More Cooking

Edit: I did return Sadnra Lee's Really Bad Cookbook. The cashier made a big fuss about how terrible that book was and how glad she was that I returned it. (She then showed me some better cookbooks.) I still have yet to cook anything. How aggravating! As for the dragon puzzle, I never got it. Both clerks there are a little weird--the guy we talked to was obviously a little off, but when we went back, I think we had the pleasure of meeting his mother. She was HORRENDOUS. She asked a question, and I was unsure of the answer (couldn't remember the name of the puzzle), looked at Misha, and the clerk's response was to look over at the other clerk and say, loudly, 'Help these two who have no clue what they're talking about.' I can assure you that we have yet to come back to that store. (We relatively promptly left after that.)

I just went out to the Borders, at the Columbia mall, and bought the Bon Appetit Fast Easy Fresh Cookbook and Sandra Lee's Semi-Homemade Desserts 2. I ordered this dragon puzzle while I was there (different store, they were out-of-stock, it looked COOL), so I'll be returning there some time soon. The Bon Appetit series looks like a very good book. Nice layout, relatively typical, with some good hints, and a nice selection. I've been looking at recipes, trying to figure out what to make first. I'm thinking possibly an Indian feel. Naan, possibly cheese naan, chicken curry with dried apricots, and mango lessi. I'm thinking I might want to brine the chicken. It makes it nice and salty, and flavorful! It's wonderful for turkey, especially, which is very flavorLESS.

Sandra Lee's looks TERRIBLE. I didn't realize it was a SEMI-HOMEMADE cookbook, which pretty much means product placement and cheap recipes. Her recipes look VERY sugary (as she herself says that she learned to add more and more sugar to her cooking as a child) and, frankly, really bad. While I may be at college, I like GOOD food when I'm making it. If I'm to make it, as no matter what it'll be relatively expensive for me to make, then I want to be damn sure I'm going have a tasty snack. (If you look at the cover, yea, it looks a little bad, but when I looked at the recipes at a quick glance, they looked fine, just that she looked like a happy bimbo, and therefore ignore her.) Her recipes remind me of the super-death sugary sweet 50's cupcakes slathered in icing. I may just go and buy Alton Brown's I'm Just Here for More Food: Food x Mixing + Heat = Baking. I KNOW it'd be wonderful and helpful (and scare Misha).