Everywhere I looked today, I was reminded of the value of practice.

This morning, I received an email from The New York Times extolling the virtues of repetition. Sam Sifton, founding editor of New York Times Cooking, encouraged readers to make biscuits today, saying they ought to be terrific. "But if you make biscuits today and do so again next weekend and the weekend after and the weekend after that," he insisted, "they will be terrific, the best biscuits ever." Sifton went on to quote "pizza lord" Anthony Falco, who had told the Times editor, "You’ve got to keep your hands in the flour," meaning you need to always be making pizza dough to get better at making pizza dough. Sifton added, "Indeed, regular repetition of any cooking technique will make you a better, more confident cook."

I didn't make biscuits today, but my daughter and I did prepare homemade tortillas. I rolled out the rounds of dough while she cooked them in a skillet—each of us having played those same parts before. In no time, our assembly line of two had processed 16 fresh flour tortillas, piled into a casserole dish with a tight-fitting lid, where they remained warm and soft until we were ready to turn them into a wrap for fish tacos. Earlier in the day, we had collaborated on making cilantro-lime coleslaw, cilantro-garlic sauce, and a spicy rub for our fish. I also made a caramel sauce, using a recipe I had landed on after trying several others. I love recipes that are foolproof—achieving the same, high-quality result every time.

Also today, Mel and I played table tennis, an activity we've been doing weekly for close to a year. We've discovered that our Sunday morning play is sharper than our Thursday evening outings—we're fresher, more alert, more on the ball. But no matter what time we play, the repetition has been good for our game and good for our enjoyment of it.

This evening, I spoke to my son, who had hosted a brunch at his place this morning. When I asked, "How did your brunch go?" he replied, "It was messy but a success!" I assured him that he would get better with practice.

Sifton concluded his email about biscuits with the question: "There’s pleasure in the practice, no?" I would agree. If the practice is pleasurable, we're more likely to do it, and the more we practice, the better we get.