James Beard's Theory & Practice of Good Cooking

This is the book that I am going to cook from cover to cover. My inspiration for this was not original. After seeing the movie Julie & Julia it looked fun, challenging and a good way to increase my culinary pallet. I have been mulling over this ever since the movie first came out. There were some key reasons as to why I never got around to it:

·         I am not a good writer: my English and grammar is not always the greatest

·         I have never been the kind of person to write journals or diaries

·         I am self conscious about what other people might think

Some would argue it took too long, but I feel like I am a more mature person now. The hurdles that I faced before don’t seem as big as they did before. Also I am a changed man. I have always loved cooking and food, but after going to Italy for my honeymoon in March of 2010 it literally changed my world. My wife (Jennifer or Jenn for short) sometimes jokes that she wishes we wouldn’t have gone there. That trip has really sparked my passion for cooking. The food and tastes that I experienced there have changed me forever.

Another reason for this blog is that I have a place to express all my foodie thoughts and Ideas. My wife puts up with a lot from me (not just about food either !) so I now have another way to express myself and share all my foodie ideas.

Back to the book, there were a couple of options that I considered. At first I was going to do Ted Allen’s book The Food You Want to Eat: 100 Smart, Simple Recipes. I like Ted Allen 100 recipes didn’t seem  as daunting and it sounded pretty easy. The other option was to do a book from one of my other favorite celebrity chefs books (more on who they are later on). In the end it sounds like I will learn more from the TPGC.

Amazon.com and Amazon.ca as well as Chapters Indigo did not have the book in stock. As a result I had to order it used from Amazon.com. This is the first time I have ever purchased a used book from Amazon.com so I am a little worried about what is coming in the mail. It was from a trusted seller who had a 98% satisfaction rate and over 3000 sales, so it should be ok. It was around $25 so not a bad deal if the book is in good condition. Now the hard part, it is not being delivered until the week of June 7^th!!.

Oh well I guess I will have some time to blog about my past…