I’ve decided that cooking from a recipe is like writing a 5-paragraph essay.
You all remember that one from English class, right? It goes kinda like this:
- Paragraph one: Tell ‘em what your gonna tell ‘em, with your 3 (not 2 or 4 or certainly 5) main points.
- Paragraph two: Tell ‘em your first point.
- Paragraph three: Tell ‘em your second point.
- Paragraph four: Tell’em your third point.
- Paragraph five: Tell ‘em what you just told ‘em.
I hate the 5-paragraph essay. (Can you tell?)
More precisely, I hated teaching kids how to write the 5-paragraph essay. Not just because the essays they wrote were so god-awful boring and artificial that the experience made all of us miserable (though that right there is reason enough), but because teaching kids how to write a 5-paragraph essay didn’t teach them how to write.
This was my main gig for nearly 20 years. I've read a lot of student papers in my time.
It taught them how to follow a formula that would get them through my assignments, but it didn’t teach them fundamental principles of good writing that they could apply to any writing task (much as I tried to use it for that).
Most didn’t care about the principles. They cared about getting the assignment done.
Getting it done was relatively easy, just like following a recipe is easy. Almost anyone can do that, as long as it isn’t too complicated.
I’ve been realizing that when it comes to cooking, I’ve been like so many of my students: I’ve never cared about underlying principles. I didn’t want to learn how to cook. I just wanted to get dinner done.
Now that I’m having to cook gluten-free, all of that is changing. I can’t just cook convenience foods, so I need to know how to make real food. I need to know how to improvise, so I can substitute healthy ingredients for the ones that make me sick.
Even gluten-free recipes aren't a sure thing. I couldn't find the sweet rice flour this one calls for, and I tried to substitute a different kind. Didn't work.
All of which is why I’m so excited to write today’s Friday Food post.
We cooked something without a recipe!
And it was good!
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Food
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Posted: April 20, 2012 by: Rita
We’ve had a lot going on around here.
- I had a marathon migraine last week.
- Cane is likely going to be on strike next week.
- Track season has started.
- My babies have been forecasting for high school (!). Which means they aren’t babies in any way, any more, which means I’ve been doing a little grieving.
All were stressful. The strike is looming large over us. I’d like to say more, but fear I will start ranting.
On top of that, I’ve been finishing up a great class focused on writing the landing pages of your blog (about, subscribe, bio, etc.). It’s been great work, the main value of which isn’t (to me) that we’ve got new pages–it’s that it took me deep into thinking about what we want this blog to be and why we’re writing it. (You can see some of that thinking in our new About page and our new Subscribe page.)
(Oh, and another huge value: The amazing community of women writers I’ve found in the others taking the class. Let me know if you’d like to know more about what we did and how it worked.) This has been all good–but time-consuming–stuff.
None of this, however, makes for compelling blog posts.
Instead of making up some half-assed thing, I thought I’d point you to some blogs that have better content this week than we can muster up today.
Where to go
About that class I just mentioned? It’s the work of Kelly Diels–smart, funny, sexy (of course!), and very, very good at both writing and eliciting good writing from others. You can check her out on her blog, Cleavage.
Kelly’s tag line is “writing through the lines that shape us,” and her essays are always both thoughtful and thought-provoking. I particularly like this week’s essay on the the power of boundaries to keep us close (rather than push each other away).
Another blog I recently discovered (thanks to Brooke at Slow Your Home, who writes lovely and useful posts on the idea of slow living): Revolution from Home by Beth Berry. If you ever feel overwhelmed (or frustrated or otherwise bugged) by all the seeming-perfection in the home corner of the blogosphere, you need to read “Let’s all compare our perfect lives, then try to enjoy our day.”
If, however, you’re in the mood for some lovely fantasy that doesn’t make you feel bad, might I suggest Keeping It Cozy, a blog with gorgeous photos of gorgeous people eating gorgeous food in a gorgeous farmhouse with a gorgeous garden.
While this could make me feel a little bad and itchy, it doesn’t. I think because Andrea, its creator, seems just so genuinely nice–and because she’s got some great content holding up all that gorgeousness. Like this one about how to make homemade chicken stock. (I know, it’s not winter anymore, but I’ve been craving comfort food.)
Finally, I’ve been stalking Ranch Dressing with Earth Kitsch for quite a while now. She always makes me laugh (even when she gets me feeling a little sad), and I love all her retro kookiness–such as this post in honor of Loretta Lynn’s birthday.
And if you want to explore the retro niche fully, she’s got an awesome blogroll you should check out.
Ah, there are so many others I’d like to send you to, but–to update a button I used to wear on my cheerleading sweater in high school, “So many blogs, so little time“–I’m about out of time this Thursday morning for our Wednesday post.
Yes, I was a book-nerdy cheerleader, the juxtaposition of which might help explain why I like such wildly divergent blogs. What can I say? It’s what I really read. Hope you enjoy.
And because I don’t have enough ways to procrastinate…
Would love to know what your favorite online reads are. Please share in the comments.
Posted in Family, Food, House
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2 Comments »
Posted: April 19, 2012 by: Rita
We’re going to come clean right out of the chute on this post:
We are art snobs.
We’ve got some pretty particular ideas about what is and isn’t OK to put on our walls. This might surprise you if you came to our house, because none of our art is the kind of thing you’re likely to find in a gallery.
Our kids generally think our art is “horrible.”
“That’s ugly.”
“Why is that up there?”
