This week, in honour of the spirit of Christmas and general non-denominational holiday goodwill, tilt is all about things that money can't buy. In no particular order, as always:
- Baking. I have rediscovered the joy of baking since reintroducing wheat into my diet, and I have been having SO MUCH FUN I can barely stand it! My boyfriend definitely benefits ("Here, have another slice of cake before it dries out..."; "Let me make you some coffee, I think you need a snack to go with your coffee."), as does anyone that I am visiting this season (boyfriend's family got these for Christmas eve). Gluten-free baking can definitely be done successfully, and vegan baking can be done successfully, but it's a rare occasion where both of these things meet and don't taste, er, healthy. Or more likely, where they meet and don't end in complete disaster, the kind of disaster where loaves of bread weigh 12 lbs and need you to put your shoulder into it to slice off a piece (let's not even talk about that). My biggest fear in gluten-free baking was the cost. Four-cup bags of flour for eight dollars don't lend themselves to experimentation, and honestly, it was just cheaper for me to avoid grains entirely. I've spent the last three years away from baking, which I had only just started to discover, and I didn't realise until I started doing it again that I really, really missed it a lot.
- Family. This year we spent the pre-Christmas frenzy with my boyfriend's family. It was a difficult time - my boyfriend's uncle passed away just over a week ago (hence no tilt last week) - so it felt more poignant somehow, more significant and urgent that we visit and let everyone know that we care. I am truly blessed to have an extended family that welcomes me without prejudice and with such warmth and genuine interest and caring - and I am not the type to throw the term 'blessed' around so you know it's the real deal. Of course, my family is no less important. They are smaller in numbers, and sometimes frustrating in the way that only relatives can be ("What do you mean, you can cook me fish instead? I'm vegan! I don't eat animals! A fish is an animal!" - true story that made me feel like I was 16 all over again), but they have big hearts and have helped to shape me into the person that I am today.
- Friends. Somehow December has been a total dud for seeing my wonderful friends, but I am determined to make January and February the new December. I am not a person who has a lot of friends, but the few people I count among my friends are very important to me and I am extremely fortunate to have them in my life.
- Cats. Okay, so they wake me up at 4:00am, they eat paper, they sleep in my clothes, they knock things off shelves and are pretty much the reason I don't want grown-up (read: expensive) furniture. And this is why I love them so much. Elvis, Fidel and Morgan, you probably scared away potential suitors who took me for one of those types (the social message of a single girl with three cats is not lost on me), and for that I thank you because you have made me more tolerant, more understanding, more caring and more appreciative of the small things.
- Music. Not albums, radio, MP3s, but just notes strung together into an order that commits to memory.
No comments:
Post a Comment