I want to cook!

All the while that I need to be packing and preparing for a trip next week, I find myself daydreaming about cooking and baking. Reading recipes on the web, I found several that really appeal to me -- not a single menu, but dishes for several meals, which I have no time to do now!

Here are my links, with screen-shots to show you my dreams:

Thai celery salad with peanuts from Epicurious. 
Celery, scallions, and red pepper tossed with peanuts and a dressing of lime juice, fish sauce, and oil. Sounds delicious and really quite simple.

Last night, I made a sort-of beef salad with lettuce, tomato, sliced carrots and other vegetables, soy sauce, toasted sesame seeds, and oil. Mixed in at the last minute: grilled beef sliced thin and tossed with stir-fried onions and hoi-sin sauce. Made me want more Thai-type salads!

From Chef Marcus Samuelsson's Blog: Trinidadian Chicken Roti.
Ever since we spent a week on the island of Saint Lucia, I've thought about the taste of this Caribbean-East Indian fusion dish. I found a very complicated recipe and made it once; if I did it again, I'd think about a slightly simpler version. This one includes the recipe for the roti, a flatbread; I might be tempted to buy some naan bread ready-made instead... just dreaming!

"Open sesame: Yotam Ottolenghi’s tahini recipes"
From the Guardian -- my screen shot is of his "Roast cauliflower and chickpeas with warm tahini yoghurt." I was already inspired to make a salad dressing from yogurt, tahini, and lemon juice -- I started with half a container of plain yogurt and added the other ingredients until it was salad-dressing consistency. My simple cold salad was cubed roast chicken, apples, prunes, and lettuce. But his combination of warm cauliflower, chick peas, eggs, and spices sounds wonderful!

"Better Than Starbucks Lemon Loaf" from blogger Patti.
As it happens, I do like Starbucks' lemon cake slices, and eat them when we stop at Starbucks on the road, mainly. This recipe calls for lemon oil as well as the more predictable lemon zest and juice. I would love to eat this! Since there's a Sur La Table store just across the street from my local Whole Foods, I have a chance to get the exact brand of lemon oil Patti recommends.


Will I ever get around to such cooking and baking? Well, sometimes I do, and sometimes I just collect the recipes and dream.