Resolution #1: I will not get so task focused in the kitchen that I lose sight of the fun and joy I get from puttering around my kitchen.
Resolution #2: I will make an attempt to introduce at least one vegetarian meal a week to our diet (MBH snorted when I mentioned this).
Resolution #3: I WILL master pie if it kills me.
I guess when I made out my Christmas wish list this year, I was subconsciously prepping for Resolution #3. MBH surprised me with a box of goodies from the King Arthur Flour's Bakers Catalogue that included a pie crust bag, crust shield, and oven spatter guard along with espresso powder and a nifty bread slasher.
MBH's Christmas surprise didn't end there because he also got me a subscription to Cook's Illustrated, the magazine I have been dying to receive for many years.
Between MBH and my parents, I added five cookbooks to my collection. MBH gave me the Joy of Cooking: 75th Anniversary Edition - 2006
, Williams Sonoma Paris: Authentic Recipes Celebrating the Foods of the World (Williams-Sonoma Foods of the World), and staying with the Cook's Illustrated Theme, The Yellow Farmhouse Cookbook
by Christopher Kimball; the bow-tie wearing editor of Cook's Illustrated. My folks decided to keep with my request for a taste of Northern Michigan home cooking this Christmas by getting me Hollyhocks and Radishes: Mrs Chard's Almanac Cookbook
, a lovely cookbook filled with stories and recipes from a family farm stand and the fabulous Ships of the Great Lakes Cookbook which combines my love of food with my love of the big ore boats of the Great Lakes!
Finally, when I got home Sunday from my folks house in Northern Michigan, one last Christmas present from MBH had arrived: The French Chef With Julia Child 2
DVD's to complete my Julia Child collection.I'm sure somewhere in all this booty I will find success with pie...
