The creative impulse

One of the ways I express creativity is through cooking, baking particularly, but I’m expanding my repertoire. Part of the grant included a few cooking classes, because I wanted to reinvigorate my love of cooking following the last year of writing my dissertation where I did very little creative cooking.

I fell in love with Irish brown bread, so, since I returned from Ireland, I’ve been trying to recreate it at home with some mixed results. Irish brown bread with Irish butter is pure heaven! I took a class on French deserts, where I got to try my hand at a fruit galette (which I’ve done before), a frangipane tart, and strawberry souffle. So much fun and easier than I thought, and of course, delicious!

I also took 2 classes at 21 Acres in Woodinville. The first was making and canning jam, where we made a delicious blueberry jam, which didn’t last long enough to get a picture. The second was pickling and fermenting where we made pickles and sauerkraut.

Canning is not only a creative process, not only a way to deepen connection to the earth and the rhythms of nature, it is also a way to connect with my ancestors. I remember many summer days canning with my grandmother – pickles, fruit, jam, you name it, we canned it. That’s how my ancestors survived. It’s a skill that was a necessary part of life, which is not so necessary for me, living less than a mile from my neighborhood QFC.

One of the things I loved about these classes was working with a small group of strangers to create each thing. This was an opportunity to meet new people, an opportunity to recognize the unique gifts of each individual, share laughter and stories. It was an opportunity to invite less skilled cooks into the process and encourage them. To laugh at our mistakes together. Another occasion for deepening connections. It was like the communion table, where everyone is welcome with no qualifiers, was embodied in these cooking classrooms as we cut, stirred, kneaded, shaped and ate together.

p.s. when I shared with one of the class organizers that I was taking the class as part of my sabbatical, it began a conversation with her about creating some programming with 21 acres around food and faith! You never know what openness to connection will lead to. Very exciting!