A Cooking Epiphany

I was at a friend's house for a birthday party on Sunday. For the record, it was a morning brunch in celebration of her youngest turning one. She had made a good selection of egg-based concoctions, all from recipe books. One was a huge success and was eaten up within 30 minutes. The second one was not as successful, judging by the fact there was still some left an hour later.

I was in the kitchen listening as she told her mother in law she probably wouldn't make the recipe again because it wasn't very flavourful and needed more seasoning. I wanted to yell (okay, interject loudly) right then and there, "Wait a second...you know you don't like it, you know what it needs to make it better, why not just modify it and make it again??". But I didn't. Mostly because at that moment, my little boo decided to make a break for it and I had to chase after him.

And then, just yesterday, it hit me. Not everyone cooks like me. This is a line that separates some cooks from others. Some people are content to just follow a recipe and discard it if it doesn't work for them. On the other side of this line, there are people like me who use recipes as a starting point. If we don't like the way something turns out, or want to try something different, we adjust and test and adapt. I'm sure there are other categories of cooks too (like those that eschew recipe books completely and like to invent there own creations - I think they call those people "professional chefs"), but it was enough of an epiphany for me at that point.

As I read some of my favorite foodie blogs that night, I realized that the other bloggers I admire also fall into the same camp as me (for the most part). So some of my misgivings about this whole blogging thing (like, is what I write really going to be interesting to anyone else?) might not be as serious as I thought. I felt re-energized and more confident that I can also contribute something of value to the foodie blogging world.