palate frustrations*

*Similar to sexual frustrations; mostly involving the need to drench tastebuds with delectable flavors

I'm guilty, and what's worse, I'm guilty at work. My obsession for food blogs, recipe blogs, and anything remotely related to food has grown. I've been exploring (thanks to Google) food blogs of those from Sacramento and I have found quite a few that I greatly admire--just check out my list of links to the left! I'm still searching, however.

I feel inspired. Lately, I've been on this hunt, somewhat of a soul-search, to seek new interests and hobbies. I've been hungering to be educated, and not necessarily in terms of attending classes at Sac State. I have this desire to be knowledged in other areas. I don't like politics, so that's out of the question. I read books like it's my major, as is, so I needed something else. I have been desperate, to the point where I'm finding sites like PerezHilton.com and GetRealDenver.com (based off Real World: Denver) entertaining. But come on, Hollywood gossip--a new hobby? Wow, I need to get it together. I'm picking up photography more and more and I've learned that taking shots of live objects (i.e. human beings, animals, etc. of the kind) is more thrilling than taking photos of inanimate subjects, reason being that I don't like taking pictures of food despite it having once lived. So now I've moved onto food blogs.

Right now, I'm in the middle of reading Vanilla Garlic and I'm sooooo inspired (I've never been this infatuated with a food blog~!) to just go home from work and BAKE! But *sigh*...it's been a rough couple of months financially so my desire to cook/bake has to be put on hold. Man, if I could just quit my day job to chop, broil, stew, and watch meat go from pink to brown, and pick fruit off trees, I would so do it! Anyway...a girl can dream.

This weekend was a taste of that life. Saturday, the family and I headed to Brentwood for fruit picking at Bacchini's pick-your-own fruit farm. I was looking forward to picking ollalie berries, but they didn't have any! I did enjoy picking cherries, only a few because I was the photographer for the day. There were also blackberry vines and I discovered how tranquil it was to pick those little tiny things, despite being pricked by thorns. I even considered doing a career change and studying agriculture to be a farmer--but, that was just a thought. Afterward, we proceeded to bbq at a near by park. Nothing special, just your average burgers, salmon burgers, and hotdogs. We did get to experiment with condiments since my sister happened to leave ketchup and mustard at home. So I ended up with a salmon burger, dressed with spinach dip. It was interesting.

Upon getting home, I went straight into helping my sister-in-law out with cooking. She was mid-rolling/cooking meatballs so I took over. I then chopped/diced for the bruschettas we were making. Pretty simple: sliced sourdough bread, brushed with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, topped with diced tomatoes, fresh mozarella and chopped basil. My brother and I were also trying to re-enact scenes from last season's Hell's Kitchen in the meanwhile. The next day was more bbq-ing. We bbq-ed a slab of side pork (w/fat on) for dipping in a soy/vinegar/garlic sauce. We had a Rachael Ray version of taco salad, along with Greek salad, potato salad, and fruit salad (dessert, of course). We also had barbequed trout stuffed with ginger and onions. Too much food this weekend.

My stomach needs a break that's why I'm filling up on fruit right now. But my mouth has been watering from reading all these food blogs. I have a mixed craving for Mexican food, sushi, and cupcakes. I want to cook =(