Cooking is like life?

I like to cook. It relaxes me, and it makes me feel healthier and happier than eating frozen dinners, getting campus food, or ordering mediocre Chinese food. I like sharing food with people, probably as a result of the importance placed on dinnertime in my house growing up.

So I was looking through some recipes online a few days ago because I was thinking of making some vegetarian lentil stew (and came across this one, which looks fantastic). I had a thought whilst perusing endless variations on lentil stew:

Cooking is like life.

You start with a recipe, but the end product is something that is uniquely yours. Even if you use the same recipe, you'll get slightly different results every time. There are unexpected complications and things you can't control, but in the end it turns out okay. Either you can salvage whatever it is you're trying to make, or start fresh with a new batch of ingredients. You may be afraid to repeat the same mistakes, so you try a new dish. You may be inspired and so depart from the instructions and proportions of the recipe before you even start. You take risks, and sometimes you end up with something delicious; other times, you wind up with an unexpected combination of flavors, and you make a note of it for next time.

This blog is like my cookbook. I've been really busy with school and life, so I haven't been blogging at all, but I'm going to make an effort to start again. I want to have the record of all the recipes I've tried, in life and in cooking. (I've started building up a repository of recipes and food blogs - as well as other interesting things I find on the Internet - over on delicious if you're interested.) And I want to share that with all of you and hear your thoughts. Either here as comments or over dinner sometime. :)

This is also why I want to get into social media marketing and advertising. I want a job where I don't have to stick to strict instructions, where I can take the staples and fashion my own product out of them. I want room to be creative and be inspired and for there to be a conversation along the way. I've had great conversations over delicious meals and over tasty cups of tea, and I see no reason why a workplace should be any less (ful)filling.

Coincidentally, my roommate and I are planning to go see Julie & Julia tonight. This is a very food-themed time of the year, and perhaps I've overdrawn the metaphor, but I do see cooking as representative of many of the processes I've been going through in life in general lately.

What do you think?