What Is This Blog About?

My name is Liz; I'm a competent home cook, temporarily out-of-work editorial professional, and an out-of-practice writer. It's a new year and I'm trying to get back into the swing of writing for fun.

I also have what feels like eight thousand cookbooks, many that still have that "new book smell." Wow. My cookbook shelves have all these wonderful references, but I'm not using over half of them! 

Sure, my husband, daughter, and I have our favorites, and those are currently part of our regular rotation, but what's the point of having great cookbooks if I'm not going to use them?

In 2015, I'm committing to trying at least one new recipe per week.

This is the plan:

(1) I will select at least one new recipe to try every Sunday or Monday.

(2) As I usually have a fairly well-stocked pantry, I'll need to assess its contents to determine whether or not I need to grocery shop before attempting the recipe. If grocery shopping is necessary, I'll post my shopping list on shopping day (Monday or Tuesday.)

(3) On Wednesday, I'll make the recipe exactly as it's written in the cookbook or magazine. I'll likely make notes in the margins about whether the technique worked, or if I had trouble understanding what was supposed to happen during a step, which will be part of my recipe review.

(4) On Thursdays, I'll post a recipe review to answer the following questions:

• How easy was the recipe to follow? (Could my sister, a non-cook, follow it?)
• Does it require specialty equipment that I don't always have accessible? (Stuff like a stand mixer, blender, food processor, or coffee grinder - all of which I have, but don't use regularly.)
• How did my husband & daughter enjoy it?
• Was it too much work to add to my regular rotation? 

(5) On Fridays, or any non-cooking days, I'll define random cooking terms I use frequently for those of you who don't watch as much Food Network/Cooking Channel as I do. 

Does this sound fair and really do-able? I think it does. 

Wish me luck!