I'm Martha .... It's a Good Thing

I just love to cook. I like to grill, to roast, to sauté, to bake. I guess I’m a risk taker because I love to attack a very complex recipe and am not hesitant to plan a dinner party based around a recipe I have never tried before. Presentation is high on my list of important ingredients. It pains me to eat a meal that isn’t visually attractive. I generally use recipes as guidelines, except in international cuisines where I may be unfamiliar with the ingredients, and of course I am extremely precise when I bake, which is probably my favorite thing to do in the kitchen …. cakes, tarts, pies and especially bread. There is something very sensual about working with a wonderfully warm and tender yeast dough. I idolize Julia Child and Jacques Pepin for their classic techniques, and truly appreciate Lydia Bastianach and Chris Kimball …. How can you question a recipe that’s been tested twenty times by the chefs at America’s Test Kitchens? I love to watch cooking tv, although I’m more PBS chefs than Food Channel. I have a generous library of cookbooks. The last one I used was Baking with Julia. The last one I bought was Lydia’s Family Table. If I had to work with only one cookbook, it would be The Joy of Cooking. I use my computer to research recipes and ingredients and my favorite sites include http://www.cooksillustrated.com/, http://www.epicurious.com/ and http://www.thesplendidtable.com/. It’s a three way tie for favorite kitchen tool— just bought a Nespresso coffee maker and am in love with it. But could I part with my All Clads or my Global knives? Or how about the KitchenAid, I don’t know. (I think the knives would win out!)