Actually, I don’t relate to that example. However, I am available, in case anyone needs a cake. Here’s a sample of my work, where the end result was delicious, despite the challenges.)

Roasted strawberry? Yeah, I think so.

Anyway, here’s how this all ties together, and where I went wrong. I started reading this book:

It’s a fascinating history book (**for my curious reading readers) about the CCC, who built our national park trails (*for my national park loving outdoor readers), and what they cooked (***for my strong-stomached culinary readers).

I decided to make Chipped Beef on Toast, more commonly known by the dysphemism “S.O.S.” which is translated many ways, the most polite being, “Stuff On a Shingle,” or, “Save Our Stomachs.” The result was… my fault? Chipped beef is usually dried, but I read something about using fresh meat, which I did, and the result tasted — to put it politely — like blood.

Anyway, after one bite, I couldn’t finish. I didn’t want to start from scratch again, so I bought a frozen version, after which my microwave broke (unrelated, btw), and this is still sitting in my freezer:

Then I started this post (in 2023), only I stalled because 1. I couldn’t get myself to find a third way to taste or cook genuine / non-nauseating Chipped Beef on Toast, and 2. I felt like a fraud posting about it —

— until now. Having decided that “S.O.S.” is going to mean (the polite version) for me, “Start Over, Silly,” I’m not sure HOW to redeem this, but step one is to post this, declare an intention, and move forward.