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Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Recipe Systems - How I handle Magazines & Cookbooks

I love cooking magazines! At present my favorites are EVERYDAY with RACHAEL RAY and Cook's Illustrated.

In the past I have had trouble remembering to try the recipes that looked good in magazines. By the time I thumb thru them and find a recipe to make, my window of grocery shopping opportunity is over. After having this happen repeatedly I've devised a method for working with cooking magazines.

When I am ready to do my first reading of the magazine I sit down at the table with my magazine, a lined post-it tablet, a pen & a cup of tea. As I go thru the magazine I note recipes that I think I might like to try in the future. I write one on each line. I include Page Number then the name of the recipe.

When I have gone thru the magazine I stick the list to the front cover of the magazine, then when I am doing my menu planning & grocery list I can quickly find recipes I'm interested in, without having to read the whole magazine. As I try the recipes I star or highlight recipes I like, and mark out the line of any recipe I didn't like so I don't forget and make it again.

My method for cookbooks is similar except that I use a regular tablet instead of post-it style and I tuck the paper into the pages of the cookbook. I update the list with new recipes because I find new things appeal to me on later readings (and I seldom make my way thru the whole book in one sitting.) After I have made a recipe I star or highlight recipes on the list & in the cookbook index. I also write comments in the book next to the recipe such as "Great, Ethan love this one", "This is nice with Asparagus" or "Ick, Never Again!" When I mark in the book I use my scrapbooking journaling pens, I learned my lesson on this one as I have had ink bleed over the years some of my cookbooks when using regular pens. To my way of thinking, a well marked Cookbook is a well-loved cookbook.

How do you do it... I'd love to hear your methods!

Ethan's Birthday Celebration

We celebrated Ethan's birthday last Saturday. We ate at a local pizza place

opened presents, then went to Laser Tag & played a LOT of Rampage (it's a video where you get to be a giant Ape and destroy a city.)

Then we went home and had birthday cupcakes, then Ethan played his new Wii game, Toy Story Mania.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Thankful For Moments Like These

Today I keep remembering another day... There was a really big box, an Uncle, a little boy, and a treasure map. The grown-ups came to visit and the little boy thought they all came to see him. He could not wait to show off the treasure map. One grown-up was game.

Becki you are such a blessing to us!


I've made this blog into a scrapbook layout if you'd like to see http://thefragranthand.blogspot.com/2010/03/one-about-big-box.html