chop chop.

once upon a time, i used to cook. i used to cook really quite well, actually. (not as well as biscuit, of course, but pretty well). it's a pastime that fell out of favor over the years, felled by eating disorders; antipathy towards cooking for one; getting involved with someone who was not only a better cook than i, but who couldn't eat anything i know how to make because it would MAKE HIM DIE.

so, you know. not so much in the way of cooking.

until recently.

i'm not sure what it is, exactly, but i seem to be rediscovering my inner domestic goddess. i've been making thai curries! stir-fries! cookie recipes from thin air! lemon chicken (and if you recall the tirade about my fear of meat, you will know what an achievement that is)! it's terrifying! and yet awesome! and requires many exclamation points!

the major problem i face now is that i lack the appropriate equipment to really go to town with the cooking: specifically, knives. my knives suck. the only one i own that has even the vaguest semblance of usefulness is a 3-inch paring knife that tends to liberate itself from its handle. startling, to say the least, when you are trying to eviscerate a stubborn piece of ginger. i've recently had the opportunity to test drive a few nice knives (7-inch santoku knife, i love you!), and it has left me convinced of one intractable fact: it pays to have the right toys--i don't know the last time you tried to cut a piece of chicken with a shitty knife, but i'll tell you: NOT FUN.

this brings me to the other hole in my cooking arsenal: recipes. my beloved recipe book has gone missing. i should be able to cobble most of it back together (my awesome recipe for carrot cake, however, is lost to the ages), but starting that project got me thinking: it might be time to cast the net beyond my family! so i appeal to you: what are your favorite recipes? and are you willing to share? if so, send 'em to shivery *at* gmail *dot*com. help a lapsed domestic goddess out!