My last post was largely about food, and I bit off more than I can chew. I was loving the idea of going through old cookbooks and magazines and somehow reinventing recipes to share on the blog from time to time.
I started with an old Gourmet magazine, November 1990, and I was blown away by the complexity of the recipes and obscure ingredients. We make a few complicated dishes, but we’ve simplified our cooking and eating over the years. Back in the day, Dale and I used to joke about recipes that started with, “Have your fishmonger …”
The guy at Safeway is as close to a fishmonger as we ever got.
There’s a section of the magazine called, “You Asked for It.” People write in about some specific thing they ate in their travels, and could Gourmet possibly get the recipe? I read this one out loud to Dale:
At the wonderful Hotel Romazzino on Sardinia’s shimmering Costa Smeralda, we had a dish of baked noodles and lobster, covered with pastry, that was almost too good to believe. Was it a dream, Gourmet, or can the recipe be obtained?
We had a good laugh over that one.
Still, the same magazine features Pumpkin Cheesecake with Bourbon Sour Cream Topping, and I have actually made that. Twice! Thinking about making it this year for Thanksgiving.
I’m not dissing the magazine. It gave us many years of pleasure, and I’m still excited to dig in and rediscover nuggets from the past. It’s a good retirement hobby for me, but I doubt I’ll make enough changes to call them my own. I will be lucky to call them edible.
Have no fear. I’ll continue to write about food in some form or fashion because it’s practically all I think about, and it’s important to enjoying life, especially in retirement. But even if a fellow retiree is inclined to cook fancy food, I hardly think they will be stopping by to get tips from me. There are too many great resources already out there.
At first, I felt embarrassed to have presented this grand idea before thinking it through more carefully. But then I thought, that’s what Retirement Confidential is all about – sharing true stories about retirement ups and downs in real time.
My progress on getting over the need to accomplish something was also a wee bit overstated. I mean, it has been less than two weeks since I decided to focus on the little things that make me happy. Although cooking makes me happy, in hindsight, reinventing 40 years of recipes sounds a wee bit driven to me.
As for retirement pursuits, it’s kind of like being a kid trying all the sports until you find one you actually like and are good at. Sometimes you have to take big bites. Go ahead, do it!
Political Postscript
In other news, I’m pleased Democrats took the House. I’m fine with Republicans having a majority in the Senate. In my opinion, democracy is stronger when power is distributed. The stock market seemed to agree, and that’s usually a positive thing for retirees. Overall, I know there is more drama to come, but I feel more hopeful about the future of our country.
You can do retirement like Marcia Brady did her freshman year and sign up for every club (and then whittle down). I’ll try not to be too heart broken if you don’t get this reference.
I’m bummed about Claire McCaskill, but we’re becoming resilient.
Hahaha — if only I were as slick as Marcia Brady! That’s a great comparison. Yeah, I’m bummed about some of the election results, but you are right … resilience.
Sure there are millions of recipes out there, but that’s not the same as hearing your kitchen adventures and which recipes you go back to time and time again. I enjoy those stories and recipes and how your marriage survives the process.
BTW, hearing that skinny people think about food all the time and the next meal does make me crazy.
Carole — thank you for this description! You know what I want to say better than I do. I’m writing this down on a card and keeping it by my computer.
The skinny foodie thing is odd. I’ve come to think there’s a component of weight that is not within our control. I believe it’s often true when fat people say they don’t eat more than that skinny person over there. I had a few years between 18-24 when I was much heavier, but the weight came off (I think because I was genetically predisposed to be thin). I know fat people who aren’t really into food and skinny people who think of nothing else.