Meatloaf Mishaps

I remember talking to my mom almost two years ago after my grandfather passed away. She said she'd been craving comfort foods and decided to make one of her favorites, meatloaf. So it seemed only fitting that with my mom's own death I make meatloaf in a way, in her honor.

Two and a half years ago I wrote this post where I made meatloaf. The following day my mom sent the this e-mail,

"This is the meatloaf I make: http://fooddownunder.com/cgi-bin/recipe.cgi?r=636"

Except if you click on that link you'll see that website, Food Down Under, no longer exists. After some sleuthing I was able to find that recipe on an archived version of the site, so here is my mom's meatloaf recipe, that way next time it's a little easier to find.
72 Market Street Meatloaf
Ingredients:
1xMeatloaf:
3/4 cup Onion, minced
3/4 cup Green onion, minced
1/2 cup Celery, minced
1/2 cup Carrot, minced
1/4 cup Green pepper, minced
1/4 cup Red pepper, minced
2 tsp Garlic, minced
3 tbl Butter
1 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Cayenne or red pepper
1 tsp Black pepper
1/2 tsp White pepper
1/2 tsp Cumin, ground
1/2 tsp Nutmeg, ground
1/2 cup Half-n-half
1/2 cup Catsup
1 1/2lb Ground chuck or round
1/2lb Ground pork, lean
3 Eggs, beaten
3/4 cup Dry bread crumbs
Sauce:
4 Shallots, chopped
2 T Butter
1 Sprig thyme
1 Bay leaf
Dash crushed red pepper
1 c Dry white wine (apple juice)
1 c Veal or beef stock
1 c Chicken stock
Salt and pepper to taste
Directions
Saute onion, green onion, celery, carrot, green and red peppers and garlic in butter until vegetables are soft and liquid is evaporated.
Set aside to cool. Combine salt, cayenne, black and white pepper, cumin, and nutmeg and add to the vegetable mixture. Stir in half-n-half, catsup, beef, pork, and bread crumbs. Mix well. Form into a loaf and place on a greased baking sheet or in a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan. Bake at 350-degrees 45-50 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes before slicing. Pour off excess fat. Slice and serve with sauce.
For sauce: Saute shallots in 1 T. butter with thyme, bay leaf, and black pepper. Add wine (or slightly less apple juice if you prefer not to cook with wine), and stocks. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Simmer until reduced by half and sauce thickens slightly. Stir in the remaining butter until melted.
Note: I sub olive oil for the butter in both the meatloaf and sauce for a lower fat version. The final butter added to the sauce is a trick to add a nice sheen to the sauce; I omit this step.

I made it without the sauce, which I believe is how my mom made it too. Although I might have to make the sauce to really know. And also when with only beef instead of a pork/beef mix. Now this would normally be the end of the post... except here's all the things that went wrong while making this happen.

I accidental chopped and cooked double the amount of vegetables needed. (This picture is all the extras that I didn't need.)

• A minute or two after I put the meatloaf in the oven I realized I forgot the bread crumbs. I had to take it out, remix with the crumbs, reshape into a loaf, and put it back in the oven.
• When the boy went to make a gravy he first dropped the pan his was going to use on his foot.
• After he heated up a broth us use for the gravy her poured it into a bowl and instantly cracked the bowl.
• Once he added the broth back into the roux, the gravy decided to break and basically failed.
• After 50 minutes the loaf wasn't done so I gave it 10 more minutes. After that it still wasn't done so I gave it 10 more. It was only then I realized that the oven wasn't on. Turns out when I took it out to add the breadcrumbs I turned the oven off and never turned it back on.

But when the meatloaf and now reheated mashed potatoes were finally ready at 10pm, I was actually quite happy with it. The meatloaf was what I remember it to be. And while I would be more than happy to have it again soon, it might be a while before we attempt to make it again!

What's the worst cooking mishap you've ever had? Or on a lighter note, what's a comfort food you crave?