Cooks vs. Bakers

There are two types of people who make meals: cooks and bakers.  You may think they're the same, but they couldn't be more different.  Cooks rarely use recipes and measure most of their ingredients out by feel.  The food they make is high on creativity, but low on reproducibility.  Bakers, on the other hand, are rarely far away from their measuring cups and place a premium on accuracy.  They have to be this way because baking breads and pastries is more a science than an art, and if you miss one step you'll have a ruined product. 

I am a cook. I'm sharing this with you partially because I'm a disaster with anything requiring teaspoons and yeast (save for beer), and partially because it may help you to understand why there are no exact recipes in this blog. 

Classic Cook Example:

Mary came to me the other day and said that she'd read an article about Ricotta cheese being used in French toast.  So the next morning I put ricotta cheese in between two pieces of sour dough bread and was about to make French Toast out of it when a little voice inside my head (the good voice) said, "Spread cherry preserves in the middle.  The kids will love it!"  So I did it. 

And, as the little voice had predicted, the kids loved it too:

Next time you get a chance to make French toast, think Ricotta and some preserves.  It'll be a winner.