Friday, May 22, 2009

Of Fads and Food Blogs

I try not to get into fads too much, and not for the reason you might think. Though I like being original just as much as other people, I am not about to sacrifice my Harry Potter collection on the altar of Individuality. No, I don't like getting into fads because it is too detrimental to my bank account to keep Practical Tina—a version of myself I dislike only slightly less than Fitness Tina—occupied quietly in the back of my mind where I like her. But despite my best efforts, I've fallen in with a fad that I am hopeless now to resist. Like collecting mini Beanie Babies from McDonald's when I was young, I will continue to read food blogs avidly until they are replaced by something made of plastic or I die of obesity.

At first I just took a quick gander at the first recipe on the page. If I liked it, I copied it into Word and went on to the next site. But now, sites like the Smitten Kitchen have me reading through their posts and copying recipes that include foods I hate, like matza. And I blame it on the pictures. I don't know of any recipe I would not try if I saw that it was slathered with chocolate ganache. It's my kryptonite, or Superhero Tina's, anyway.

Okay, well, the pictures are a big part of it, yes. But the real reason I am so enthralled by food blogs is, I think, that food blogs, with their recipes for foods like fudgy brownie cookies and lemon cheesecake, offend Fitness Tina. And there's almost nothing I like more than spitting in her skinny face and kicking her in her sculpted buns. And since eating is a necessity, Practical Tina doesn't put up too much of a fight at my buying obscene amounts of cream cheese, baking chocolate, and strange spices. And if Practical Tina isn't going to put up a fight, well, I'm certainly not going to complain. To the baking aisle, Superhero Tina!

Thursday, May 21, 2009

"I have always imagined that Paradise will be some kind of library."
Jorge Luis Borges

Amen, Jorge. Amen.