I'm going to learn how to cook

The wonderful folks at Harbour Publishing gave me The Joy of Cooking when I left a year ago. I've tried some cookie recipes, a risotto, and a lamb dish so far but I'm really going to give cooking a good try in these next few months (you are invited to the dinner party).

I got a bit of encouragement this weekend reading the Bitten Blog post on TV cooking vs. Real Life cooking.

Hey. Things catch fire sometimes, even in “real” kitchens. Things overcook, they undercook, they look like something the cat dragged in, they’re oversalted, underspiced, soggy when they should be crisp, dry when they should be moist . . . in restaurants, good restaurants, chefs do these over. On TV, chefs gloss these over. Rarely are you given a sense of what really goes on.

The home cook, especially the aspiring home cook, needs encouragement — not befuddlement. Show people what actually happens in the kitchen, show people that mistakes are made (”The grand thing about cooking is you can eat your mistakes” — Julia Child), show people that, just as you need not be Rafael Nadal to play tennis, you need not be Gordon Ramsay to cook a decent meal.

In related news, the first pictures of the Meryl as Julia Child in Julie & Julia were released today. See more: