What...me cook?

There are so many grammatical problems with the title of this entry but it speaks volumes. It’s been weeks since I have cooked much of anything and longer since I’ve written about it. Now granted, its summer and my culinary skills consistently turn to whatever I can drag from the garden that won’t get me first. But even so, good meals prepared by me have been few and far between. The reality of working for a living and traveling every week means I only dream about cooking now.

I’m wondering what good a food blog is that’s written by the person formally known as a cook? Actually I’m not ready to give up the ship just yet. In fact I’ve been pondering where my next food adventure is heading. Quite frankly I’m bored with black olives, sun dried tomatoes, chiabatta, fresh mozzarella, pine nuts etc. All are delicious without a doubt, but I’m ready for the next food craze to enter my life.

Brien thinks it should be bone marrow. No need to tell you how I feel about that one. He’s been watching too many of those weird travel and food shows featuring some guy who would eat the south end of a northbound mule. And while shrimp has always been a staple in our house, and we have rivaled Bubba Gump in our array of recipes for this delicate creature, these days my thoughts are turning to simpler fare.

It started with the diner we visited in St Paul and has likely been exacerbated by being on the road all the time and thinking about comfort food: mashed potatoes, pork roast encrusted with herbs and garlic, orange-gingered carrots, homemade macaroni and cheese, meatloaf, peas with butter and basil, prime rib rubbed with olive oil, rosemary and garlic, , roast chicken rubbed with olive oil, garlic and thyme, roasted winter vegetables….beets, squash, turnip, carrots drizzled with olive oil, layered with fresh fennel, and sprinkled with sea salt and crushed peppercorns, beef and bean chili with cumin and cilantro, beef stew, tortilla chicken soup, chicken and dumplin’s, cream of broccoli soup, and homemade yeast bread

That’s just the beginning. Then there’s dessert…spice cake with brown sugar icing, apple cobbler, pecan pie, French apple pie, ice cream with homemade fudge or caramel sauce, whoopie pies, praline cheesecake, coconut cake with pineapple filling, moist, dark chocolate cake with raspberry filling and chocolate buttercream…the list could go on and on.

I blame it all on being on the road, but it is August and that means fall is right around the corner so it’s inevitable that my thoughts turn toward whatever puts the lard on me for winter survival. At least that’s what I’ve been telling myself for years when the calendar turns toward September and the tomatoes left on the vine are looking a little tired.