Guess What's Cooking!

I’m kind of bored this afternoon.

It’s a summer Sunday with the temperatures hitting nearly 100 degrees.

My house temperature is set at 78 degrees.

I am not in the mood to venture out of the house.

For entertainment, I watched Food Network. Got some great ideas and so shortly I will bake up some good walnut butter espresso cookies.

Cooking has long been a favorite hobby of mine. In some ways, it reminds of the laboratory, test tubes and chemical concoctions I mixed up as a kid!

Earlier this year Food Network posted the Top 10 Food Trends for 2010.

The first one on that list is titled, “Keeping It Real.”

I might be a living example of that trend.

“In a back-to-basics economy perhaps it is natural to return to basic ingredients. It is—dare we say—a shift from convenience foods to scratch cooking, now that we have more time than money and more food knowledge and concerns.”

Scratch cooking also provides us with a sense of ownership, perhaps long lacking in the kitchen arena thanks to all of the convenience, pre-prepared meals we just pop in the oven.

Another trend cites that the Food Snob is gone and replaced by the “foodie” that just loves food.

With Italian roots, I always told friends that I was not gourmet…but rather, gourmand.

Last week, I visited a Whole Foods to grab a lunch and just watch people.

My take?

Despite the economy, people will spend a few extra bucks when it comes to food.

But when I asked shoppers why they were picking out the items that they were purchasing, they responded passionately about how much they just loved the item…and the fact that the product did not have “all those chemicals” in it.

Some of my fellow trendcasters call this “small cost reward.”

I would add the word “sustainable” to it. Not eco-sustainable…but reinforcement for busting-butt-sustainable.

Food Network’s Trend #10 is titled “I, Me, Mine” and the lead in sentence is “It really is all about you.”

The trend notes that cooking today is all about expressing individuality and it’s about food that reflects our personality.

I will only buy into half of that trend!

No question that food reflects personality.

I hear many Coffee House Chat participants talk about recipes they love and how they adapt them to reflect their own personal signature.

Last night I watched a Food Network competitive cook-off where every contender brought their own recipes to make, but were then presented with a basket of odd ingredients that they had to include in their recipes.

As a result, they each added another layer of personal signatures to their dishes. And according to the judges...some better than others!

Grandma’s recipes were great, but if that grandson can add a dash of personal zest to it… all the merrier!

That aspect of individuality is certainly part of the cooking experience today.

But as much as individual authorship is being reflected around the kitchen dining table, the kitchen dining table is back in vogue again as our common gathering space.

High tech, high touch perhaps…

Facebook evolved from Starbucks’ “third place.”

And with the impact of the economy, dining out and the $5 Venti Latte…the dining table is where friends and family are carving out time...again.

And yes...that "kitchen dining table" can be our in the "outdoor living room," down in the "man cave" or out around the fireplace!

It is really about “me” hosting the “we” and “us” of 2010 and beyond.

There’s a lot that those “take-out, unwrap and serve” brands can capitalize on if they are willing to roll up those sleeves and get their hands dirty!

Okay… that butter should be room temperature to get blended with my “secret” enhancement of that Food Network recipe!

And if you really, really are good, I will give you some of that cookie dough to eat!