- Location
- Westminster, SoCal
This came across my inbox, and I laughed pretty hard after reading it..... here it goes:
For those of you who have suffered through C Rations and MREs - This story
will have a great deal of meaning. Yes it is true that some of the meals
were marked "Not for preflight or in flight use"
Chez Ranger
by Frank Rodgers
I had a date the other night at my place. On the phone the day before, the
girl asked me to "Cook her something she's never had before" for dinner.
After many minutes of scratching my head over what to make, I finally
settled on something she has DEFINITELY never eaten. I got out my trusty
case of MRE's. Meal, Ready-to-Eat. Field rations that when eaten in their
entirety contain 3000+ calories. Here's what I made:
I took three of the Ham Slices out of their plastic packets, took out three
of the Pork Chops, three packets of Chicken-a-la-King, and eight packets of
dehydrated butter noodles and some dehydrated/rehydrated rice. I cooked the
Ham Slices and Pork Chops in one pan, sautéed in shaved garlic and olive
oil. In another pot, I blended the Chicken a-la-king, noodles, and rice
together to make a sort of mush that looked suspiciously like succotash. I
added some spices, and blended everything together in a glass pan that I
then cooked in the oven for about 35 minutes at 450 degrees. When I took it
out, it looked like, well, ham slices, pork chops, and a bed of yellow poop.
I covered the tops of the meat in the MRE cheese (kinda like Velveeta) and
added some green sprinkly thingies from one of my spice cans (hey, if it's
got green sprinkly thingies on it, it looks fancy right?)
For dessert, I took four MRE Pound Cakes, mashed 'em up, added five packets
of cocoa powder, powdered coffee cream, and some water. I heated it up and
stirred it until it looked like a sort of chunky gelatinous organism, and I
sprinkled powdered sugar on top of it. Voila--Ranger Pudding.
For alcoholic drinks, I took the rest of my bottle of Military Special Vodka
(yes, they DO make a type of liquor named "Military Special"--it sells for
$4.35 per fifth) and mixed in four packets of "Electrolytes - 1 each -
Cherry flavored" (I swear, the packet says that). It looked like an eerie
Kool-aid with sparkles in it (that was the electrolytes I guess... could've
been leftover sand from Egypt).
I lit two candles, put a vase of wildflowers in the middle, and set the
table with my best set of Ralph Lauren Academy-series China (that @#$ is
EXPENSIVE... my set of 8 place settings cost me over $600), and put the
alcoholic drink in a crystal wine decanter.
She came over, and I had some appetizers already made, of MRE
spaghetti-with-meatballs, set in small cups. She saw the dinner, saw the
food, and said "This looks INCREDIBLE!!!" We dug in, and she was loving the
food. Throughout the meal, she kept asking me how long it took me to make
it, and kept remarking that I obviously knew a thing or two about cooking
fine meals. She kind of balked at the makeshift "wine" I had set out, but
after she tried it I guess she liked it because she drank four glasses
during dinner.
At the end of the main course, when I served the dessert, she squealed with
delight at the "Chocolate mousse" I had made. Huh? Chocolate what?
Okay... yeah... it's Chocolate Moose. Took me HOURS to make... yup.
Later on, as we were watching a movie, she excused herself to use my
restroom. While she was in there, I heard her say softly to herself "uh oh"
and a resounding but petite fart punctuated her utterance of dismay. Let
the games begin. She sprayed about half a can of air freshener (Air
Freshener, 1 each, Orange scent. Yup. The Army even makes smellgood) and
returned to the couch, this time with an obvious pained look.
After 10 more minutes she excused herself again, and retreated to the
bathroom for the second time. I could hear her say "What the hell is WRONG
with me???," as she again send flatulent shockwaves into the porcelain bowl.
This time, they sounded kinda wet, and I heard the toilet paper roll being
employed, and again, LOTS more air freshener. Back to the couch. She
smiles meekly as she decides to sit on the chair instead of next to me. She
sits on my chair, knees pulled up to her chest, kind of rocking back and
forth slightly. Suddenly, without a word, she ROCKETED up and FLEW to the
bathroom, slammed the door, and didn't come out for 30 minutes.
I turned the movie up because I didn't want her to hear me laughing so hard
that tears were streaming down my cheeks.
She came out with a slightly gray pallor to her face, and said "I am SOOOOOO
sorry. I have NO idea what is wrong with me. I am so embarrassed; I can't
believe I keep running to your bathroom!!" I gave her an Imodium AD, and she
finally settled down and relaxed.
Later on, she asked me again what I had made for dinner, because she had
enjoyed it so much. I calmly took her into the kitchen and showed her all
the used MRE bags and packets in the trash can. After explaining to her
that she had eaten roughly 9,000 calories of "Army food" she turned stark
white, looked at me incredulously, and said "I ate 9,000 calories of
dehydrated food that was made 3 years ago?" After I concurred, she grabbed
her coat and keys, and took off without a word.
She called me yesterday. Seems she couldn't crap for 3 days, and when she
finally did, the smell was so bad, her roommate could smell it from down the
hall. She also told me she had been working out nonstop to combat the high
caloric intake, and that she never wanted me to cook dinner for her again,
unless she was PERSONALLY there to inspect the food beforehand.
It was a fun date. She laughed about it eventually, and said that that was
the first time she'd ever crapped in a guy's house on a date. She'd been so
upset by it she was in tears in the bathroom while I had been in tears on
the couch.
I know, I'm an asshole, but it was still a funny night.
