Filling My Pitcher

I'm just copying and pasting this exactly from my knitblog. What a lovely evening I've had. Mmm.

There is an old adage that says:

You can't pour from an empty pitcher.

No matter what you do in life, you have to replenish yourself sometimes. Covey reminds us that

You have to sharpen your saw.

How do you fill your creative pitcher? Recharge your batteries? Sharpen your saw? I do lots of things.

A blurry capture of the lady herself as she signed books. 

Tonight, I got a very filling experience which was that I went with friends to see a favorite author, Barbara Kingsolver, at the National Cathedral. I know, I'm very lucky that I can just whip around the Capitol Beltway and go places like that. I try not to take it for granted.

She was inspiring and her reading from her new book fell onto my ears just like water onto thirsty earth. The location was beautiful and imposing. I liked feeling small and awestruck, the way I did in the cathedrals we visited in Europe.

The Nave of the National Cathedral with all the state flags
adorning the columns. I liked that combination. 

About creative work and writing, she said things like this:
Fiction is experience invested with meaning. 

Hmm. I will think about that for a long time. I think it can apply to knit design and teaching and photography, and not in some new-agey, abstract sort of way. I thought about the fact that my best teaching and moments of connection with students and clients come from actual experience, and then usually when said experience involves trial and error. I can't skip the experience part and go straight to the product part.

And this:
If you're working entirely according to what other people expect instead of according to what you love to do, that's marketing, not creativity. 

That was important for me to hear. I get that I need to participate in the marketing part, but the balance is really important. For some, the marketing IS the part they love. For some of us, not so much.

And one more thing:
The first draft of anything is just work that has to be gotten through. With the REVISIONS comes the fun, when you can make the beginning match the ending, add all the details you really want and do all the tweaking necessary to bring it all together. 

I like thinking of the real creativity beginning after the mere scaffolding of the first draft is put together. It releases me from my perfectionistic tendency to expect a fully-formed thing to come forth on the first try.

One other thing matters about this evening. It was framed on all sides by the influence of like-minded friends. One brought the program to my attention and inspired me to take the time to go. Another was willing to trade out a regular knitting lesson for driving a long way to pick me up and go all the way into the city. The time spent with them was as important as Kingsolver's words and constitutes the purest and best way of topping off my creative reserves.


So let's get pouring. And sawing. And all that...

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Missionary Sighting!

My darling boy Sam, the one currently serving his mission in California, is smart, dedicated, funny and caring. He writes us great letters each week telling about the people he is serving, who he has taught and who has invited him to share his message about our church. He does not share much about himself and he has only sent a very few photos home in the 16 months he's been gone. That's not necessarily a bad thing, because he's not out there to provide entertainment for us. 

Lately though, in a few of his letters, there were tiny clues that maybe, just maybe, he'd been having some hard times for a missionary. I just couldn't tell for sure, so I was feeling a real longing to get some hard information. I don't like to distract him in my letters with my own worries, so I left him in God's hands and let him be. It was in the back of my mind, though.

So, my heart soared when I saw a real letter this week from the great state of California! It was from a family in the congregation where Sam is serving and it had PICTURES! My boy is doing great! He's smiling and happy and healthy. It thrilled me to see him with his companion and read the words of this kind family who took time to write us a letter. He and his companion had dinner at the home of this couple and they reported that Sam is working hard and is a credit to his upbringing. What a lovely thing to say, and it did a mommy's heart good, I'm telling you. It was just what I needed to continue to have the faith to let him have this experience completely independently and learn all that he needs to learn. 

This was a day-maker, for sure. 

