spontaneity becomes me?

(or not)

I'm a planner. I think I already established that at some point in this blog. I like schedules and structures and organizing and lists and writing lists of organized structures of schedules in my planner. How dorky is that? Anyway, that puts me firmly on the J (for judging. Not judgmental) side of the Myers-Briggs. As far as I can remember, I have always been this way. I have a lot of friends though on the P (for perceiving) side, and to be honest...I have always wanted to be a P. P's seem to have more fun. They're flexible, adaptable, and what I would call free-spirited, rules-be-damned sort of people. I have friends who can wake up, throw on any number of random items in their closet and look amazing, and bound out the door looking for adventure. I want that. I've been practicing, but it doesn't come naturally.

(spoiler: this is not the blog post of a reformed P. As if you could change your personality type...!)

Anyway, I royally failed at biscuit making the other day. I'm not exactly sure what went wrong, but I'm pretty angry at shortening right now for no apparent reason, so maybe that was the culprit. (Anyone reading this have a biscuit school? I'll come!) I looove biscuits, so this was disappointing. However, I was able to cheer myself up with the idea that I could just make biscuit pudding...like bread pudding, but with lame stale biscuits.

No, I couldn't. I made it all right, but it was not so good. I kind of wantonly threw some milk in a pot, some cinnamon in with that, tossed some things together...no measuring happened (problem #1). Problem #2: they were terrible, horrible, no good, very bad biscuits. Problem #3: it came out dry and completely not worth it.

But I found an antidote. Please don't hate me because I think it's better than Nutella.

Problem #4 is that the biscuit pudding went bad (I know, bad?!) before I got to photograph it. But all is not lost--I've found many other wonderful things to spread this dreamy stuff on like...

my morning English muffin! Yay for rule-breaking!

And then I decided to abandon all social practices and went running around in a valley of springtime wildflowers! It was so life-giving, so freeing and magical to soak up the orange and yellow around me and just be.

And then we (Damapie and me) got hot fudge chocolate chip cookie dough milkshakes.

And then my grammar police tendencies took over, and I couldn't resist taking a picture of this:

(It kills me. You are only allowed to butcher the English language, in my opinion, if you're doing it on purpose. And not at World Market...)

Does the randomness of this entry count as spontaneity? If so, I've achieved my purposes for today. If not...tack on a spontaneity class after biscuit school; I could use some help in both!

Are you a Myers-Briggs J or P? And do P people really have more fun? (If you don't subscribe to this school of thought, you are welcome to tell a funny story in your comment instead.)

something from nothing

Last year I was effusive about the coming of spring. This year, my heart is as warm and fuzzy as it's ever been as I celebrate its arrival. Hey, I enjoy the wintry bleakness of day and darkness of night as much as the next person (except not really), so spring. Gosh. I've been waiting since October for you. Thanks for coming!

There is just something so wonderful about the markers of spring. Sure, I know about the science behind it all and how the earth tilts at 23.5 degrees and the sun hitting the hemispheres and all of that. But every time I see a daffodil head peeking out of what was only a patch of brown earth the day before...

 

a blossom on a formerly bare tree...

and this, my most favorite, I call it the "flower tree" but I'm sure it has a real name...

 

Soon the flowers' pink petals will unfurl, revealing their snowy white insides...

Abraham Joshua Heschel, a 20th century Jewish theologian and mystic, wrote this:

I did not ask for success (in this life).
I asked for wonder.
And You gave it to me.

Seeing something come from essentially nothing is quite the life-giving, snap-you-out-of-winter-doldrums experience. With each passing day of this new season, I see as an opportunity for re-creation, re-birth, a limitless process of re-doing and re-being where everything old is new again.

A sweet older woman I've known for quite some time recently clued me into an excellent way to bake bready goodness from (almost) nothing. (Alternately known as lazy baking, or How do I use up all of this leftover Heineken in the fridge?) Yes, this bread left me in almost as much wonder as the first almond tree blossom of spring. 4 ingredients! (6, if you don't have self-rising flour, but it's really not a big deal.) Any way you cut it, jaw-to-the-floor-inspiring.

Beer Bread

3 cups self-rising flour               or          3 cups all-purpose flour
                                                                   4 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
                                                                   1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3 tablespoons sugar
1 12 oz. can/bottle of beer
3 tablespoons butter

Preheat oven to 350. Butter or spray a 9x5 loaf pan.

Sift the flour and sugar together in a large bowl. Mix in the beer until well blended. Pour into loaf pan and bake for 45 minutes. Remove pan from oven, pour the butter that you just melted in the microwave over the top and bake for an additional 15 minutes.

I will now set the scene for you. Your kitchen is filled with the dreamy, yeasty scent of baked Heineken, the butter has dispersed across the bread to form this incredibly crispy and textured crust, and you are burning your fingertips as you tear into the oven-hot loaf. Welcome, spring, indeed!

What brings you wonder?

springing forth

Friends! Spring has been here just a few short weeks...and I couldn't be happier. Some snapshots of what spring in East Asia looks like...

The poor trees! The spring wind blew them so far sideways. Our city is situated in a valley surrounded by mountains, so it's like living in a constant wind tunnel. Yay?


This picture is pretty blurry, but at the same time it's just so quintessentially Jena...

Umbrellas upon umbrellas after an unexpected late March snowfall!

Happy Gerber daisies outside of my favorite coffee shop in the main square.

Friends really enjoy dressing alike. I personally am enjoying their coordinating high top pink Converses! Who wants to go in with me on matching Converses?!

A couple weeks ago, we visited a different city, and my friend ordered us these. Snails. Ummm...right. I've done scorpions and countless other questionable looking food products, but these things were GROSS. Nothing even close to that elegant French escargot ish. You're supposed to jab the exposed interior part with a toothpick, then slowly pull out the little darling. All twisty and intestinal looking, probably because it's actually a digestive tract of sorts. No pictures of that because everyone's hands were covered in snail guts. Yum...