I’ve been doing so much of both recently. This always happens this time of year. Out with the old, in with the new.

As for the purging, my pantry and spice cabinets have undergone a bit of a cleansing. I still had some sauces and spice mixes left over from before I went Paleo. I hated to waste them but no one in this house could consume them before they go bad so down the drain and into the trash they went. I was a good eco-conscious cook (oh, the alliteration!) and recycled the containers properly. I now have some recipes for making those same sauces allergy free though and can plan accordingly if I need them. I’ll post those recipes and instructions for you soon. Unfortunately, the cleansing also meant giving up this delicious Worcestershire sauce. (According to my Boston friends, it’s pronounced woostah-sure.) Yes, it’s gluten free, BUT, as you can see in the second picture below, it has tamarind extract, to which I’m also allergic. Whomp whomp.

I’ve also been a bit gluttonous. Binge watching shows on chefs and cooking, I’m totally consumed! My newest obsession is Mind of a Chef which first aired in 2012 and now runs on Netflix. The first season is right up my alley, or country, as it were, featuring David Chang, a young Korean chef who has lived in Japan and uses Asian influences in his cooking. He owns Momofuku Noodle Bar in New York, among others. It also relies on the science of Harold McGee, an authority on the chemistry of foods and cooking. I reference his book, On Food and Cooking, almost every day. It’s my kitchen Bible, if you will. Every episode has given me ideas for posts for this page and our eventual YouTube channel of the same name. I’ve even started writing the blog posts and am keeping a huge list of all the different series I want to share with you. It’s really addicting.

Another great show on Binge-Watch 2017 has been the Great British Baking Show from the BBC. Seriously, how could you go wrong with two quirky, punny hosts, two world class bakers as judges and a mod-podge of everyday Janes and Joes perfecting their recipes in insane challenges to become Britain’s best amateur baker? Also called the Great British Bake-Off, I love that they even do some challenges without wheat flour or dairy, so the contestants have to use their wits and come up with a good bread/pastry/what-have-you that holds up. I don’t bake enough to count as a challenger but I was pleasantly surprised to find I knew about many of the substitutions they had to use based on my own fiddling in the kitchen! SCIENCE! I do so love to learn things from these shows too. This evil, evil eye-candy of a program led me to perfect my GF bread recipe. It fed my love of all things bread and gluten-y and now I want to try my hand at some neat things like GF cream puffs and homemade pastry. My kitchen will be covered in flour for days! MWUHAHAHA (Did I say that out loud? I think the dog jumped.)

Chef’s Table is another glorious foodporn edutainment series that at once makes me feel inadequate as a cook and also forces me to try harder to be more creative. Each episode of the series profiles a single world-renowned chef, many of whom are revolutionaries in their approach to feeding bodies and minds. Directed by David Gelb, it’s beautifully shot and really conveys the creativity of each chef.  He also directed Jiro Dreams of Sushi, which I can’t give enough praise about and I understand this country I live in better because of this documentary. There’s also Chef’s Table France, so you might check it out! what are some of your favorite cooking shows to freak out about?

So the great Spring Cleaning has begun. Have you cleaned out your pantry lately?

(For those concerned I referenced an eating disorder in my post title, please note that I fully support organizations which help others fight those disorders. My favorite is Project Heal, a wonderful program filled with fantastic people you can reach out to. You can also find their webpage at http://theprojectheal.org/. Please go support them!)