Whats up with my cooking?

Ok, so in general I'd say I'm a pretty decent cook (that's what I'm willing to say in public, which really means I think I'm pretty darn good, just too modest to say so), at least I can follow a recipe with the best of 'em. I don't know exactly what the deal is (maybe Saturn is aligned with Mars), but the last few nights I just can't win. I've decided to try a few new recipes, which sometimes backfires on me, but these have been worse than usual.
It all started when we had an Enrichment Activity called 'A Taste of Boston'. There was a lecture on the history of Boston (and the surrounding areas) and a dinner featuring typical New England Fares. On the menu was "Fish Chowder", "Parker House Rolls", "Anna Damn-a Bread", "Veggies and Dip" (not indigenous to Boston, but you gotta include the veggie group), and "Peggy's Yummy Apple Dip" (also not indigenous. I brought this, it's always a hit), and last but not least "Boston Cream Pie". Prior to the activity the hostest had asked if someone would be willing to make "Parker House Rolls". I had never even heard of them, but when the sign up sheet got to me no one had signed up, so I came home and researched them. I e-mailed the hostest and said, "I would be more than happy to ATTEMPT to make 'Parker House Rolls', if no one signed up yet. As a disclaimer, I have never had Parker House Rolls, but I've looked up a recipe on line, and armed with Bobby Flays recipe I am willing to take a chance... if I don't hear from you by noonish tomorrow I will assume you found someone better qualified:)" Well someone else did sign up, but I had this recipe I was itching to try. So I set into motion the process of assembling these rolls. They were fairly labor intensive, but nothing unmanageable.
The real problem came when I decided to try a new cabbage recipe for dinner on the same night. Yes I know, Kids+Cabbage=Catastrophe. It doesn't help that I got totally distracted and let the cabbage concoction burn, so after dirtying dishes to make the cabbage, I then had to dirty more dishes to prepare an edible dinner of, the ever popular, Ramen Noodles. So Casey came home to a house reeking of burnt cabbage, with the slightly more redeeming smell of rolls (which turned out rather tasty although my technique was lacking and they were not the prettiest of rolls) baking away. Being the trooper that he is, he served up a heaping plate full and started to eat. He took one big bite, looked at me and said, "Yeah, I love you a lot, but I can't eat this". I just told Porter I was making a post about "the gross cabbage I made the other night" and he said "OH YEAH, IT WAS REALLY GROSS!"
And as if this wasn't enough I had to clean up an incredibly messy kitchen. Typically cleaning the kitchen isn't that enjoyable of a job anyway, but when the food wasn't even good it's unbearable!