Just before my birthday a few months ago, I received a package addressed by Amazon and subsequently sent by my ex-complete-disaster-of-an-almost-boyfriend Jason, who tends to send me gifts even when I expressly ask him to please don’t. In any case, the point here is that he’d shopped from my Amazon wishlist and sent the Rilke I’d been dying to read, the NFT guide to Boston over which I’d been nearly salivating, and a cookbook by Angela Shelf Medaris that I’d been really wanting to try. I’ve since made a few recipes from it and amazingly, haven’t screwed any of them up even a little. They’re amazing, they are.

Tonight, at the end of a long productive day, I decided to make her Black Bean Chili (cleverly named, non?) so that I’d have something to pack for tomorrow’s lunch. I altered it just a little (fewer chilies, more tomatoes) and truth be told, it turned out fabulously.

I’m still cooking from recipes and I haven’t defined any signature dishes, which is really what I mean when I say “learn to cook,” but in the meantime, I’m happy making brilliant meals from cookbooks. Someday, I’d love to be a sort of artist with my meals, but for now, this will do. :)