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Lovely Autumn Recipes

I get recipes in my email box all the time and most of them go in the trash either because I already have a recipe for something similar, or I just don't want to overwhelm myself. These two, however, caught my eye due to their accessible yet exotic flavors and were very successful, even for my (getting better all the time) picky eater:

The first I made just before the power went out on Monday. I had bread rising just as we heard the fateful pop at 5:20, but I was able to get out my big electric roaster and bake the bread off in there. It wasn't pretty from being lifted off its rising pan, but it was perfect in all other ways. This soup was the perfect complement, and I'm back to enjoying it for lunches now that the power is back on. I hope you'll try it. I found it through my Allrecipies.com email subscription.

I followed the advice of some of the commenters and played around with spices. It's hearty, but very mild. I went Indian/Moroccan and used a tsp of cumin and a tsp of cinnamon to warm it up a bit. Next time I'm going to try it Mexican-style and add some taco seasoning and maybe some canned corn. I used canned ham from my food storage. This is a GREAT soup for food storage, because in a pinch you can use dried onion and garlic as well. Very nice.

Pumpkin Black Bean Soup

Rated: Submitted By: REEDYGAL Photo By: mominml Prep Time: 15 Minutes Cook Time: 30 Minutes Ready In: 45 Minutes Servings: 9

"This is a delicious soup that is even better reheated the next day. Easy to make too. Serve with a garnish of sour cream and toasted pumpkin seeds if desired."

INGREDIENTS:

3 (15 ounce) cans black beans, rinsed and drained 1 (16 ounce) can diced tomatoes 1/4 cup butter 1 1/4 cups chopped onion 4 cloves garlic, chopped

1 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper 4 cups beef broth 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree 1/2 pound cubed cooked ham 3 tablespoons sherry vinegar

DIRECTIONS:

1.

Pour 2 cans of the black beans into a food processor or blender, along with the can of tomatoes. Puree until smooth. Set aside.

2.

Melt butter in a soup pot over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic, and season with salt and pepper. Cook and stir until the onion is softened. Stir in the bean puree, remaining can of beans, beef broth, pumpkin puree, and sherry vinegar. Mix until well blended, then simmer for about 25 minutes, or until thick enough to coat the back of a metal spoon. Stir in the ham, and heat through before serving.

The second was so good I cannot WAIT to have another serving. So rich and so dang easy. This one came from my Martha Stewart Everyday cooking subscription, and there is also a video you can watch here. It's called Slow-Cooker Sweet and Spicy Chicken. My mind must be in warmer climes because it uses the same spice combination. Ha! I used some boneless, skinless thighs that I had in the freezer and instead of browning the chicken, I put it in the crockpot still frozen and toasted the spices by themselves in my frying pan instead. Worked great and easier for me since I forgot to defrost (a fairly common occurrence). I served this with couscous and it was perfect.

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Everyday Food, March 2012

• Prep Time20 minutes
• Total Time3 hours 50 minutes
• YieldServes 4 to 6

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Ingredients

• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 4 chicken leg quarters (2 1/2 pounds total)
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 medium yellow onion, cut into 1/2-inch wedges (root end left intact)
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 3-inch piece peeled fresh ginger, sliced into rounds
• 1 can (28 ounces) diced tomatoes
• 1/2 cup raisins

Directions

1. In a large zip-top bag, combine cumin, cinnamon, 3/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper; add chicken and toss to coat. In a large skillet, heat oil over medium-high. Cook chicken, skin side down, until golden, about 4 minutes; flip and cook 2 minutes.
2. In a 5-to-6-quart slow cooker, place onion, garlic, and ginger. Add chicken, skin side up, then top with tomatoes and their liquid and raisins. Cover and cook on high until chicken is tender, 3 1/2 hours (or 6 hours on low).

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Brave New World

Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
Genre: Adult Fiction, Dystopian, Futurist
I listened to the audiobook on Playaway from my local library.
You might like this book if you're a fan of dystopian literature-this one is deep in the ancestry of the genre. Also consider it if you are interested in satire, sociology, the future of society, and other topics covered in this story.

