It was not a New Year’s
resolution, but a decision. I set a goal to vary my dinner menus by testing new
recipes. Magazines and the Wednesday food section in my local newspaper are my
sources for achieving this goal.
January does not seem to be
a good month for depending on magazines to increase knowledge or augment the
recipe file. As with the lackluster Monday edition of our newspaper that
apparently has had the life sucked from it by the massive Sunday edition,
January magazines are quite anemic. This is probably due to the recipe-laden
December publications.
But I’m valiantly trying.
One of my January magazines has a total of 100 pages, 42 of which are full-page
ads. And, yes, I do pay for this magazine. Among the ads, I did find some
interesting recipes, but before I can try them, I’ll need to make a trip to a
specialty grocery. Muscovado brown sugar, bourbon vanilla bean paste, fava
beans, and panko bread crumbs do not currently occupy space on my pantry
shelves.
Until I have time to drive
across town to shop, I’ll just have to continue with boring. Fortunately, Hubby
never complains!
Clipart by OCAL
And knowing your skills as meal planner and chef, one has to ask, Why would you tamper with that?
ReplyDeleteBesides, if I can't pronounce it and Safeway doesn't have it, I wouldn't need it.
Vanilla, thanks, but I watch cooking shows enough to realize that I'm not considered to be a chef. I learned southern cooking from my mom and that's pretty much what I know. At Christmastime we received a food gift that had a strange flavor and we didn't finish it. Probably one of those flavors available at the gourmet food shop.
DeleteBefore we headed "south of the border," Sylvia obtained a copy of the Wycliffe Jungle Cookbook. There is one chapter on substitutions, ie if you don't have this, try that. It is one of her prize possessions. She has used substitutes frequently in her cooking.
ReplyDeleteYou can think of recipes as formulas, but I prefer to consider them as merely suggestions for one's own imagination and creativity.
Secondary Roads, sounds like a handy book to own. I'll have to look it up on Amazon. I'm kind of in a rut with my cooking, but sometimes I accidentally stumble upon something that turns out well.
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