Cooking on a Whim

I love cookbooks. I have a nice collection of them. I love recipes in general, I think. I am constantly scouring foodie magazines for new dishes. But a love of recipes and pretty pictures of completed dishes doesn’t mean I love to cook all the time, though. I try really hard to cook at home at least four nights a week, but sometimes even that is difficult with our crazy schedules. Usually I’ll cook enough so the natives don’t get restless, but every once in a while I’ll get an urge to put together something special. If I had a cooking show I think the perfect name would be Cooking on a Whim.

Whim: an eccentric and often sudden idea of the mind. Definitely an apt description of my latest endeavor. I proudly announced to the family tonight over dinner that I would be trying one new dish per week from the cookbooks that line our kitchen counter and then blogging about it. Oh, the family favorites wouldn’t be forgotten, mind you. We’d just be introducing a new palette of flavors to our taste buds. And we’d be sharing with you a recipe review of sorts.

Because I’m an avid student of journalism, I appreciate very much the protection afforded authors and publishers against unauthorized use of their material. But since one of the beauties of food is sharing it with others, I intend to give the title of the recipe, the name of the recipe book it comes from and a description of the dish, along with our two cents opinion. If you’re interested, I’m happy to share the recipe with you (but not in the public blog, unless I can find an online link to it) under the ‘limited personal use’ umbrella found in the copyright notice of each book.

Bon appétit!

On Our Front Porch

Flying on the flagpole this month is our red, white and blue windsock in honor of our nation's celebration of independence.

Oh, I Wish I Were An...

Our Sunday afternoon drive took us by the Oscar Meyer Weinermobile. Can you sing the song?

Sweeping, But Not Cleaning

I coutinue to be amazed at the number of companies giving away their product for free. It's a wise marketing strategy, though. Put your product directly into the hands of the consumer or place an ad on television....the former guarantees that your product will get exactly where you want it to be.

What I am more amazed at, though, is how big this whole 'sweeping' thing is. There are entire websites dedicated to listing current sweepstakes, others designed to tell you how to increase your odds of winning, and still others that deal with the etiquette involved in the whole system. (Yes, you are expected to write a thank you note to the sponsor of the sweepstakes if you win.) Many even consider sweeping a hobby, like you would scrapbooking and playing video games.

The biggest surprise to me, however, was that there are both individuals and companies who will enter you in as many sweepstakes/contests as you want them to for a small monthly fee. Who would have thought that there was a market for that? But as with everything, I guess there wouldn't be a need for professional contest enterers if there weren't people who would pay for their service. Go figure.

Free Food and Drink

Looking for a way to eat and/or drink cheaply? Don't forget about the following deals when the dining hours roll around:

Arby's Wednesday Freebies
July 8: Free Orange Cream Swirl Shake with any sandwich purchase
July 15: Free regular Roast Beef with any soft drink purchase
July 22: Free Roastburger with any soft drink purchase
July 29: Free Iced FruiTea with any sandwich purchase

McDonald's Mocha Mondays
Free sample of iced or hot mocha every Monday until August 3rd between 7am and 7pm at participating McDonalds)

Liberty

The Statue of Liberty's crown reopens to visitors today. It has been closed since the attacks on 9/11. For a really neat virtual tour (unless you just won the lottery and are headed for an in person visit), visit the National Park Service website.

Happy 4th! Celebrate your freedom today. Wave a sparkler for me!

Clean Energy and Healthcare

Look who all is getting along these days:

AL District 1 - Jo Bonner (R)
AL District 2 - Bobby Bright (D)
AL District 3 - Mike Rogers (R)
AL District 4 - Robert Aderholt (R)
AL District 5 - Parker Griffith (D)
AL District 6 - Spencer Bachus (R)
AL District 7 - Artur Davis (D)

Every one of these U. S. Representatives voted NO on H.R. 2454: American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009, quite possibly the largest tax increase in American History. Send them a quick thank you.

While you're at it, remind them to vote NO on universal healthcare, also. Because I don't know about you, but I don't really see people who can, as President Obama put it, keep their existing healthcare coverage when universal coverage becomes available, continuing to pay for medical insurance out of their own pocket. Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?

Look, I'm not interested in seeing people suffer because they can't get treatment beacuse they don't have insurance. And I don't want to see people go without their medicine because it costs too much. But neither do I want to foot the bill for those who fail to make provisions for themselves.

I believe there is much room for charity in this world. We all could do better by our family members and neighbors. But as I've said before, if I give it to you, it's charity, or benevolent goodwill. If someone takes it from me to give to you, it's theft. And the last time I checked, thievery was against the law.