I learned years ago that a meal involves more than the list of ingredients. In some unseen way, the spirit of the cook dances in the frying pan, swims in the saucepan, and turns somersaults in the wok. Like an enchantress stirring her cauldron, the cook invokes a spell that envelopes all who sip from her ladle. It's a powerful thing, this cooking and it has informed my life in many ways. I cooked after the death of my mom and dad in my early twenties. By then I had learned to