Thursday Thoughts

So, the kitchen has, as some may have noticed, become something of an obsession for me. :-) I've been updating my Amazon Wish List with all sorts of obscenely expensive items, which has been quite fun (the link is provided so you can buy me DVDs and books, of course -- only my mom could possibly afford the food processor). It's amazing how far some of the gadgets have come since I was a kid (Mom had plenty of kitchen gadgets, but I haven't had anything beyond a George Foreman Grill and a small mixer in a long time).

I've also decided that I want to put some serious effort into getting the kitchen rearranged. Right now, things aren't always in the most accessible of places. This is largely due to the kitchen design -- no cabinets at ground level (other than below the sink), and not enough at head level. It's one of the few major design flaws of the house. I'm not sure how to go about it, but it'll be something I take a look at over the next few days. Along with actually organizing the cookbooks a bit, too. :-)

On other fronts: Interesting weblink of the day: http://www.dontlink.com/ -- a blog that points out stupid linking policies at other sites (and then deep-links to them). Hasn't been updated in a bit, but it's still a fun read.

Interesting LJ of the day (although a handful of you already read it, and I got the link from kajivar, I think): thefirstevil -- yep, the First Evil from Buffy. :-) Like most character and fictional journals, it may peter out eventually, but it's got some cute stuff for now.

Oh, and shadesong was at Best Buy last night, and they had a great deal on Buffy Season 3, so we now have it! Woohoo! And the flyer inside said that season 4 will be out in June!

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So, since the junk mail folks obviously read my Livejournal, I got a "come back to the club" offer from The Good Cook, offering me four books for $1 each, with an option on a fifth at half price, with a commitment of only one book after that. The flyer also counted almost all of the books as one selection, unlike the website, which counts most of what I ordered as two selections for joining purposes. So, yeah, I joined. Ordered the following:

Fish and Shellfish, by James Peterson. Because I love fish and shellfish, and don't have any seafood-centric books (other than the one sushi book I own).

Chocolate from the Cake Mix Doctor , by Anne Byrn. Because it's chocolate. Duh. And the idea of this book is that it takes the off-the-shelf mixes, and does all sorts of creative stuff to them.

The Pillsbury Complete Cookbook. This will go right next to The Joy of Cooking and some of the other essentials.

The Babbo Cookbook, by Mario Batali. My meal at Babbo a couple of years ago was one of the top five meals I've had in any restaurant, ever. Like my Union Square Cafe Cookbook, this falls pretty squarely on the "food porn" side of things. It even has color photos. :-)

and (for my half-price book, for which I actually looked for a cheap one)

The Best Slow Cooker Cookbook Ever, by Natalie Haugton. This has gotten mixed reviews, but I want a slow cooker book, and this is the only one in the mailing.