Now that there are fewer than fifteen cookbooks left to go, I find that they can generally be divided into two camps: things I have been putting off for some reason, and baking/dessert books. Technically, the baking/dessert books have also been put off for some reason, that reason being that I usually do most of my baking the last couple of months of the year. But today we investigate two books that I have been looking at quizzically for some time now.
First up is Cookbook #87: The Book Lover's Cookbook (Shaunda Kennedy Wegner and Janet Kay Jensen, 2002). Provenance: this was another book that I instructed my brother to buy for me. Previous recipes on this blog: none. Thing that I failed to take into account regarding how my brain works when I requested this: that I would be unable to make one of these recipes without first reading the entire novel from which the excerpt was extracted. Amount of sense this makes to me: total. Times I have actually used this as opposed to just flipping through it longingly as a result: none.
It's one thing to devote, say, two or three hours to prepping and cooking one meal, but it's quite another to commit yourself to going to the library, spending every night for a week trying to get through a book, and ending up with a plate of scones as a result. I decided to give myself a break here and just look for the included novel I had read most recently, which I narrowed down to Angela's Ashes. It didn't hurt that Mrs. Leibowitz's Lentil-Vegetable Soup probably would have been one of my top picks anyway.
It's a little tough for me to judge this recipe on its merits, as I am guessing that Mrs. Leibowitz would never have mistakenly picked up the "salsa-style" diced tomatoes at Sprouts and therefore spiked the entire pot with unintended jalapeños. I mean, her loss really, but still. However, after dog-earring about 75% of this volume, I shall still render a Verdict, which is: oh no, I think I have found 2014's project.
I've been giving Cookbook #88: Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking (Michael Ruhlman, 2009) the side-eye because it isn't a cookbook cookbook, with nice pictures and things to add to my grocery list and such, it's more of a textbook cookbook. With math. However, I have been wanting to make fresh pasta ever since Fannie Farmer intimated that I was a giant sissy for being afraid of it, and as it turns out, three parts flour to two parts egg is actually pretty easy to remember.
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| However, there is nothing in those instructions to prevent you from making giant cartoon noodles. |
Here is proof that I cut those giant cartoon noodles myself.
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| Or at least that someone did. On my counter. |
Verdict: I made noodles! I guess I could memorize some other formulas. I guess. Recommended for: nerds.
Ivy, still wary of the data-mining threat, is prepared to go off-grid at any second.
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| Escape! |
Anna is taking a different tack, practicing her "generically cute 4-year-old in ballet clothes" disguise.
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| Blend! |