Hmm, how does one describe this book? It is the story of a New World State, far in the future (the book is set in A.D. 2540), that is based on the principles of Community, Identity and Stability. Society is made up of carefully created castes of people who are influenced chemically and thermally while being bred in laboratories, then cognitively through hypnotism after "decanting." The idea of this is to create people who are so perfectly suited for their life's occupation that everyone will always be happy. Reproduction has been removed from sex. The two have nothing to do with each other, so fundamental relationships are entirely changed. It's challenging to think about, but I think there is an element of prophecy in the work. Also, that happiness idea only works because of the constant use of a powerful drug called Soma that is ubiquitous in the society and allows people to cope with the fact that they have no individual agency or ability to make choices about their lives. It is a chilling irony to consider that the thing engineered to create the happiness, ie. predestination and conditioning to create a uniform contentment, has created a society in which happiness is actually only accessible through artificial means.

In today's world, people are attempting to separate reproduction and sex, reducing sexuality to mere entertainment and shallow social interaction rather than a deep and integral part of our identity. It's fascinating to see how just this one change in society can affect so many other aspects. People are also chasing happiness and it can seem like it is in shorter and shorter supply, in spite of increased resources, information and opportunities.

The book also forces one to think about what constitutes civilization and what constitutes savagery. In the end the "Savage" or outsider becomes the means for Huxley to comment on the very idea of fiddling with humankind as much as the World State does in his book. It just wouldn't work, and I think he is warning us that we better stop flirting with it as we have been doing in the last 150 years. It was written in the time of Eugenics, which was not so much about genetic engineering as it was about selecting and conditioning for a superior society. It was also written in the embryonic days just preceding the Third Reich and the aftermath the Great War and the Bolshevik revolution. All of these influences and contextual informants were pacing around in the background for me and I could not think of this book without thinking that Huxley was warning us about more than just reproductive tinkering. He was warning us about socialism, tyranny and any state having the power to overwhelm the individual. It made me shudder. What must have gone through his mind as he watched the rise of communism, fascism and socialism in the lead-up to World War 2?  Holy Cow. I might have been a little frightened of my own powers of deduction. Those were turbulent times and it does not surprise me that such a book, with ideas to upend values and mores that most average citizenry held as self-evident, would come out of the experience of living in those days.

I listened to Michael York read the book and found it engaging and very interesting. The characters are each drawn to provide a particular lens for observing the society, and each one truly does allow for a different focus. His use of accents and acting helps to distinguish the characters and the many "scene changes."  There is no clear hero or protagonist, and the writing verges on stream-of-consciousness at times, but it works.

I am glad I read it again (last time was in high school) and that I have a lot more living under my belt to help me to realize the absurdity of the Brave New World but also to recognize the biting satire and weirdly prophetic warnings found between the lines on every page.

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Book Review: The Girl of Fire and Thorns

The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson
Genre: YA Fantasy
You might like this book if you enjoy human stories of growing up and growing brave. It is set in places that might remind you of somewhere you've heard of, but are just different enough to spark your imagination.

My friend Erin has never failed me on a book recommendation, so when I found this at the library one day, and in my current mood of reading like there's no tomorrow, I picked it up. I loved it. I wrapped myself in blankets and scarves during Superstorm Sandy and waited out the cold hours till our power came on with this book, and it warmed me right up.

It's the story of the princess that usually gets ignored. The second-born. The not-so-pretty one. You know. Well I definitely know. I'm a second-born daughter who definitely did not attract too much attention when I was young, so from the beginning, I felt like I could relate to Elisa.

She's married off at age 16 in a political move that's supposed to turn the tide of a war, but it turns out that what is actually needed are the skills and gifts of the girl herself. She experiences a lovely character arc of self-discovery and the story is well-crafted, with enough clever plot lines to keep me truly interested to the last.

It doesn't have a formulaic happy ending, nor does it have a sad ending. It's a good ending for the character, and I came to really like her. I would definitely look for more in a series if the author decides to keep telling Elisa's story.

Sometimes it's good to have to wait out a storm!

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