Thursday, October 16, 2008

What's wrong with this picture?

i'll give you a hint: it's a cookbook and i've been using one.

i've been cooking lately. Purposely. And enjoying it.

Anyone who knows me well is aware of my many kitchen casualties. i've eaten the burned cookies/burned toast so often over the years that now if it doesn't taste like carbon it doesn't taste right. My children will not be gathered after the funeral saying "I only wish I'd learned to cook like Mom--"

But lately i've been cooking, making meals, trying new things. i've always loved cookbooks and recipes in magazines, and have ripped out more recipes from magazines over the years than there've been days in my life. i've thrown away piles of recipes i've never tried. But like i said, "lately..."

i've organized my recipes (again) and tossed a pile of them (again.) But i'm feelin' it, i'm feelin' the cooking vibe. It may be the season--the change to autumn brings visions of hot chocolate and pot roast with gravy (well, not together.) Possibly that's inspired me to look for new cold weather dishes. i actually made a pork tenderloin roast with a lovely orange and honey glaze with its accompanying chunky homemade applesauce. Don't remember what i served with it, i'm just so impressed with myself over the roast. Twice that week i cooked from a real recipe and twice it was good!

i refuse to discuss the other meals that week.

10 comments:

Unknown said...

Well you can always do like I did.... When Tersie and Chris were little I would serve my burnt offerings at the table and with out missing a beat Chris would complain because it was burnt. My answer was always....... "Be grateful because if it isn't burnt it isn't home cooking!"

To this day when something is burnt I hear voices all around me repeat my quote.

julia said...

i love that! My mom had napkins that said "dinner's done when the smoke alarm goes off." The way her place was arranged, that would invariably happen as any steam or smoke would tunnel into the hallway where the alarm was. ;-)

limbolady said...

Darn it, I almost asked you if you wanted to share one of those 2-packs of pork tenderloin at Costco yesterday, but decided not to....next time. And I think there's something going wrong w/ your hormones w/ all this cooking going on. You're giving the rest of us non-cookers a bad name, ya know!

Connie said...

I find I am cooking less and less. If I had a houseful, I would cook up a storm, but it's usually just for me. Sometimes i forget a meal -- is that normal ?
The supermarkets make it so easy for us to pop in and grab a meal or sandwich. I rather like it now.....

julia said...

Limbogirly--yup, next time! that would have been a good thing. And it was actually the pork tenderloin from Costco that started the recipe searches--funny, eh? And seriously, there isn't THAT much cooking going on, and only a marginal percentage that turns out well enough to brag on. ;-)

And Connie, "forgetting a meal?" That's not normal for me! ;-) Tho i've known others, THINNER others, who that's totally normal for. i would have a harder time thinking about cooking instead of ordering chinese if there was only me, so i know what you mean! If i didn't have my husband to experiment on, it would be less fun.

Sarah said...

Julia, that's great that you've been cooking more. I think autumn does lend itself to cooking. Your last sentence is really funny. I'm glad you're doing well!

julia said...

Well, Sarah, let's just say my attempts at cooking are often hit and miss... ;-)

erica said...

julie, epicurious.com has revolutionized my life. well, at least my cooking. it's basically a database of all of the recipes from the magazines bon appetite and gourmet. people rate and review the recipes and you can save them in a little online recipe box. so far every recipe i've tried has been a winner. best of all, several times in the past month (since i discovered this recipe database) i have heard paul tell other people, "erica is a really good cook." which is a LOT different from when we were first married and he had to ask me (very politely, i might add) if we could possibly have something other than pancakes for dinner. =)

erica said...

oh, if you haven't stumbled upon the blog "smitten kitchen" yet you should go there too for some mouth watering inspiration. http://smittenkitchen.com/

julia said...

Hmmm..i'll have to look up smittenkitchen-- i think part of the deal about my cooking is that i don't care enough about it, so i'm a bit too inattentive to be really good. But how cool to have Paul tell people you're a good cook! That's really positive. But what's wrong with pancakes every night? ;-) fussy.