I have spent this summer feeling unaccomplished. My daughter would tell me to just “enjoy” summer and quit fretting about stuff. But then, every other day, and sometimes every day, stuff falls on me to fret about! I’m not trying to be negative, because honestly, that is not what this is about, but I do feel stressed. I have three weeks left until school starts and as I said last year around this time, I’m not ready!!!
A couple weeks ago I started a cookbook project. It is an ebook, actually, and it is a collection of recipes I’ve used in Culinary Skills classes, or have just invented from other recipes. Most are somewhat easy, and all have step-by-step instructions for inexperienced cooks. I thought it would be a good cookbook for college-age kids leaving home for the first time and not really having a handle on simple things they can fix. It is not a dorm room cookbook, unless these students live in a place where they have a full kitchen in a dorm room. I’ve not heard of many colleges with full kitchens in their dorm rooms. Usually, there is a kitchen where students can use facilities and make something — at least, that is how I see it. Actually, this cookbook could be for people who simply have low experience and expectations in the kitchen. Also, I realize following a recipe is sometimes confusing. Result may not meet expectations. I noticed this when I was teaching. One notable example was when we were making cookies and a couple students proceeded to dump everything into the mixer bowl, which would not produce good cookies. I tried to explain that following a recipe is a chemistry experiment. If you miss a step, it is likely the finished product will not meet expectations — particularly when a recipe says, “Mix in the eggs, one at a time until fully incorporated.”
My best example was when I owned a small bakery/catering company. I used a recipe for a chocolate cake which specifically asked to mix cocoa and a liquid together before adding it to the other ingredients. I don’t know why I didn’t follow the recipe exactly on one occasion. I think maybe it was because I was distracted by my toddler, although I’m not blaming her for the mistake or the catastrophic (exaggeration) results! The cake was a pile of crumbles and nothing could save it! Not even a healthy dose of whipped cream or ganache.
A few years ago, I aspired to be a Food Network Star. Second best was teaching Culinary Skills to students, although the exposure was minimal, at best. Students told me later that they loved my class — especially when we were in the kitchen making food. I taught things like, onions aren’t always treated as a vegetable since they actually flavor food and pretty much disappear into casseroles, meatloaf, etc. One student said she didn’t like onions and therefore didn’t want them in her meatloaf. I had a workaround on that one. I cooked the onions with some other spices and then put the whole thing into the food processor! Everyone (including the student who didn’t like onions) loved the meatloaf!
Anyway, compiling things for an ebook, is work. I don’t mind doing it, but I want it to be worthwhile and not just a bunch of random recipes thrown together. I also start thinking of recipes I want to make. Hopefully I can finish this soon. I have three weeks until school starts. So, I need to put my head down and get this done!
Then, to top things off, I’ve neglected my Italy House Search. A few houses that I’d marked as favorites fell off because they’d either been removed from the market or sold. I’m not too worried because there are a lot of houses for sale in Italy and we aren’t in a big hurry. I never heard back from them on whether it was okay to post things or not so I’d rather ask for forgiveness than permission.”
Here is a picture of one my “favourites.” I’ll just keep looking too.
Until next time… Arriverderci!
Leave a Reply