"Add from Contacts" feature

When I wanted to send an email to a bunch of people, I used to be able to compose the list on the fly by going through my "Contacts" (who were just people I had emailed, maybe only once) and click on which ones I wanted to receive a given email. But Google changed the interface. Now I have to hem and haw and think of enough of a name to get Gmail to auto-complete.... The "Contacts" utility is just an interface for adding phone numbers and addresses. I don't want to spend a ton of time "grouping" people... and I certainly have no need for adding their phone numbers or addresses into my Gmail "Contacts".

Why can't I just press a button in the "To" field that says "Add from Contacts", then scroll through and make a list of who I'd like to add?