I am a level 17 night elf druid with cooking 125 and I keep coming across items that look like they can be cooked (bear meat, crawler claw, etc.) but I have not been able to find the place to train for them, or any of the other recipies. The only recipe i can train for now is goblin deviled clams, every other recipe I have is either easy (yellow) really easy (green) or totally easy (grey).

Alot of cooking recipes are either vendor purchased or quest rewards. There is a vendor in Stormwind old town at the pub that sells most quest reward recipes as well.

You can find the full list of cooking recipes and where to get them at thottbott here (http://www.thottbot.com/index.cgi?t=Cooking)

fishing trainers

I got really bored at 60 and pushed all my secondary skills to 300 - cooking was the only one I started at 1 with. Here's my path: (Links to Thott tell you where to get the individual recipes.)

First, empty out your packs and go fishing. Get tons and tons of fish. If your fishing sucks, mine as well work it up now, because on the way to 300 fishing, you'll get enough stuff for 300 in cooking.

To get to the 25 "hump," I hunted the night elf newbie towns - killing all the owls I could find to get the small eggs. The eggs dropped really quickly so I got a lot fast. I was making <a href="http://thottbot.com/?i=210">Herb eggs</a>.

The eggs topped out around the 50 skill mark (they were green) but I had enough to push me to get the next step for me, which was <a href="http://thottbot.com/?i=734">the Longjaw Mudsnapper</a>. (Up to 75 or so).

That pushed me high enough to learn <a href="http://thottbot.com/?i=5988">Cooked crab claws</a> which were plentiful off the crawlers in Darkshore.

The crawlers were great because they also dropped clams which let me make <a href="http://thottbot.com/?i=6108">Clam Chowder</a> and Crawler Meat which can make <a href="http://thottbot.com/?i=838">Crab Cakes</a>. (Up to 100-120 or so).

The <a href="http://thottbot.com/?i=838">Bristle Whisker</a> catfish helped me also.

At around 120, it got a little tight, but I got high enough to start killing deers and bears in Astranaar for <a href="http://thottbot.com/?i=8356">Lean Venison</a> and <a href="http://thottbot.com/?i=8979">Big Bear Steak</a>. (Squeaks you to 175).

That got me high enough for <a href="http://thottbot.com/?i=6224">Roast Raptor</a> (I hunted in Un'Goro, but Arathi or Wetlands is good too) and <a href="http://thottbot.com/?i=732">Rockscale Cod</a>. I also got some buzzard wings for <a href="http://thottbot.com/?i=4739">BBQ'd Buzzard Wings</a> while killing in Tanaris on the way to Un'Goro.

<a href="http://thottbot.com/?i=4739">Filet of Redgill</a> helped me at 225 (note - thanks to the buzzards in Un'Goro, I had all the eggs for the artisan cooking quest on hand, then it was a quick jaunt to Stormwind for cheese, and I had all the clam meat thanks to fishing).

Fishing in Tanaris netted me 100 yellowtail which let me bully my way to 298 with <a href="http://thottbot.com/?i=730">Spotted Yellowtail</a>.

I finished 300 off with two <a href="http://thottbot.com/?i=5766">Nightfin Soup</a>.

Ta da.

Oh, I should also add that fishing was the longest part of the entire ordeal. To get from 260ish fishing to 300 is a crawl - you'll get about 10-15 fish before you get a skill up. Oh, and no matter where you fish, you will get skill ups - I got point #289 in Darnassus off a Brilliant Smallfish. So fish in the location that has a lot of your fish. Once you've got your supplies, cooking goes very quick, it's literally just combining. 1 to 300 cooking took me ~1hr (3hrs if you include getting the eggs/meat items).