It's Like They're Inside My Head

I have to share, and I'll have recipes later tonight or tomorrow. There's a side to die for coming your way soon, and maybe some other goodies.

But at this moment, I need you to spend a bit of focus on the post at 101cookbooks that I have now re-read three times in the past two days. There are so many things right about what Heidi Swanson, Michael Ruhlman, and Daniel Patterson have to say, and it strikes me that this is one of the many reasons I am so food obsessed.

Patterson hit the nail on the head here:

"But the journey is what a recipe is all about. Cookbooks should teach us how to cook, not just follow instructions. By paying attention, a cook should be able to internalize the process, rendering the written recipes obsolete. The point of a recipe should be to help us find our own way."

Engineers can see buildings in their mind. Artists can create entire worlds in their mind before they are ever set to canvass or stage. I can't do either of those things. But I can cook in my mind.

The joke in the about me section? "I read cookbooks like you read novels." True. And I cook that food every second I'm reading that book.

I can feel the chef's knife slicing through a fresh head of cabbage; I can hear the marinara just come to a simmer; I can smell saute of the sweet vidalia; I can see the parmesean brown in the oven; and I can taste the pungent curry rub on the filet. Magic man, absolute magic.

Maybe that's why I'm even okay with such a crazy schedule that my long weekend of cooking has turned into a 6 hour work-trip yesterday and another 5 or so coming up today?

Don't worry, I'll just cook while I'm driving.