Oh, for a frother.

Just got back from an attempt to locate a recipe in a magazine I saw some time ago at my mother-in-law’s house.  Went through a stack of food mags and came up empty handed as far as the recipe I wanted, but, boy, there’s a lot of good sounding stuff out there in the world, isn’t there? Especially if it involves cheese.  Yum. 

At times I think it is just too difficult to be a great cook.  Other times, I review a recipe and it doesn’t seem all that hard.  I can follow a recipe for crying out loud, can’t I? I’m an okay cook, not a great cook.  By okay I mean my family didn’t starve while the kids were young.  The trick is, like so many projects, its not necessarily the cooking its the tools.  I don’t have a lot of fancy tools, pots or pans.  No frother, no stand mixer. 

I am a big fan of the small house, small mortgage line of thinking.  However, it leaves little room for “stuff”.  For example, I would really like a toaster oven.  I don’t have room for a toaster oven.  I would like a stand mixer, again, no room.  I just  realized that this may be a carry over from growing up in a trailer days...just no room.  But, on the other hand, I can’t say that I don’t have other stuff.  I've got plenty. 

I guess it is just that I don’t have the kitchen stuff that is required, or seems to be if the magazines are being truthful with me, to be a great cook.  Like a super huge pot.  I’ve got a pretty big pot.  It has to stay in the basement when not in use as there’s not a cabinet that will hold it.  My niece has an ginormous pottery bowl that she makes spinach salad in...I love that bowl but I have nowhere for a bowl of that magnitude.  Along with their beautiful family, I love seeing that bowl come in the door.  

The thing about it is, after I realize I don’t have the stuff, I realize I don’t really want to be that cook anyway.  I don’t want to spend an hour getting the perfect peaks in my egg whites or, seriously, bringing the glaze to the proper sheen.  I am really grateful for people that want to be great cooks, and have the stuff to make it happen.  I am more than happy to visit their homes.