The bread recipe has morphed again. When I published it a few days ago, I had already changed it twice. I baked it again this morning and made more changes. Swapped the sunflower seeds for pecan pieces. (Chewier texture.) Added some powdered coriander seed and orange dust, they both have a common background fragrance. (Deeper flavor.)
Photo: © Brock Davis via Instagram.
The changes are for taste, not just for the sake of making changes. It’s the same way I handle uncomfortable situations in daily life. No changes just to do something different, but adjustments to feel better, easier, lighter. Sometimes the changes are hard and the results not obvious at first. Sometimes I don’t want to figure out the change that needs to be made, so I add a strong flavor to cover up the unknown.
Covering up a bad flavor with something else doesn’t work in baking. It doesn’t work in life, either, but I keep trying. A lesson I will repeat till I learn it.
Timber from Buddhist Boot Camp says it perfectly: “Here’s a secret: while everyone’s recipe is a little different, the main ingredients for a successful batter are love, gratitude, kindness and patience. And the most common ingredient that makes people’s cake bitter is fear, so don’t use it!”
Note: Starting this week, the blog won’t run on Fridays and Saturdays. They are the two days I get the lowest readership, and are a good choice to carve out more time to teach and develop classes, as well as do some serious journaling. It’s one of the changes that I wish I could avoid, but it needs to be done.
—Quinn McDonald is starting a new way of journaling and wants to practice more.
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