
The title refers to a saying my dad used when I was a kid to describe learning from mistakes, inspired by something that happened to our dog Cinder. The smart dog gets quilled by a porcupine and stays away from them from now on, while a dumb dog keeps attacking it. Pretty simple, and I often wind up quoting the principle.
Today I had a Smart Dog, Dumb Dog moment when I opened up the lunch I’d brought from home. On Wednesday I made fettuccine alfredo with a sauce from scratch* and had a bit left over, so I saved it for lunch today. That was going well until I opened it up and caught the distinct whiff of mold. It was brief, but it was unmistakable. I also consulted a coworker who didn’t smell anything herself, but she agreed that it was better to just trash it.
So I spent $7 and got a honey mustard chicken wrap instead. I remembered the last time I probably gave myself food poisoning and just decided it was worth it.
So in short: Smart Dog says, “When In Doubt, Throw It Out”, Dumb Dog says, “Eh, what’s the worst that could happen?” and three hours later is praying to the porcelain God.
*If I do say so I think the sauce I made turned out better than the jarred kind, mainly because I didn’t load it up with salt and only put in half the butter the recipe suggested.