Find creativity in cooking
As a child, I loved fiddling with things, deconstructing toys and objects and trying to get them back together afterward. Duct tape and scissors were my very good friends, and I liked to use my mother's sewing machine to assemble miniature purses and hair scrunchies with fabric from her big treasure chest of scraps. I wouldn't go so far as to call myself crafty, as nothing earth-shattering ever emerged from my hands, but I loved how these activities sucked me in, making me lose all sense of time until suddenly I looked up, night had fallen and it was time for dinner.
As I grew older I gradually stopped doing these things, most for lack of time (and perhaps toys to disassemble), but it is clearly this side of my personality that led me to cooking. At a point in my life when my day job made me feel frustrated, expressing little and creating nothing of real worth, I found myself yearning for the kitchen as a place where I could do my own thing, play with colours, smells, and flavours, see the magic at work, and feed my friends.
And I have found that cooking creativity is a skill that can be cultivated: As you gain experience, your instincts take the driver's seat, and you don't really need to follow recipes too closely anymore.
Keep a food journal
Whether in a notebook, on your computer, or as a food log, it is helpful to keep a cooking journal: write down the name of the dish, what recipe you used and your modifications, which occasion and whom you made it for (the self-respecting host would rather die than accidentally serve a dish twice to the same guest, you see). Add your comments, however short or detailed you want to make them.
Jot down the interesting dishes that you taste at restaurants, the projects you want to take on, the unusual food pairings you hear about and more generally, the random thoughts that pop into your mind. (Inspirations can strike at any time, in any place. Some of my best ideas came to me on the métro, at the opera, or during lengthy work meetings, so I make sure I take my pen and notebook wherever I go.)
You can refer to your notes when you're looking for inspiration, or when you want to elaborate on a dish you've cooked before. This will help you build on your experience, keep track of your progress, and watch the evolution of your culinary personality.
