What's the point?

Other than ego, why on earth would I undertake the creation of a blog at this time in my life? As a school administrator, wife, mother, and grandmother of two, my life is busier than I would like, and it seems like my days are all too short.

Perhaps it's the frustrated writing lurking in my heart, or the frustrated cook lurking on the outskirts of my kitchen. I like to believe, however, that it's justification for my ridiculously large (and growing) cookbook collection. I read them all, cover to cover, and find tons of wonderful dishes I want to try in each one...then put it down and move on to the next.

My plan (which is subject to change) is to choose one cookbook at a time, and cook everything in it that interests me. Perhaps enough good meals will help me convince my husband that I really DO need more cookbooks, although my friends at the Cooking Light Bulletin Board have no trouble at all helping me justify my addiciton.

This is not going to be a do-or-die plod through any particular cookbook. I admire the cooks who can do that--I really do. That just isn't me, though. For one, there are too many things I just have no interest in cooking. Take lamb, for instance. Sorry...their faces are just too cute. And quail? I could never eat it, not after watching numerous quail families crossing my backyard, heads down, determination written all over their feathery little bodies, as they charge toward their destination. And fish? Forget it. I do want to begin to add it into my diet, but it's a road I have to walk very, very carefully. It just isn't one of my favorite foods; in fact, in most cases, the more I chew it, the bigger it gets. I've spit out far more fish than I have swallowed.

So, for now, I plan to pick up a cookbook and just cook everything that looks interesting to my family and I--things I think we'll really eat. This blog will record that journey--the successes and the failures. It will also record the deviations from the plan, for knowing myself as I do, there will be many. I look forward to sharing the adventure with you.

I believe I'm going to choose Barefoot Contessa: Family Style as my first challenge. For one, it looks good. And it's a slim volume. It seems realistic. We'll see.