Anyone for trying a new recipe???

Since it was blizzarding outside, my trip to Boise to see "Lord of the Dance" was cancelled. So, I certainly didn'
t want to go anywhere when it was blizzarding outside, the temperature was 3 degrees, and the wind about 30 mph. So that gave me that "lazy day" feeling. Most of you know I don't really do recipes, but I decided to try something different for dinner. Glancing through my "Good Housekeeping" magazine, the title , "Easy 1-Dish Dinners" caught my eye. I decided right then and there I was going to try a new "easy Dinner", even if it meant following a recipe. So, here goes:

Observation #1: My choices are Beef Carbonnade, Veal Shoulder Chops, Osso Buco Style;Chinese Red-Cooked Pork Shoulder;Italian Califlower Curry Stew; and Shrimp and Sausage Gumbo

I don't know about you, but some of those titles make my meal sound not easy, and what the heck is Osso Buco?? Who eats veal now days, except the rich and famous, since, if you can even find it, it costs about $12.99 a pound! Carbonnade sounds scarey, and shrimp is not on my list of things to eat. Narrowing it down further:

Obserfation #2: Beef Carbonnade calls for dark beer--The Osso Buco, besides calling for veal, also calls for dry white wine, so it's definitely out! --As for the Red-Cooked Pork Shoulder, it calls for dry sherry, rice vinegar, fresh ginger, peeled and thinly sliced into rounds, 2 strips of fresh orange peel 1 stick of cinnamon and 1 whole star anise, among other things. Let's try the Italian Califlower Curry Stew: hmmmm--do I have these things on hand: finely chopped peeled fresh ginger, curry powder, chickpeas, loosely packed fresh cilantro ? Certainly not!

Observation #3: Is a recipe with 16 ingrediants easy? Exhausting all o f the above recipes and eliminating them, maybe I should try Lamb and Root Vegetable Tagine or Thi Chicken-Basil Soup or Peruvian Fish Soup. Let's see: I'd need for the Tagine (if I substitute beef for lamb) sweet potatoes, parsnips, dried apricots, ground coriander, Cumin and Cinnamon, 2 cups of couscous, pitted green olives and fresh cilantro--that's out! For the Thi chicken soup I'd need poblano chile, peeled fresh ginger, fish sauce, fresh basil leaves, rice noodles and fresh lime. I'll rush right to my pantry and see which of those I can find. Nope, better try the Peruvian Fish soup. I'll need 1 seranno chili, cumin, clam juice, 2 limes, scallops, squid with bodies sliced crosswise into 1/4 in rings and tenacles cut into pieces if large, and fresh cilantro. Don't even have to go to the pantry on this one!

Obvervation: # 4: Who cooks these "easy recipes"? The cook at the whitehouse? Oprah's personal chef? Certainly not me! How about the young mom with young kids? Or the working mom? Or the mom with 4 kids and 2 part-time jobs? How about the retired old ladies?

Observation #5: How many ways are there to put a teaspoon of garlic in a recipe: chopped, ground, diced, crushed with a press, thinly sliced, or this one--crushed with the side of a chef's knife? I wonder if that last one tastes different than the one crushed with a press?

Observation #6: I could try the Ropa Viueja or the chicken Bouillabaisse-Style that calls for a bulb of fennel, white wine and saffron threads--but why would I want to? This old lady who hates recipes is going to stick to her own version of "Quick and Easy" and go read a good book!

GOOD HOUSEKEEPING, you should be ashamed of yourself!

Oh, yes, I tried some "never fail mint cookies" and guess what ? They failed!