I read good cookbooks like good novels, slowly going page by page from cover to cover. Actually read them, each recipe. Cookbooks are about possibilities. I find new recipes to try every time I crack them open, even the ones I have been reading yearly for over a decade. Yes, I read all of my cookbooks yearly and enjoy reading new ones too.

After I asked my friend for her ever-adaptable sangria recipe, she lent me the cookbook she found the base recipe in. I received it with the joy of finding a new novel at the library. A cookbook is just as escapist as a juicy chick lit novel. I can pretend that I am someone who regularly cooks with things like chick peas, saffron and cardamom. I can convince myself that the family might enjoy Great American Pumpkin Beer Soup and drool over the idea of Grilled Tuna with Lime.

Then I come back to reality and start pulling out things we might actually eat. In addition to the blackberry sangria, I am thinking the Gingerbread Blackberry Waffles and Cinnamon Fried Cornmeal Mush might be things to try. The Spinach Cannelloni and Crab and Broccoli Quiche will also be making appearances on our table, along with Honey Orange Pancakes. There was even a Honey Orange Butter to go with the pancakes in the multi-page Flavored Butters section. I'm inspired to make a starter for sourdough, having started making bread again after a summer's hiatus.

I can dream of being a excellent and adventurous cook with a family of children who are excited to try anything. We'll see if I make half of the recipes I have marked, but the point is I could make them. As long as I have the recipe, the dream is alive.

And I will stop at the seafood market in the city someday and pick up the tuna steaks to try that Grilled Tuna with Lime recipe.