Why do we love cookies?
Why do we love cookies? Or more precisely the home-baked ones? Because there’s no bakery around to spoil us with the really good ones!
I have this obsession with baking from scratch. I truly believe in the healthier version of things. We use fresh milk at home, and whenever a thick layer of cream forms on top after boiling, I strain it and save it. I use that cream in all kinds of baking: straight up, instead of butter.
Now, if you're thinking I’m about to teach you some amazing baking recipe, absolutely not. I’ve reached that stage where I just eyeball everything. Sugar, flour, you name it. No measuring cups, no exact proportions. I’m not bragging... it’s just instinct now. Is there even such a thing as “baking on a whim”?
There’s always something running in the background of my mind... and in that state, I start tossing ingredients together, mixing them, and just putting the tray in the oven, for the rest to take care of itself. These are strange, scattered days...
Take these cookies, for example. Something my better half said really bothered me. Instead of getting into an argument or a discussion, I just got up and started baking. It’s a good way to vent. I don’t get angry anymore... or maybe life has just taken a completely different tangent.
A quiet stillness. A steady temperament.
But even that; baking on a whim, lately, hasn’t been enough...
These days, I find myself yearning for something more than the scent of vanilla or cocoa powder to soothe me. I want distance too.
I don’t want to impress anyone anymore. I just move at my own rhythm, doing things for my children, for myself, my husband. So many things that used to get under my skin don’t anymore. Every twist life takes, every worry, every small success — it all slowly shifts the way you see the world.
There comes a point when a person becomes a little selfish, or maybe, a little selfless. Perhaps that’s where I’ve arrived now. Some things feel meaningless, while others have quietly lost their importance.
Or maybe the mountains are calling me...
I want to run to the mountains, near waterfalls. I want to leave behind all this noise, the chaos of cities, the routines, the constant buzz of life. I’ll return, of course. But right now, I need a break.
A break from this routine, but definitely not from my loved ones. Erm... Maybe just a change of scenery!
It's not that I am sad or anything. I’m ever so grateful for this life, for everything. And deep down, I know, in two or three years, the things that bother me now will be completely irrelevant. I know this.
But still, we have to live in the present… entangled in its worries and burdens.
The very thing that unsettles us today might not even exist tomorrow. Things change so quickly these days.
Sometimes, I don’t even know whether to be thankful that the worry passed...
or to be stunned by how fast everything shifted. Even problems change their methods of arrival every single day.
Maybe this is what life is...
What feels important today might suddenly lose all meaning tomorrow.
But one thing’s for sure:
my rigidity of not following recipes will remain strong. Some habits never change...
So yes, it started with cookies and somehow ended up in the mountains. But what can I say: everything’s connected, isn’t it? Cookies, life, and everything in between.