Before the Navy. Before the mess decks and the perpetual inventory and the 270 days at sea. Before the cast iron and the wood stove and the sourdough starter with a name I won't tell you — there was an Easy-Bake Oven on a kitchen counter, a chef's hat two sizes too big, and a very serious young cook who had no idea what was coming.

The army men were there for security. Standard operating procedure.

I've thought a lot about where the love of cooking comes from. For some people it's a grandmother's kitchen. For some it's a restaurant job at sixteen. For me it traces back to something simpler — the satisfaction of making something with your hands and watching someone else enjoy it. Even if that someone was a plastic soldier.

The Easy-Bake Oven ran on a single light bulb. The cakes came out dense and a little raw in the middle. Nobody cared. The point was never the cake. The point was the making.

From the Career Menu Collections of Culinary Specialist Thomas M. Miller — this one goes back to the beginning.