It is always interesting to me to notice how language changes. Often waiting in Doctor’s offices I look at the recipes in the old magazines. Earlier America recipes were called receipts, a term that dictionaries define as an archaic usage. Some of those old receipts could be rather vague with expressions like “cook until done”, or “add as needed.” Modern recipes often include very detailed information like, “Select a 10 inch nonstick pan with an oven safe handle.” Cooking times and temperatures are very precise. Instructions are detailed and descriptive in ways that earlier receipts would have thought to be common knowledge. A country gentleman was visiting a restaurant for the first time. He was puzzled when his waiter asked if he wanted gravy with his meat and potatoes. As he put it, “They had something they called gravy. It looked like sop and tasted like sop and I think it was sop.” Whether we call it a recipe or a receipt, a gravy or sop, it really doesn’t matter as long as the food tastes good. I wonder if too often the changes in our language and perception obscure things for us. The reality of something is usually more important than the terminology we use, but the change in expression may interfere with our appreciation of the situation on the plate before us.