A joy shared is a joy doubled. ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Halle Berry, Demi Moore, Julianne Moore, Michelle Pfeiffer, Vanessa Williams, Juliette Binoche, Courtney Cox, Marcia Gross....What do all of these women have in common? They are all smoking hot and all about my age. They are all intimidating as hell but they all prove that with the right diet, exercise and attitude (and lots of money) women can look really good over 40. My 45th birthday is at the end of the month. I'm hoping to make the next 5 years the best I've had yet.
Speaking of my birthday - my wonderful, dear, sweet hubby has picked out the perfect present for me. He has pre-ordered me the Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking and we may just get it delivered by the end of the month. Haven't heard of Modernist Cuisine? Here's what their webpage says: "Modernist Cuisine is a six-volume, 2,438-page set that is destined to reinvent cooking. The lavishly illustrated books use thousands of original images to make the science and technology clear and engaging."
They have said that the books reveal science-inspired techniques for preparing food that ranges from the otherworldly to the sublime. The six-volume set is published on high-quality art paper using advanced stochastic printing technology. The books cover a broad range of cuisines including many familiar kinds of foods. In the books you'll aslo find recipes for the ultimate hamburger, barbecue from the American South, curries from different regions in India, and many other traditional dishes.
I can't wait to start reading.
Have Fun.
Whether you are talking about education, career, or services, you are talking about life. And life must really have joy. It's supposed to be fun. ~ Barbara Bush
According to Wikipedia...Molecular Gastronomy is a discipline practiced by both scientists and food professionals that studies the physical and chemical processes that occur while cooking. It is also the use of such studied processes in many professional kitchens and labs. Molecular gastronomy seeks to investigate and explain the chemical reasons behind the transformation of ingredients, as well as the social, artistic and technical components of culinary and gastronomic phenomena in general.If you've watched any of the competetive cooking shows on TV you've most likely seen it in action. Some of the techniques used are the making of foams, the use of liquid nitrogen, the use of a thermal immersion circulator (or sous-vide - low temperature cooking), using maltodextrin to turn high-fat liquid into a powder, and spherification. Chef's such as Grant Achatz, Ferran Adria and Heston Blumenthal have used these techniques in their kitchens.
I've ordered a kit from Canada that includes many compounds that are used to learn the techniques and make some of these creations. I plan to spend a little time each weekend working on and understanding the processes more and have some fun in the process.
Eat.
It's fun to get together and have something good to eat at least once a day. That's what human life is all about - enjoying things. ~ Julia Child
I've created a menu for an upcoming dinner for a few of my friends. (Sorry - I'm in a small apartment and only a few people can fit for this one.) The menu items incorporate some of the techniques that I want to learn. I've included Italian and French cuisine because I just couldn't make up my mind which I wanted more. And I've ordered Wild Boar and Antelope from Texas to pay a little homage to the great dinner we had at the Serbian Crown. All-in-all it should be a really nice dinner (provided I live through the preparation of everything).
Exercise.
Remember, Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did, but backwards and in high heels. ~Fairth Whittlesey
Its about this time of year that I start thinking of getting outside as much as possible. The days are getting longer, the air is getting warmer and plants are coming back; everything starts to get so green. Its time to get outdoors and get my exercise the good old fashioned way - walking. I love to go for walks in the woods with my family. It can be a lot of fun and you just never know what you will encounter. It certainly beats walking on a treadmill.With this week's termperatures in the 50's, I'm hoping that the rain will miss us on Wednesday and that we can walk in the woods without a lot of mud this weekend.
