4 am Granola and Musings on Couch Surfing

During my time in Ariège, I noticed that friends and neighbors of the farmers seemed extremely receptive to hospitality. After stopping by in the afternoon to drop off some honey, the bee keeper readily accepted Luc’s offering of tea and a seat at the kitchen table. Then Luc’s brother and another friend stopped by and sat down to enjoy some dark chocolate and tea with honey, and soon the table was filled with new faces, all catching up and enjoying one another’s company. Interestingly, when I was offered tea at the farmer’s parents’ house, I politely (or so I thought) refused the offer with a sweet “oh no thank you, I’m okay.” In so doing, I think, I failed to humble myself to accept the kind offering, perhaps subconsciously unwilling to put myself in a place of indebtedness to these lovely strangers. After some more prodding I eventually accepted the offer which, in hindsight, I wish I had accepted immediately. Reflecting upon the experience, I realize that my initial rejection of the tea was only a small representation of a larger tendency of mine to refuse the hospitality and generosity of others. This is problematic for various reasons, as it hints at a prideful spirit that may keep me from leaning into community and reciprocal relationships.

After coming to this realization I resolved to begin to humble myself and accept hospitality. I aspired to one day be able to jump onto couch surfer and just stay with whoever, learning their stories and building random friendships. I didn’t think I could dive into that immediately, however, and wondered how I could start in a more gradual or manageable fashion. Interestingly, I had already planned to stay with two different friends during the week that I returned from Europe. This, I realized, was to be the first step on my journey to gracefully accepting the generosity of fellow humans.

I flew into Atlanta on a Monday and arrived at Lauren’s apartment just before she left for her restaurant job. She quickly showed me around and welcomed me to help myself to anything in the fridge or cupboards, and to come and go as I pleased, then departed for work with the promise of returning by 11. I did my laundry and took a shower and organized my things. I tentatively intended to wait up for Lauren, but it didn’t take long before the jet lag set in and I quickly began to fade. Even though she insisted that I could take what I wanted, it was uncomfortable eating out of my friend’s fridge when I was already sleeping on her couch and using her shower. Nonetheless, I helped myself to a little bit of hummus and carrots before making my bed on the couch and falling asleep.

The following day I woke up accidentally at 4 am because of the jet lag, and the day after that I faced the same problem. I walked on tip toes to use the bathroom, afraid of being an annoying guest and waking Lauren down the hall. I did some work on a project to pass the time, but by 6:50 am I deemed that it was finally an appropriate time to leave the house.

I recently read a book called Sacred Economics by Charles Eisenstein, who proposes that we should not only accept gifts from others, but we should also not give a return gift too quickly, lest the gift exchange become “a mere transaction, not so different from a purchase” (356). I found during my time staying with friends that it would be too difficult to follow Eisenstein’s philosophy. It was so much easier to accept my friends’ hospitality when I, too, could contribute something to the table. Buying groceries at Laurens didn’t seem like an exchange to me so much as it felt like a means of contributing to meals and gatherings. So, at 6:50 in the morning I walked to the grocery store for ingredients. When I was working on the farm in Ariège, breakfast was not available, as the farmers didn’t eat breakfast. As a result, I recall day dreaming about oatmeal as I weeded onions and shook tomato plants. Lauren and I had planned to host a couple friends later in the morning to share breakfast, so I gathered the necessary items for a much anticipated pot of oatmeal and my favorite granola recipe, then got to work in the kitchen. Soon Lauren woke up too and the granola came out of the oven and we waited for our friends to come.

breakfast feast, as documented by a broken phone camera

After describing my morning, I was told I should call my granola recipe “Kate’s 4 am blend,” and I think I like the name.

Kate’s 4 am Blend Granola:

Ingredients:

3 cups oats

1 1/2 cups dried coconut

1 cup chopped walnuts

1/2 tsp salt

~1/3 cup coconut oil

~1/2 cup honey (or maple syrup, depending on what you have)

1/2 cup cocoa powder

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Mix the oats, coconut walnuts and salt in a large mixing bowl.

In a saucepan on medium heat melt the coconut oil and honey then add the cocoa powder. Let cool for a couple of minutes.

Add the sauce to the oat mixture and mix until the oats are thoroughly coated in chocolate sauce. 

Dump mixture onto a lined baking

sheet, and compact it with a spatula so that the surface is smooth.

Bake for 15 minutes, then, one spatula full at a time, flip the granola over in chunks and return it to the oven for another 7ish minutes.

This recipe is based off of the My New Roots chunky chocolate buckwheat granola, which I made frequently in high school, but the above version eliminates many ingredients, including buckwheat, to diminish grocery costs. The new blend ended up being more chunky and chewy than the original, and I enjoyed it a lot. The fun thing about granola is that you can mess with the ingredients and proportions and pretty dependably still get a good tasting granola. The most important part is that you get a good ratio of dry to wet ingredients. Keeping that in mind, I encourage you to not worry too much about the exact measurements--just add what feels right!