Writing to take my mind off of...writing?

Does anyone else ever do this? I mean, working on something legitimate (meaning something that one has a duty to produce for someone else), and procrastinating or even just taking a break by doing the same sort of work for other, less pressing ends?

I do it all the time. For instance, when I am working on paintings that must be done for whatever reason, I will find myself working on some back-burner project, usually before and sometime about 60% through the Project of Duty. Rarely afterwards, though.

I think there is a valid purpose to it, though. Right now I am displeased with a phrase and I cannot seem to come up with a good alternative. So I come onto the blog and write about this or that (and everyone LOOOOVVVVEEESSSS reading writing about writing - har har har), and when I go back to the work writing it all flows effortlessly. In theory at least.

What I really need to take my mind off of is the beautiful weather we are having. If I think about it too much I might find it impossible to stay indoors. And then the work will simply not get done. That happened yesterday, when I was planning on getting this stuff done. Amalia said, "let's go for a bike ride," and I was unable to resist.

The garden is always a great source of outdoor temptation as well...plants to be planted, weeds to be eradicated, squirrels to be caught for dinner, etc. No, we don't really eat the squirrels, but it is not for any qualms about it. It is just that I don't think I could catch or kill one of them without the neighbors seeing, and that might scare them. "Right now it is squirrels, tomorrow it could be Fido."

And, of course, they are right. I have no qualms about eating dog. I have not yet done it, but I want to, just to see what it tastes like. You see, when I was five I was bitten by a dog, and I have been wanting revenge ever since. No, I probably have my general disinterest in dogs from that, but my culinary curiosity has more to do with the fact that I don't think that there would be an ingredient that was eaten by such large numbers who can eat other foods if it didn't have something going for it (although there are hard-cooked eggs, aka Satan's Turds, often nearly coming with a warning sign (besides the horrendous smell of death that comes from them - I mean, how can a person complain about ANY smell when they eat those things?) when they are labeled as Devil's Eggs. Garnish them with green onions and you might as well buy yourself a ticket to Perdition).

Perhaps when they make the biopic of my life they can call it "The Man Who Hated Green Onions".

But green garlic, that is a different story, and it is just on the horizon....

Which brings us to our seasonal fresh produce report:

(Read in an mid-20th century urban Italian American (first native born generation) accent):

Two words for you right now: strawberries and asparagus. If you are not eating those ;at least three times a week, there is something wrong with you. Here is a warm salad that combines the two:

Peel the bottom of the asparagus spears and cut off the ends on the bias. Parboil them in salted water for six minutes, and refresh them in cold water.

Cut your strawberries in half.

Coat the asparagus in EVOO and finish over a charcoal fire. Sprinkle sea salad salt (sea salt with bits of dried seaweed in it) or lavendar salt over the spears.

Meanwhile, put walnut sized lumps of goat cheese on kitchen parchment on a cooking sheet and warm in a 350 degree oven for a few minutes.

Make a dressing of finely minced shallot, balsamico and EVOO.

Arrange the spears, strawberries, and goat cheese lumps on a plate. Drizzle wtih dressing.

And there you have it: a warm asparagus, goat cheese and strawberry salad.

Also making a first entrance are tender salad greens. No more bitter, tough winter salads. If you have a patch of dirt, you should try growing your own lettuces. Nothing beats a salad that goes from the garden to the plate in under five minutes. Fresh, fresh, fresh.

Anyway, this food talk is making me hungry. And that reminds me that I have work to do. So enjoy the day.

Posted by erik at April 11, 2008 10:05 AM