Too Many Cooks. Not.

What:   A stack of random recipes, about an inch high.   See confession.
Origin:  Some highly unrealistic expectations.
How long kept:   Some of these since the last century, if the yellowed state of the newspaper clippings can be be any indication.   One, ripped unceremoniously from Martha Stewart Living, was dated April, 2001.
Why kept:  Because I might actually have some kind of magical experience or neural event that turns me into a cook.
Usage:  Not so much.  I kept the few that might some use.   I Might Need Them.
Why kept:   Mostly Out of Sight, Out of Mind.   
Destination:  Recycling, my friends.

Confession:  I'm actually trying to cook more.   I made an insanely hearty vegetable broth last weekend, based on a recipe in Mark Bittman's vegetarian cookbook.  (I substituted beer for white whine.  And what the hey, more beer.   Crazy good.)  This has been the basis of many meals for the last week.

Confession, part deux:   This was the second pass through my recipe stash, I thought.   Maybe I didn't post the others.  These are the recipes I saved because, I don't know, They Might Be Useful?

If I had a therapist I'd have to take these in for a laugh:

• Multiple recipes for rice pudding, which I've made once in my life.  A large handful of recipes for baked apples.  (And I do make this simple dish from time to time.)  And a sampling of pumpkin recipes.   Can you say comfort food?   (As if pumpkin panna cotta is ever in my culinary future.)
• Recipes for inexplicably simple recipes, like pasta with walnuts and olive oil.   Uh, I needed to tear that out of the paper and store it for how many years?   (At the price of NYC housing, over the years, even a small torn out page has gotta add up to a couple of bucks in rent.)
• A couple of recipes from people who are no longer in my life.   Nostalgia, and not the good kind.

But I don't have a therapist:  this blog will have to do.