E is for Everyday Food and Eating and Enormous
I remember years ago when I was 16 and I bought my first copy of Martha Stewart's Weddings magazine and perused the pages. I remember liking her style and the attention to detail, but also feeling like it was out of reach. Nevermind that I was 16, no boyfriend in sight, and as far as my little high school brain was concerned I was never going to get married. I mean the design, the style, the life seemed out of reach. It just wasn't real life. Not mine anyway.
When Aaron and I were engaged, his mom asked me for my Christmas list and I put Martha's big ol' Bible of a cookbook on there, which I got. I perused that cookbook cover to cover and learned several things about myself. 1. I like pictures. I need pictures. I screw up food (sewing/crochet/knitting) without pictures 2. I need recipes with less than 10 ingredients and 3. Those 10 ingredients should be found in the grocery store, not online at some little grocer in NYC/Martha's Vineyard/Pakistan. Not to say all the recipes were like that, but I do remember being sidetracked a time or two because I felt like I had to order the saffron from the Turkish market in New York and that no other saffron would do. Bear in mind I was 20 when I got this cookbook. I hadn't been living on my own a whole year yet and really hadn't cooked anything resembling food more than 5 times in my life. That cook book was scary.
I'm a simple kinda gal. I am dazzled by Martha's projects and recipes, but when push comes to shove I need me some easy stuff. Enter Everyday Food. Finally. Recipes I can follow, scratch that, recipes I want to follow and either already have all the ingredients for at home or can easily run out to get at the corner store.
And that is where the eating and the enormous come in. Yum.