Operating without a net

When I was a kid I spent hours combining ingredients from my mother's pantry. I wondered what would happen when you blended chocolate into tomato sauce, or roasted garlic and apples and potatoes together. In most cases my "experiments" were just that--way of testing flavors and textures-- but completely theoretical and highly disgusting (although my dad still claims to have liked the garlic apple soup I concocted). I learned a lot about flavors and I think I began to develop my palate at that point.
Once I began cooking for a living I still experimented with flavors but generally within the confines of a recipe. But a little part of me has always been interested in getting back to the most basic part of cooking: what happens when you mix this with that?
This weekend I decided to make a cake without a recipe. Now those of you who aren't bakers might not realize how dangerous this can be. And I mean dangerous in the horrible-heavy-brick-like-baked goods sort of way. Baking is all about chemistry and proportions and even the smallest deviation from the recipe can cause inedible results. I was actually a little nervous--what would happen when I mixed this with that?
Cranberries in the freezer (leftover from the holidays) called out to be used and I mapped out the first round of the rest of the ingredients. I decided a simple cranberry tea cake would be my test subject. After mixing oil and eggs, adding sugar then flour with leavening and finally the cranberries, I spread the mixture in a loaf pan, popped it in a pre-heated oven, and waited with baited breath for the results.
Well, it wasn't quite brick-like. In fact, the crumb was lovely and dense. Perhaps a little too dense, but the cake was still quite tender. I was a little disappointed with the results. I'm a bit of a perfectionist and this cake wasn't perfect.
But as I munched on a slice with some tea yesterday I realized that it represented something important. I was back where I began--exploring the basic building blocks of one of the things I love most in the world, food. Even after cooking professionally for six years, and as an amateur for many more, I still had that lovely, fluttery feeling in my stomach as I wondered what would happen when I mixed this with that. I was operating without a net but flying high.