Yes, that is Tiggher in the middle of the table in the kitchen. No, we no longer set the table ahead of time. Don't think we haven't tried to keep her off the table. Firm voices, squirting with water...nothing keeps her from her nice little spot in the sun. We've watched her literally jump on the table and move salt and pepper shakers and vases, just so she has a spot to stretch out on. No we do not feed her at the table nor do we feed her any people food. She has just decided the middle of the table, where the sun shines and she can look out on the world, is HER spot. We are just her staff. We comply.
For the first anniversary of this blog I answered some questions that I periodically got from readers. I figured it may be time to answer some again.
What's up with the name of the blog? Is it a food blog, a hockey blog or what? Though the blog is mainly about food (Pantry), I do occasionally post about hockey (Pucks), and scrapbooking (Pages). Since I've recently started participating in a monthly scrap group and have a specific scrap project I'm working on, you might see more scrap related posts. As for hockey, ahem. I had my breath held this year because I thought maybe it was "THIS YEAR". But alas. It wasn't. I'm still mourning. But yes, especially during the playoffs, there are some posts about hockey now and then.
What's the point of your blog? In a nutshell? To get me to cook. Since, like Julia Child, I kinda started cooking late in life and I'm a bit behind the cooking curve. I have a large, immense, gigantic, way to big cookbook collection that I'm trying to cook from. The goal is to cook at least one dish from each cookbook. Let's just say if I was to cook one recipe a week for the rest of my life, I still might not make it through my collection.
Why haven't you updated the header/put a link to your Twitter account/done an RSS feed etc.? Time. Or lack of it. Also, some of the food blogs I follow are so crowded with this that and the other that I find it distracting. I'm trying to keep this blog simple. That being said, I do hope to be able to get some better functionality stuff going in the coming year.
Do you take your own photos?
Of the meals I cook yes. Usually I just plate the dish and take it with
the lights on the stove if there is no natural light. I take most of
the hockey photos and scrap photos. If the photo isn't mine, I try to
give sources. I use
Wikipedia a lot for generic photos. Every once in a while Mr. L will
take the photo (usually when I've done something stupid, like burned my
hand on a pot).
What kind of camera do you use?
Though I have a Canon Rebel XT, I currently use a little Canon PowerShot SD1100 which I am NOT fond of. We're looking for a new Canon that's more like my old SD950. I take photos in auto mode. I do not use a tripod. I rarely photoshop my food photos and if I do it's usually just the "auto correct" key.
Who do you cook for?
Mostly Mr. L and my mom. I do take some things into work to my assistant and every once
in a while I get enough courage to take something I've made to a
potluck.
Do you throw big dinner parties? In my mind? Yes. Constantly. I'm the Queen of Entertaining. In real life? Not so much. In fact, rarely.
How many cookbooks do you own?
Um. A Lot. Too many. More than I could ever use. Yeah, that answer is
another post entirely. I can't tell you the count without trying to
justify the answer!
How do you chose the recipes you make from cookbooks?
There is no set way. Sometimes, if there is an interesting National
Day, I may look through my books trying to find a recipe that has that
ingredient. More often than not, I just pick up a cookbook and try to
find something to cook. Sometimes this is easy as only a handful of
recipes pop out at me. Other times it's a gargantuan task as I want to
make everything in the book. Sometimes it's by default...I may be in an
"orzo" phase so those are the recipes that stand out and scream to be
cooked. Or maybe I've been cooking a lot of meat dishes and look for a
fish dish. I may make a dish because it's something I know my mom can
eat. Sometimes (most of the time) I'm really tired and busy and want to
make something simple. Or maybe I just got off the scale and all those
delicious fattening recipes just remind me of extra inches on my hips
so I try to go low-cal. Currently I only have access to about one sixth
of my cookbook collection so I try to find things in the cookbooks that are
available in the house.
How often do you buy new cookbooks?
