Yes, I admit it...I'm absolutely, 100%, addicted to cookbooks. I LOVE them! I love looking at them, reading and flagging recipes, making grocery lists to make said recipes, and even planning them out with my weekly meals. So, what's wrong with this addiction, you ask? The troubling part is that I'm TERRIBLE at actually MAKING any of the recipes. Don't get me wrong, I do sometimes, but even the most "doable" ones seem to just remain flagged, but not created. Why do I do this? Does anyone else do this?! AND it's not as if I don't cook. I cook A LOT and even complain about getting sick of the same old meals. Is it fear? Lack of time? Lack of confidence in my ability? Lack of the right tools or ingredients? Percfectionism? Yes, yes, yes, yes and YES! Yet I still peruse and purchase(both in stores and virtually) cook books! I love the idea of new recipes and cookbooks. I have my fav authors (Mark Bittman, Elie Krieger, Tosca Reno, Rachael Ray, etc) and whenever they come out with a new book I want to add it to my collection immediately! I fantasize about the possibilities of new meals from these new cookbooks. Carlton and I enjoying fresh creations, perfect flavors and textures, everything coming out perfectly, my cooking "timing" being spot on so that everything is served hot together and of course, a healthy balanced meal full of nutritious deliciousness! The crazy thing is, "creating more meals from my cookbooks" has been a running new years' resolution for the last couple of years. So, I keep asking myself..WHY!??! I think I've figured it out...the fantasizing is more fun and easy that actually doing it! This can be true with lots of things in life, right? We build up the perfect ending only to be disappointed by things taking a different turn than we'd planned! The path to learning something new is tough and you don't always feel like a success along the way. The same can be said for exercise. You get all psyched about a cool new routine or class and then you get to the doing and it SUCKS! You're exhausted, feel slightly nauseaus, wonder how you're going to make up for the lost time, and you're super sore the next day. It's much easier to just think about a new routine and maybe even plan for it...buy cute new workout clothes, a fun headband, new ipod, etc. I guess the lesson here is to try and out of many honest tries, you'll have some successes. Those successes are worth it and can carry you through the blips of not-so-much-success. So I leave you with the truth that all the great chefs have had their fair share of "failure" and lack of delicousness in their cooking. Who am I to think that everything I make has to be perfect the first time around? I'm going to publicly declare that I will begin to USE my great collection of cookbooks more so that I can enjoy new foods and have fun in the kitchen instead of letting my old standards keep me safe and bored! I'm doing this to challenge myself, try new things, mix it up, and of course...to rationalize buying more cookbooks!
