China, hanxia, synchronicity - spelt and carob loaf that is a step from the norm, but still familiar


Let me ask you something, do you believe in synchronicity? Do you believe the universe sometimes conspires to lead us along a route, a pre-determinied way, steering us in one direction or another? Do you believe some things are meant to be? I've always thought so. And whenever I look back on my life, I do find - with that awesome power hindsight gives us - that life, the universe, whatever, steered me in a certain, specific direction where it comes to me becoming a full time author. Because of that, I promised myself I'd start paying more attention to certains coincidences, certain details, certain little signs. Because it might be nudging me to something really good, and if I don't pay attention, I might just miss it. And I don't want to miss out on things that enrich me, make me soar, help me grow, give me wings. I don't want to miss out on something that might just be it, know what I mean?


So let me tell you a little story, here. Last March, before we went into lockdown, I was browsing through Pinterest - as one does, to settle one's brain and search for inspiration, right? No? Just me? Okay, then... - when a certain image pops into my feed. It was a photo of an Asian looking young man, with long white hair, wearing some sort of Japanese kimono and holding an umbrella. That image instantly translated into a character in my mind (used in a certain fantasy duology about kings and princes who want to change their world). Of course I started browsing for other images alike, and all of a sudden I was lost inside a black hole that led me to discover the manhua Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation/ The Founder of Diabolism, and from there to the Chinese TV Drama The Untamed, was a very short leap. I started watching the show while frantically searching for the novel Mo Dao Zu Shi by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu, and fell into the fandom like a fifteen year old - I swear it's that good! 


And this opened up a world I had not foreseen. Rewind this all a lot of years into my past, I have mentioned often the connections my family had with China and especially Macao, here on this blog, so I'm not going into it. Suffice it to say, I've always been fascinated by Chinese culture, history, aesthetics. I got married in a red Chinese dress, need I say more? I'm obsessed with Chinese cinema, especially if it's Chen Kaige, Zhang Yimou and Wong Kar-Wai. When I was my son's age, my favourite show was Young Shaolin Heroes, I had a huge crush on Bruce Lee, have seen most Jet Li films, you get what I mean. But somehow along the way, I lost touch with this. And I have so little knowledge of Chinese fantasy novels. Discovering hanxia and xianxia was like a breath of fresh air, not just because I've been tired of western literature for sometime, I've also been exhausted of western television. Coming across shows like The Untamed, Dance of the Phoenix, Ever Night, has made my imagination soar wildly. Reading Mo Dao Zu Shi has opened new horizons for me. This has brought me inspiration beyond my beliefs, and a longing, a desire to experiment with new things. New universes, new worlds, new fantasies.


All this to say that, thanks to that photo popping up on my Pinterest feed, I found myself drawn to things I would probably kept on ignoring. I wouldn't have come into contact with things as unusual for me as Cultivation novels, or Chinese period dramas that weren't directed by the big names of years gone by. This has led to my imagination soar and pull forth a different kind of story, set in a different kind of universe from what I usually pen down. Inspired by hanxia and xianxia, fed by the tales of Cultivation and their demonic counterparts, I've penned down a little tale that for me, it is such a delight. Of course my characters are still angsty as hell, and disturbed, and twisted. There's still violence and self-doubt, forbidden loves, unexpected friendships, people who can't deal with their emotions, blurred moralities - or it wouldn't be a book by me! But it's been so refreshing stepping away from western canon fantasy and diving head first into this newfound world of possibilities that already a new story is brewing in my mind and I'm sizzling with ideas. When I was becoming stale and trapped inside the same old, same old, the universe comes and offers me this, how can I not believe in synchronicity?


All this to say, sometimes we need a breath of fresh air, we need to let in the new, the unexpected, the different. Like these cupcakes. I wasn't a fan of carob until I tried the flour on cupcakes and became addicted. Pair it with spelt and it's a boost in flavour and aroma you won't be able to resist. Just like pairing Western genres to Eastern fantasy styles has been a boost in my imagination and creativity. Here's how to get yours:
  • 200 gr bread flour
  • 100 gr spelt flour
  • 50 gr carob flour
  • 7 gr baker's yeast
  • 200 ml lukewarm water
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tbsp vegetable oil - and here you can go nuts, incorporate a world of flavour.
Turn your oven at 180ª. Pour the water and the oil into a bowl. Mix the salt with the flours on another bowl and crumble the yeast into it. Mix together then add the dry ingredients to the wet. Knead for about fifteen to twenty minutes - or use an electrict implement, of course. The hook on your stand up mixer will do the work nicely. - until dough is soft. Let it proof inside the bowl covered with a kitchen towel, inside a dark cupboard, until it's doubled it's size. Pour onto a flour-covered surface and knead for a few minutes, place in a loaf tin that's been lined with parchement paper and allow to proof for at least another half hour. Then pop it in the oven with the fan on for the first twenty-minutes. Once the bread is golden on top, pop it off the tin and place it in the oven tray for another ten minutes or until the sides make a hollow sound when you tap them. Allow to cool before you serve.


Comments

  1. that is so awesome! and i do believe in that for sure.

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