Ode to a Cookbook

Dear World,

I have two things to say.

First, IT CAME! and secondly, I am going to spend the rest of this post singing its praises from the mountaintops, shouting from the rooftops, declaring my adoration from the, um, sand hills of San Angelo.

Because, dear reader, this cookbook is perfection.

Kitchen Staples

First of all, I made this soup today. And it got down to 85 degrees today. In a bout of somewhat questionable logic, I've concluded there's a correlation between the fall food I make and the decrease in temperature. Tomorrow, I'm making hot chocolate and seeing if we can get it down to 80.

Don't laugh, Texas. You'll thank me when we all have to wear jackets.

This is what we're going for. And I shall do it with soup. You heard me. Soup. 

In Which I Explain My Obsession with Gordon Ramsey...And My Own Philosophy On Food.

Image from http://www.gordonramsaystore.com/gordon-ramsay-cooking-for-friends/p_33/p.php.

Dear Readers, 

For those of you who don't make it past the page break, here's the synopsis: love his philosophy of food. Not so lovey dovey on all his methods.

Alien Meatballs...and Reality.

I love cooking. I just do. And I realized last night why. It's because it's a challenge. You never quite know exactly how something is going to turn out. As an amateur cook, I'm surprised when I realize that I've successfully made whatever it is I was attempting to make. And that's rewarding.

Perhaps for me it's more rewarding than it should be. I fear so much about cooking that I've imagined it as something darn near impossible. I fear killing the yeast, over-baking my pies, and making inedible alien meatballs. I'm always ecstatic when none of that happens! I'm learning more and more that cooking is fun. All you have to do is follow a recipe, and wa-la! You have a scrumptious dinner of shrimp and pasta for two.