Now, in all of the following, please take it as read that we are talking about edible, potable, and non-toxic, food and drink, so if I use a word like “anything,” know that I mean something like, “anything that is not going to cause pain or damage or nauseating regret.” With that said, the book will follow this order:
- Ingredients: When I finally get into the actual recipes (starting in the next section), I want to easily refer back to this inventory. For me, there are two types of ingredients:
- The first is anything that I tend to consume on its own without any real additional prep, such as beverages or cheeses. That consumption can be straight into my gullet, or put into an intervening container with or without other ingredients; for example: a beverage in a can, a cookie from a package, a pea pod from a bag, a can of chili that I dump into the crockpot with other stuff… you can see that there is overlap here with such notions as “snack” and “easy/quick meal.” None of these items would tend to be the main, central reason that you would go to a restaurant where you are expecting something to be prepared for you.
- The second is anything that I eat or drink only after I’ve done something to it, like flour or butter or instant coffee.
- Drinks: These are recipes for the likes of cocktails, not isolated beverage ingredients that you can drink.
- I am a speech-language pathologist, and so a feeding and swallowing viscosity expert. I am also highly sensitive to textures. Drinks are liquids that tend to be at least thin enough to be consumed in comfortable swallows without causing sensory distress. The range here is pretty personal, and folks vary widely in their preferences. Does it pour smoothly, or does it gloop? Are there bits in it? Are those bits something like boba, or are they coagulated consequences?
- I am a descriptivist teacher of radial categorization (PhD in cognitive science and linguistics, and then some), so I am not going to waste time wrassling over semantic technicalities here; for example, viscous stuff such as gravy or honey (or even cuspidora) might be a viable drink for somebody out there, but not for me. Syrup, nectar, smoothies, and cream are some materials that are well known to not be thin liquids, and I will still treat those as drinks.
- Sweets: If it is a candy or dessert food that doesn’t require any involved baking, then it will likely end up in this section.
- Mains:
- General: I have some recipes from when I ate meat more regularly, and I include them from a perspective of preserving history, and for relating the associated stories; that said, there will never be any recipes in this book for the likes of lamb or veal because I don’t have any, plus I enjoy the privileged luxury of not having to eat the young of anything to survive (which I have discussed elsewhere).
- Vegetarian: I have a few recipes that do not involve meat at all, including one that figures prominently in my family history.
- Vegan: I do have some recipes that are entirely vegan, and this section continues to grow.
- Baking: I am not a baker, but on occasion I do answer to a whim that drives me to bake something interesting.
- Leftovers: I am not sure what will go here, but I wanted to have someplace to put recipes that for some as-yet-unidentified reason do not fall into one of the other existing categories.
And that’s it. That is the current order in which this book is organized, although your journey through it might bounce around.
As my dad once said, “Bone ape tit.”