Back to the Basics

Yesterday was Valentine's Day. As most women were swooning over their dozen roses, chocolates and jewelry, I was admiring my Valentine's Day present - Cookbooks :) No, I didn't get the normal gifts, and I didn't want them. On a holiday based on passion, my husband got me something he knew I was passionate about, cooking.

Now I have specialty cookbooks - Mexican, Spanish, Caribbean, Slow cooker, Tapas, Appetizers. But I don't have that resource cookbook to teach you how to do everything from poach an egg to cut up a chicken. That's what the Internet is for right? When decide what to cook, I tend to fire up my computer or go on to my Epicurious app on my phone; I rarely open up my cookbooks. It's just quicker. Well I am done with quicker, I want the feeling of a real book in my hand and the luxury of thousands of recipes in my hand. Now I know it's still easier for the Internet, but I've gotten burned so many times by recipes that were horrendous.

So not only did I get one how to do everything cookbook, but three. Three cookbooks that will be my go to from now on, The Joy of Cooking, How to Cook Everything and How to Cook Everything Vegetarian.

I spent hours and hours looking through these cookbooks just admiring the recipes. Deciding how I was going to use them, and what changes I could make so that they were mine. I am not a recipe follower, but now if I want to experiment with something I haven't done before, I have the how to's in my hands.

My husband was just as excited. He loves to help me cook, and pick out what we eat. We can cuddle on the couch and page through the pages for inspiration together. It is definitely more personal than the computer.

I guess it's kind of ironic that here I am blogging about getting back to the basics, but that's the luxury of it all. I can.