It’s no secret I’m a foodie. You can tell by my size (thick), my cookbook collection (mass), my love of grocery stores. Like blogging, food is therapeutic for me. Food brings people together, soothes a rough patch, and is a necessity in life.
1. Pumpkin.
The kids want me to shut up about pumpkin. I’m late to the pumpkin patch, but I had an aha! moment this week. By limiting myself with what I cook or eat, I limited my options. Using pumpkin allowed me to step out of fear and take a chance. Sometimes the result works (pumpkin bread rocks!) and sometimes it doesn’t (see below) but to not take a chance at all…that makes for a shadow of an existence.
2. Ginger
McCormick sells ground ginger for oh, $17.00. As if! There’s a store a block away that sells fresh ginger for $1.00 for two large pieces. Being economical, I bought this instead. Let’s just say, adventures in baking. The gingerbread wasn’t as sweet as other breads I bake and it was dry. I took notes as I baked to try and adjust the recipe to make it more appealing. However, what if I had allowed the price of ginger to deter me from trying? It may have tasted like crap, but imagine the fun I can have trying to get this right!
3. Banana
The Boy told me how delicious the house smelled when I was baking bread one evening. The Teen wasn’t as impressed. She was used to me experimenting in the kitchen and I had made so much of this that she developed a dislike of bananas. Banana bread evokes memories of The Mister, The then Girl, and I sitting on our one battered hand me down couch, watching Christmas shows, snacking on the bread. This was prior to smart phones, Facebook, OnDemand TV viewing. A much simpler time.
4. Cafe World
How in the world did I not know about this game? In Cafe World, one runs a restaurant and must ensure that all diners are fed and food is served in a timely manner. This game is so addictive and fun.
5. Gordon Ramsay and I have broken up.
It was bound to happen. I heard a radio interview and he referred to the chef’s on Hell’s Kitchen as a bunch of idiots. He chooses the darn chefs! Then he tweeted about his new iPhone app and how excited he was for everyone to try it out, Last was the dismally shoddy way he celebrated the 100th episode of Hell’s Kitchen. Two maybe three scenes from previous episodes was all he gave us. Fox and Ramsay could have spared an hour for some of the most memorable scenes along with a nod to past winners. As for the iPhone app, $7.99 for 56 freaking recipes. Ramsay has like 15 restaurants, hundreds of cookbooks, four or five TV shows. How much money does he need? I still love his abusive behavior to shoddy cooks, and that thanks to him my family eats healthy. Alas, our love affair is over. Excuse me while I weep.
6. Cookie Mama
While I figure out what I want to be when I grow up, I toyed with the idea of selling cookies. I had gotten so many compliments and request, even winning a prize for my chocolate chip cookies, so logically the next step was to go commercial. Then fear of failure, ennui, and a big fat blah set in. I begin to doubt my abilities and soon became paralyzed with the idea that perhaps I wasn’t good enough. A trip to Borders has changed my thinking. Peruse the craft aisle, the cookbooks, even the bible section. Here you can find a selection of items that someone thought was a good idea then convinced some more someones that it was a good idea.
My point is that if I continue to live in fear, I’ll stay just where I am. But if I decide and allow myself to stretch and grow, accepting that at times I WILL fail, life will be all the more sweeter.
I am imagining your bannana bread right now. That is one of my favorite smells.