Still a bad blogger....

...take it up with me AFTER I finish the manuscript, okay? In the meantime, a few short notes.

1. The Collection

Two weeks ago I actually pruned my cookbook collection down to about, 80 or so, from around 300. I was overjoyed to get rid of anything Moosewood, which raised some eyebrows amongst my friends. I think it's hideous cooking.

I was sad to see some of the big tomes from the C.I.A. go. But I never open them and they'll do someone else a lot of good. Letting go of so many books turned me inwards and made me nostalgic for the period in my life when I was really passionate about cookbooks. I couldn't help wondering what I was searching for when I started hoarding them all. And what I've found such that I no longer need most of them. Actually I threw out a lot of old cooking stuff as well, including a full set of pots and pans and a fondue set, which, yes, I have actually used, and recently too.

I guess I just don't feel like carrying so much STUFF around anymore.

2. The Boy

The A-man continues to eat everything! This week saw the introduction of rice and lentil dal and pluots. Very exciting. The rice in the picture above is not basmati but rather some short-grained rice from a bag of Carolinian brown rice that my good friend and former roomie the Southern Slavicist bought me a few years ago. Rice, if you can believe it, is actually a new thing for me: except for risotto I NEVER make it. But I faithfully followed the package directions, left the pot lid on and stirred the cooked rice with a fork and not a spoon, thereby hopefully averting some hideous curse.

I love that my kid is into spicy food. This recipe came courtesy of my cousin's wife S., who told me to roast cumin and coriander seeds, grind them and add turmeric in order to make a mild introductory curry for the A-man's palate. I love the dal on the Bunnykins plate. Not sure what Beatrix Potter would say.

3. The Dish

New salad, born out of hunger and desperation one late night: diced peaches, pluots and avacodoes, topped with walnut oil. If it isn't too shameless to say this about your own recipes: dazzling.