Yeah, it's been a while, I know....

life gets crazy. my oldest has a busy school year this year with all the activities he does.
I have a little time before I have to get ready for a meeting I have to go to.
I was inspired to post here. It's all because of Amy S. her cooking blog is one of my favorites. (she is under the what I read box on the right, Cooking with Amy)
So last week I was catching up on a little blog reading while my youngest napped. She did a post about her process for creating recipies. So it inspired me to post my process for recipe creation.

first comes the inspration. Inspiration hits me usually in the supermarket, mainly the Broadway Central Market in San Antonio, http://www.centralmarket.com/, I could and usually do spend several hours browsing that market. Just about anything you could possibly want is there. (with the exception of curry leaves, CURSE THE HEAVENS!) One of these days I'll take my digital camera and post some pictures. It is an AMAZING store. Some thing there will inspire me. I'll get whatever it is and take it home. Inspiration also comes to me from reading cookbooks. Yes, I have a whole cabinet in my kitchen dedicated to my cookbooks, and my cooks illustrated (and other cooking) mags. I read cookbooks like most people read novels. Food Network and the show Top Chef on Bravo also help. (seriously when Sara N. messed up the avacado ceviche I went out, got the ingredients and figured out where she went wrong. *I couldn't try it, but my friends loved it!)

So once I have the inspiration I take stock of my pantry, which is almost always followed by a shopping trip. Then I just get back in the kitchen and play. It never comes out perfectly on the first try. it's a few tries before it comes out just right. Depending on what I am cooking, my husband is my taste tester. If I am trying out something he doesn't like I use my friends as guinea pigs. They are almost always more than willing to do so. If my in-laws are here, my mil is pretty open to trying new things too.



Yesterday I got a new cookbook,

I quickly skimmed through it yesterday as I was standing in line to pay.

Thoughts?

So far I LOVE it! The pictures are just beautiful. I have plans today to sit down and look through it some more. Great pictures in a cook book totally suck me in. (I am afterall a scrapbooker at heart)

Bought any good cook books recently?

What are your favorite magazines?

I do love "Food & Wine" like most cooks I think do. One of my favorites is Cooks Illustrated. I need to re-up my subscription to that one. I have used so many recipies from that one. The brine that I use each thanksgiving to brine our turkey in actually evolved from a recipie in that mag. I also like the Saveur, Tho I don't buy it as often as the others. It's kinda hard to find in my small Texas town. I also love getting my King Arthur Flour & Sur La Table catalogs. I save those, and espically in Sur La Table, mark things for my "When we win the lottery" list. :D

*by the way, little known fact about me, I am allergic to shellfish. I love cooking it, but can't ever try what I cook. So there is a little fun fact of the day for you. enjoy!