This morning on my desk I found a beautifully wrapped gift of Comfort Food from Steve, one of the Crazy Crack Crock Pot Crew. I'm up to page 80 already, and the gorgeous photos are only beaten out by the recipes themselves. Rick Rodgers' narrative compliments the recipes in beautiful fashion, and he has effectively doubled (tripled? quadrupled?) the offerings by providing variations on the recipe to the point that you could make the same thing every week for a month without actually repeating. Truly brilliant. I'm pretty certain his wife will be upset when I propose to him. But how could I not? This is a man who understands that a bowl of French Onion soup can be a life-changer. [If he understands the same moment happens with A Wrinkle in Time, Bladerunner, and the first listening of Tchaikovsky, I might swoon before I propose.]I am already making lists and planning the quiche, frittata and cheese blintz. Making my own doughnuts sounds perfectly reasonable, and I don't even like doughnuts. Seriously, when folks bring doughnuts into the office and the stampede ensues, I'm the one walking as far away as possible, as just the scent of them (the doughnuts, not the stampede) makes my stomach churn. And this is all just from the Breakfast chapter. The work crew and I are going to be busy little guinea pigs. Look for these and other recipes to start appearing on Yummy Goodness.
Just for reference, page 80 is Lobster Rolls, in the Midday Meals chapter. I still have three more chapters to savor, and haven't even gotten close to the recipe on the cover, which is what enticed me not to wait to open the pages, dreaming of copper pans and flaky crusts. At this point, it has become clear that I will have to spend the first three months of 2013 working from home so that I can be near the stove. My new boss is probably freaking out at that last sentence, so I need to clarify: Just kidding, David! It will take all year.
