Cooking with Eowyn - now with actual food!

I initially started using this tag to post about my bizarre microwave-cooking experiments and other kitchen-related stupidity, but now that I'm actually cooking real food, I thought I might post about it.

See, I didn't really cook at all while I was sick. Not much point when I couldn't really eat anything, and a bland diet consisting of mostly toast and rice isn't exactly great for culinary inspiration. But I did watch a lot of Food Network, kind of as a vicarious eating experience, and I think some of it rubbed off. I've been itching to learn how to cook better, and as soon as the steroids kicked in and I could eat again, I was at the bookstore sifting through cookbooks. (I ended up buying this one, which has excellent pictures of every dish, and a good section on the basics for beginner cooks. The recipes are arranged by season rather than course or main ingredient, which is slightly annoying but would probably be helpful if you like cooking with in-season ingredients.)

So, here are my experiments for this week...

( Pecan-Apricot Chicken )

( Potato-Leek Soup )

( Orzo and Snap Pea Salad )