One Apple A Day #1060
"Hey grandma, how much sugar do I have to use in this cake?"
"Just enough!"
This one above was a typical conversation in my grandma kitchen.
After so many years baking my favourite cake, she didn't have a proper recipe. She just knew, or I should say sense, how much of each ingredient to add. She didn't even set the timer on the hoven. Just by looking at the cake, she knew when it was ready.
And the result was always perfect.
In Italy, you'll find the phrase "quanto basta" in many recipes.
It means just enough or as needed of that ingredient.
When you are trying a new recipe, that "just enough" can be daunting. Enough for who and to do what?
However, once you get over your worries, you discover that it's a beautiful opportunity to practice your presence. Being present to yourself and what you're doing is the only way to know when enough is "just enough".
This expression, "quanto basta", came up twice in the last three days: different conversations, different people, different situations. Yet, the idea was the same. There are situations in which defining an objective amount of something is impossible. There are two many factors involved, many of them hard to measure. In those cases, we must learn to sense what is needed.
To do so, however, it takes presence and courage.
Presence to sense the unmeasurable and courage to follow our guts feeling.