This is the essence of cooking in my world. Every night I come home, open the refrigerator & see what's there. That becomes the surprise ingredient of the day and generally speaking, no one wants to spend more than an hour cooking after a day of work anyway...

I have found that chefs are like musicians - there are those who play exactly the same thing, note for note, every time - and there are those who mostly improvise - changing the formula each and every time. I fall firmly in the latter category both as a chef and as a musician.