Stirring

It's remarkable when a sudden realization occurs which changes something you've done a certain way for a long time.  I was making a batch of lava field brownies.  Part of the process is a furious stirring of the brownie batter which must be done for long enough and with enough energy to create a specific texture and consistency, and I always prefer to do it by hand since using a mixer doesn't generate the result I'm looking for.  I love these brownies, but I don't particularly look forward to this part of making them.  It's simply not easy.  Well, as I made this batch, I stumbled onto a way to make that part of the process easier.

As I began stirring the batter and started to rev up the pace, I was thinking about how challenging it was to get all the batter from the sides of the bowl while still maintaining the energy of the process.  I took a few swipes around the side of the bowl with the curved-tip spatula I was using.  And entirely by accident, I found that by holding the bowl a certain way and pushing the spatula into the side of the bowl that was also pressed up against me, I was able to turn the bowl directly into the motion of the spatula in a way that quite of lot of force and speed was generated while at the same time allowing me to clean the side of the bowl and push all the batter into the center.  I was amazed at how much easier it was to generate that force and consequently how much less time it seemed to take.

Now, in reality it still required the same amount of time, but since I wasn't expending as much energy it seemed to go much more quickly.  It still requires a good amount of energy but the difference is enough that I was excited by the discovery.  I will need to test it a few more times to really be confident that it will work the way I want it to each time.  However, there was no doubt that the batter achieved the texture and consistency I needed, and the brownies came out just as I wanted.

It illustrates an important fact.  Sometimes we think we know the best way to do something, and we are so confident that we are deaf to others' suggestions or blind to possibilities that might be apparent if we weren't so stubborn.  It's always important to me personally that I give myself opportunities to try things in new ways, whether that's a new interpretation of Beethoven's Waldstein Sonata or a new twist on preparing brownies.  No matter what the activity, it means allowing myself to learn something new, even if it fails.  But when it succeeds..... eureka!