How to be an April Fool
Your First Invitation
Sweet April Fool:
Join us in a picnic: Alone.
As we build new rituals for self-reflection and joy, we’ve been exploring the way food and thoughtful experiences can help us know ourselves better. Join us for food and adventure, with more poetic foodie rituals to come.
This April First, we’re giving ourselves the gift of a few foolhardy hours — for one. Stroll with us into downtime. Celebrate your insightful self, in reflection.
If you like, you could pack a light snack. Nothing fancy. Keep it simple. Try this recipe for Innocent Oats. Then wander out the door: no lists, no devices, no agendas, no cars. Unscheduled. Time for human Being.
Want to join us? Walk for a bit, sit in a park, dapple under a tree in the sun. Observe your neighborhood, your self: no need to buy or rush. Just imagine. Simply. Firstly. Foolishly. Enjoy Your Sweet Self.
Happy April Fool’s Day.
Foliday for Aspiring Sages
Before the lists make you less
Be so foolish and blessed
That you step through April’s first door
When you stroll this direction
Dance a mile’s introspection
You walk, just alone, into more
You pick up your blessings
And filter out messings
As you reach out to open a door
Praise no sales in your dawning
As you stroll through a morning
You are boundless and footloose, and free
Stepping into your dance
By the grace of your chance
You know there is no guarantee
You are choosing to breeze
You are walking with ease
You are whittling ‘way time chamomile
You are a shower of firsts
You are a flicker of bursts
Stroll-fully blurring in style
Will you quench in reflection?
Shine out your full spectrum?
Will you wander and wonder undone?
Bake your self some sweet oats
Bind your bindle with hopes
Glow out with a tree in the sun.
Recipe: Innocent Oats
How foolish — to do something, without a purpose, just for you. Go ahead, rush in. Forget to read the whole recipe before boldly greasing your baking pan. Take a risk.
For you Sweet Fool, this recipe may be the beginning. Are you okay with making innocent blunders and indulging in optimistic substitutions? Can you roll with it, when occasionally, things get sticky and overheated? Would you like to experience more crunchy adventure?
You probably have everything you need — let’s check:
Ingredients:
Cooking spray or oil
½ cup maple syrup
½ cup nut butter
2 bananas
1 ½ cups of rolled oats
¼ cup flour
½ cup shredded coconut
⅓ cup chopped or small dried fruit
¼ cup flaxseed
1 tsp vanilla essence
½ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground cloves
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees — consider this is a warm omen of good things to come.
2. Line an 8 x 8 in square pan with parchment paper, aluminum foil, or whatever else helps keep you unstuck.
3. Mix up a bowl of sweet mystery until it’s blended, or you are, whichever happens first.
½ cup of maple syrup, agave, or molasses
½ cup nut butter, any nut butter you’d like
2 mashed bananas
4. Recklessly sprinkle in other ingredients.
1 ½ cups of rolled oats
¼ of any flour (oat, rye, whole wheat, gluten free)
½ cup shredded coconut (or shredded carrots or apples)
⅓ cup chopped or small dried fruit (I like cranberries and currants)
¼ cup flaxseed, hemp seed, or other seeds of inspiration
1 tsp vanilla essence
½ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground cloves (or other spices that pique your curiosity)
5. Spoon the mixture into a carefully prepared pan (or a barely prepared pan — it’s up to you. We’re not judging).
6. At this point in time, your life may seem thick and sticky. Keep calm.
7. Hold your spatula like a wand, take a deep cleansing breath and press it in smoothing waves across your troubled surface. It also helps if you do this to the mixture.
8. Place the pan in the pre-heated oven.
9. Wonder about the future for 40 minutes. (Remember, you can never really know how things will turn out in any recipe, especially not this one…)
Use a toothpick to check the mixture is fully cooked. If the toothpick comes out dry, it’s a good sign.
Let your baking cool before cutting it into bars.
Your snack bars are a parcel of nourishing wonder. Take them with you as you step out the door and have a sweet time for one.
