One of Those Days When Food Has No Flavour

I guess the worst part about having a cold is that my sense of taste and smell seem to have flown the coop.

Since I was feeling a little better today, I thought I'd catch up on some backlog emails and perhaps do a little cooking. Naturally I'm in serious need of comfort food and given yesterday's success, even with a stuffed up nose - Squash Soup with Ginger & Orange from a great new cookbook that you can read all about - The CIA's The New Book of Soups which is fantastic and arrived with perfect timing to cure my sniffles, I was hoping for something delicious.

One of today's emails led me to a web site that had what sounded like a perfect sweet. I've been craving brownies - my favorite chocolate treat, but felt too poorly to whip up a batch until today. Lo and behold, not only a recipe for brownies, but one that had two other favorite ingredients of mine - lavender and dried cherries. The recipe called for baking in the toaster oven, which intrigued me. Now, since my father always told me if I have nothing nice to say, say nothing....I can't really tell you what a disappointment these were - burnt top, way too much lavender - even for my almost nonexistent taste buds.

So I thought I should stick to an old family favorite recipe for dinner - marinated flank steak - and oven roasted sweet potato chips, both of which have always been a hit. This time.... no taste whatsoever. How sad, I could have been eating paper.

Well that's all the whining for today, I'm sure tomorrow will be better. I just received this month's copy of Fine Cooking Magazine with a spectacular mac 'n cheese on the cover and tons of recipes for variations on my favorite braised dish...short ribs and some Potato Gratin to go with. Hopefully, I'll be able to taste them.