Thursday, February 18, 2010

Thoughts and Pie


Hey everyone, long time no see! I’m sorry I left without a “back in 5” sign on the door. School has started again and I guess it’s been a little more demanding than I expected.


Although I haven’t been posting, it’s given me a little time to think over the philosophy of my blog. When I started posting, which I know wasn’t that long ago, I had a plan to share veggie food that came across my path and post it at least once a week. Somehow, it turned from a general food search to a recipe search type deal. (Maybe it’s because I haven’t really had the chance to go out for food all that much lately.) I guess I just wanted to let you know that although I will still be posting recipes, you can also expect to see some other veggie-related posts once in a while.


Also, I’ve decided to follow a policy of quality not quantity. I quite enjoy posting and doing so every week. However, I’ve found with my time constraints, that it becomes quite rushed, and overall not as fun to do…… so I’m not gonna.


Okay, back to business.


Everyone: I just got the best book in the world! Okay, well not really. But I’m super excited about it! It’s called Professional Chef and it’s a textbook put out by the CIA (link). It’s a little intimidating (like over 1000 pages), but I can’t wait to go through it! I’ve been cooking regularly over the past 3 years, so I’m still pretty new at the game. I can cook some pretty decent meals nowadays, but I find that I’m not quite up there when it comes to technique (I have no idea what I’m doing). I’ve always wanted to be able to cook sans recipe, and I think this book may help! Even though it does contain recipes (like 600 of ‘em), it also goes through various techniques, their purpose and what they hope to achieve. Eg. some topics include the different characteristics of regional cuisine, how to develop different flavours of tomato sauce, soup formulas, etc. The only thing about this book, which I wouldn’t necessarily say is a bad thing, is that I think I’m going to have to invest in a half-decent kitchen scale. The one I have (from Save-On) just isn’t going to cut it.


Anyway, if you’re looking for something more encyclopedic when it comes to cooking, this book may be worth considering. I also give it a pretty decent “veggie-friendly” rating because although it includes a topic on meat and many meat-filled recipes, this isn’t the sole focus on the book. Also, with this topic included, I hope to understand the flavouring process that goes into some meat dishes and translate it to a veggie alternative. (Wish me luck!)

Now, if you’re wondering why there’s a picture of a pie at the top of the page, no, the “A” doesn’t stand for Alberta Bean. It was actually a belated birthday present for my cousin (whose name also happens to begin with “A”). I’m actually quite proud of this pie, as it is the first pie I’ve ever made, and I DID IT FROM SCRATCH! (with the help of Professional Chef)


The pie crust was made with the help of the proportion guidance of my textbook and the filling recipe I found online. Let me know what you think!


-A


P.S. I also made baby pie. Cute, no?