Something Near Therapy

By the time Thanksgiving break rolled around this year, I was pretty desperate for a few extra days of rest and family time. After breakfast on Thanksgiving morning, I put on an apron, ready to tackle what for some might feel like a chore, but for me is something near therapy. I am referring to the important business of pie baking.

Part of baking is the exact science of grams and heat, leveling scoops of flour, measuring out hunks of butter. On the other hand, mixing it all together taps into that baker’s intuition of when the dough just feels right. It unlocks the same type of builder brain I once engaged rolling out slabs of clay to make ceramics. At some point the hands take over, and my mind can let go. Just give me a warm kitchen and a rolling pin, and I can get lost in the process.

sweet potato pecan pie

That morning I rolled out five balls of dough for pumpkin, cherry and sweet potato pecan pies. With each lump of dough transformed, another layer of stress melted away.

And I haven’t gotten even gotten to the pie-eating part yet.

This post is part of Think Kit by SmallBox
Today’s prompt: “What did you do this year when things got hectic? How did you unwind?”