I never buy new cookbooks. Never. Really. They just show up on my
doorstep. Yeah, that's the ticket, they just show up asking to come
inside and be part of my collection. Yeah...be sure to tell Mr. L that
if you ever run into him. Yeah, tell him you give me cookbooks, that's
why new ones are in the house. Seriously, they are like rabbits, they
just multiply.
Why didn't you learn to cook earlier? See cookbook question. That will be answered when I get enough guts to post about my cookbook collection.
What cooking magazines do you subscribe to?
HAHAHAHA. Just a couple. Bon Appetit . Gourmet if it was still in publication. And Food and Wine. Oh
and Savour. Of course Cooks Illustrated. Fine Cooking. The New Food Network magazine. Food Everyday. Cooking LIght. Should I include Sunset
Magazine since I cut out the recipes? And Martha Stewart Living? Better Homes and Garden?...and...well, maybe the question should have
been which cooking magazines I DON'T subscribe to!
Do you ever eat out at restaurants? You talk about them, why don't you review them?
Honestly we do eat out a fair amount, especially when we travel. I've
felt a bit uneasy about restaurant reviews since I'm not an expert.
That being said, since I enjoy reading others reviews and use them to find interesting places to eat, I think I might
start posting my own. I've done a few here and there though. See question below.
Do you take photos of the food you eat in restaurants? If it's breakfast or lunch I'll do it. If it's outside eating I'll do it. If it's some sort of fast food place, I'll do it. But I really don't have the courage to whip out my camera in the middle of a nice restaurant. That's probably one of the reasons I haven't reviewed some of the great places we've been to (i.e. Manresa)...I have no photos to go along with the review. But who knows, maybe I'll figure out a way.
Do you eat a lot of fast food? It may seem that way, but we honestly don't. That doesn't mean we don't talk about it. And I'm always game to try something new if a fast food restaurant advertises it.
Why don't you post more Small Plates with the National Food Days? Time. Or lack of it. Sound familiar? I try to Tweet the National Days so if you are interested you can follow me there.
Do you come up with the National Days for Small Plates?
No, these are actual real days. I don't make any of them up. Yes, there
really is a "Don't Cry Over Spilled Milk Day", a "Crab Meat Newburg
Day" and a "Take Your Pants for a Walk Day".
Where do you find these days?
Just do an Internet search. There are a ton of places that list most of
the food days and plenty of the off the wall days. Even places that
send out e-cards list special or strange days.
Do you cook everything on the National Days?
I do see what days are coming up during the month and see if they work into my meal plan. The problem is, life
sometimes gets in the way and it may be several days after the National
Day that I actually cook with that ingredient. Because of this I rarely
post a National Days recipe until quite a while later.
Just how old are you anyway? Like I'm going to tell you that.
Is Mr. L a real person? Why yes, yes he is. Thank you for asking.
Why don't you use real names or post photographs of yourself?
Because we are actually government spies...no wait, we are in the
witness protection program...no wait, we are complete paranoid
freaks...no wait...we're aliens from the planet Karmactuan!
You may catch photos of us in you pay attention, and most of you know our
names anyway, but we like a little air of mystery.
Do you go to all the Sharks games?
I used to. For many, many years a group of us went to every pre-season
game, every home game, the playoffs, various road trip games and yes,
even to some practices. And I watched or listened to every road game on
the TV or radio. There was no life outside of hockey. Then there was
the lockout and I found Mr. L and other things in life started
happening. I still have season tickets. This past year for various reasons, we didn't go to many regular season games but plan on rectifying that this coming season.
What did you think of the Sharks losing to the Hawks in the playoffs? Lalalalalalala, I can't hear you...... But as an FYI, I am rooting for the Hawks over the Flyers. Sorry, but I just can't let go of the Pronger hatred.
Are you caught up with your scrapbooks? Are you out of your mind?
Do you ever scrap?
Not as much as I'd like to but having a couple of monthly groups to get together with is helping. I have a major scrap project I'm trying to work on which means even less time to do normal scrap pages. But I am trying to carve out some time to keep that up.
Well, I think
that's all the questions I remember people asking over the last year or so.
If you can think of something else, just let me know and I'll try to answer in the comments.
