Bon Appetit - October 2007

As you might have guessed, I subscribe to quite a few cooking or food related magazines.

With a large number of dietary restrictions, I view them along the lines of the foodie’s equivalent of *Armchair Traveling* . LOL

As an information junkie and trivia fanatic, I also like the *Tips and Tricks* and *Fun Facts to Know and Tell* that are often provided. I will say that I do come by all of this naturally. At a family reunion, we were discussing this and several of us confessed to being *Cookbook Readers* — as in just sitting and reading a cookbook, often with NO plans to use the recipes. My paternal grandmother is apparently the source of this behavior — thank you, Aine!

So— back to the the latest issue of Bon Appetit. I haven’t had time to sit and read it, yet, but I did take the time to thumb thru it and place *Post It Notes* on the pages I want to be sure to read carefully. (Yes, there IS method to my madness! — and what in the world did folks do before Post-its? Actually I do remembers using lots of small, ripped scraps and some of my resource books from way back when still have them among the pages.)

Anyway, for this issue of Bon Appetit, I marked p 66/Starters which gives an EXCELLENT 4 step Lesson in how to brown meat. With fun illustrations (showing a slight homage to the pen, ink, and wash illustrations of the 1950s), tricks, and a modicum of science, it delivers excellent information in an easy to understand and remember format.

I also marked p124 where they start a fascinating article on *Sweet Or Savory — Four Farmers’ Market Favorites, Two Ways Each*.

They take sweet potatoes, apples, butternut squash, and pears and provide both a sweet recipe and a savory recipe for each.

The butternut squash cake, properly called Ginger Squash Cake with White Chocolate Frosting called out to me, even though I am not wild about white chocolate.

The savory offering of Fried Cornmeal Shrimp with Butternut Squash Risotto also called my name. *smile*

As I was just now leafing thru the issue while writing this report, I also discovered that they cover Pasta in their p 86/Cooking Class, specifically egg fettuccine. Homemade Pasta is going to be my winter project this year, so it looks as though this issue will get a lot of attention from me in the upcoming months.

Tink

*When I dream, I cook and bake like an artist!*