what and when is "in a pinch"

my love affair with cooking is decades old. cliched notions of spices and smells invoking family memories ring true for me, due in large part to the fact that my grandmother lived with us while i was growing up. she never looked at a recipe card, rarely measured using anything other than her hand and a beat up old silver drinking cup (for rice and flour), and, like many of the tv cooks remind us to do, listened to the food to test for readiness. by the time i was cognizant of her culinary talents, she had been cooking for over fifty years, a practice that began when she was eight or nine. stopping her schooling in india at the equivalent of fourth grade, my grandmother spent her adolescence being educated in the domestic arts - cooking, cleaning, tending to the house; my personal favorite story is the one where she tracks down the sweet treats her mother has hidden on a high shelf and which she promptly unearths and consumes. when she is discovered, she blames the "accident" on an imaginary neighborhood cat. i inherited her sweet tooth (and later her diabetes), as well as her inclination to create food from whatever was around. my own daily experimentation with inventing dishes is the motivation for this blog; my grandmother, the inspiration. the title belongs to my sister, who claims that i utter the phrase "in a pinch" quite frequently. i've yet to hear myself say it, but to her credit it does capture my approach to the kitchen.

when i cook, i use what i have around me. that includes frozen veggies, soy protein products, semi-readymade foods (e.g., marinated artichokes, canned legumes), and allows me to compose meals out of the wide palette of ingredients and foodie bits. one problem is that i rarely make the same thing twice, because experimentation is just so much fun! the exception is when i cook for others. on those occasions, i use tried and true compositions - with some minor tweaks, of course. another problem is that i don't always have the same ingredients in the house all the time, which is another thing that most cookbooks encourage the reader to do. i've failed at keeping a well stocked and consistent pantry, hence, i make "in a pinch" meals that come together with the stuff i find around the house and whatever i happen to have brought home from the market.

im excited about keeping track of these journeys here and thank anyone who offers advice, feedback, or just a hello!

happy experimenting,
lmv
:)