Things that occupy my spare time....
I read a ton of food blogs- I mean like 207 of them. I use a reader service called Bloglines, and I have subscribed to these blogs and read them every night- at least the ones that have posted that day. This takes up a lot of my spare time. It's where I get my news, my inspiration and my entertainment. Food blogs have become my primary source for new recipes and ideas (replacing foodtv or regular cookbooks). In some cases, food blogs have inspired me to buy cookbooks (like the 2 Alice Waters books I now own). I wait and see how many fellow bloggers are raving about it, try a few of the recipes, and if I like it- I buy it for myself.
Sometimes I get inspiration for more than just food ideas when I read my blogs. For instance, I subscribe to a blog called "Thyme for Cooking." Yesterday, Katie (author of this blog) was grappling over the issue of how food blogging has changed the way she cooks- or thinks about cooking. She said for some reason she can't think of dinner in simple terms anymore. I couldn't agree more. At one point last week I was sitting around wondering what I was going to cook for dinner. I flipped on the laptop and began surfing around, when it occured to me that I could just open the freezer and microwave some veggies. Dinner didn't have to be a big production including a new recipe. So I ended up with ham, corn and peas. It was simple, but very satisfying. I think Dev was actually relieved that he recognized something.
I also read something interesting over at "Taste Buddies." The post was about "wabi-sabi" which is an eastern belief in the acceptance of transience and the value of imperfection and incompleteness. Followers of this belief consider these things beautiful. Now here's something I can sink my teeth into. I think part of the joy of cooking at home is that everything doesn't have to be perfect. Sure- the plate I photograph for the blog at least looks decent, but the food itself does not have to be garnished and dolled up. Things just have to taste good. Oh- and you should enjoy preparing them.
This particular belief speaks to me of things outside the kitchen as well. Everyone is a work in progress, and we are never really "complete." If we could come to grips with this fact, instead of buying 4 million products to try to perfect ourselves, maybe we'd have more time to concentrate on getting along. We could all sit down, open a bottle of wine and make a big dinner for ourselves!
Sometimes I get inspiration for more than just food ideas when I read my blogs. For instance, I subscribe to a blog called "Thyme for Cooking." Yesterday, Katie (author of this blog) was grappling over the issue of how food blogging has changed the way she cooks- or thinks about cooking. She said for some reason she can't think of dinner in simple terms anymore. I couldn't agree more. At one point last week I was sitting around wondering what I was going to cook for dinner. I flipped on the laptop and began surfing around, when it occured to me that I could just open the freezer and microwave some veggies. Dinner didn't have to be a big production including a new recipe. So I ended up with ham, corn and peas. It was simple, but very satisfying. I think Dev was actually relieved that he recognized something.
I also read something interesting over at "Taste Buddies." The post was about "wabi-sabi" which is an eastern belief in the acceptance of transience and the value of imperfection and incompleteness. Followers of this belief consider these things beautiful. Now here's something I can sink my teeth into. I think part of the joy of cooking at home is that everything doesn't have to be perfect. Sure- the plate I photograph for the blog at least looks decent, but the food itself does not have to be garnished and dolled up. Things just have to taste good. Oh- and you should enjoy preparing them.
This particular belief speaks to me of things outside the kitchen as well. Everyone is a work in progress, and we are never really "complete." If we could come to grips with this fact, instead of buying 4 million products to try to perfect ourselves, maybe we'd have more time to concentrate on getting along. We could all sit down, open a bottle of wine and make a big dinner for ourselves!
Comments