What I Made, How It Turned Out, and How I Felt About It (Gifts for Cooks): My Cooking Life

Cooking is much more than just providing sustenance. It is a creativeendeavor, a science experiment, a tribute to people and times past, an actof caring, a practical education, a feast for the senses, a path to self-knowledge,a meditative practice.Most cooks have shelves overflowing with cookbooks and files filled withrecipes, not to mention digital bookmarks and recipe boxes where theinstructions for making their favorite or hoped-for future dishes reside.With so much going on, sometimes it can be hard to recall where a favoriterecipe lives. In addition, many of those recipes are marked up with notes,comments, and suggestions. Sometimes they are not, however, because youtell yourself, “Oh, I’ll remember.” (Honestly? You probably won’t.)Which is just one of the many good reasons to keep a cooking journal.The purpose of this journal is to help make your cooking journey moremeaningful and memorable. Use it to enhance your experiences in thekitchen (or at the grill, the camp stove, or wherever you are preparingmeals.) Don’t be too concerned about your prose—jot down ideas, scribblenotes, tear out recipes and tuck or glue them in—have fun with it,and it will reward you with meaningful memories, exciting ideas, helpfulreminders, and a keepsake to be treasured.