postaday2011

For the love…

Once, in my early thirties, a friend told me that if she knew she would never get married, she would prefer to just die right then and save herself the effort of more lonely years.  I was shocked, since it had not once occurred to me to think such a thought about my own life.  But there was something tickling at the back of my brain, trying to help me remember that I had felt that way, once.  About…what?

When I moved into this house that I love, I wanted to surround myself with only those things that were meaningful to me.  This necessitated a gigantic purge of stuff that I had held onto long past the time to let go.  Thankfully, my friend Sue came with her large truck.  We sorted and hauled an unbelievable amount away — two full truckloads of books, for example.

There was one storage tub I refused to open until Sue had driven away.  In 1973 I was given my first diary.  Since then, I have been a regular, if episodic, journal keeper.  I have never had the discipline to write daily, so there are few journals which are full cover to cover.  Also, I’ve experimented with a variety of styles, both in my journal writing and in the physical journals themselves.  The one thing they had in common was their place inside a large storage tub which had been unopened (except when I tossed another one inside) for years.  Once the rest of the house was in tip-top shape, I had an overwhelming urge to open the tub and start reading.

And there it was, in a hardcover bookkeepers account log.  An entry from my sophomore year in high school (1977):  “The only thing I want to do with my life is write.  If I knew I couldn’t be a writer, what would be the point?  I would just lay down and die right now.”

So now you know: the heart of why publishing jenion has been such a joy.  And what lies behind the decision to take on the postaday 2011 challenge.  I am doing it for the love…of writing.

(Gentle reader:  If you have something you love this much, I would genuinely like to hear from you about it — please share by posting a comment.)

Spinach Salad with Chicken and Crispy Potatoes

This salad is so delicious, I was genuinely happy to be eating it!  The recipe originally came from Everyday Food.  I followed the recipe except that I didn’t wish to make four servings since I was having dinner by myself.  I found it impossible to cut the dressing recipe down to one serving, so I measured and divided accordingly AFTER the dressing was complete.  I saved the extra dressing.  While it is not impossible to cook just one half of one chicken breast, it is damn inconvenient to do so.  Therefore, I made a different salad (good but not as good) the following day with the remainder of the chicken and the dressing.  Two more notes about the chicken: I don’t bother with bone-in, skin-on breasts.  Also, rather than drizzle so much oil on the chicken, I gave it a healthy spray with my trusty spray olive oil.  It was so delicious, I doubt it would have been much improved by slavishly sticking to the recipe directions!

The full recipe can be found on the recipe tab, above.

This is my first foray into food photography, and I am clearly no food stylist (notice the shadow I created by leaning over the plate to get the shot!).  Don’t let the inferior quality of the photos prevent you from trying the salad.

I may be crazy, but…

…Wordpress has issued a challenge for bloggers to try posting daily this year.  I’ve decided to take the challenge on, beginning today!

If you’ve been a regular reader of Jenion, you know I typically post weekly (each Thursday).  I will continue to post on Thursdays with my weekly weigh-in and a more in-depth reflection piece.

The daily posts will, on the other hand, be typically short, quick thoughts, photos or recipes.  I hope you will enjoy reading them — I hope I will enjoy writing them (and be able to keep up!)

That’s all for now…I’ll be back tomorrow!