Welcomes, realizations, vittles

Welcome welcome welcome cooky-monster! This is so belated, but my elation is pure and true. Readers, ignore cooky's comment about being a poseur. She is the genuine article--adventurous, sophisticated, curious, and always willing to take on any exploratory kitchen project! My most memorable cooky creation is her tuna rangoon. A whimsied yet practical spin on one of my most favorite East-Coast-Chinese take-out snacks. I have yet to try and recreate it, but now that cooky's my blogger-in-crime, I may be so inspired.

Speaking of inspiration (and other -tions), I like my blog. I still wish it could be chefty.com but, alas(s), this impostor Chefty got there first. (Chef Ty. Come ON!)

And, last but not least, the foodstuffs. I have been doing a good bit of cooking of late (though not so much with the photography). Pear crisp, apple honey cakes (with the apple butter incorporated...more on that later), and a pretty delectable no-frills chicken soup are the most recent among them. In the fridge a buttercup squash (looks kind of like the acorn, but lumpier...should be fun to cut that) awaits me. Not sure what I'll do with that, but it will likely find its way into soup or some kind of squash chutney that I can eat on a salad. I am very bored with my (admittedly limited) salad repertoire lately. On my short list of projects is a salad lab. I think this could be a good group activity--have everyone bring over their pantry oils and vinegars, stock up on some general (and maybe not so general) salad components, and do some experimenting. If you're going to eat 5-7 servings of fruit and vegetable every day, you might as well have fun doing it.