I guess it was just beginner's luck on my part. Sometimes us, non-natives, may have a tendency, at least I do, of using idioms backwards. The other day I was telling a native speaker friend that "he was caught red-handed" and then I told him I really had to think of that before saying it or else I could've said "handed-red".

A friend of mine had lived in the U.S. from the time she was 12 until she moved back to Brazil when she was 18 with her parents, and  she accidentally told me once she liked "cana de caldo" instead of "caldo de cana".

Thanks for your kindness and your great sense of humor!