I’m not writing a cookbook. Gotta be honest I probably never will write one even though my daughter’s purchase of a notebook for me to write down my recipes is what encouraged me to start writing. I rarely follow recipes anymore at this point in my career I can wing just about anything I’m cooking unless it’s baking which I try to avoid.

Not offering some of my favorite recipe cards although I’ll share any recipe I have with anyone I don’t gate keep anything knowledge should be shared with others.

This could still be considered a cookbook but it’s more about how we are made. Not referencing the activities from our parents that brought us into our existence I think we can all agree it’s something we don’t want to think about.

How we were made into the mold that fits us now. Our embodiment of bloodlines, trauma, environment, childhood memories that created what sits on our plate. Our own life recipe or dish.

Our life seasonings

Procedures

Measurements

Restrictions

Instructions

All of our recipes are unique in their own way. Some of us the recipe can be simple while others are complex, exact measurements. Volatile compounds that must be added just at the right time or the dish is ruined in our minds.

Genetics and childhood build the mold. Genetics are the first steps towards your recipe card build. Basic ingredients of your bloodline. It may impact the size of your dish or the personality/theme of your desired product. It may be cultural or ethnic that starts the process of creating your dish. Added spices to uphold the tradition and add specific look or texture. Some dishes demand a specific aesthetic that brings out an important flavor or element. A hand me down recipe that’s been kept in the family.

Childhood trauma and experiences extend into the procedures of how the dish is prepared. Some dishes may be easier to prep for while others need a little more preparation and attention. Some of us can braise in a sous vide and be left alone for hours while others are poached for a brief time and delicately place onto a spot to rest. Our childhood can toughen us up or it can make us tender. Some of us have to stew a little longer before we are ready.

You may be able to heat quickly in a boiling pot and come out fine. Same procedures different temperatures.

Some of us have to whipped into a new shape or substance while others only need spreading. Encouraging

We are newer dishes, figuring out when we are supposed to be served, what table we belong, the china we sit upon. Some it may be fine while others are served on paper plates.

Our recipes all evolve over time. We may have started off as a box of dried macaroni and moved up to a béchamel with hand cut pasta. Some prefer to stay with the box. Simplicity and consistency. It’s just a preference.

As we progress with our recipes over time we start developing a palate for new flavors and spices. This is where we tend to experiment and hone the dish or perhaps change it completely. Some may want an accompaniment. Their dish is missing something. An added necessity that finally completes the dish. Two peas in a pod. You may have been a little salty and needed some sweetness for that savory flavor you’ve been trying to achieve and you found it. You may have traveled abroad to implement a little more culturally relevant taste. You may have changed your dietary habits and want to completely change your diet and started over with a new dish and approach.

Some of us get lost for a bit and just order take out. Life moved a little too fast to enjoy cooking. Your recipes are forgotten for a while. You let someone else prepare your dish and you start to lose some flavor, zest and consistency. You no longer take the time to prep. You skip important ingredients and create shortcuts, your dish becomes stagnant or bland and so have your tastebuds.

You lose the passion to cook for a little bit. Some of us may lose that important accompaniment that was vital to our plate. Or we no longer have side dishes to keep the table warm. Some start to get too salty but we’ve been cooking the same dish for so long we stopped taking the time to taste it before it’s served.

Over time, many of us forget to taste the dish before sending it through the pass. We become so focused on preparing a life that we forget to experience it. Life loses its zest when we stop pausing long enough to taste what we’ve made.

I speak from first hand experience.

I’ve spent the last few years working on my old dish. Ironically after tossing all my old recipes out the window.

Man I was salty and tough to the bone. Burnt on the edges while still raw on the inside. Added a new flavor profile recently and changed quite a few procedures.

My dish got better when I slowed down to learn how to taste again.