A mom caught her teen daughter stealing vodka. Turns out, she wasn’t drinking it

A story of assumed teenage misbehavior has a tasty twist.

On Aug. 25, Stacey (@StaceyCKs1) shared an anecdote about the alleged incident that went viral on X, garnering nearly 17 million views as of this writing. In a succession of posts, the mother wrote about the mystery surrounding a depleting bottle of alcohol in her liquor cabinet.

“Noticed that my vodka supply was dwindling,” the mom of three wrote. “Confronted 23 and 17, who pointed the finger at 14, who guiltily confessed to making penne allá vodka ‘several times’ over the last month. Didn’t believe her, watched her execute it flawlessly. I guess it’s a TikTok thing?”

“It’s really good, too. She crushed it,” she added in a follow-up post.

Her kid, likely noticing the attention her mom’s post was getting, also chimed in a few hours later.

“She wants it known that she didn’t ‘guiltily confess’ to anything. ‘I just answered the question,’” Stacey wrote. “Sorrrrrry. My bad.”

Stacey did not respond to TODAY.com’s requests for comment.

Naturally, people had questions — one X user asked how Stacey took so long to notice culinary greatness happening right under her roof.

The mom explains in subsequent posts that while she was home working the other times her kiddo made the penne, she doesn’t like pasta.

“She was making enough for her and her brother,” Stacey wrote, adding that her daughter would make the saucy dish for lunch or as an after-school snack. “They’re pretty good about cleaning up after themselves.”

After someone remarked that it’s good Stacey’s daughter didn’t replace the taken vodka with water (a classic teenage maneuver), the mom replied, “She wasn’t trying to hide what she was doing. These kids are different than we were. 😂”

Stacey also said her daughter was using the “GOOD stuff” — aka Grey Goose — for the pasta because “that one was open.”

In addition to sharing the recipe (“A shallot and some garlic sweated in olive oil and a tablespoon of butter, a can of tomato paste, some Calibri chilies, maybe 10 ounces of sand Marzano tomatoes, 2 cups of heavy cream, a cup of fresh parm, 2 tablespoons of vodka”), Stacey also posted a photo of her daughter’s latest “hyper fixation” meal.

Penne alla Vodka by Anthony Contrino

Those in Stacey’s replies were generally tickled by the whole situation.

“Very 14 year old coded 😂,”  wrote one X user.

“This is the best possible outcome for this scenario. 😂,” posted another.

“Buy the child another bottle!” yet another jokingly wrote.

Social media’s fixation with pasta alla vodka has been going strong for years now. Supermodel Gigi Hadid’s spicy version of the recipe went viral in 2020 after she posted step-by-step instructions on her Instagram story during lockdown.

Stacey even responded to a user on X that she thinks her daughter got the recipe from Hadid.

Hadid’s take on the dish has become popular that countless influencers on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube have gone viral re-creating the dish over the years.

Hadid’s original recipe is still accessible in her Instagram highlight “From My Kitchen II,” along with a recipe for focaccia and monkey bread.

In 2023, Heinz and Absolut were inspired by Hadid’s viral recipe to team up for a vodka sauce.

That same year, Sofia Copolla’s daughter Romy Mars went viral for making the dish because she was grounded for trying charter a helicopter from New York to Maryland on her father’s credit card so she could have dinner with a friend.

Teenage rebellion seems different these days — and seems to involve a lot more pasta.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com