Some things have no explanation
My Love For The Magic Of Baking From The Forest To You
An unexpected visit from the other world…thank you, mama
You can read this story for free here.
One day unexpected things happen. The next moment you realize you are baking challah bread (kalacs) for about 35 people in a commercial kitchen in a lodge in the woods.
Let's take a step back shall we so I can tell you this amazing story that happened to me a week ago. I was in North Bend, Washington at a workshop next to the beautiful Mount Si in a deep forest. We were learning about Mirroring practices and the four shields. During our 3rd practice which was Saturday afternoon, I felt very tired all of a sudden.
The task was to go outside and explore nature for the question we had as a prompt. I felt sick. My stomach was killing me. I went up to my room thinking I rest for a few minutes then join the rest of the group outside exploring nature. That did not work out so well.
I was in a lot of pain. I laid down on a wool blanket from Scotland and covered myself with a wool blanket from India. I wanted nature around me even if I was not outside and the wool blankets took me closer to nature. They were warm and comfortable.
I closed my eyes for a few minutes — so I thought — and I started to think about the assignment. All of a sudden I slid into another dimension probably dozing off and I found myself as an eagle high up in the sky looking down from above to the forest below. Looking at things from another perspective. It was very interesting. I had been walking the forest bed below for many days now. I got a different view from above.
There is more to that story…for another time. After flying like an eagle I heard my grandmother's (mama) voice.
“You need to bake kalacs for everyone” “Come on now, get up they need you, hama, hama (quick, quick) — shortening of the word hamar in Hungarian meaning quickly. Even in my vision or dream, I was thinking, mama, come on how can I make kalacs for this many people, even when I am not feeling well?
She said, “Just get up and do it”. Then, I started to think about logistics in my dream and how it could be possible. Since I never said no to my grandmother. I figured she had her reasons for instructing me to do something. My grandmother was a very good baker and cook. I loved everything she made. I shared her recipe on Medium before. Sadly only 2 views..but oh well. It is what it is…The recipe was also in my car in the book I wrote Darkness and Light.
I thought that it was interesting that I had the book with me with the recipe inside. Still, I thought this was a pretty impossible task. After our sharing circle and mirroring reflection one of the participants came up to me and said:
“Can we make this happen? Can we make the bread your grandmother asked you to bake?”
I said: “ I am not sure. I am willing to try and ask the chef to see if this would be possible.”
I went to talk to the chef and he was very inspired by my story and offered up his kitchen and all the ingredients to make kalacs. We did some math and figured 4 times the original recipe should work. The chef helped me get all the ingredients, showed me where the equipment area and how they work and I went to get my book to start to put things together. I had a wonderful helper to mix things and prepare the dough and two additional people later to help with the braiding of the kalacs.
Throughout this whole time, I am thinking: “Are you sure? “ Are we really doing this? “
The original recipe I used from Mama can be found in the article below
The images below show the process of gathering ingredients, looking at the recipe, the mixed dough before rising, the dough before it was braided, and the cooling kalacs. We ended up using two big baking sheets and 3 small circular baking pans. I wanted everything to be a circle as we have been in a circle in our workshop and incorporating event and this symbol would be part of the process as we cut the kalacs the next day together before we break our circle and depart after spending 5 days together in ceremony and outside in nature.
I never used such a big machine, large pans, and a commercial oven before. I was hoping if this is meant to be things will go well. They did go well. It was about a 2.5–3 hour process to get everything done and it was about 10 pm by the time everything was completed.
In the images below you can see the braided kalacs before heading into the oven and while it was baking in the oven. After everything cooled down slowly by the next morning. I got to the kitchen early and placed the kalacs on decorative trays. One of my secret helpers in braiding the kalacs was Debbee Aquila Maraglio-Lynn (PhD). Thank you Debbee. The kalacs would have not been the same without your helping hands.
Some people knew about this process and many did not and it was a surprise the next morning. I had many people come up to me with awe and memories of their grandparents or parents making kalacs. My secret helper was very happy as he used to work in a bakery and baking kalacs together brought back great memories for him.
Many people took parts of the kalacs home to share with friends and family or to make French toast with it at home the next day. I received a lot of thank you’s that day. There were enough kalacs for kitchen stuff as well. I hope they enjoyed it.
There is something beautiful about sharing baked goods and memories together. I am not sure exactly why I got this message to bake kalacs from my grandmother. I saw how it brought people together. I saw the smiles and memories.
I saw magic unfolding from the baked bread. Thank you mama for watching out for humanity even from the beyond and sending me messages nudging me to do things to bring people together.
I hope this story brings you inspiration,
Thank you for reading,
Gabriella
More recipes from Gabriella
If you like my writing, please follow me here, Subscribe to the Medium platform using my link here, and Buy me a coffee here. My Books are available on my website, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Draft2Digital here. Gabriella on Newsbreak here.Visit Gabriella’s artist store on Redbubble here.
Did you know we are making another book together?
Recommended readings below:
Writing and Medium tips from DR Rawson - The Possibilist
Magical moments in Hawaii and at the Oregon Coast from Suzie Alexander
More about our Friendship book by Dr. Preeti Singh
May your day be joyful and full of love. GK