Architects and chefs share a great number of personality characteristics with one another, and in my extremely scientific poll (conducted by me) a vast majority of architects actually like to cook, although, even more dislike cleaning up after cooking. In this fifth episode of the Life of an Architect podcast, Landon and I take on the topic of Architects and cooking and how those two things come together in a way that could be unique. These are the show notes for this week's podcast but I think you'll find that even if you don't listen - which you should - there is still something here worth your time. Speaking of worth your time, listen to the very end of the podcast where I include a little bit of bonus audio to reward those people who stick with us all the way through where I share a story about eating dog food that has stuck with me for years ... this seemed as good a time as any to share it with you. [Note: If you are reading this via email, you will have to click here to access the on-site audio player]  Who's a Better Chef? You or your Mom? [4:19 mark] If you like to cook - or maybe it was part of the culture of your family, at some point, your cooking is going to be compared to that of your mother's cooking.  I feel fairly strongly that all great chef's either come from families that cook amazing food, or from families that cook terrible food ... and there's nothing in-between. Landon clearly comes from a family where his mom runs the kitchen and prepares food worth eating ... I was not so lucky. My mother used to prepare amazing food - true southern classics, but these are typically time-intensive meals and around the time I was ten-years-old, my mother announced to the family that she was done with it all. While she was great at cooking fried chicken, cast-iron skillet cornbread, biscuits and cream gravy ... she wasn't all that great at anything else. I think my initial interests in cooking were born out of wanting to eat something that was slightly more involved than opening a can of [fill in the blank] and heating it up. A connection between architecture and pastry making [8:30 mark] In 1815, French chef Marie-Antoine Carême wrote Le Pâtissier Royal Parisien Ou Traité Élémentaire de la Pâtisserie Ancienne Et Moderne Tome 1 which was a treatise that codified how architectural principles like drawing and planning could be applied in pastry. Clearly, there is a connection between the two industries and if you can read French, and you like to bake pastries, then this is the book for you. Kitchen Design Juror for National Kitchen and Bath Association [23:30 mark] I just got back from spending 4 days in Hackettstown, New Jersey, home of the National Kitchen and Bath Association (NKBA) and owner of the Kitchen and Bath Industry Show (KBIS), North America's largest trade show dedicated to all aspects of kitchen and bath design. I was there for 3 intense days judging kitchen designs from around the country that were submitted for consideration. I've been a design juror many times over the last 8 years but this competition was different from most that I have participated in as a juror. Part of the review process included looking through the construction drawings for each kitchen for award consideration and checking the dimensional control in addition to evaluating the aesthetics and functionality of the kitchens.