Welcome to a Secret Subject Swap. This month 5 brave bloggers picked a secret subject for someone else and were assigned a secret subject to interpret in their own style. Today we are all simultaneously divulging our topics and submitting our posts. Read through mine and at the bottom you’ll find links to all of today’s other Secret Subject participants.
My subject is: How did you start blogging in the first place?
It was submitted by: Rena of The Diary of an Alzheimer's Caregiver.
Because I used to mow the lawn.
Well, that and peer pressure.
My very first blog post, back in the dark ages, was called Can I Blog? Click on that link to go back and read it. I didn't really know what blogging was at the time. Writing, right? Putting thoughts or feelings or frustrations into words and, instead of eating the paper when I'd gotten it all out to be sure no one saw it, I was going to do the opposite, put it on the internet so anyone and everyone could find it. That's OK, after all, who would be interested in what I had to say? Apparently about 700 people. Yikes.
My 6th blog post, I Used to Mow the Lawn, goes into more of why I actually went through with starting a blog. Not so much the "can I?" but the "should I?". Mowing (or not) the lawn played a part, as did peer pressure. But ultimately, would it serve a purpose for me, replace one outlet with another?
You know that saying "you don't know what you don't know"? Well, I sure didn't know a hell of a lot. Like that I'd still be at it 10 years (and 3 months, but who's counting?) later.
Since I've already explained, through the above mentioned posts (and you can read them if you choose) why I started blogging, I'm going to tweak this prompt a bit (forgive me, Rena), to ask why I'm still blogging.
And, it seems, that's a really hard question.
I mean, the kids are grown and (mostly) out of the house, I could always go back to mowing the lawn. Although the rumored coyote in the woods behind our house (and a suspicious absence of rabbits), along my being over a foot smaller than Hubs could be a deterrent.
And the sharing of my recipes isn't what fulfills the need to be creative, relieve stress, and occupy my mind with creating new dishes. After all, I'll still be cooking. Because we'll still be eating.
Slow Cooker Chicken Curry
I could say I keep blogging for the friendships, for the community, and there was a time when that was true. Now, though, I've built up enough of those connections on social media that I don't really need this blog for that. I know I'll keep PMing with friends I met through blogging on FB, just as I do now, whether I continue to write here or not.
But things change, needs change, opportunities to meet those needs change.
Right now, really since the first Covid social distancing came into play, this blog fills a few needs. Both as I aged, and as I became more isolated (brought on by living in a covid denying, fend for yourself state), exercising my brain started to become a priority. I look at my recent writing and it scares me. My memory isn't what it once had been, my vocabulary has decreased, and I catch myself in organizational mistakes I never would have made in the past.
So I play word games, and number games, I read, I take and edit pictures, I work on the wording of my recipes, the organization of how I explain the steps. I not only write, but I wait a day then go back and edit, pinpoint where I've replaced explanations with assumptions, could use a more descriptive word, need to expound on the thought (or edit it down). And it helps. I think it helps. I hope it helps.
I wrote a recent post called Politicized Education and the Fate of Knowledge. It made me realize that this blog has evolved with me. Yes, I still amuse myself with silly humor as I did from the start, but with an evolving sense of need, I feel compelled to not just work through my thoughts, but to release them. Especially now, at this pivotal moment in history, my voice needs a place amid the turmoil. Opinionated? Hell yeah. Relevant too? I hope.
And as long as I feel that my voice still needs a space, Baking In A Tornado will still be my home.
Here are links to all the sites now featuring Secret Subject Swap posts. Sit back, grab a cup, and check them all out. See you there:
The Diary of an Alzheimer’s Caregiver
Slow Cooker Chicken Curry
©www.BakingInATornado.com
1 can coconut milk
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp minced ginger
2 TBSP curry powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cayenne
1 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp chili powder
1 small onion, chopped
10 oz grape tomatoes, quartered
1 large carrot, peeled and sliced into matchsticks
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces
1 TBSP cornstarch
2 tsp lime juice
Directions:
*Grease the slow cooker, turn on to high.
*Grease the slow cooker, turn on to high.
*In the slow cooker, whisk together the chicken broth, coconut milk, garlic, ginger, curry powder, cayenne, paprika, cumin, chili powder and onion. Cover and cook for 30 minutes.
*Mix in the tomatoes, carrot, and chicken. Cover, reduce heat to low, and cook for 6 hours, mixing now and then.
*Whisk the cornstarch with 1 TBSP water until smooth. Whisk into the slow cooker, mix well, cover, and raise heat to high. Cook for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes. Shut off the slow cooker, mix in the lime juice and allow to sit for 10 minutes before serving.