30 Days Of Challenge - Day Five- May 5th

Writing:

This morning I slept in, yes I know, but trust me when you are coughing up your lungs you tend to want to relax and enjoy the warmness of your bed before you wander into the cold study. I must admit to myself ever since I reached 5 k [like two days ago] I have been lacking the sensation I need to write. Some may call it muse, or inspiration. I call it the motivation to sit down at my computer and not think about any other creative endeavours [Like card making]

So I sat myself down and said – Blair, just write 500 words and then you can do what you want for the rest of the day and if you feel inspired, or motivated later then you can write some more. But go easy, because you know what happens when you force yourself to write. Yes, I said to myself. I do- Things get written.

I am learning a lot from the book Time to Write, and if it is one thing I keep reminding myself is that while I can think and plan and create nothing is going to get written unless I push myself forward eve through the hard days when my words sound and look like shit. After all isn’t that what the garbage man/ inner editor is for later on when the document is finished?

Sometimes you just have to force yourself, push yourself even if it hurts and all you want to do is crawl into a ball underneath your desk or throw your laptop through the window [not a good idea if your renting] To write it to re-write much later on and whether you do is as a hobby, a passionate rampant love affair with words or professionally, it’s important to be disciplined and reward yourself. Just like I did with some chocolate and permission to enjoy the rest of my day, cause in the end – that is the point of my challenge.

Home Cooking:

I final have got around to post-it noting recipes and shopping for all the ingredients I will need for the next seven days. Granted I had no idea how much it was going to cost[ a small country] but that is the price to pay for good food and my god I am already salivating over tonight’s recipe. Before I get started though I thought I would share with you a little tip.

When reading recipes from a magazine it is always a hassle to try and keep it still or on the right page and to not spill the tomato paste on the pages. I had to learn the hard way, having such a small kitchen and always having to refer back to the page I decide to devise a way to kill a few birds with the one magazine and scan and print the recipes.

Now there are a few ways you can go with this, but I clipped them to a wooden clip board and now I can rest the against the stove or the wall so I can read it, I will probably also get a mini stand, but I also plan on laminating or contacting each recipie so that when I am in the kitchen I can glue tack them above where I am working to refer to and so they won’t get stained or ruined.

Anyways, tonight’s recipe is Spanish Chorizo and Chickpea Soup – All recipies come from Food Ideas an Australia Magazine.

Serves Four – Ready in 30 Minutes

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon Olive Oil

1 Chorizo sausage, sliced

3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

400g can diced tomatoes

400g can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

2 cups chicken stock

1 bunch silverbeet [I will be using Boc-Choy]

Crusty bread to serve

Method:

1. Heat oil in saucepan over medium high heat. Cook Chorizo for 2 minutes or until crisp. Reduce heat to low. Add Garlic. Cook for two minutes or until golden. Add tomatoes, chickpeas, stock and two cups of cold water. Bring to boul. Simmer, covered, stirring for ten minutes or until heated through.

2. Remove stems from silverbeet. Fine shred leaves. Add to pan. Simmer, covered for 2 minutes or until leaves have wiltered. Ladel soup into bowls and serve with bread [Or crusty rolls]

Exercise:

Is in evil word, especially when you are sick, however while I chose to bask in the sunlight through my window, warming to creative endeavours. I do plan on taking a walk tonight, and hopefully tomorrow when I go to my writing class. I opted for a quite one and didn’t dare venture out into the cold, it has been bad enough being inside a cold house, let alone outside in the brunt of it and thus another excuse. If anyone has any motivational idea apart from [GET OFF YOUR ASS] I would be keen to take them on board.

Creativity:

I did a lot of creative things during my day. I think I hit of every check-point and am still questioning whether or not there is any creative exercise I can do to check the final pointer of for today. Regardless, I have sorted and started and inspired myself with innovating thinking and inspirational projects. [I seem to have a thing for recipe books at the moment.

Tomorrow night is crop night at my local Hobby Sew store and I am trying not to get overly excited. Last time I did this I ran out of adrenaline by the first few hours and was running on empty for the rest of the night. A good night sleep is in order, but I want to add some finishing touches to a quick side project I am working on, using the scraps from Nan’s Kitchen by Kaiser Craft.

A sensible decision would to take a night off, but I want to add a few bits and pieces to both the card and the mini-album I showed you guys through the post below. It is still in progress, but I wanted to share it with you to see where I am at. Already I am thinking of the next one I make and my next project. Though I’m telling you I have never felt better. [Okay maybe never, but not in a long time.

Reading:

I haven’t been in the reading mood today, but I did get my half hour in. I have been trying to finish Time to Write, but the lighting is real bad in my house and it makes me want to fall asleep [excuses] so I decided to try and finish it tomorrow and I hope it will inspire me, as will writing class to write a little.

I am enjoying The Van Allen legacy. I want to at least be near finished by the end of this week since I have so many books I want to get stuck into and more offerings of ebooks to review. I will probably wind down and read some of Voices on the waves before I sleep. Still the night is early, but I stuffed up my normal schedule when I put someone else first and they let me down. I should learn from my mistakes.

I’ll leave you tonight with some pictures of my lovely dinner, my recipe hunting and of my work space. I love it when it is cluttered. To me, it is the work of an artist in progress. Enjoy.