Is it delicious?

I wrapped up all my tasks at work early today, and so had time to peruse some food blogs. This is the first time I have ever done this for more than fifteen minutes. I am smitten. I am one of the least dedicated cooks around (and an even less committed baker), but reading about all these lovely dishes and the lovely thoughts of their executors has brought me heavily under conviction. Must. cook. more often.
I don't know what my problem is; I absolutely love reading recipes and imagining how they would taste, but I never make them, except for my tried-and-true few. I think part of it is my inability to mentally multi-task. When I come home from work I have so much swirling around in my brain from the day that more involved recipes just won't cut it. That, and I'm flat-out impatient, and horrible at planning ahead.
After finding the five beauties below, my conclusion is, I need to become a better person so I can make these. I skipped over many in my quest, due to not liking main ingredients (watermelon gazpacho? heck no), or my total frustration at the thought of how long it would take to make. Here's what I ended up with:
- Polenta with Mushrooms (wild mushrooms! Also accompanied by a cheese I've never heard of.)
- Chocolate-Almond Whirligig Buns (without the almonds for Aaron, with for me . . . these are some type of glorified sweet roll. The picture of them has burned itself into my brain.)
- Coconut Bread (I'll have to make and sample this. If it turns out well, it could be the perfect birthday surprise for my dad, the coconut fiend.)
- Russian Black Bread (the recipe is bizarre . . . amongst other things, it includes molasses, apple cider vinegar, espresso, chocolate, cornmeal, and shallots - but the blogger swears by the recipe, as did many commenters. I'm intrigued.)
- Tortilla Soup (I wish I had the ingredients on hand to make this one tonight! Big drawing card: feta.)
I found most of these on teaandcookies.blogspot. I am adding her to my blogroll as soon as I post this. She is totally delightful, and besides, I may be able to look back on her one day as the one who inspired me to TRY some new recipes already. My poor husband is sick like somethin' awful, so maybe I can get started this weekend while he is tucked into the comfort of the old couch. Or maybe I'll just sit on the couch with him and eat takeout miso soup. Character development can be difficult when there are DVDs from the library beckoning.