I hear you say:

The way you like to cook is often….. what??

Here are a few explanations:

ex·tem·po·ra·ne·ous
Pronunciation: ()ek-stem-p-r-n-s
Function: adjective
Made up or done on the spur of the moment see also: impromptu

- ex·tem·po·ra·ne·ous·ly adverb - ex·tem·po·ra·ne·ous·ness noun

a (1) : composed, performed, or uttered on the spur of the moment : impromptu <an extemporaneous comment> (2) : carefully prepared but delivered without notes or text

b : skilled at or given to extemporaneous utterance

c : happening suddenly and often unexpectedly and usually without clearly known causes or relationships <a great deal of criminal and delinquent behavior is…extemporaneous — W. C. Reckless>

Or from another source:

ex·tem·po·ra·ne·ous  adj.

1. Carried out or performed with little or no preparation; impromptu: an extemporaneous piano recital.

2. Prepared in advance but delivered without notes or text: an extemporaneous speech.

3. Skilled at or given to unrehearsed speech or performance: an accomplished extemporaneous speaker.

4. Provided, made, or adapted as an expedient; makeshift: an extemporaneous policy decision.

To Extemporize: (transitive verb) To do, create, improvise, adapt, or devise in an impromptu or spontaneous manner – to ad-lib

Yes! All these words apply to the way I like to cook.

I like to scour the local outdoor markets for ingredients, herbs, produce, meat, fish or poultry  that tickle my fancy or intrigue me.

Once I get home with my baskets, bags and sometimes boxes, I unpack my bounty to see what I have picked up.

After putting things away and leaving out what is to be processed first, I will then surf the Internet for different recipes made with the ingredients I have selected, take up The Flavor Bible and The Flavour Thesaurus to check combinations, and then…. be extemporaneous!

My favorite part of this improvisation is consulting my spice drawer or rather my 2 spice drawers. Always overflowing, with herbs and spices in boxes, jars, sachets, tubes, on the loose (nutmeg), or in handy ziplock baggies.

Some marked, some not which allows me time and time again to open many jars to sniff if this is exactly the flavor I am looking for. A pleasant task that often takes me back down an olfactory memory lane of exotic bazaars in Istanbul or Zanzibar’s Stone Town, spice shops in Nice, quaint market booths or recalling hot fields and musty corners, so many smells and tastes. So many colorful memories.

Using my extemporaneousness to create tantalizing meals lets me run the full gamet of my talents.

Cooking is my passion, eaters’ pleasure my gain.

I seldom travel without a few spices in my baggage and a voyage to a vacation rental house or apartment entails packing my spice bag the night before, carefully selecting the treasured few that will accompany me as a base and to which I will add local finds, returning with much, much more than I left with.

My foodie friends will chuckle and smile when they see me arrive to a weekend foodie retreat asking if I have brought my spices and my mustards along.

Yes I have and often my vinegars or even a small bottle of oil such as estragon. For I am also a lover of condiments and asking for mustard at my house will involve receiving a tray with round about 12-15 varying types being brought to the table. My vinegar collection with such exotica as blueberry cream, or peach/vanilla vinegar along with my selected oils (ginger, seame, truffle, olive and many more) takes up half a cupboard in my not so spacious kitchen.

 

Blending flavors, adding a dab of this or a splash of that is my extemporaneous pleasure! No simple cuisine for me.

Like a witch with her herbs, flasks and bubbling pots I mix and stir and create to please my eaters; looking into to their eyes to see the pleasure reflected from the soft implosion of flavors on their tongue when they take the first bite is my reward!

bliss……yum…..and more