The Best Recipe

Recipes are great. They invite us to try new techniques, ingredients and combinations. They nearly guarantee success as we venture beyond the familiar. And sticking with them gives us confidence that it'll turn out right, every time.

That is, if the same, every time, is right.

It seems to me (and my tongue) that variety makes for much more enjoyable experiences. And that experimentation makes working much more entertaining. I also welcome the bonus of discovering and sharing new things. After all, the most alluring recipes are the result of another's playing with their food. And, I find it far more rewarding to invent something new, than to make something old, yet again.

Granted, to be an adventurer, one needs to be willing to fail occasionally. That's the nature of any explorations into the unknown. Fortunately, practice makes better, and success rates rise as intuition is honed. And let's be honest, if our predecessors hadn't been adventurous, we'd still be eating nuts, berries and unflavored raw meat, that we'd clubbed to death with sticks and stones.

Obviously, this is analogous for any and all endeavors in life. And I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with playing it safe. But there's definitely something right, with taking chances.

For my money, the best recipe, is no recipe.