I just plowed through a huge stack of magazines in the hope of eliminating some of the stultifying clutter that is about to suck my house into a giant black hole. I tossed countless women’s magazines, all with headlines insisting that I could lose 21 pounds in two weeks (without amputating one or more limbs), increase my metabolism by 500% by combining certain foods at certain times of day during certain months of a leap year but only on Thursdays at midnight. Or how,with simple mind control, I can remove all the calories from a bacon egg and cheese sandwich. Do you sense a pattern here?

Combine these with the stack of cooking magazines I’ve collected and there appears to be a vast conflict with my desire to both control my eating and cook things. Good luck to me.

I waded through countless copies of Gourmet magazine which recently stopped publishing--thank goodness, I say. If it hadn’t I might have had some sort of breakdown due to the pressure it's put on me over the years. Have anyone of you read the recipes in there or seen the pictorial spreads? It was enough to make me want to drown myself in the melted Velveeta I use in my macaroni and cheese. It took me years to realize that the incredibly gorgeous people seated at beautifully appointed tables at the water’s edge on isolated coastlines were models and not just really, really good-looking local villagers gathered for some chow. Not only that but the “gastriques, genoises and remoulades” were making me crazy. I don't know anyone who actually cooks like that.

All of this has caused me to work up an appetite so before I go forage for something in the kitchen, I want  to say a huge thank you to all my readers and wish you a great weekend---see you on Monday!!!

And a grateful shout-out to all of you who sign on to "follow" this blog.  I really appreciate it!