In October, we are partnering with the Washington Beef Commission to promote eating beef and our own exceptional beef brands, Certified Tender and Certified Angus Beef.

You can taste the difference in quality when you join us at the Southside Food Pavilion on Saturday, October 10 from 2 to 5 p.m.  Our popular Chef Peter, from The Market at Anacortes, will be grilling delicious rib-eye steaks for you to enjoy.  Some of Washington's beef ranchers will be on hand, too, to talk about their beef and the high standards they follow to produce the best-tasting products.  Bellingham radio stations KAFE and KISM will be there, with prizes and giveaways for customers who stop by the store.

The entire month of October will focus on beef, featuring a different cut of beef each week, along with facts and new recipes.  Check out our weekly ad flyer online to see what's for dinner, and visit the Washington Beef Commission's website, www.wabeef.org  for lots of useful tips.  You can also check out why our beef is so excellent in flavor, quality and value on our website, too.

Way back when, someone gave me a copy of "The Joy of Cooking."  This cookbook, now in its upteenth printing, explained everything, from making your own salad dressing to the best ways to prepare game.  It was daunting and somewhat intimidating, despite the friendly tone the mother-daughter team strived for.  It sat on the shelf, patiently waiting to be used on a regular basis, but it didn't happen in my kitchen.  I had no time to make my own jellies and can my own meat.

The cookbook I picked up for myself was a food revolution between its covers.  "The Silver Palate Cookbook" was spawned from the New York City gourmet food shop of the same name.  The two authors had strong opinions, as all good cookbook editors should, about food , well ahead of their time.

Eating tomatoes in season?  Always.  Preparing food with the freshest ingredients you can find?  Exactly.  Taking the basic dishes, familiar ones like a sour cream coffee cake, and jazzing them up?  Absolutely.

I refer again and again to that cookbook.  I usually cook without a book, relying on the experience of preparing three meals a day for years on end, and improvise frequently with what happens to be in the cupboard or refrigerator.  But when I want something different, something that requires precision, like a special cake, it's back to the Silver Palate.

Today I look to the many excellent online recipe sites and blogs for inspiration.  It's a constant source of amazement to me how clever, creative and exciting some of these can be, particularly when you throw an ingredient at them, and see what emerges.  Maybe it's mundane, but I had most of a  package of sauerkraut (left over from hot dogs)  that became a component of a really excellent pizza.  I don't think I ever would have thought of that combo, but it was inspired eating.  Sometimes I've tried out recipes that have been minor disasters, but it usually leads to something else.

Cookbooks are still hot sellers, and even old standbys like "Betty Crocker's Cookbook" keep going.  What do you think?  Do you like to use a cookbook?  If you do, what is your current favorite? We'll talk about recipe and foodie blogs in a future post.

No matter how much or how little I cook, bake, grill, prepare...no matter how excellent the flavors, how unique the combo, it seems like I always have some food remaining.

What to do with the leftovers?  What sometimes tastes terrific at first bite doesn't always translate too well two days later.  The family is enthused about the first peach crisp of the season, but if they don't finish it all on day one, it becomes a soggy and unattractive mess.

I am always up for a challenge, and just don't like to toss away perfectly good food that happens to be cocooning in my frig or resting on my counter.  If I end up with an extra piece of chicken, well, that's golden.  It can transform into so many dishes, from a simple chicken salad to the base for a seasonal pasta.  Same goes with a pot roast, the mainstay of Sunday dinner when I was a kid.  The leftovers look kind of unappetizing, until they get chopped into roast beef hash, or softened with some broth or a bit of red wine into a base for shredded taco meat.  Actually, meat, chicken, fish, pork are easy leftovers, the kind where you can summon up any number of uses and often wish you had more.  (It seems like you never have quite enough turkey leftovers after you prepare packages for all the Thanksgiving guests to take home, but ham is another story.  It expands and lasts a lifetime.  Truly.)

The challenging leftovers are things like breakfast scrambled eggs, or a salad already topped with dressing.  Vegetables that aren't quite finished, and no one wants to look at them for another day.  Even the highly sought after chocolate chip cookie isn't wanted, if it's the last one.  The almost black banana no one will touch, the bit of gravy, the small dish of brown rice...well, we all have these hanging around, and instead of wondering if it's time to give up, why not try to concoct something of your own?

Go recipe-free, and put together flavors that seem complementary.  Look for textures that combine gracefully, and dishes that might not be too far away from your regular fare.  Take chili.  It's easy to add the remaining beef or chicken or ground turkey.  How about that small amount of chopped zucchini or the few extra edamame beans you couldn't bear to part with?  We took a little piece of creamy melted Brie, really too small to wrap, and put it atop grilled chicken for a few moments.  No one could believe the fabulous flavor!  And that lone chocolate chip cookie:  crumble it on ice cream, mash it into pancake batter, mix it with some juicy fresh fruits, like berries. Why not added to oatmeal?  You get the idea.  How do you like to use your leftovers? 

I'm hoping for a little kitchen inspiration this weekend after I see the new movie, "Julie and Julia."  If you aren't familiar with it, it's about a bored would-be writer who decides to prepare every recipe in the famed chef's first cookbook, "The Art of French Cooking."  The movie cuts between Julie's struggles in the kitchen with French recipes, and Julia Child's journey towards finding a purpose in life:  sharing her food enthusiasm with all of us.  Julie's cooking challenge gives her purpose, too.

Sometimes I get on a kick and try to cook only from a  certain cookbook for a week at a time.  I can't imagine having the interest to do an entire cookbook, but Julie did, and blogged about it to enough fans that she eventually published her kitchen adventures.

I have made Julia Child's scones...once.  Like so many French recipes, they are lavish in the use of butter and cream.  This scone recipe is simple, but does require patience to the process.  You can't hurry it along.  I had my doubts, but once the scones came out of the oven, I was a convert to Julia Child.  She definitely knew what she was doing.  The scones were without a doubt the best I'd ever tasted, and maybe someday I'll make them again.

In the meantime, I think I might just unearth my old JC cookbooks and see if I can find a new recipe adventure to challenge my taste buds over the long Labor Day weekend.  I like to cook on the fly, not following a recipe exactly, but in the case of the formidable, exceptional Ms. Julia Child, I think I'll do just that.  Bon appetit!