Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about creativity and where it comes from. What is creativity? What makes a person creative? Is there a way to increase creativity? How is your brain involved? Genetics? Your environment? Is it problem-solving or making art?
There are many books on the subject, I’ve listened to some good ones and stopped listening to some really bad ones. Most recently, I started reading DAVID AND GOLIATH by Malcolm Gladwell, and so far it has me even more fixated on the topic. I’m not far yet, but the publishers tell me that “Malcolm Gladwell challenges how we think about obstacles and disadvantages, offering a new interpretation of what it means to be discriminated against, or cope with a disability, or lose a parent, or attend a mediocre school, or suffer from any number of other apparent setbacks.” Read the full book description from Hatchett Book Group.
In interviews that I’ve seen with Gladwell discussing his newest book, he often mentions that in a successful entrepreneurs, the percentage that have been diagnosed with a learning disorder is often very high. He suggests that when people can’t do things the way everyone else does, they are empowered to trying to do something different or new. I like that. People are empowered to take the road less traveled. You may end up with some lemons along the way, but you can also end up with lemonade.
On my drive home last night, I realized that this creative empowerment applies to food as well. A recent postcard from California Girl revealed that she had cracked her recipe for caramel sauce. She has been trying to eliminate refined sugar from her diet and the caramel sauce was her latest challenge. I should mention that California Girl loves sugar and would most happily eat the real thing, but unfortunately can’t. Through this dietary transition, she has created an opportunity to experiment with a variety of ingredients and has come up with some yummy recipes instead of living a life less sweet.
She calls it her “Touchy Feely Caramel Sauce” since she eyeballs the measurements and as you can see on her postcard, she hasn’t been afraid to eat a few lemons along the way (it really wasn’t that bad):
California Girl’s Touchy Feely Caramel Sauce:
1 part honey or agave
1 part whipped cream
¼ part butter or coconut oil
Caramelize honey (aka: get it to boiling for about 10-15 minutes)
Add cream, boil for about 10-15 minutes more
Add butter/oil and lower to simmering, stir well.
Add a little vanilla, a dash of salt and voilà! Breakfast!*
* (1/2 cup honey, 1/2 cup cream and 2 TBS fat = 1 batch of apple pie drizzle)
I have not tested this recipe yet, but it’s definitely on the list. I hope you’ll make an opportunity for some creative experimentation and give it a try! And now, time for me to get back to reading “David and Goliath.”
Related articles
- Malcolm Gladwell on 60 Minutes: The Power of the Underdog (tbbmedia.wordpress.com)
- November 2013 Business Book: Outliers By Malcolm Gladwell (originphotoblog.com)
