{Confession} My Irrational Recipe Phobias

I had to admit this at work the other day and my goodness was it embarrassing. It goes to follow then, logically, that my next step be to admit it to The Internet. I am terrified... to attempt to poach an egg.

Trust me, I am well aware that this is far from the strangest thing I have going on. I consider myself a fairly adept home-cook, though, and to be too intimidated by the prospect of failing at something so basic, well... I could feel my face flush scarlet when I admitted it to a room full of people I hold in very high esteem at work. "You can poach an egg," they assured me. "It's so simple!"

I know. I know! But you have to get the water just right, and then there's vinegar involved, and the whirlpool thing... and then does the egg go in the middle, or do you slip it onto the side? What if it all comes apart? What if it all gels up in my pot, and I can never make fruit leather again because my favorite, good-luck pot fell victim to a tragic poached-egg nightmare? If we're being fully honest here, I've never had a (good) poached egg. We like fried eggs in my family. What if I put in all this work and ruin my favorite pot and then they end up being a food I don't even like?

You get the idea. Give me an inch and I'll dig a rabbit hole around a food that seems a little intimidating. (Related: I can talk myself into any pair of shoes or dessert and out of eating vegetables any day of the week.)

As you well know, my other favorite hobby when I am not actively being ridiculous is list-writing. I combined the two and wrote a list of foods that I'm too intimidated to make. I thought about it a little more and wondered when I started being such a wimp. When had I stopped being fearless and bold and unstoppable? I couldn't put my finger on the exact moment, but I wasn't going to make the same mistake twice. I CAN put my finger on the exact moment I got my moxie back, at least when it came to food. It was the moment I retitled "Foods that Intimidate Me" to "To-Do List."

And then I started crossing things off. (Not poached eggs, yet. Seriously, what about my pots? We're not there yet. But we will be! Someday.) More to come on that, as I intend to let you eat your way through my greatest food fears with me. 

All this begs the question, Internet: what delicious possibilities scare the smart out of you a little? I'd really like to know.

-MV.

{Confession} I want to see you be brave, too.

I have loved Sara Bareilles since before Little Voice hit the top of the charts. She's the only artist I deigned to see in concert, and it was worth every second because she can play piano standing up in high heels. Even James was blown away. (Her voice is anything but little.)

Her new sing Brave is  a b s o l u t e l y  amazing. It's the letter I wish I could write to 13-year-old Mallory, and the ongoing conversation I'll have daily if we ever have a daughter (or a son, for that matter).  

{Surprise!} Spring Flowers

• Me: By the way, the flowers are gorgeous. Thank you so much.
• James: The purple tulips, right? Biscuit helped. She barked when I said purple or yellow. She barked at purple.
• Me: They're multicolored tulips, so no.
• James: Really?
• Me: If she barked at purple then you didn't listen to her. Which surprises exactly zero people in this conversation.

{Confession} I miss Nora Ephron

Today is the first day that I've had off in I can't even tell you how long. The weekends have turned into puppy play dates, and trips to see parents, and volunteer work and other sorts of craziness.

But not today. Today I didn't have a single reason to change out of my pajamas-- so I haven't. Biscuit is chewing her stuffed eggplant on the floor (still her favorite toy) and Elephant is angry that the boiled chicken breast I shredded earlier wasn't for her, so she's mewing pitifully. I'm watching Julie & Julia and contemplating the magic that's brewing in the pot of chicken stock I have gently simmering on my stove.

Food is so amazing, isn't it? I just love the way it feeds your heart and mind and body and soul. I took five minutes earlier to jot down the list of food I'm too intimidated to try creating in my own kitchen. It's still daunting: meringue, Hollandaise, poached eggs, baked brie, etc. Daunting, sure, but familiar friends, still there to challenge me to improve and learn and grow. Stay hungry, right?

The insanity can kick back in tomorrow morning, bright and early if it so chooses. But not today. Today it's just Nora and I and a big pot of simmer chicken stock.

And life is beautiful.

-MV.