A little cookbook me-me I ripped off
Vanessa...provides some blog fodder about one of the brighter spots of my life.
Where do you obtain the recipes you prepare?
As of late, mostly from the Joy of Cooking. I have other cookbooks but those recipes tend to be extremely labor intensive and require a lot of ingredients above and beyond my paltry law school student budget. When I have ready access to the internet, I'll hop onto
Epicurious to see if there's anything else of note. General food questions, however, are directed towards my gargantuan copy of Larousse Gastronomique, one of the best and most useful birthday presents I've received in recent memory. (Thank you Jess).
How often do you cook a new recipe?
Usually once or twice a week, almost always on a Saturday morning.
Where do you store your favourite recipes?
There's a small ledge of shelving in my kitchen/dining area where all my cookbooks hang out. Slowly, they've moved there way up to the most prominent part of the shelving, now that old law school books have been relegated to collecting dust.
How large is your recipe pile? Is it organized? How?
Mostly I get things from books, which keeps things fairly organized. I did, however, organize a lot of recipes I'd been collecting from magazines over spring break. Given that there is so much out there to try, I rarely, if ever, repeat a recipe, except for the old standbys.
What is the oldest recipe in your to try pile?
I don't have a clue.
Are you really ever going to make all those recipes in your to try pile?
No way...not unless I give up everything else in my life and dedicate myself fully to cooking. (Not a bad idea, but in the absence of a magnificent benefactor, totally unrealistic...)
Do you follow a recipe exactly or modify as you go?
Until fairly recently, I used to follow things exactly to the letter. It took me years of doing this and being bitterly disappointed b/f I decided to improvise. It's been quite liberating to modify as it allows me to work around the supply in my fridge and pantry, sometimes getting surprisingly good results. After testing out over a dozen recipes in the Passionate Vegetarian, always to much disappointment, I've sworn off ever strictly following a recipe again, unless it comes to baked goods. Then I tend to stick to plan.
What is one new recipe that you’re scared to try?
Anything that requires ludicrously expensive ingredients...truffles and/or foie gras come to mind. I don't think in my current crappy apartment kitchen with limited tools/supplies, I want to be doing anything super gourmet. That said, I should also add that I had a two year subscription to Saveur (a lingering birthday present from a relationship gone sour) and though everything always looked so pretty and tastey, could never quite muster up the courage to make...finding ingredients like edible gold leaf and screw pine water seemed like way too much work.
Tag at least one new food blogger for this meme (”new” as in only blogging a few months):
I'm going to leave all the tags that came with this meme b/c I don't really read many food blogs and b/c I can't imagine that most of my readers do a lot of cooking, let alone have a cookbook collection to speak of.
