Thursday, September 17, 2009

Cook Books


I love cook books. I spend hours peering over them, looking for a great new receipe to try. I make lists of the receipes I would like to try along with the ingredients I'll need. I especially love Company's Coming Cookbooks because they have great pictures.

But when it comes to actually buying the groceries and cooking the meals, I'm afraid I fall short. I have a tendency to stick with my old stand by's of chicken and potatoes, spaghetti, tacos, and home made pizza.

I'd really like to try something new and sometimes I do, but I never know if my family will like it. If they don't I'll have gone to all the effort of making something new only for them to end up having a bowl of cereal.

Sometimes I do this with writing. As I started writing a new project I realized there are certain settings, character types, and even names that I like to use. For some reason I like my tunnels and caves. I love the name Oliver and I'm fond of dark forests. Evidently I need to get out of my comfort zone and try to make some new receipes of maybe a big city, skyscrapers, and no one named Oliver.

How about you are stuck using the same old receipes or do you try to mix it up a bit?

9 comments:

Susan R. Mills said...

I'm guilty of using the same ole, same ole all the time. I don't know if there is a cure, but if you find one, please pass it on. :)

JKB said...

Unfortunately, I mix it up perhaps far too much. :-) But variety is the spice of life, and all that.

I love cookbooks too!

Anonymous said...

I admit..I'm sort of guilty there as well. Maybe there's something to be said about writing what you know...I wonder though how long that works before it get stale?

Natalie said...

I love looking at cookbooks, but I hardly ever make something new. My husband, however, is always experimenting in the kitchen (much to my delight... usually).

Dara said...

With food, it's the same old recipes--spaghetti, shake and bake pork chops, hamburger helper and sweet and sour chicken. I'm afraid I just don't like cooking...

With my writing, I can fall into a pattern too. I think that's why my new WiP has some fantasy aspects to it--I wanted to try something different for once...

J.R. Johansson said...

I have very little creativity when it comes to cooking. I have a stable of comfortable easy recipes that I know my family likes and I pretty much stick with those. I let my creativity ooze into my writing.

Patti said...

All great comments. It appears we all leave our creativity on the page instead of the frying pan.

Jessie Oliveros said...

Actually, I love to try new things when it comes to cooking, but unfortunately, my husband is soooooooo picky (pickier than our 3year-old) that I don't venture out and try as much as I'd like. I love to look through cookbooks, too. As for writing, I find that when I come to a scene that should go somewhere bold and daring and crazy, I'm too afraid, and keep it as a lower profile scene. I know this isn't exactly what you were talking about, but it made me think about it. If there is a really intense scene in a book I'm reading, it makes me nervous. It makes me nervous to write it, too.

Patti said...

Susan: I think I need to step further out of my comfort zone and try writing something completely different.

JKB: I will look to your example to widen my array of writing.

Laura: It's definitely easier to stay with what you know and for me what I've written before.

Natalie: Lucky dog, I wish my husband cooked more than breakfast food.

Dara: See I only write fantasy right now so I'm thinking I need to try something new.

Jenn: I'll have to bring some creativity to the page and perhaps the dinner table.

Jessie: I know what you're talking about. I often turn the TV station when I get too embarrassed for the characters on TV or it's too intense.