My F&W quick save (...)  Do Recipes Make You a Better Cook?
Good cooks rely on recipes, but only to a point. Chef Daniel
Patterson examines the pitfalls of written directions and urges
a return to a riskier—and ultimately more rewarding—approach.
I've never been much for technology, so when I bought a car
recently that came with GPS, I imagined that the device would go
largely unused. But a few months later, on my way to visit
friends at their new home in Oakland, California, I decided to
give it a try. A patient yet firm woman's voice guided me easily
to the exact location, and much to my surprise, I fell in love
with the feature. Then one night, as I drove to see my friends
for the fourth or fifth time, I realized that I had no idea how
to get there. I'd been blindly following instructions from a
disembodied voice without paying attention to where I was going.
This troubled me to no end. I liked to think I wouldn't
automatically take the path of least resistance, yet here I was,
in full capitulation mode