I’ve missed my blog. I actually enjoy writing and and sharing my food adventures. If for nothing else then for my own enjoyment, which is how I operate most of the time anyway, let’s be honest. I’ve been feeling the pull to start it up again due to my new commitment to dining out less and cooking at home more. What prompted this new mindset you ask? It was after two pricey, though delicious, meals last week. A simple lunch for three came to almost $100 with tip and a mostly apps with wine evening visit to a different place came to a whopping $130! Excellent food, outstanding even, along with great service, but I just couldn’t justify the cost. Each meal was a tank of gas and groceries, or a couple tanks of gas, depending on how you look at it. I’ve always loved going out to dinner and everything that entails. Reading through the menu, discussing it with whomever I’m with, getting the waitstaff’s input, enjoying the presentation eye candy and savoring each bite with a lovely wine or cocktail. Then deciding on dessert, usually to share, and enjoying the last bite, just before being presented with the bill. Normally, I’m prepared for it and feel everything was worth it. We’ve spent a few hundred dollars on meals at some of the nicest restaurants in Northern Michigan, and it usually felt like a good and fair value (though not always). But I’m not feeling that way these days. I do realize that the cost of food and everything else has gone up, and it isn’t the fault of the restaurants. So I’m a little sad, since I truly love going out to dinner, but considering how much I’m still bothered by what we spent on those two recent meals, I have to do something, I have to make a change. And I’ve already started. Monday, I made Cantonese shrimp egg foo young with rice, Tuesday, spaghetti with meat sauce and garlic toast, and last night Mexican soft beef tacos with refried beans and Spanish rice. I’ve made a couple fun breakfasts as well. Savory Malt-o-Meal with breakfast sausage yesterday and avocado toast today. I’ve also made four loaves of bread this week, peasant loaves from Alexandra Stafford’s book, “Bread Toast Crumbs.” They are small boules, so not as much bread sitting around as you think. On top of this, we’ve been eating our way though the last of the leftovers from Saturday, when I hosted an afternoon tea bridal shower for my eldest daughter and her fiancée. Homemade pimento cheese, chicken salad, lemon curd, mini cloud cheesecakes, mini chocolate cupcakes with coconut frosting, scones, lavender shortbread, cream puffs and more, though we finished those things up yesterday. I actually think that cooking all the afternoon tea goodies from scratch got the ball rolling. Nothing like being immersed in cooking to get you inspired and excited to make the next thing. Since I used my Instant Pot to cook the pinto beans, and what nice creamy beans they delivered, we’ll be having bean tostadas with leftover Spanish rice tonight. Tomorrow, who knows. We bought a quarter of a cow a couple weeks ago, so I have lots of options, though I’ve been reading through my “Moosewood,” by Mollie Katzen, cookbook (vegetarian), and Sri Wasano’s Indonesian Rice Salad recipe has been calling to me. I’ve made it before and it is delicious. I still love the idea of eating meatless at least twice a week.

I’ve also added new cookbooks to my ever growing collection, which I hope to start reviewing. Some cookbooks are just eye candy, like The French Laundry, some for inspiration, some have one or two go-to recipes, and then there are those full of recipes I refer to over and over again. Whenever we travel, I love to find regional cookbooks, autographed is a bonus, so I can try out some new things and also as a souvenir of our trip. I bought one cute tiny cookbook in Greenville, SC a few years ago, just before the pandemic, and made ricotta cheese for the first time following the easy recipe in that book. I don’t think I would have ever tried it except for the author’s insistence that is was an easy thing to do. And, by the way, it was absolutely amazing, so good, waaay better than anything I’ve bought at the store. Once I get to my cookbook reviews, I’ll share the details.

And then there are all the cool video tutorials I’ve discovered. Flower gelatin cakes? Japanese Cloud Cheesecake? Cream Scones with Paul Hollywood? So much to share. I’ve also added new tools to my pantry, some worth mentioning, like the reduction spatula and silicone liquid measuring cups. I’ll try to go over some of the more interesting and new can’t-live-without ones. So if you have the time, I hope to see you around, And don’t be shy, I love comments.

Cheers!