Thursday, July 16: Day 34

90% or more of what I Tivo is from the Food Network. In fact, my newly-found hobby of cake decorating was inspired one day as I was watching Ace of Cakes. I was enjoying what they were doing so much, it just occurred to me, "Why don't I learn how? What's stopping me?" I started googling "cake decorating", went to the library and got a couple dozen books on it, and a couple of weeks later, found a series of classes at Michaels that teaches it. It made me realize how many resources there are out there for anyone trying to learn something new. I love it.

In general, I just love watching people cook and getting new ideas for meals that are healthy and easy. When I was young, I would sit and stare at what my mom would be doing to fix our dinner. It was pure entertainment and not much has changed when it comes to this fascination. Sometimes I'll just go browse books at Borders and read on their comfy chairs and my favorite section is the nutrition/cooking section. One of my projects of late is to make a recipe book that is basically a collection of my favorite tried and true recipes from the various books and online searches I have done. It's so nice to not have to work so I can get stuff like that done!

Here's a few shots of Iron Chef. I rarely end up liking what they fix because they always add these odd ingredients that only a small part of the population knows about and appreciates. Still, I love watching how they incorporate the "secret ingredient" into each course of the meal.