I was reading Steve Pavlina’s 8,600 word post about calibration, and I’ve decided to challenge myself with the goal of posting for 30 days. It being December, and knowing myself, and knowing that sitting in front of the box on the holidays are most definitely out, and that I will be travelling for two days, I will permit myself to extend the 30 days to January 11th. I think I’ve done the math right on that, but what odds?
The key point is that I’ve let this pseudo-blog languish – not publishing it (by that I mean not linking it from anywhere, or telling anyone*, ) not paying attention to it, and not committing to the process. Partly this is not knowing what to write about – should it be the ups and downs of running a design business, should it be those same ups and downs being a conceptual artist with a trace of painterly remains, should it be my fascination with Dr. Who…and the list goes on.
So, inspired by this concept of calibration, I’ve made this decision – for the next 30 days (+ the 6 extra for the holidays and travelling) I will write about whatever I want. It doesn’t matter if it’s an ephemeral thought that will not serve the archives well, or if it’s not deep, or if it’s not well written. The purpose of this exercise will be threefold.
- To find my voice
- To commit to the process of writing
- To set a 30 day goal and achieve it.
To begin: Split Pea Soup.
Today I am making split pea soup – the yellow kind of peas. I always use the green, so it’s an experiment. I’m a pseudo-vegetarian (ie: I eat fish – I’ve heard it called flexitarian), so ham hocks are out.
The base of the soup is a quick and dirty veggie stock, thrown together from leftovers. I had to feed the worms (worm compost) so not too much leftovers around.
- 2 cloves organic garlic – they are enormous, so more like 4
- 1 withering green onion
- 1/3 spanish onion
- handful of drying out cilantro
- 1 bay leaf
- peppercorns
- 5 green beans that have brown spots on them
- 1″ slice ginger
and that’s it. It’s now simmering away, smelling delightful. The rest of the soup will be
- 2 cups yellow split peas
- above stock + bunch of water
- 1 mushroom bouillon cube (gotta get some salt in somewhere)
- 1 more bay leaf for good measure
- and, if I’m energetic enough and make my way to the store, some parsnips, cut into 1-2″ pieces. These are absolutely mouthwatering in pea soup.
Cheers,
*[except for most recently when I wrote a guest post to Christine Kane’s most delicious blog. It may or may not be published, which may or may not bring some visitors]
