Cinnamon rolls and fairy tales: appreciating basal pleasures
Princess and the Pea...enjoy basal pleasures that nurture the soul. (p.249)
As I emerge from 5 years of deep fairy tale interplay with paintbrush and prose, I’m realizing that life outside the studio can be just as creative as what goes on at the drawing table. At one time I wouldn’t have thought that everyday tasks could actually be microcosms of an internal story. But I’ve grown to think life is literary assemblage–with everything we do having the potential to serve as a plot device: facing challenges, problem solving, redemption, accomplishment and all the other human nigglings that encompass our daily existence. Maybe we don’t feel like we’re performing some stage-worthy monologue as we talk aloud while writing the grocery list or grumbling under the weight of bills yet paid, but we can learn to feel a certain amount of satisfaction and perhaps significance in the basic things we do.
I was particularly struck by this while (believe it or not) kneading dough for cinnamon buns. Anyone who makes baked goods from scratch will tell you how consuming and labor intensive it can be. One may either dismiss it as yet another chore or one can assume the attitude that there is something very gratifying about creating food with one’s bare hands. To see one’s dough rise, the patience, the anticipation, …you get my drift. I do think about the little tasks with more reverence now. Picking fruit from a tree has a lot of symbolic significance and represents the end of a cycle. Gathering flowers and foraging food appears in many a fairy tale. It’s a basic human inclination yet sometimes we forget that these seemingly simple activities have deep roots making for good, timeless plot devices.
The cinnamon rolls are made by rolling out the dough, covering it with filling (sugar, spice and everything nice) and rolling it up into a neat little blanket of deliciousness. Aren’t fairy tale tomes the same way? When opening up a collection of stories, you know it’s going to be filled with all manner of enticing tales. And when the cinnamon rolls are placed in oven, they expand and turn golden and become more voluminous forms of their basic ingredients. That is how I feel when I read a fairy tale book–the stories can be expansive and satisfying filling my being with essential nourishment that I can carry over into all areas of my life. I really believe fairy tales are all around us; the good, the bad, the beautiful and the ugly. If we can remember to see our own daily activities and events as snippets of wonderful story, then we can feel a deeper awareness of those things that compose who we are in our entirety. Our identity is not dependent on profound triumphs or abject failures, but it is all the little experiences along the way, no matter how small they may seem.
~Lisa
Heh – I love the ‘not every baking experience has a happy ending’ – so true!
My microcosm experiences mostly happen outside in the garden – the whole alchemy of earth, air, water and fire (sunshine) that works on the tiniest of seeds and transforms them into lush growing things that provide beauty, scent and sustenance… The truest kind of magic to me!
So very true.
And Im always impressed when I find someone that can bake from scratch. How great. =)
Im a fan of cinnamon rolls and those look fantastic!
Nice princess and the pea, really fond of the drawing.
Aw I love this blog post Lisa, it feels almost as though you are waking up from your fairy tale dream & coming back to the real world to tell us all about it !
And you may see me as a ‘Beatrix Potter’ character with my vegetable garden (hehe…I love that by the way, having grown up on Beatrix Potter tales & collecting things with her artwork on!), but I am now seeing you as the fairy tale lady…who can make every little part of life as meaningful & enjoyable as the tales she tells (& paints!)
And those cinamon buns look delicious!!!
xxx
Hi Monica:
I love your description of the microcosmic adventures in your kitchen! Yes, baking is an adventure with beginning, middle and end. Not all recipes have happy endings, but it’s the journey along the way that incites creativity and a sense of accomplishment. I do love cooking and baking from scratch and rarely purchase processed or prepared foods. Acquiring instant food takes the fun out of eating for me. I’m not even very big on going to restaurants, though on the occasion that I do go, I try to order fare that seems challenging to prepare. And sometimes I get inspired by culinary creations prepared by others.
Melanie, I’m so glad you love the Princess and the Pea. It was a challenge to capture the princess high off the ground on this impossible bed–with her expression of discomfort (despite being on top of a pile of fluffy feather beds) helping to relay the story. But it was great fun! BTW, I love painting quilts and greatly admire those that can actually make them!
I love baking too. Nothing like the scent of it wafting around the house!
And I LOVE your princess and the pea painting! I’m really into the princess and the pea at the moment, wanting to make my granddaughter a wall quilt or a painting of it.
Ah I’m glad that you appreciate baking and cooking from scratch as much as I do. There’s something about the ability to craft something with your hands, watch it grow and progress, and finally see the finished result and be able to taste it’s sweet success, that exudes a calm but satisfactory feeling. I love baking, and have yet to see it as a chore. I see each recipe as a microcosmic adventure within my own kitchen. I love your analogy describing fairy tales as recipes themselves. Every tale is unique and delicious in its own way. Some are simple and sugary sweet as a sugar cookie, and look plain on the outside, but once tasted, provide one of the most delicious and rewarding flavors that so many fairy tales have to offer.