Good Eats and Downtime

August has been a flashback. You could say it has been old-skool because I haven't had a summer like this since I was a teenager. August has been spent lounging, walking, reading, talking. Long hours by the swimming pool accompanied by a book or by friends. Countless pool jumping competitions and late night swimming expeditions. I have lost track of how many barbecues I have hosted.
I haven't had enough money to travel this summer, so I have been stuck here, mostly at my mom's house dogsitting. This has been both a blessing and a curse, as it has limited my mobility but also given me a large house all to myself. I think being out at my mother's house has contributed significantly to my sense of summertime nostalgia. Lounging around the place were I spent my youth has brought back that blissful feeling of irresponsibility which we all look for during vacationtimes but rarely find once we hit "the real world". I have also spent quite a bit of time with a couple of high school friends, Daniel Dixon and Sam Perez, which only added fuel to the fires of memory. The only person really missing was my high school buddy Charles.
But much of my summer was spent alone really. Almost everyone I know had left town, and most of those who were left were working. Of course, these sorts of things always provide opportunities to make new friendships, which are always welcome. The people who were around were stuck in a similar, money-less, boat as I was though. This only added to the old-school sense of things, as most of my summertime activities were, as mentioned before, cheap, local and revolving around hanging out.
This has provided quite a bit of time to cook though.
I love cooking. It is the perfect activity for me because it combines a sort of mindless instruction following and active creativity. I tend to like things that give me step by step instructions. There is nothing I hate more than being told to do something that I have never done without detailed instruction. Cooking in merciful in this way, as it outlines what I am supposed to do. It is like alchemy; tasty tasty alchemy. But there is also an artistic side to it, requiring the chef to use intuition and personal decision. But I mostly like cooking for others. I love the way a meal brings people together for common enjoyment. This Summer has given me time to make quite a few things: a lot of barbecues, several cakes, fruit pies, roasts, risotto, homade pasta, soups...
Some have been quite successful. Because of this, I am starting another blog where I will be posting recipes for you to both see what I have been making and, if you want, make them yourselves. The link is on the right hand side of this page, under "my other blogs". My friend Miriam inspired me to do this. Miriam is often dangerously inspiring.