What's roast pork without potatoes...

or "Where can 10 lbs of Potatoes Hide?

It was four pm and time to prepare the meat if I wanted the roast pork ready for our Sunday dinner. I ambled into the kitchen where all was quiet because a friend had borrowed most of the kids and taken them back to her house. Hugo opened the roast and placed it in the roaster while I assembled the chief ingredients for the roast and side dishes.
Apples & onions - check
Spices from the spice drawer - check
corn - check, but will take the bags out of the freezer later
potatoes....

Here is where I ran into a problem. The 10 lb bag of potatoes was not in the pantry nor in the storage area on the other side of the pantry... A little concerned I began to retrace the path from the van to the kitchen wondering if the potatoes had been deposited somewhere along the route and forgotten before their handler could put them away. Nope, a few shoes were found along the route but nothing resembling 10 lbs of potatoes.

Retraced the route checking for deviations - had the person charged with bringing in the potatoes left them in the school room, under the dining room table or even perhaps the bathroom? All are areas along the possible paths traversed from the van to the kitchen. Nope - nary a potato to be seen. Not even a peel. Went out and scouted out the van and porch praying that with the sub zero temps we have been having of late that the potatoes had not been left in either spot.

Nada... somewhat relieved but very frustrated by this mysterious disappearance I returned to the house where the air was beginning to be perfumed by the odor of apples and onions baking in the oven. Time was running out to have these potatoes peeled and boiled in time to whip them into buttery mashed potatoes and what's pork roast without potatoes?

Now Hugo and began to search our memories... had we actually remembered to put them in the van? I had no memory of them save putting them originally in my cart. Hugo was 98 % sure he'd put them in the van. Listening to our puzzled voices Emma suddenly piped up and said "Tanny and I were trying to decide who would bring them in and HE said he would, so he picked them up - I saw him bring them inside..."

Well, that was comforting to know BUT where had he hid put them. I went to the front door and stood there while I asked myself if I were a nine year old boy, possibly distracted, where might I put the potatoes? From the front door I spied the stairs and sent Emma to check Nathaniel's bedroom. She was back in seconds dragging the 10 lb bag of spuds behind her.

Mystery solved.... dinner prep resumed. And, yes, the pork roast WAS fabulous and the potatoes even better!

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