In terms of how many cookbooks I have and in life in general, when is enough enough???
Just last week, I was reading a post from a favorite blog and the author mentioned a couple of cookbooks that were FAVORITES. Since I respect this author, I had to go check the books out and then, fell right into the rabbit hole and before I knew it, the books were on their way.
I have a lot of cookbooks already (right now somewhere around the 900 range) and often think, what more is there to know? When is enough, enough?
So, the books came and what I think of as "the lovely thing" happened. To my delight, one of them turned out to be a book that quickly recognized that I "needed". Yes, it has something to say to me that I hadn't heard before or maybe just wasn't paying attention. That book is "The Zuni Cafe Cookbook"(you can order it from Amazon here).
I had a chance this morning to peruse the recipes (a perfect thing to do at 6:00
AM on Sunday morning when you can't fall back asleep, by the way). The very first thing I want to make is a nice light soup of Asparagus & Rice with Pancetta and Black Pepper. It's sounds better for the springtime so perhaps first will be the fabulous roast chicken recipe with a bread salad. There's a lot of information on salting meat prior to cooking which has promise.
Meanwhile, in real life, I've been tackling the mountain of produce that had accumulated after Thursday's last farm share pickup. There were three bags of stuff to contend with along with what was already piling up. Three...heads...of...cabbage...it's sort of like, "lions and tigers and bears, oh my!" In any event, all the greens were sauteed with garlic and hot pepper in olive oil, the broccoflower and cauliflower were steamed, and the field greens lightly dressed for starters. Necessity being the mother of invention, I moved into the mode of dealing with a number of little winter squashes that ganged up on me. The tiny butternut squashes were roasted in the crockpot and then the flesh was scooped out for soup. There wasn't enough so I added in the remains of a roasted acorn squash from last week and then, the topper, I pulled out of the freezer a large roasted yam that I'd cooked the month before which I felt didn't have the proper flavor for pie but could be a player in the soup. At the same time, I was experimenting with Pennsey's vegetable soup base for the broth and when it was all still lacking in flavor, a large glug of sherry went into the mix. On the side, I sauteed some apple slices in butter till they were brown and soft and the finished soup was presented topped with the apple slices and a splash of minced parsely.
The little waxy potatoes were roasted with some small purple potatoes and onions in olive oil yesterday and went nicely with a pork tenderloin and another experiment, Sweet and Sour Red Cabbage with Cranberries. Such was dinner last night that ended with a simple pumpkin spice cake.
Sorry there are no pictures, but I was cooking for production and not so much for pleasure. Perhaps I will get a picture of the kale chips that I'm dehydrating right now in my fancy new commerical dehydrator (a most excellent early Xmas present from my SO).
As I sit here this morning, in the next couple of days, life will change. I am picking up the fresh turkey tomorrow or Tuesday and my first batch of fresh dates from The Date People is set to arrive on Tuesday. And, somewhere in the mix, I suspect my mini-donut pan will arrive (talk about an impulse buy).
Philosophically this week, I've been thinking a lot about kindness and what it means to be kind. For starters, I have to be kind to myself. I thought about that a lot this morning before I started writing this post. I thought about being kind to my body by not treating it like a trash can that should just accept whatever garbage I feel like throwing into it. Now that I'm not in my 20's or 30's, I find that my body is more like a fussy machine that requires careful maintenance like a high end automobile.
Now, all this food writing has made my stomach growl. After all that, I think I will go make a protein shake.
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