A Revelation

     As I was walking out of the house this morning, on my way to dropping my kids off at their respective schools, I wondered what to make for dinner.  And, in that moment, it struck me that my plans for dinner invariably involved making one of a handful of family favorite meals (read "kid friendly") while my pantry was overflowing with cookbooks and cooking magazines full of recipes for every meal and occasion, for every type of diner, from a wide range of cultures and countries, and even for cooks with minimal time and/or minimal ingredients. Over the years, every time I purchase a new cookbook, I pore over the recipes inside it with a sort of foodie fervor.  As I flip through my issues of Everyday Food, Martha Stewart Living, Food Network Magazine, Real Simple, and even Disney's Family Fun magazines, I rip the little renewal cards that come inside the magazines into strips and mark the recipes I want to make.  Sometimes, almost every page of a magazine is bookmarked in this fashion.  And yet, very rarely do I actually try and actualize any of these dishes I dream of.    

     Part of my inertia can be blamed squarely on my children.  On the rare occasions that I do branch out and try to make something new and different (not too different as I know my kids' limitations!) their reactions invariably range from polite "It was good," to the blunter "Do I have to finish this?".  My husband, on the other hand, who enjoys a wide variety of foods, has been on a health kick the past couple of years.  His reactions tend to begin with questions such as the subtle "This is good - what kind of oil did you put in it?" to the blatant "How many calories would you say are in this?" and end with scorned side dishes and ignored sauces.  

     The days and weeks move faster now, however, and they are quickly turning into months and even years.  At some point, I need to start making the food I dream about and let everyone else fend for themselves if they don't want taste-test alongside me.  My epiphany today led me to conclude that I need to actively start working my way through my mounds of magazines and overflowing shelves of cookbooks.  I will never be able to make more than a dent - especially given that our family schedule won't allow me to experiment every evening - but I will at least make that dent.  I've never blogged before but this foray into cooking struck me as something worth blogging about.  My guess is that I am not the only one with many volumes of unused cookbooks and cooking magazines with pages that are marked and then never seen again.

     Wish me luck!