I love to cook. And Bake with a capital B. I can literally get full reading a cookbook. It's as though I absorb the foods as I read the recipes! I read cookbooks cover to cover like they are regular books. In fact, I can't begin to use a cookbook until I have explored every recipe. I don't mind spending some time at it, either. While I understand the 5 ingredient mentality of cooking, I don't cook that way. I like buying strange and exotic ingredients and using them in crazy recipes. I've been known to buy an ingredient and find a use for it later. I like opening my cupboards and knowing I'll find things like almond paste, chocolate cocoa nibs, espresso powder, apricot peach chutney, black peppercorns, cardomom pods, saffron, every imaginable type of flour to cook with, Guittard chocolates, interesting molds, vanilla beans.

I like buying crazy cheeses (if only I could remember to label them once they have been opened and placed into a ziploc bag) and building exotic sandwiches. Or experimenting with things like homemade marshmallows. I've tried things to great success and others I've tossed as soon as I tasted them. I scratch through recipes I don't like and put smiley faces by those I really really do. I put a check by every recipe I've made and try to constantly attempt new recipes. If I had my "druthers" I'd bake night and day. Or make fancy things like chocolate truffles and molded or dipped chocolates. I'm crazy about fancy chocolate - preferably really dark and bitter. But since we do have to eat something other than dessert, I also enjoy cooking. I don't do much with meat. Chicken sometimes, rarely beef, and absolutely nothing else. I LOVE fruits and vegetables and shopping at the Farmers Market. Although I confess I get intimidated there. All the people and rows of thousands of veggies. I never know if I'm paying too much and it's so hard to price-shop with all the people around. But I really do love buying local produce and organic food, so I try to be brave and ask questions and not worry about how stupid I seem to the little Asian woman when I don't know the difference between all her herbs. Or have a clue what to do with all the crazy different green things she's selling.

I'm glad I have a brave husband who isn't afraid to dig into whatever dish I put before him. And thank the Lord, he's not a meat and potatoes kind of guy (which there's nothing wrong with), cause he'd seriously go hungry in my house. He didn't bat an eye when I made a tortellini soup last night with absolutely no meat in sight. Just spinach and tomatoes and tortellini. He WILL tell me if he doesn't like something, and usually I know before he says it if he will or won't. And bless his heart, he tolerates my obsession with soups. And I confess, I am obsessed. I could live on nothing but soup. The possibilities are ENDLESS! And with my immersion blender, I can puree things till the cows come home!

I should also add here, before anyone gets any ideas...I am not a true cook in that I can whip things up just by perusing my pantry and seeing what ingredients I have. I envy those people in the way I envy people who play the piano by ear (my brother Michael). I need recipes to cook and I need sheet music to play the piano. Once I try a recipe, I may then add my own touches, but I have yet to discover the inventive, creative cook in me, if she exists. I may always need the foundation of an existing recipe. In another life, I would love to have gone to a professional cooking school where you learn to build dishes from scratch with just a few ingredients, but that didn't seem to be God's plan for me. So for now, I'll utilize the skills of those who HAVE gone to those schools, made successes of themselves and written cookbooks to share their brilliance.

But I'm rambling...or is it just blogging? This whole entry began with my intent to tell you about my two newest cookbooks. Birthday gifts from Kyle. And SPOT ON! I love them. I'm still in the perusal phase, but as soon as I get down to business and pull on my apron, I'll let you know.