A confession

In reading through the recipes in The French Laundry Cookbook, I am having difficulty finding recipes that I can   a) procure the ingredients without a ton of expense and   b) do without a lot of waste*    and  c) am excited about cooking.  For example the  Citrus Marinated Salmon (refer to earlier post I hate salmon) I was willing to do because Carol Blymire, who made EVERY recipe also hates salmon and said this was actually good. However, we are instructed to buy a side of salmon and we will have 2 lbs. left over. Ewwww. 

Many of the vegetable recipes are more suited for fresh summer vegetables so I can wait for the season on those. I will make a few of the meat dishes and a couple of the fish dishes, basically a sampling of everything in the book, but the "Other Tasty Bites" part of the title will be coming more and more into play. I have both the Ad Hoc and Bouchon cookbooks now, both also by Thomas Keller which I will use to fill in some spots along with other recipes I find. 

I suppose I was excited and naive when I chose the name of the blog, and I will keep working through the French Laundry but it will become less of a focus until Spring and Summer.

* the waste part has really bothered me since reading about a food blog movement that challenges people who have the means to eat pretty much whatever they want, to live on $30 for food for a week; it proved very difficult even for the most creative of cooks.  The average subsidy for food stamps is around $24 a week and still people go hungry. So wasting 2 lbs of expensive salmon seems sinful to me. We give generously to our local co-op that acts as a food bank and emergency assistance agency (they won't take perishables btw or I would give them the salmon), but I feel I also need to walk the walk by being aware in everything I do of the plights of those around me if you know what I mean. I will still make a some dishes that have expensive ingredients because that's what The French Laundry is about.. elegant  luxurious dining, but I'm looking for balance and luxurious ways to treat less expensive ingredients.

See you soon.