Road Map... and Planning the First Stop

So, you might wonder which cook book will operate as the road map in the first leg of our little adventure? Well, I consulted with CameraMan, who will ultimately be on the receiving end of my experimentations (once tasted, I mean), and he chose 'Canyon Ranch Cooking: Bringing the Spa Home'. Which, as far as I'm concerned, is an excellent choice because:

• There are beautiful illustrations for me to compare with - nothing like landmarks to help a gal navigate the trail...
• The food is healthy! Big plus for me in terms of tasting everything and big plus for my dear CameraMan, as I want him along for the ride as long as possible
• There's a lot of variety! Because it's spa food, they have to get creative with herbs, combinations of cuisines, and so on. So we shouldn't get too bored...
• It's unique! While at least a handful of individuals have taken on Julia, Jacques, and Joy, I haven't seen anyone try their hand at spa food. Maybe we can take out some of the mystique?

I'm not holding myself to any specific order through my cooking, though it seems like appetizers would be a nice place to start. Simple, small noshes that should tide us over as we get acclimated and find our stride. The first items on my list are the Blue Corn Blinis and the Canyon Ranch Guacamole. I've gone to our local grocery to pick up the fixings - sadly, no blue corn meal was to be found, but I got a lovely heirloom tomato to make up for it. I'm planning to serve the blinis with the guacamole and diced hot peppers in place of fat free sour cream and caviar, as suggested by the book. I think it's a little more interesting and the whole southwestern fusion thing intrigues me.