I'm trying to get interested

in cooking again. I used to have a rep as a pretty good cook but after doing it most days for more than 25 years it's more of a chore than a pleasure. My heart hasn't been in it for a long time and even I don't want to eat my cooking anymore.

So I've been reading through my cookbook collection while sitting out in the Smoke Hole (a.k.a. the garage), trying to get inspired. My big hardback Southern Living cookbooks are the most interesting, full of all kinds of stuff I'd like to eat -- if somebody else did the cooking. There's lots of handy tricks and tips sprinkled throughout their pages, and one of them was a reminder that baking powder and baking soda don't keep forever, so I dutifully went and checked my containers for expiration dates. The baking soda wasn't so bad -- it expired in 2004. My baking powder, however, expired in 1999.

And there was a reminder that herbs and spices don't keep forever, either, but they're not usually marked with expiration dates. My little can of allspice was one of the few that was marked -- it expired in 1987.

Can you tell I haven't done much baking lately?

The recipes tempting me the most right now are the ones for slushy, fruity, rummy beverages. And I don't even drink, aside from champagne at New Year's and a very occasional bottle of wine. Haven't touched liquor in years, but now I'm getting an itch to whomp up a blenderful of Red Roosters or maybe some Lady Birds. Might go on a wee bender sometime soon -- you never know.