SC - Reconstructing Recipes

[GARNER at admin.hnc.edu]

This is in reply to a lady named Margaret who mentioned her curiosity as 
to how people chose which recipes to attempt.  First, though, my shopping 
list of caveats:  A.  I am a relative beginner -- just beginning to
                      branch out from modern adaptations to the "real
                      thing"
                  B.  I do not do feasts...I only cook for maybe 6 - 8
		      of my friends at a time
                  C.  The only place I cook is my own tiny studio 
                      apartment kitchen

I am doing a lot of sorting through recipes because my children gave me
a new medieval cookbook, which is astonishingly well documented (3/4
documentation, 1/4 recipes).  I basically work in the negative, that is
eliminating recipes, which I do mainly for the following three reasons:

1.  It features an ingredient which I detest.
2.  It features an ingredient which I would have to drive to the 
    next county to obtain.  If I ever (sigh) finish grad school, I may
    have more time for ingredient-hunting.
3.  (As mentioned by someone else earlier today), I cannot in any
    way, shape or form visualize the end product.

Joan the As-Yet-Unpersonaed
GARNER at ADMIN.HNC.EDU