I don't even have a proper pantry. There's just food scattered in three cabinets, mostly filled with stuff that was on sale for a really good price. Right now there is an overabundance of Hamburger Helper (88 cents a box!), canned green beans (34 cents a can!), and whole grain chicken broccoli rice (I don't remember but it was a good price!). I feel proud that I used up the coffee cake mix that was in there forever, the packaged icing was crap but I made my own so all was good.

I change recipes all the time as well. Sometimes to meet taste preferences of family members, sometimes because I don't have the right ingredients, and sometimes because I just want to try out a variation.

I think the worst was the "people keep tinkering with recipes, nevermind that they've all been extensively tested by Gourmet magazine."

I will admit to bitching about people who rate the recipes on epicurious.com and then in their comments are like "I used shrimp instead of chicken, grilled it instead of poaching, and used Old Bay instead of fresh lavendar and thyme. YUM!!!!1!!1111!"

It's not that I mind people changing the recipes -- I can't remember the last time I made something exactly as-written -- it's that if you've changed something to a completely different recipe, don't frelling rate it! You can comment without rating!

I should TOTALLY write for the NYTimes food section. I have food snobbery to spare.

I follow recipes rigorously when baking, but I'm far more lax when it comes to entrees and soups.

I follow recipes rigorously when baking, but I'm far more lax when it comes to entrees and soups.

oh yeah, cause baking is science and shit.

me too. I mean, I usually try to make it exactly the first time, but I'm usually like "hmm, I don't like mint, I'll use parsley instead" or whatever.

Hee. The one thing I always change in recipes is parsley - I leave it out or substitute something else. It doesn't even taste like a food to me. Unlike cilantro, which is yum.

oh yeah, cause baking is science and shit.

Eh, to a point. The cake I made for E's birthday had all the ingredients measured out by weight, so I had to estimate the volumes (since I don't have a kitchen scale), and it turned out perfectly well. As long as you know what a cake batter is supposed to look like (or bread dough, or whatever), you can tweak a baked good just as easily as an entree.

I'm not real exact about baking and things seem to mostly turn out okay. We will not speak of the sourdough wheat bread experiment though.

I sometimes get updates from home about goings on, this was the latest amusing conversation.

Leif: Can I go ask Rachel if she can come over?

Me: No.

Leif: Why not?

Me: I said no.

Leif: Why?

Me: Leif, I said no.

Leif: I don't recognize that as an answer.

Me: Leif, I don't have to explain everything to you. The answer is "no."

Emaryn: Well, she does have a point, Leif.

Leif: Emaryn, you don't have to explain everything to me!!!

Emaryn: Sheesh!

Arrrrgh -- I'm on hold with the IRS. For work! I would totally hang up to deal with all the other shit I have to do OMG RIGHT THIS MINUTE, but I know I'll forget to call back, and then I'll be screwed. Bah.

What possible trouble could there be from blowing off the IRS?