I may be back, but I have to practice

Although I will never overcome the personal setback that made me abandon this blog two years ago, I think I have enough enthusiasm now to resume it.  One stumbling block -- the conflict of choir practice with City Council meetings -- has been removed, and I plan to attend the meetings and workshops, and comment as I see fit.

I've been writing, but not in blogspeak.  I think I need to warm up.  So here apropos of nothing political, are "Ten Principles of Local Curmudgeonly Cooking":

1. Use your garden.  Killeen is a surprisingly good location for gardening, as long as you generate enough compost to mediate the caliche that underlies everything.  I can't give you concrete evidence that the vegetables from my garden are better than those from HEB, because when I have vegetables in my garden, I don't buy any from HEB.  But they are at least better because they are mine.

2. Use ridiculously large amounts of garlic.  Pick a quantity that screams "too much".  Double it.  It will be fine.

3. Meat is OK.  There's nothing wrong with some meat.  But it's so expensive that, not only is it not required for every meal, it's not even feasible.

4. Dinner is what's in the fridge, cupboard and/or garden.  I'm not saying you can't plan ahead for a corned beef-and-cabbage  feast in March, but in general you should be flexible enough to make something yummy out of what's at hand and about to go bad.

5. A corollary to 4: shop the sales.  Money doesn't mint itself.  Look for stuff you would buy anyway that's cheaper today, whatever the reason (other than that the expiration date is passed).

6.  There are meals that are not improved by adding roasted Hatch peppers.  But I don't make them.

7. There are a few local wild vegetables that are edible parts of the year.  Prickly-pear fruit and young
pads (nopales) are chief among them.  They require long and careful preparation, and don't always
repay the effort, but the price is right.  Dandelions and mustang grapes qualify as well.  I'd stay away from cat tail and arrow root tubors in most environments, though; I worry about ground water pollution.

8. Oatmeal is good any time of the day.

9. Bananas.  'Nuf said.

10. A glass of wine, especially Texas wine, is good with any meal except breakfast.