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This week I decided to write a blog about cooking...which is ironic because I don't cook. (Maybe I'm just up too late and hungry)

For starters, is it weird, or is this common - I kind of collect cookbooks....

I don't cook, I don't enjoy cooking, I actually find it daunting. But I love dreaming of cooking and pretending like someday I will. So when new cookbooks come out, they thrill me if they speak to me or my tastes. Like the latest cookbook that I went on waitlist for at QVC: "The 5 ingredient Cookbook - Gluten Free" (except I'm confused because plenty of recipes in the book are more than 5 ingredients? Can anybody shed light??)

I have some sentimental cookbooks, for example the Neiman Marcus cookbook which my Mom gave to me when I was fresh out of college (it gives me panic attacks because it's so fancy and involves way too many ingredients) and the Amalfi Coast cookbook that I think a friend gave me for my wedding...or was it my sister in law for a birthday? Nonetheless I love Italy so it made sense...but i have not made a lick of what's on those pages. 

There's the "Where Chefs Eat" cookbook that I bought at Z Galerie, or Anthropologie, which is it? It is not a cookbook so much as a restaurant little black book for chefs in the know. (Again, having it is delightful but I have never actually cracked it open or visited the restaurants recommended.) The biggest sentimental gulp is the index card box...

My college bestie Jen, who passed away in 2000 from kidney cancer, left behind a card folio of her handwritten recipes which I inherited. Jen loved to cook and entertain. 

Also somewhat sentimental is the recipe book that surely is either worth money or at least a living relic...my grandma's ancient Good Housekeeping cookbook from what looks to be the 40's or 50's. Best part is grandma's scribbles...see there, the recipe for Brown Betties?

Oh wait, this is a good one. I visited Crate & Barrel one day and got romanced by some thingy that turns vegetables into noodles. A spiralizer? Sounded healthy, looked fun and easy. Bought the doodad And the cookbook. Used it once. We have one kinda like it.

I have a beef about cookbooks for the crockpot bc for a person who doesn't cook and leans towards easy, crock is awesome. Except why doesn't anyone make a cookbook that is healthy? I own 3 cookbooks for the crock and they are all super unhealthy albeit decadent and tasty.

I have a cookbook called "Grill It!" that's all about..well you get it. Except I don't get it, isn't grilling pretty straight forward, why do you need a cookbook for that? And I have a cookbook entitled "America's Lost Recipes" .. except if they are lost, then how did they show up in a cookbook?

I like simple. My perfect cook situation is 5 ingredients or less, healthy, and super yummy. Correction: my perfect cook situation is a personal chef.  Until then, this is an opportunity to just talk about food, which I love. Not that you care, but here are my food loves and loathes...then tell me yours:

Love: Spicy tuna rolls, liver and onions, pesto pasta, split pea soup, risotto, bananas foster, grandmas coffee cake, anything with caramel

Hate: roasted red peppers, zucchini, eggplant, summer squash, Starbucks coffee

Favorite childhood dish: My grandma's duck rice at Christmas Eve; SaraLee coffee cake on Christmas morning

Fav fastfood: Burger King french fries and chocolate milk shakes; McDonalds cheeseburger & filet o fish; Little Caeser's breadsticks

Fav restaurant in Philly: Dandelion

Fav restaurant in NYC: Balthazar, Morandi, Rue57

Fav restaurant in Orlando: Eddie V

Fav restaurant in Washington: Le Diplomat

Fav restaurant in LA: Pace

Birthday cake: chocolate cake white frosting

Are you hungry yet because I am gnawing off my arm (figurately, of course). I could seriously go for a side of seasoned crispy waffle fries, and maybe a cheesesteak right now. Having a carb moment.........

Do you like cooking, loathe cooking, put up with cooking - or what the heck, let's just do some takeout? 

x

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