Cream of Cheat
I've said for years that if I ever wrote a cookbook I'd name it Cream of Cheat (the companion baking book would be Rollin' With My Homies). I've realized that I will probably never actually write it, but it doesn't stop me from thinking about what I would put in there and why. After I told my mom this years ago, she and her friends tried to determine what "their" cookbooks would be. Mom decided hers was Set the Oven to Preheat and one of her friends came up with Brown An Onion And Think because that's how she starts dinner every night in her house. I think the names we choose say a lot about our personalities, our food philosophy and how we survive the care and feeding (often the same thing) of those around us. I think my titles say I'm a little whimsical, not afraid of taking shortcuts (although I really do like complex recipes), and that it's not so much the what as the who involved with my food.
This has all been on my mind recently as I have traveled back to Virginia to be with my family for a few weeks. I came in in time for my grandfather's final days and will be staying through Thanksgiving. Since in the South if a person dies, so must a chicken, we've been spending a lot of time in the kitchen lately. Of course, any time my family gets together we will spend most of our time in the kitchen.
So I've thought I should store some of the recipes and stories (because there are always stories) here in a type of virtual cookbook. Some will be mine, some will be my families, and some will probably be ones I've found on the web and used.