Pinterest is a love hate thing for me.  I love it in that it actually does inspire me to cook and create.  I try not to pin anything that doesn’t link back to a solid recipe in the case of food photos because I don’t claim to be a recipe developer, rather just a solid home cook.  I think that my Pinterest record is pretty dismal though and that there is a pretty high failure rate in either myself or the Pinterest pinned recipes.  I have realized that I don’t always cook to the recipes.  I will read them and generally follow the amounts specified-if they make sense.  Early on in my cooking I realized that chef driven recipes can take days to prep so I had better be prepared for that on the front end..  I can usually tell what won’t work or isn’t a classic ratio.  But… I don’t keep track of how I tweak and change things – not enough to be helpful anyway.  So, from this day on, I vow, that if I recommend a recipe, I’ll note how I made it work for me if it doesn’t on it’s own.

So, I made this recipe for cucumber salad recently and it is a total winner.  I have ‘cooked’ Indian food before and found it complicated and felt it was out of my reach to do it really well.  This little salad totally expanded my view and makes me think about giving it a second (or third or something) chance.  It was simplicity in itself and although it has a few ingredients well worth the price because there were plenty left for future salads.  It was spicy and cool at the same time as well as sweet and salty.  We will eat this again and again.  I used English cucumbers and was well pleased with the result.  I had only one cucumber so it may have had a slightly higher dressing and accompaniments to cuke ratio than the recipe states.  I also was generous in my coconut and peanut measurement. Pinterest wins today.