Why I Love to Cook

On Friday night I made dinner for some friends and realized how much I really like cooking for people. Especially after a long week of classes and teaching, it just feels really good to work with my hands and free my mind cooking. I have even started baking more recently. There is something about taking disparate ingredients and mixing them together to get a completely different product. Also seeing or tasting the effect of a small amount of spice. You wouldn't think a few sprinkings of nutmeg in chocolate chip cookies would do much, but it really changes how they taste.
This Friday I added on to my list of 5 things I can cook well- twice baked potatoes. I baked the potatoes and then scooped them out and mixed with with ranch dip (made from a dry mix and lowfat plain yogurt) and rebaked them. I even managed to keep the shells (the skins) looking good.
So that's my domestic manifesto. On a completely unrelated (or perhaps distantly related) note, I discovered something worse than trying on swimsuits- trying on wetsuits. I am renting one for next week because I am taking a kayaking class. Getting in and out of the wetsuit was a work out in itself. Maybe because of all the cooking and baking I have been doing. :)