Following the recipe

I used to cook dinner every night and I have to admit, after ten years, I got a bit tired of it. After all, everything is better when someone else cooks it right? That turns out not to be true.
While sil was here, she did the cooking when I was at work. I have to say, when you have all day, it's quite possible to come up with meals that are far more edible than the ones she produced. So I have been on a bit of a kick with the whole dinner thing. And you know what? Cooking still isn't my favorite pastime, but I do love setting a meal in front of Alpha and hearing how much He likes it.
Surely this isn't some sort of service oriented part of my personality beginning to break through...Nah. Must be my selfish need for approval.

Anyways, thinking about cooking got me to thinking about recipes. I love finding new and awesome ones, but I usually change and adapt them after the first try. Turn them into something I think is better and more suited to our needs.

Perhaps it was a bit of a stretch, but this general train of thought veered into a D/s context. Specifically how there seem to be lots of recipes out there--follow this one for a better submissive, follow that one to make a better Dominant.
Recipes are all about what we want right, using certain ingredients and steps to create a specific item with the desired outcome and predictable results. When it comes to D/s, I think a lot of relationships have problems because they are trying to follow a recipe--someone elses recipe.

Much like cooking, there is no universal right or wrong way to experience ttwd. Sure, there are certain basic elements to creating something that is great or mundane--but individuality always wins. It's about experimenting with your ingredients and tweaking them to meet your needs.
It's about making and following your own recipe as you go.