It all started with a request for a cookbook. Not any old cookbook but one filled with recipes that had been created, modified or copied by me. My deadline was Christmas Day 2007. My publisher? TasteBook. With financial backing from Conde Nast and a partnership with the online recipe site Epicurious.com, TasteBook provides home cooks with a way to create their own illustrated, hardcover books. For $34.95 they can select 100 recipes from existing TasteBooks or from the 25,000 listed on Epicurious or they can type in recipes from their own collections. As my dishes originate with friends, from traditionally published cookbooks or me, I opted to write 99 and acquired only one – asparagus with tarragon sherry vinaigrette – from Epicurious. The latter I had used for years, ever since tearing it out of the April 2002 issue of Gourmet magazine. Had I copied recipes from Epicurious or other TasteBooks, I undoubtedly would have completed this project in a matter of days. However, as I chose to type every title, ingredient list, set of steps, …