Self discovery oddly enough via Pinterest

I'm not an avid pinner. I have a few boards. One is for characters in my books, one is for books I like. One I called "Food I Will Likely Never Make" because I'm a big one for looking but not actually doing -- as I suspect a lot of pinterest is.

The food page is where I made my self discovery. I opened the board for the first time looking for something I thought I'd put there that maybe I would consider making depending on the ingredients. What I discovered is that I am obsessed by the same basic foods.

I have pinned several versions of macaroni and cheese. I know, what am I 12?! Oh comfort food, I love you.

I would have admitted before looking at this that I like cinnamon rolls. Based on the board, I have to say I REALLY like cinnamon rolls. The shameful revelation is that I've never made them and my vehement pinning of cinnamon rolls is the hunt for a recipe that will finally be easy enough that I will actually try. I often eat cinnamon rolls and think I want MORE cinnamon. It seems that I secretly dream of a day when I find a recipe that doesn't involve raising, waiting two hours and kneading etc. but allows for easy mix up dough and LOTS of cinnamon. Disclaimer: I'm living in a country that doesn't have cinnamon rolls (except for Starbucks) so this may be part of my obsession. 

I pin a lot of enchilada related things. Enchilada soup, avocado enchiladas, chicken for enchiladas in the crockpot. If I go to a Mexican restaurant, I often order burritos so this is intriguing that I pin enchilada related things. I do love anything in the Mexican/tex-mex genre. On a side note: I have NOT pinned the four billion versions of adding things to guacamole. Why mess with something that is pretty much perfect? Corn and goat cheese in my guac? No, thanks. But I digress.

I have pinned frozen desserts that don't require an ice cream maker. Granted I've at least chosen two different flavors but I see a pattern again. Few ingredients and a pan in the freezer. I'm looking for the easy dessert fix apparently.

Overnight French Toast is another biggie with me I hadn't realized. Not sure I'm a fan of french toast to the point of obsession and repeated pinning, but I think the truth is, I love the idea of breakfast just being there when I get up on weekends. So the idea of french toast in a crock pot that would be all gooey and ready is appealing. I tried a breakfast egg casserole in the crock pot a few months ago for dinner. Turns out my crock pot here in Spain cooks super hot and scorched the heck out of those eggs in about 6 hours instead of 8. So much for the overnight idea. Scorched french toast just isn't as appealing, nor is getting up at, say, 3 am to turn it on so it's not scorched by morning. This is probably not going to happen. Ever. Thanks goodness for my significant other making muffins, smoothies and such! whew.

A lot of my recipe pins are crock pot ones, as I'm apparently on the trail of homemade food that I don't have to spend much time making happen. I want to eat well I just don't want to participate much. It's another pattern I didn't know was there.

The one trait I'm a bit horrified to admit that the pattern shows is I want it easy and effortless. I wish I was one of those people that enjoys the process and the art. That would seem more noble. I just like to eat yummy-ness but prefer minimal effort which doesn't always go together I find.

I wonder if everyone could go to wherever they hoard recipes and find a pattern? Do you have any food obsessions that you KNOW about or will it come out in some public forum someday?

 

Camraderie

Do you ever have instant rapport with someone? It's usually an evening of conversation that establishes some new acquaintance into something more, but occasionally something clicks instantly.

I think sharing a common experience creates instant bonds if not friendships. It seems that parents of the same age children often have a bond, if somewhat tentative, by the shared experience of having a toddler. Often people of different ages might bond over having attended the same university or school. Is it friendship or does the shared experience just give you something to talk about instantly, thus filling the conversational gap?

I don't know but I have noticed a few times lately and instant rapport with people I had only just met. With the missionary crowd, you generally keep running into each other at missions conventions or pastor meetings and such. It's the same series of questions usually and the same commiserations over our shared experience of fund raising and calling churches. It's almost humorous. I noticed it particularly on the East Coast because suddenly I was a newbie at the conventions coming in from the outside and yet we had the same conversations like we were old friends.

Recently I met someone who had spent several months in Spain learning the language. So, bing, instant connections. In the course of an afternoon of conversation, we found we had other things in common too and much to talk about, but that shared past experience was the basis for that new connection.

What triggers an instant connection for you?

Together or Apart?

So I'm spending some time on my own in New England. Things happen all the time that I think, oh I should tell someone...funny things, odd things, strange events.

I started thinking are things better experienced together or apart? With the risk of sounding a bit like a sesame street episode: together or apart? Together - sometimes you are busy with your own conversation or your own stuff and you don't notice things. But...together sometimes you can see something and just give each other a look and know that weird guy in aisle 5 caught both your eyes. Is it funnier together or apart? Because sometimes things get funnier in the retelling. I don't retell something when I saw it with someone but I might retell it to a third party thus expanding the funny factor. So together or separate?

I've noticed sometimes I get an artistic eye when things quiet down or I look around more in general when I don't have anyone to talk to (guilty of being of talker). I went on a walking tour this week without a companion on the tour with me and I found myself trying to be creative with the camera (didn't turn out but I tried).

I know my significant other has said he saw a lot of sites in Europe by himself in the Army and it was less satisfying because there wasn't anyone to share it with, so I suppose it depends on where and when.

I know I found myself laughing this week a few times even though I was by myself - so things are still funny even though I'm by myself. Maybe that makes them funnier because then I'm the crazy lady by myself laughing out loud. So I can see good on both sides: the together side and the apart one. Maybe the trick for everyone is not too much of either one.

Friends, not the TV show

Thanks. This morning I was sort of struggling and I took time out to read everyone's blogs and I feel better. It is so refreshing to remember my friends and the life that exists beyond the one that I live in here. Sometimes work and private life become one in our lives here and you can get stuck and not see outside the bubble. You all are part of life outside the bubble and it feels really good. It felt for me almost like we all just hung out for the evening and I came away feeling good. I think that is a sign of an extrovert - to be refreshed by interaction with others!

We have friends here and we do have evenings of laughter and hanging out and that is very important to me. I hung out with Spanish speakers two evenings this week which is also a mental work out - following and participating in a conversation in another language. Losing the thread of things and trying to find it again. Sometimes in the middle of those moments I suddenly think - wow I understand. And then I immediately lose it because I broke concentration. For obvious reasons, that's not always as refreshing as hanging out with old friends.

We have a constant turn over here at the office. A girl we'd hung out with a lot the last few years went home for good in December. A couple we've done a lot with for the last year, practically every weekend, will leave in a couple weeks. They are young marrieds and I'm not sure we would have been their first pick for hanging out but they weren't allowed to drive and liked to get out and do things, so they came with us a lot. It's been fun and we'll miss them.

The mix at work is three couples in the 60ish range, and now with the new marrieds leaving, three couples between 36 - 44 age. I have a sort of weird dilemma at times of wanting to include two or three couples but not wanting to include all, but since there aren't a lot of us; it can be viewed as exclusion. (and occasionally lectured about at work...) The other side of that is if we just do things with one couple all the time, we could be viewed as a click. Another couple isn't in the habit of being social but asked me to help them be more conscious and involved. In reality I know I'm a grown up and I can invite who I want but I don't want to hurt feelings or be perceived as exclusionary. This would not be an issue if we weren't all in the same office so that annoys me too.

Anyway...all that to say I miss my friends even though you're not all in KC anymore. It's just good to know you're out there.