“Oh No!!” I exclaim opening the oven door.
From the next room my husband asks what is wrong.
Peering into the o
ven all I can think is that these cookies look nothing like the Pinterest picture. Somehow my chocolate candy center has oozed out. The round balls have flattened.
I pull them, with burnt bottoms, out of the oven. Knowing my mom’s group is a loving bunch, I think I can salvage enough for our cookie exchange.
As Rob comes into the kitchen, I am just staring at them. Looking at the recipe up on my laptop. Staring back at them.
When he asks what I am thinking, I reply “I’m a good writer.”
And so are my thoughts when I hear the word ‘cinnamon’. Sugar plums and fairies and all things baking dance in my head.
Cooking I love. Cooking seems so forgiving. Add a little more or little less and the taste adjusts. But not baking. Exact measurements. And a secret language that would have interpreted I didn’t have enough dough around my candy bar..
Cinnamon says come celebrate. Enjoy this once a year feast. Smells and taste to delight. Will I let go of what I’m not good at. Will I not worry about perfection.
Instead settling into a place of need, of dependence on others. For the unique beauty they birth.
Will I enjoy the gifts of others. Offering me what I can’t create on my own.
Giving and receiving. Cinnamon and words.
Entering advent together. Offering our sustenance for the hungry. Waiting for the one who will feed us all.
Linking up with: Amber, she has a weekly Concrete to Abstract writing assignment. This week’s was the Cinnamon. Please go here and read all the beauty.
Top picture is one of the better looking cookies. I threw the others away a few days ago, not thinking I might want a picture of them!
Bottom picture credit here.
Baking is less unforgiving than cooking. Half of the issue is purchasing the right ingredients. If you want quality, you can’t use generic products. You must use real butter, not imitation. But, isn’t that the way it is with writing. You have to be real. Your voice has to be authentic not imitation. You can’t rush writing. The thoughts and ideas have to have a natural flow. The ideas/concepts have to be well developed and written in just the right amount to blend well. You can’t under bake or over bake the ideas or your thoughts are not expressed well. Tasty, beautiful baking products comes with knowledge, practice, and persistence and then it doesn’t always turn out well. Isn’t that just the way it is with writing.
“Cinnamon says come celebrate.” Yes it does!
It is such a distinctive inviting smell, isn’t it?
Hi dear Melanie
Don’t worry, dear friend, a kitchen is not a kitchen without its regular dose of flops. In South Africa we love cocking milk porridge and to add lots of sugar and cinnamon. Yam!
Hugs XX
Mia
Oh, we’ve all been there! I’m a decent baker, but I’ve still even managed to mess up my easiest cookie recipe ever at one point (homemade heath bars–I’ll have to share the recipe!) I hope your Advent is blessed with many good things.