Blogging101 – Renewing My Neglected Blog

03 Tuesday Mar 2015

Tags

beginning, blogging101, creativity, writing

It has been over a year and a half since I posted to my blog. So much has happened during that time. Why didn’t I write about it? I’m not sure. Well, many reasons. Probably the greatest one is the inertia that hits me when I contemplate a writing task that requires some form of introspection and creativity. It’s difficult to write. And it’s difficult to adequately and honestly express one’s feelings. I have very little difficulty when it comes to writing tasks that are instructive, factual, or straightforward narrative. It’s the “deeper,” more personal stuff that daunts me. Also, maybe I’m a little lazy. And I want my writing to be perfect – which fosters procrastination. Ok, so enough about NOT blogging. Let’s just get on with it.

I signed up for Blogging 101 to force myself to return to Sillisoup, the aforementioned neglected blog. It’s interesting to revisit my original purpose in starting the blog. Almost immediately, I deviated from that purpose, because really I just wanted to be able to post thoughts, experiences, and photos. Also, I discovered that although other family members thought a location to share recipes, ideas, etc. sounded like a good idea, the collaboration never materialized. Metaphorically, the blog tittle, which originally referred to my family’s signature soup (sausage soup – that name was already taken), could be taken to refer to the “soup” of content that represents the constantly shifting smorgasborg that constitutes my consciousness and interests.

I hope that as the days progress in the Blogging101 experience, I’ll be able to write about some of the significant things that happened during the year and a half I was absent from Sillisoup. And of course, I look forward to opportunities for contemplation about the now. Further, I will look to my fellow bloggers for input, inspiration, and camaraderie. Most of all, I hope that this experience will turn into a habit that generates a newly revitalized ongoing blog!

One thing I know about any creative endeavor is that in order to do it well, one must do it, then keep doing it, then do it some more. That’s certainly true of writing. Whenever I go into agonies about writing I remember the truest thing I ever read about writing – at least as it pertains to my perspective on it. It was on a poster put out by a publisher of college textbooks: “In writing, the only hard thing is to begin.” So here I am, beginning. Again. Then tomorrow, another beginning. Perhaps after a while it’ll feel like I’m in the middle and it won’t be as hard.

Creativity Month: Output

20 Monday Feb 2012

Posted by sillisoup in Art and Creativity, Food

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creativity, leftover soup, robert sabuda

I’m sitting this morning in a ray of sunshine in my favorite room in my house. It’s my study/sewing/sitting room, a converted bedroom with cozy club chairs and an ottoman in addition to the desk, files, supply closet, and sewing machine. All of this is very appealing to me, but the key element is the east-facing window that allows the morning sun to wash in and fill the room. It’s hard not to feel happy here in the morning – especially with a cup of coffee at my side.

So, as declared in my last post, February is Creativity Month, which works out well for me because in the past few years my friend Jane and I have had a lot of fun creating home-made valentines. This year we drew upon the resources of one of my favorite artists, Robert Sabuda. Mr. Sabuda, if you are not already aware, is the creator of many exquisite pop-up books, several of which are in my collection of children’s books. He also has patterns for do-it-yourself pop-up cards on the Internet: http://robertsabuda.com/popmake/index.asp . We downloaded patterns for some of them and used old (fabulously beautiful) calendar pictures and watercolor paper to create valentines.

I also got busy sewing and made a set of cocktail napkins out of coordinating fun fabrics for Rebecca and a yellow lobster pillow for Rachel. I failed to take a picture of the pillow before sending it off, but the fabric is one of my all-time favorites. Here’s a shot of it.

Nothing like holding yourself accountable for enhancing productivity!

On the cooking front, I also created a new favorite soup. It all started when my friend Ann guilted me into making a coconut cake. (This was not difficult to do, as just the thought of coconut cake makes me salivate.) At about the same time, I found myself craving mashed potatoes, so I invited Ann and her husband Wall and my friends Sarah II and Paula II (more on the IIs in a later post, perhaps) over for dinner and made roast chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, and steamed broccoli as a preliminary to the coconut cake. Remarkably, and perhaps because we knew there was cake for dessert, there were leftovers. So, the next day I boiled the chicken carcass for broth, added chopped onions, celery, and carrots (the mighty triumvirate) and then the leftover gravy, mashed potatoes, broccoli, and chicken.

