Since the departure of roomdog my dinner no longer appears on the table magically in time for Jeopardy each evening and I am teaching myself to cook. Coming from the "burn them and turn them" school of cookery this was a major challenge. I turned to the internet for ideas. I came across this website allrecipes.com which has thousands of combinations of chicken and potatoes which even my fussy wee self can manage with an ingredients search and everything. It is genius and my current favorite, after accuweather.com. Even if you don't intend to cook anything it is worth a visit for the entertainment value.
The best part about all recipes is that the ideas are submitted by real people and reviewed by them. For some reason people seem to feel the need to tell you intimate details of their lives along with their recipe for beef stroganoff. "I first made this in June of 1983 when my aunt Mary came to stay for my nephew’s first communion after a thirty years absence." They tell all about dinner parties and romantic breakfasts, family flu's and potlucks. It's like a whole soap opera of its own. One of the most common things to do in a review of a meal is to quote your husband, "My husband Tom will never eat green beans but when he tried this casserole he said "Mmm, lets never eat them any other way again" or your children "Mom these taste just like McDonalds." You also get to rate the recipe using the five star system and upload pictures of your creation. I love the way reviewers explain why they have given this number of stars. "I had to turn the oven down five degrees and had to use extra butter so this only gets 4 stars." It is acceptable to give alternatives, some of which completely trash the original recipe and give a completely different set of ingredients. My greatest success was the white chocolate and cranberry cookies but I will keep making them til I get a good enough quote to put in my review.
What makes me laugh most is who are these people? They are from all over the world and are in their little kitchens surrounded by garlic and baking soda dreaming up creations which win prizes at State Fairs and County Bake Offs. (Where do you have to live to go to a Bake off? I want to go!) Do they really exist because I sure don't know any people like this...except maybe me. I made Angels Famous Stew the other night and Randy said...just kidding. Check it out http://www.allrecipes.com/ (and yes roomdog you can just scroll over and click on that link too.)
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