Cooking Outside the Box

I admit it.  I'm guilty of Googling my blog.  "Cooking Outside the Box" is now over one month old and I decided to see if it came up in Google.  As of this morning, it is #7 for the key words: cooking outside the box.  (Maybe it will be higher if I keep mentioning "Cooking Outside the Box.")  Fifth on the list was a post on Danilo's Culinary Arts Blog.  Reading his article gave me confidence that I chose the right name for my blog, because I agree completely.  Maybe he can say it better than I:

With its precise recipes, strict procedures and rigid formulas, cooking can sometimes seem more like a science than an art. But with time and a solid grounding in a few basic principles, you may find that you're increasingly able to put the recipes aside and cook by feel -- by instinct.

That means being willing to experiment -- and make mistakes! After all, it's one thing for me to warn you not to add the oil to your egg yolks too quickly when making mayonnaise. Until you experience a broken emulsion firsthand, my words of caution will remain an abstraction. Once it happens, though (and it will), you assimilate it. Mere information is replaced by knowledge.

He continues to suggest choosing a produce item you have never tried before and preparing it through "what you can discover through your own senses,"  without cook books or internet searches.  That is one place I deviate.  I love to "Google" even things I've already tried.  Why reinvent the wheel?  And why excitedly post my "new knowlege" if it's already been writen about ad nauseum?  But in the end, I do usually try something a little different through a mix of other's knowlege and my own senses.

His post really expressed what my blog is about.  It's me sharing my experiences of trial and error with you.  You can see me make a broken emulsion (and make an excuse why it doesn't matter).  And mention things you can try to improve on what I did. 

My recently posted "Salmon Chowder" is a good example of a dish I am still working on.  It has been delicious both times I have tried it, but I want to work on improving on the time it takes, dishes it uses, and economy/ecology of the ingredients used or wasted.

This week I've been considering aquiring a domain name.  Of course this means commiting to a domain name and blog title.  I think I have decided to keep the title of "Cooking Outside the Box," which will be found at nonrecipe.com.  The runner up so far is cookingoutsidebox.com, but it may be confusing to drop the "the."  What do you think?