Carved in stone... Or at least sauce...

Husband and I have very different tastes in food, in some cases.  There has been more than one situation where I have bought at least 5 or 6 different kinds of, oh, say, bread, so that we could find one we both liked.  (Sometimes, even then it's okay, I will buy this brand, because it's the least disgusting, but I digress...)

We found a teriyaki sweet and sour sauce that we both loved.  Bought it in huge amounts, so I would have it on hand...

Then the store I bought it at, stopped carrying it.  ^&*$%!!! 

Okay, look for it at another store.  This lead to looking in about three different cities, when I happened to be there, and I was astounded at how many would say, "oh yes, we have that", when quite often, not only was it not the same sauce, it wasn't even the same BRAND... Sigh.

Then, a fluke.  I looked at a store that Mom and I had gone to for something else entirely, and there it was, in all its pineapple-y glory, THE SAUCE.  I bought almost all they had.  (I think I left one on the shelf...)  The assistant manager said, yep, carry it all the time, if you want to buy it in bulk, let us know...

SIGH...

Husband happened to be visiting a friend in the same area about two months later, and said he would pick up some.  The manager looked it up.  Sorry, it's not being carried here anymore.  At ANY of the stores.  So, back to square one.  And now, it looks to be hard to find, even on the sauce's website, or through the online stores...

Now, I hear you saying, why not just make it yourself? 

Well, I used to.  When we were first married, I had a recipe that I dearly loved.  However, when I made it, I would have to open the door and have a fan pointed outside.  It took a lot of vinegar.  Husband can not handle that smell, for some reason, and he would turn greenish-white, and more than once had to go back outside until I could get the smell cleared.

Doesn't make for a pleasant meal...

So, he pipes up and asks me, after this latest foray into ridiculous-ness, why don't you just make some?

I groan, and remind him of his extremely low gag reflex.  He ponders, and later comes up and asks to see the recipe.  I show him.  Could you maybe lower the vinegar, and put in more of the spices? 

Um.  Well... It's still going to smell.  He said, if you use less, won't it smell less?

I don't know...

So, I decided to tinker.  Worst that could happen, we'd have the doors "open". (technically, the windows on the doors, or we'd have a free range house-cat.)

So, I re-did the recipe, and the first thing I did was add the vinegar, then all the spices, hoping they would absorb the smell.  Then the juices, and all the other stuff and nonce... Finished up, and the place had a distinctive ginger smell, but didn't seem to notice the vinegar one.

Husband came in, and we had supper.  He didn't look green, and we both decided it was pretty good.  I still prefer it with more vinegar, but not having Husband look like he's going to lose stomach contents is better...

So, I marked down all the changes I made, and we now have a replacement for that little thing.  One down, a few more to go...