The Worst Meatloaf

One of my favorite dishes to eat is a meatloaf. I've had it cooked in different ways and like almost all that I tried. Meatloaf with bacon tastes great. Meatloaf with fresh tomatoes? Yummy. Meatloaf with an egg inside? Scrumptious. Pork, beef, turkey, deer, and salmon loaves all taste wonderful.

Sadly, my story isn't about the best meatloaf I've ever had. It's about the absolute worst one I ever had. To be honest, it was the most horribly disgusting meatloaf I ever, ever had.

My story begins when my husband and I first started dating. Before neither of us knew each other's families very well.

He told me that he hated meatloaf. Couldn't stomach the taste of it. He said it was the one meal refused to ever eat.

Now, this surprised me. All of my family can cook such great meatloaves, and we all loved when it was served. I had never met anyone who hated meatloaf.

So after months of only cooking things for him that he liked, I finally thought, Heck with it. I'm making meatloaf.

So, I put together a meatloaf and served it with real mashed potatoes and peas. I even made a brown gravy for the potatoes and baked some rolls. The meal looked marvelous.

We sat down to eat, and he pigged out. He ate 3 helpings of the meatloaf alone. Then asked me what it was.

I looked at him and told him it was meatloaf. He was surprised and said, So that's what meatloaf was supposed to taste like. I believe he may have been a little jealous, but I can't be sure.

So, unknown to me, a few days later, he told his mother that meatloaf was my favorite meal and would she mind cooking one for me. She agreed, and they decided what day we would go over there to dine with her.

Now, please understand. This was a woman who didn't have a mean bone in her body. As a matter of fact, all 3 of her daughter-in-laws loved her with all our hearts because she was so good to us. But she could only cook hamburgers and fries and a few other things.

So we go over on the appointed day. She was so excited, it was contagious. Something she loved more than anything was having her sons and grandchildren come and eat with her.

She served everything up and removed the cover from the pan she had cooked the loaf. I barely caught myself from saying What the ---- is that?

She tells me that my husband had told her my favorite food was meatloaf so she cooked me one up. I don't know what it was, but it was not a meatloaf. It was brown with a grey glutenous mess on it. It was the most disgusting thing I had ever seen.

Then the smell hit me. Oh, my word. It was awful. To this day, I have never smelt anything like it. I couldn't describe it then, and I still struggle today.

When she left the room for a moment, I tried to feed it to one of the 3 American Bulldogs sitting in the room. Whatever that mess was, not one dog would touch it.

I couldn't bring myself to tell her how bad that meatloaf was. I ended up taking the rest home and tossing it out because I refused to hurt her feelings.

As I said, she could cook hamburgers and fries. Later I learned she could make raisin sugar cookies, fried burritos, and bake a turkey. But that was the day I learned she couldn't cook a meatloaf, and never had been able to.

Over the years, she and I shared a kitchen at numerous family gatherings. She specifically ask me to cook certain dishes, and I would. I would like to think she enjoyed the time we spent together, cooking, as much as I did.