The phrase "improvisational cook" is one that I relate to deeply. Despite my vast collection of cookbooks, it is a rare day when I actually follow a recipe. I typically shop without a plan, buying veggies at the farmers market based solely upon how beautiful they look (and whether they're an item my boyfriend will eat) and placing my monthly meat order because something sounds good. Last night I made a pot of soup that was inspired by a winter meal that a friend grew up eating and once described to me.

However, lately I've found that I'm not improvising as much anymore, so much as I'm just making the same things over and over again and doing so without a recipe. Needing a little help re-expanding my culinary vistas, I flipped open a copy of Sally Schneider's 2006 book The Improvisational Cook. The first sentence made me sit up and shout, "Yes! That's it!" She says, "Improvisational cooking is thrilling." And so it is. She continues to say that some people can be overwhelmed with the prospect of improvising, as if they don't know how flavors and ingredients work together, the process of going out on one's own can seem daunting and full of danger. In this she, Schneider is trying to help teach the building blocks and does so by offering up a single recipe with four to six ways in which small changes will alter the finished product. And thus, she teaches the art of improvising.

The book comes with many of the traditional sections, but also contains units devoted to helping you learn how things goes together, ingredients that will help you along your improvisational path and the tips that will help your flavors come to life. I'm looking forward to trying the recipes for the Herb Salad (page 112), the variations on the Caramelized Onions (page 141) and the Ethereal Brown Sugar Butter Cookies (page 302 - I'm tempted to make these tonight, with the addition of some freshly picked lemon verbena).