How I Got My Cooking Groove Back: Part One

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Nothing is more exciting to me than a brand new cookbook. The bright colours, fun fonts, and bold graphics designed to appeal to the senses do their magic, and I’m entranced. Often, I end up doing a lot of cookbook window shopping, as it were. You know, instead of mall walking my way past an endless barrage of likely too small crop tops and entirely optimistic spring florals, I take home beautiful cookbooks after a shift and fantasize about making dishes I will most likely never make. Like the episode of Gilmore Girls where Lorelai and Rory discover how depressing window shopping actually is, I have decided I should put a limit on the amount of cookbook fantasizing I subject myself to. In its place, I will make a concerted effort to find food writers who are targeting their work to the everyday cook who just needs some inspiration to provide sustenance for themself. The food delivery app has become an addiction for me. On top of the unfair deal often struggling small businesses and restaurants get when they sign up for these apps, it’s just not as healthy to eat out all the time. The main culprit is the lack of detailed knowledge about what goes into the food. A segment on Last Week Tonight with John Oliver brought this topic to mind for me. The percentage apps like Uber Eats and DoorDash take from the cost of delivered items is large. So, a lot of places end up charging you more than you would pay if you came to pick up the food in person. To boot, delivery drivers are under a lot of pressure to deliver on time or faster to ensure they retain their five-star rating, resulting in more reckless driving or cycling (for those who use bicycles or motorbikes in metropolitan centres). Of course, most of us who use these apps will most likely keep using them from time to time, but it’s time to get back into a cooking groove! (Like the legend that is Angela Bassett in this classic film.) By the way, Angela Bassett did the thing. What follows are the books that are giving me inspiration and energy on my quest toward culinary adventure and achievement. In a nutshell, I’m looking for not too complicated ingredients that are not too hard to source, as well as design and photography that succeed at making the food look absolutely scrumptious. Come along on my journey friends.

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The Anti-Bed Rot Bucket List of 2024

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I’ve been writing up bucket lists for a few years now, and while I rarely cross off everything on them, I do find that they’re a great way to remember what fun thing I wanted to do or try…especially when the humidity of summer and the humdrum of working has put me in a fugue state of just wanting to rot in bed on my days off.

While I do think taking some time to yourself to not be ‘productive’ is both healthy and occasionally even necessary…I also don’t want to get too stuck in the rut of mindless media consumption in the guise of ‘resting’ for days on days.

April just so happens to be the month where I get all aspirational about life again, so I thought, why not share some of my bucket list items with you? Maybe this will inspire you to join me in creating your own bucket list, or adding to yours if you already have one! Therefore, in no particular order, here’s a short list of things I would love to do in 2024.

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So what are Publishers Pushing? Or: A Public Library Association Conference Adventure.

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My alternative title might make this post sound more grandiose than it is, but if you’ve already fallen for the clickbait, you may as well read the rest of the post, right? I’m a nerd, I make no attempt to hide or apologize for this fact. And it should be evident that one of my flavours of nerddom is library nerd. So imagine my elation when my application for Vaughan Public Library to send me to the Public Library Association Conference was approved. VPL coordinated with libraries across southern Ontario to send a busload of librarians across the border and down to Columbus, Ohio, for three days of library programming and learning. It was a blast, and I’ve come back with ideas I can use for my programs and things that I need to talk to people higher up to implement. Sorry, there are no spoilers about any of that, but since VPL is constantly innovating, you shouldn’t be at all surprised when new things happen; just astonished by what they are.

The cover of Llama Destroys the World by Jonathan Stutzman, Illustrated by Heather Fox. Read this book. I don't care if it's a picture book. Read it! It's amazing and hilarious and laughter is good for you.

So, why am I even mentioning this if I won’t divulge what I learned? Because alongside the informative lessons was a giant vendor hall packed with all kinds of neat stuff. Including therapy dogs! I very much want some of it for my own branch, but precisely what I’m hoping for is another thing I’m keeping hush-hush1. Aside from the doggos and cool STEAM stuff, though, there were a whole lot of publishers there giving out books. Sometimes advance copies, sometimes signed copies, sometimes just regular copies, but the point is: I brought back a whole bunch of books. Piles of books. More books than any librarian should ever collect2. But it’s soooooo hard to say no to a free book! And, to be fair, I mostly tried to be a good uncle and took books for my..? I had to look this one up: Niblings. So, I don’t have to worry about storing them, and get to thrust that issue on my siblings while still being the cool uncle.

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