I had the unbelievable opportunity to attend opening night of the new Mel Brooks musical on Broadway: Young Frankenstein. My brother has his first Broadway role, in the ensemble, and he is the understudy for Dr. Frankenstein. He had the dubious experience of performing the role nine times during previews, when the principal, Roger Bart, threw out his back.

Amidst the flurry of activity on the red carpet, and movement about the orchestra, we had the chance to hob-nob with some stars. I got the chance to meet a personal favorite: Ina Garten. She and I spoke for a short bit.

What I’ve always admired about Ina is the unique twist her Food Network show takes. She tells a story, and the basic premise is that she is preparing for some event with friends or family and you are watching. She never throws to commercial – she never references TV, it’s just an evolving story that we are given eyes to watch.

Since each show is a story, she often talks about the evolution of her recipes or how to effectively produce her product: i.e. the recipe or the party. This leads me to think about exertise and the role it plays as a person completes a project.

I am duly impressed by her production staff’s and her creativity. What most interests me is that they have taken a novel approach to programming an instructional cooking show. What’s interesting is that I think this is the most important finding of my study. The novel approach to a problem. Problem finding seems to be so important to novel thought. The best do it well.