Upcoming project - online recipe book

In my quest for expanding my culinary horizons, I have come to the realization that all my recipes exist in the form of a stack of folded papers, index cards, and miscellaneous clippings from various food packages and that all of these recipes are in no sort of order. They are not even in order by when I first made them since I shuffle them around when searching for a certain recipe which I plan to use.

While there exist solutions to this problem in the form of binders or little index card boxes, I either need to memorize recipes or have the physical medium present in order to view the recipe. Therefore, I am taking it upon myself to create website which will have the sole purpose (originally) of storing recipes.

You are probably thinking, why go to all that trouble? Well, for one, it would be a fun project for me to do in order to learn a new technology, as well as something that would have a practical purpose after its completion. As well as learning about the software life cycle from planning to deployment and maintenance. I also want to use this project as an opportunity for learning about different software management methodologies, the pros and cons of each, and the implications each style would have on a software product.

My hope is to have the site hosted for others to use as well and eventually add features, such as sending recipes between users. Because I will be planning the project on a per feature basis, I don't have a solid deployment date. My estimate is by mid-December I will have the first version ready to deploy.

Anyway, I don't expect everyone to understand the previous two paragraphs since some of it is industry jargon. However, if this is something that you would use, stay tuned for updates about the progress of this project.

Soup's On

Tonight's recipe is for a creamy vegetable soup. I've made this several times with different variations to the recipe, but I love it because it is the first recipe I've done that has been improvising and just throwing in ingredients that I had lying around.

The main ingredients include:

• 3 stalks celery, chopped
• 1/4 Vidalia onion, chopped
• Carrots, chopped
• 3 potatoes, chopped
• Milk
• Water
• Flour
• Worcestershire sauce
• Salt, pepper as needed
• Chicken, chopped, or ground beef (optional)

It's a fairly simple list of ingredients. Since I've only just threw stuff in, I've never measured anything out. I've done it sans-meat, with ground beef, and, tonight, with chicken. Since this is basically some improvisation, don't expect scientific precision of the ingredients.

First off, if you decide to use meat, throw that in the pot first so it can start to cook. I put a cup or two of water in as well so that it didn't stick to the bottom of the pot. Since the pot cooks for a while, I've never really checked to make sure the meat was totally cooked, I figured it would finish cooking with the rest of the soup.

Once the meat has started to cook, chop up and throw in the pot, the celery, onion, and carrots. I used a handful of baby carrots since that is what I typically have on hand. If you use full size carrots, I would think 2 would be enough. The size of the pieces is completely up to you. Carrots I will slice down the middle, then cut into about 1/4 inch half slices. Celery and onion I just wing it and toss them in the pot. At this point, I will add enough milk to cover the vegetables and meat and begin cutting potatoes. Assuming a small or medium potato, I will cut it into quarters, then make slices about 1/4 inch thick. Those will all go in the pot.

After the potatoes are in, I will add some Worcestershire sauce, a bit of flour, and a little more milk or water. Make sure to mix the flour in well, otherwise it may get clumpy. At that point, I basically let it cook for a while. Times differ just because this recipe is not exact. Usually I cook it for about 20 to 30 minutes on low to medium heat. By the time it's done, it should be a little thicker because of the flour, but not too thick. If it becomes too thick, add a little water and stir until it's the thickness you want.

Once it's done, I'll add a bit of salt and pepper for taste. And that's pretty much it. With the amounts here, it will probably give about 2 quarts of soup.

If anyone makes it, let me know your thoughts or any improvements you make. I always like to know what I can do to improve my cooking, and nothing seems to work better than constructive criticism.

Now with flavor!

Ah the joys of cooking! The smells, the tastes, the satisfaction of taking a combination of ingredients, each of which may be dull and bland on its own, and creating with them a masterpiece which can evoke great satisfaction and joy.

Despite cooking being considered womens' turf, I have found that I enjoy cooking. I seem to have a special affinity for desserts, which has led to me being described as "domesticated" by members of the opposite sex. If you, as a reader, cannot handle that sort of description for yourself and feel emasculated by that, you're welcome to stop here, but I have a different view.

Now, before I continue, I'll lay a foundation. I am a Christian guy who is one year out of college. This blog will not be all about cooking, however I may post particularly good recipes that I find from time to time. Most posts will be somewhat random ranging from religious or political discussion to how to set use the Model-View-Presenter design pattern in .NET (if you don't know what that is, don't worry. It won't be on the test).

Now, since I was young, both of my parents have cooked. Sometimes my mom's food was better and sometimes it was my dad who prepared the better meal. Since I am relatively frugal and I don't want to eat Chef Boyardee or cereal for every meal, I decided it would be in my best interest to learn to cook. But whatever the meal, you can bet there was a recipe involved.

To me, cooking is a science. Really, cooking can be described as a series of chemical reactions between the various ingredients in order that some expected result is achieved. Much like chemistry class, if you follow the right steps at the right time, you will get the expected result. Improvisation can, at times, be beneficial or it may be harmful. Add a different ingredient or perform a different step and you may end up with an unexpected result which may be better. Or you may end up with something is so vile which you could use it for a pesticide on your garden.

As I began cooking over the past few months, I have learned something. While cooking is useful for providing sustenance, one can draw a parallel between how a Christian ought to live and cooking. Some of you may be familiar with the Bible, which I have heard described as Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth. In my opinion, that sounds a lot like a recipe for life. Now, I'm not talking about a legalistic view of Christianity. It is not merely enough to just follow the recipe. Like with cooking, there is something missing from a Christianity in which just following the rules gets the expected result.

Even with the ingredients and the correct mixture, a little bit of love and patience are needed to truly experience the full potential of cooking. Without patience, you will try to rush cooking and that can yield unfavorable results. For example, if you decide to turn up the heat to make a cake bake quicker, it may become dry and burned on the outside, while the inside may be doughy and not baked (which is dangerous if you used eggs, by the way). In the same way, trying to rush God's plans for our lives by taking our lives in our own hands will only get us burned. Deciding to live your life according to your own way instead of God's way is only a recipe for disaster.

I am not yet confident in my abilities that I can come up with my own recipes, but I hope I may be able to do that some day. Most of my cooking is done with recipes from others who have used them and have seen the results. In other words, I trust the recipes of those who have experience. As a fallen human, I try not to trust in my own abilities to take my life in the right direction. Instead, I try to trust in God's experience and His plans for my life. And I am confident that His plans form a recipe which will yield a truly amazing result which I could never experience on my own.