1. Why do you cook? Is it to save cash or is it recreation? Or something else? For the enjoyment and challenge of making something tangible, that I can watch o

1. Why do you cook? Is it to save cash or is it recreation? Or something else? For the enjoyment and challenge of making something tangible, that I can watch others enjoy. Something that is not made of bytes and pixels. 2. Do you plan ahead? Like a weekly meal plan? Yes, I plan my baking at the beginning of each week and and back on Monday and Wednesday. 3. What kind of things do you cook usually? I bake. Breads, pies, bagels, croissants, cakes, etc. Occasionally I experiment with gluten-free recipes. 4. Do you follow any diet? Atkins, Slow Carb etc. No but I also don't eat everything I bake. I bake so much that we give a lot of the product to friends and neighbors. My wife is "gluten lite" so she tends to only taste samples and I would gain 25 pounds if I ate everything. If I keep baking this much, I may set up a relationship with one of the local soup kitchens to drop off food there. 5. Do you have any life hacks, tips to be more productive as a cook? In baking, mise en place, for sure. But also many breads do better with steam in the oven in the first 3 minutes. Do this by pouring a cup of hot water into a heavy pan heated at the bottom of the oven (be careful!). Also, when making croissants, use European butter (higher fat content) and make sure the butter and dough are the same temperature when doing your initial laminating.