Adventure cooking/eating survey!

'Twas a good Friday evening. Finished the major revisions for my book, then re-recorded some flute tracks for Seanan's CD (the first round were a tad too close to the microphone) and sent them off to Kristoph and Seanan via YouSendIt.com. Though Friday obviously wasn't as productive for me as it was for Bill and Gretchen Roper: congrats to both on the birth of baby Kathleen!

Yesterday, I saw The Departed with Parki and Ray; Jeff joined Ray and me for lunch at Milestones in our old neighbourhood (I had my usual: the red curry chicken bowl). The movie was engrossing with some fascinating characters, but I spent most of it hunched down in my chair making horrified noises and covering my face. I hated the ending but I've been told it's a typical Martin Scorsese movie.

After the movie we went back home and I caught up with some novel writing (my next book), started writing the GAfilk song, and also did my first keyboard noodling recording experiment (2 MB). As I said in LJ, don't expect anything spectacular...I was completely improvising, and my keyboard skills are WAY rusty. :-) But I've missed keyboard noodling, and I'm looking forward to playing around with other MIDI instruments as well.

But the main focus of this Blathering is a confession about a secret vice of mine: I like reading cookbooks. I'll eagerly pore over sumptuous descriptions of ingredients, fingers reaching for a pen and notepad to start a shopping list. I'll savour the juicy sidebars and serving suggestions. I feel the same way about menus in restaurants. "Tomato soup" is not nearly an interesting description as "Roasted tomato soup made with fresh oregano, thyme and garlic." I love over-the-top wordy menus with lots of adjectives.

Unless they have typos, that is. Ugh. Though sometimes if there are a LOT of typos, the menu can provide much pre-dinner entertainment.

I also have an obsession with collecting cookbooks. Responding to Jeff's pleas, I ruthlessly culled my collection when we moved, giving most of my cookbooks to Goodwill, but then immediately started collecting more. For me, though, I've been showing enormous restraint (!). Only TWO cookbook purchases over the past year: Basic Italian and Grilling For Dummies. Family and friends know that if they are ever at a loss about what to get me as a gift, I'll always be delighted with a cookbook ... though Jeff might not be so thrilled :-D.

My mega-culled cookbook collection:



This collection used to be almost three times as big before our move. Ok, so maybe it's a good thing I did a lot of culling. :-) I think there are one or two in my office as well.

Because I'm an adventurous eater (I'll try almost anything as long as it's not moving), I also tend to be an adventurous cook. I usually have to restrain myself when I'm cooking for other people, of course, but from time to time I'll be cooking for just myself, and I'll try something unusual just for kicks. If it works out well enough, I'll start inflicting it on my more food adventurous friends.

I'm curious about the rest of you. If you have a few minutes to spare, I'd appreciate you filling out the survey below:

Fill out the Adventure Cook/Eating survey

In my last Blathering, I asked people to come up with captions for the following cartoon:



Here are the results:

"Ah! Now you see the fate of Tiddles you decide to declare your eternal love for me!" (Teddy)

Allison models the latest craze in leg warmers. (rinioth)

"I don't care how much you love me, it's MY sausage and mash!" (aunty_marion)

"I don't care how much you hump my leg, you aren't getting any of my oatmeal." (rramone)

Even the cat knew when to head to high ground. (thewayofeeyore)

"Yes, I *know* you're hungry!" (poltr1)

"That's not a spider, that's Debbie's signature, ya durn fool feline!" (barkerland)

"Is the floor a little cold for Your Majesty today?" (demoneyes)

"And where's the spider this time?" (demoneyes)

"You know, you really need to start standing up to those squirrels and not come running to me every time..." (demoneyes)

"I can still kick you with the other foot." (aiabx)

"Liver-Stuffed, catnip-fed turkey!! I knew you loved me!!" (chaoticgoodchic)

"Give me some of the chocolate pudding." (I have just discovered that my own cat likes chocolate pudding. I would never have dreamt it. - seniorwitch)

"rrrOOOOwww!" (msmlnlr)



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