Recipe tester?

I was looking around on the Cook's Illustrated web site and found where you can sign up to be a recipe tester for their upcoming issues. I love Cook's Illustrated, so why not? I sent in the email to register. It says I should get a recipe in the email to test within the next two weeks. You can sign up here

The Weekend Cometh

And not a day too soon. Now that I've gotten started on this plan (and blog) I'm eager to begin my first project. A few limitations... my last big indoor cooking experiment (Christmas Day) broke the oven on my stove. I'm not too torn up about it, its an old gas (propane) stove that probably wasn't particularly attractive when it was first manufactured, and the years haven't added to its appeal. For the last year the oven thermostat has been hit or miss, so actually breaking the oven door was a blessing. An actual, tangible sign that yes.... the oven sucks and I need a new one. (How do you break an oven door you ask? ... perhaps I should break in the new camera with a picture). Anyways, my point, and I do have one, is that any cooking experiment this weekend will not involve something that must be baked. A new (well new to me) market has opened in Tulsa called Center Place Market on Brookside. I'm hoping to head there Saturday and check it out. I couldn't find a website for them, but did find a link to a recent review of them from Urban Tulsa. http://www.urbantulsa.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A19520

Ready, Set ... Blog

• Welcome to my new blog. I'm a wannabe foodie. This is the year I've decided to actually step up my game and become a "real" foodie. Well, as real of a foodie as I can be in rural Oklahoma. I've collected cookbooks for years... probably have more than 200 now. An entire wall in my dining room is covered with shelves, most filled with cookbooks. Anthony Bourdain, Thomas Keller, Dean & Delucca, Craig Clairborne, Mark Patterson, Martha Stewart, Hoppin' Johns, Emeril.... to name a very few. However, I've had a nasty habit in reading about it, thinking about, but never doing it. Just like I religiously read restaurant reviews of all the new and fascinating food places in Tulsa, but end up grabbing a BK cheeseburger on the commute home. Kind of like how I can look at seed catalogs for hours... but last year had not a vegetable planted in the garden. Well, since my birthday just passed, I decided this was the year to change things. My goal? First to get in shape and lose weight. So during the week, I'll be dieting and trying to eat healthy and save money, and hope to have extra money and time to spend on a food splurge on the weekend. It might be testing a recipe out of "French Laundry" or visiting some restaurant I've never been to before. My goals are a) to never eat the same place twice this year b) cook recipes I've never tried before c) try to grow a great deal of my own produce and herbs to cook with this year d) try to eat things I've never tried before and e) lose weight while doing it. To help me with this blog, for my birthday I got a great new digital camera, so I hope to be documenting much of my efforts with photos as well. I suppose I should add in here that... I'm a little food challenged. I was a very picky eater as a kid. Mostly a "textural" problem. I still don't like to bite down on onions or tomatoes in a sauce. I have issues with olives. I didn't eat gravy on mashed potatoes until I was in college. So as you can imagine.... this should be interesting. Thanks for reading, and I hope you find this entertaining.