Saturday, April 26, 2008

I Write in My Cookbooks

I was taught that books are to be treasured and taken care of. They were to be treated gently, with respect, and never, ever written in. I still believe that, but I have been making an exception in the case of my cookbooks. When I modify a recipe, which is not infrequently, I will make note of it in the cookbook. It's the only way I'll remember what I've been doing, and what's the point of fiddling with a recipe if you don't remember it next time. So, most recently I scribbled in Bernard Clayton's Complete Book of Breads. I really like the Cuban Bread recipe, but have recently been making three smaller loaves rather than the two called for. I've also stopped slashing the top -- makes slicing the bread hard. Three loaves bake for 35 minutes.

This week's menu:

Saturday -- Burritoes
Sunday -- Asparagus bundles, bread, salad
Monday -- Chicken stirfry and rice
Tuesday -- black bean soup
Wednesday -- pizza
Thursday -- Grilled chicken breast, roasted potatoes, veggie
Friday -- Kielbasa and sauerkraut

Last week's menu was followed everyday except Thursday -- had no tomatoes on hand, so I made pancakes instead of BLTs.

Visited the farmer's market today. Picked up some asparagus, spinach and radishes -- the first of the season for all three. Also bought some collard plants and tomatoes. Planted the collards, but am holding off on the tomatoes until next weekend or the weekend after. Picked up three pepper plants yesterday: jalapenos, serranos and Anaheims. Will plant the same weekend as the peppers. Still need to get a six pack of sweet peppers, parsely and dill. Also planning on planting carrots and bush beans from seed.

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