Category Archives: Blather

My feet are going to fall off.

Bill’s mother arrived Wednesday night, and we’ve been basically running around non-stop since she arrived. I’m not entirely convinced I won’t be walking on stubs by the time she leaves tomorrow afternoon.

Basically, we haven’t been home from about 9:00 am everyday until about 11:00 pm every night. In the interium, we’ve done a lot of cool stuff. Wednesday we took her to “Xoco,”:http://www.rickbayless.com/restaurants/xoco.html which everyone knows is Bill’s favorite. She said it was the best sandwich she’d ever eaten, so well done there, Mr. Bayless & Company.

Thursday I had a piano lesson, and then joined them for wandering Mag Mile. After lunch (Elephant and Castle on Lake & Wabash), we went to the Art Institute and nearly closed the place down. Then we ate at Uno, and wandered Mag Mile some more.… Continue reading →

Good news, everyone!

We officially have less than 2500 recipes to make!

Except our friend Maria-Sea is considering giving us a cookbook, it sounds like. And our friend Corrine also considered giving us a cookbook or 17 awhile back, but instead gave us jam and canned peaches and rhubarb.… Continue reading →

I’m very impatient.

Cover of Grow Great Grub by Gayla Trail

The other day, because he is fabulous and knows me very well, Bill pointed out a book to me that he had found and I had not. He knew when he pointed it out that we’d be buying it. He knew this because we had two reasons for desperately wanting a balcony or outdoor space of some sort in our last apartment search. We (he) wanted a grill and we (I) wanted to grow food.

I’ve had a container garden before, when I lived in Virginia, and it did surprisingly well. However, it was much more of an expensive hobby than anything else. I didn’t manage to save any tomatoes from the squirrels, though they left my bell peppers alone. I appreciate that, since it means I got to eat the whopping two that plant produced.… Continue reading →

Another rules question

Well, it was bound to happen that we’d have another question to throw out to our readers. (We’ve discussed amongst ourselves, but wanted to throw it out to any readers we have as well.)

We have both “_How to Cook Everything_”:http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0764578650?ie=UTF8&tag=metaco-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0764578650 and “_How to Cook Everything Vegetarian_”:http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0764524836?ie=UTF8&tag=metaco-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0764524836, and it’s beginning to look like there’s a not insignificant amount of overlap in the two books. I suspect more recipes are not overlapping than are, but there’s definite overlap.

So, is it cheating to use the same recipe twice, if it’s out of two different books? What if we take anything we learned from the last time around/last book and apply it to the new time around?

Basically, I want pancakes, and to eventually buy another cookbook. What if I make Bittman’s “Everyday Pancakes” again out of “_How to Cook Everything Vegetarian_”:http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0764524836?ie=UTF8&tag=metaco-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0764524836?… Continue reading →

The temptation to buy a new cookbook is nigh irresistable sometimes.

You would think that a couple who thinks they have copious cookbooks would not have any issues finding a good recipe for a new dish. Or, at least, a dish that we don’t have a lot of experience with.

All we wanted was a recipe for how to best grill ribs. How to Cook Everything had some rib recipes, but nothing about grilling (that man’s into oven-roasting, apparently). Joy of Cooking has something (and, in the end, we’re following that recipe that didn’t seem like much of a recipe). Beyond that, though, our books utterly failed us.

Boo.… Continue reading →