Leftover Soup

The potatoes gave it a creamy texture and the seasonings from the roast chicken (thank you, Barefoot Contessa!!! http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/perfect-roast-chicken-recipe/index.html ) added incredible savor. The soup was almost as good as the original dinner, although two things were missing – the fun friends and the coconut cake, the leftovers of which I made sure left my house promptly.

OK then, only a week and a half left of Creativity Month. I’d better get busy.

Bittman Month Concludes – Where to from here?

03 Friday Feb 2012

Posted by sillisoup in Art and Creativity, Food

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

Bittman, book club, creativity, recipes

Random Beautiful Food

Wrapping Up Mark Bittman Month

Granted, it’s now February 3, but I don’t want to enter a new month/era without concluding the reportage on my month of Mark Bittman. Let me be clear, however: I plan to continue cooking from The Food Matters Cook Book. I have in no way exhausted my appetite for his style of cooking. It is time, however, to move on to a new blog topic and a new monthly challenge. More on that to follow. As January drew to a close, I tried the recipe for Super-Simple Mixed Rice, a Zillion Ways (don’t you love that title?). This approach takes brown rice to a whole new level of tastiness with dried porcini mushrooms, tomatoes, herbs, cannellini beans, and parmesan cheese. The end product is a creamy rissoto-like concoction without all the stirring. I must say that “super-simple” might be a slight overstatement, but it’s fairly easy. Mark offers several variations. I really like how adding the beans to the dish adds protein and substance. With a salad and some nice bread, this could be a meal in itself.

My next recipe was Creamy Navy Bean and Squash Gratin with Bits of Sausage. I made it to take over to my friends Bob and Laurel when I invited myself for dinner – and brought dinner. This really was easy to make and allowed me to use Italian sausage guilt free since it’s more of a seasoning than a main player in this dish. Even though there was only four ounces of sausage in the whole batch (four generous servings with leftovers), it added a lot of flavor.

Last Thursday I made Cassoulet with Lots of Vegetables for my book club. [Just a side-note about book club: this is a group of women who have been meeting once a month for many years. We read and discuss wonderful books, talk, drink wine, and eat. We take turns hosting the meeting and providing the food. When we started out, food would consist of a dessert. If you were in charge of food and had a busy day you might even stop by the supermarket bakery and pick something up. There are several good cooks in the group, and gradually the food bar rose. Maybe an appetizer and dessert. Then someone added soup or a main dish. Now, the food is always plentiful and includes either several appetizers and dessert or a full meal. We’ve tried to lower the bar – after all, this creates something of a burden for the person in charge of food – but it never works. Nobody wants to be the one to show up with a supermarket cake and some cheese and crackers. Besides, we all love to eat!] The cassoulet was tasty and hearty on a winter night, but I think I overcooked it. I used sausage and pork chops for the meat and was worried that they might not be done in the time indicated. I think next time I’ll use thinner chops so I won’t have to worry about that. Nonetheless, my fellow bookclubbers seemed to like it. But they’re a generous group.

In concluding the Bittman chronicles, I just want to add that I think the man owes me royalties. At least four people I know have either purchased the book or plan to. They won’t regret it. But c’mon, Mark, really. I think you owe me.

And Now, Where to for February?

I’m designating February asCreativity Month. This is a direct challenge to myself to get out there and do some photography – although I don’t plan to limit February’s creativity to photography. In fact, I already have some creative projects in the works spurred by the imminence of Valentine’s Day. I really don’t like Valentines day for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is my cynicism. However, I like to react to it creatively and have had fun in years past making valentines with my best friend, Jane. We already have plans in the works for this year’s version, which I will share after the fact. Also, I’ve begun some projects for Valentine’s gifts. In addition, there’s a very exciting sewing project afoot wherein I plan to make dresses for my granddaughters-to-be for the wedding of their Daddy, Bret, to my daughter Rachel. More on that as we progress.

OK, now here’s a direct challenge to my fellow Sausage Soup blog participants. We created Sausage Soup as a vehicle for family/friend creativity. So join in! After all, February is Creativity Month! (Because I said so.)