After five days that seemed like fifty, the Stratus is back in working order and I'm ready to take on some post-Christmas shopping.
The Half Price Books sale that ends tomorrow is worth a look, and I definitely want to spin around the MOA a few times to see if anything I was eyeing during my Christmas shopping has since been marked down. (I'm happy to report that, courtesy of my parents, I am no longer in need of the Cuisinart immersion blender I had on my Wish List. This was by far the highest priority item this year.)
Fans of the Second Debut thrift store take note: the semi-annual clearance sale on winter merchandise starts Wednesday, January 2nd, with 30% off winter pants, tops, coats, boots and more. The art room clearance sale starts Saturday the 5th, with markdowns on framed art and prints.
I'll be hacking out a "Best Of 2007" list at some point this weekend, to which I feel compelled to add a "Most Disappointing New Restaurant" category this year. Chandrew's right, man: if you want people to come back, you gotta bring it. Now that every other blogger is a restaurant critic, you can't trust that kind of word-of-mouth unless you trust the palate behind it. I think this is what my "foodie" rant was going to be about; I'm hardly going to take advice on dining out from someone who's gushing about and posting photos of her Thanksgiving turkey just because it turned out for once.
This is the Evolution of Alexis, though, I suppose. I used to blog about cooking quite a bit and I even took a picture after successfully making poori for the first time. But now I cook multi-course meals from scratch a few times a week and am gradually mastering the basics of vegetarian cooking from all over the world. (I've been happily stuck in Central America for the last few months; you absolutely must try my enchiladas.)
I'm also getting ready to teach myself the fundamentals of baking. I can already whip up an irresistible soup or warm cheese spread with whatever's in the fridge; how awesome would it be to knock out a loaf of my own herbed crusty bread to go along with them?
I was watching an interview with Rick Bayless the other day and he said something that I've secretly known for a while, but am notoriously terrified to admit: In order to be a good chef, you have to be a good gardener. I just very reluctantly added "grow some of my own food" to my list of New Year's resolutions, which was not easy for someone who grew up in a household that used gardening as a form of child slave labor. At least I already know the basics.
The science of baking is what turn many people off of it; it's harder to tweak things, but that's what I love about it, that it's... well, science. I'll never have a bread machine, because it takes all the fun out of taking out your aggressions on the dough.
Posted by: Marchelle | December 29, 2007 at 03:55 PM