“It doesn’t match or go together and it’s just…weird!”
They may be right. But we’ve found that getting clear about what we value in a piece of art is helping us find works we love to have surrounding us–and we’ve been able to do it without spending a fortune. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in House
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12 Comments »
Posted: April 16, 2012 by: Rita
It’s really been the week that wasn’t.
I wanted to write about painting wallpaper, and thrift store art (both mentioned here)–but I didn’t.
I wanted to show you a really cool fabric store (mentioned here)–but I didn’t.
And I wanted to experiment further with home-made tortillas (mentioned here) so I could share some great stuff with you in today’s Friday Food post–but I can’t.
There’s a couple of reasons for all that, but the main one is that on Monday night or Tuesday morning (or both), I most likely ate something with gluten in it. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Food
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3 Comments »
Posted: April 13, 2012 by: Rita
You might think this is a blog about making a home.
After all, we write a lot of posts about fixing up our house.
And eating healthy meals.
And doing DIY projects.
But really, it’s not about the house, or the meals we eat in it, or the things we make for it.
It’s about making a family—the biggest DIY project there is.
It’s not the kind of picture-book family we imagined back in our 20s. Our story isn’t a once-upon-a-time, first-comes-love-then-comes-marriage, they-all-lived-happily-ever-after fairy tale.
First there was friendship, and so far there’s no marriage, but there’s lots of love and most days there are at least moments of happy.
Ours is the tale of the real, messy, challenging, stops-our-breath-in-our-throats-beautiful family that we’re patching together from the remains of our earlier, broken ones.
We know it’s not really PC to refer to families as “broken” these days, but ours were. Beyond the point of mending. (And that was before our divorces.)
It wasn’t just our families. We were broken, too.
Staring down middle age amidst the remains of our earlier dreams, we did what we now like to do with all kinds of old stuff that looks too worn out and busted up to be any good:
We transformed our lives into something beautiful, functional, and useful.
It wasn’t easy, and it didn’t happen in a day, and our better-living project is ever-ongoing, but we’ve come far enough in rehabbing our lives and ourselves to know that almost everything can be restored, revised, repurposed, or renewed.
fixtures, furniture, houses
routines, habits, beliefs
families, relationships, dreams
Somewhere along the way, we began to realize that fixing up things was a pathway to fixing up ourselves. There were lessons to be learned about living and being in every project, no matter how it turned out.
So we started writing about them–the projects, and the lessons. We wanted to show others–especially those who might be feeling as hopeless, overwhelmed, and broken as we once did–that there is a way through.
It’s not that we think we have all the answers. We know that we don’t. We’ve made lots of mistakes in our time, and we continue to make them. (It’s called being human, you know?)
That’s why, in our journey, it’s been helpful to have others ahead of us on the trail, clearing branches, finding shortcuts, taking great detours. And, sometimes, showing us where we don’t want to go.
The more we live and read and write and do, the more want to be one of those people clearing the way for those coming behind us, and the more we want to find others to walk alongside.
We’re living our story for us, but we’re writing it for you.
Want or need a do-over?
Interested in living an intentional life?
Wondering how to craft a home?
We’re writing for you.
We won’t tell you how to do things–because we know there is no one right way to do them.
We’ll just tell the story of how we’re doing them. We know you’re smart enough to take what’s useful to you and leave the rest.
Want to follow along?
You can enter your email address and we’ll pop into your inbox whenever we post:
Or, you can Like us on Facebook. We always link to our posts there, and we’ve got plans to start adding other good stuff to our page soon.
(And, though it goes without saying, we’ll say it anyway: Your info is safe with us.)
And if you just want to drop us a line about something, you can reach us here:
thissortaoldlife@yahoo.com
In case you’re wondering just who it is you’re following…
A northwest native who grew up in Seattle before it became cool, Rita‘s a lifelong over-achiever and recovering perfectionist.
She’s got 14-year-old boy-girl twins, two adult stepchildren, and two dogs. (She likes pairs and balance.)
She’s always been a writer, but she’s also always had a day job. For 20 years she taught middle school and high school English, and now she’s an instructional coach for other teachers.
She’s pretty good at Scrabble, she’s an insecure cook, and her favorite childhood TV show was The Brady Bunch. Maybe that’s why she’s a big believer in second (and third) chances. And why she’s long thought that her life would be much easier if she had an Alice living in a room off the kitchen.
A product of Opelousas, Louisiana, Cane is a painter/photographer/high school teacher/web designer/jui jitsu black belt, and mostly laid-back guy.
He’s got an 11-year old daughter, a cool yellow scooter, and a short attention span. Instead of fighting his yearning to continually learn new things (and thus master none), he’s embraced it.
He teaches digital media to the kind of quirky, creative, passion-following high-school kids he once was—as well as anyone else who lands in his classroom.
His favorite show is Car Talk, his head sweats when he eats hot peppers, and he once returned a pair of Doc Marten’s 6 times until they gave him a pair he was satisfied with. He’s generally easy to please, but he likes things the way he likes them.
We’ve got three kids between us, each with a different schedule. Sometimes we’re here with one, sometimes two, and sometimes all three. Creating a home that works for everyone is demanding and tricky, but we’re learning as we go and working it out.
Posted in About
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1 Comment »
Posted: April 9, 2012 by: Rita
You might remember a few Fridays back, when I wrote about my break-up with gluten.
Seems to me that when any relationship ends, there are really only two choices we can make:
1. We can find substitutes that are as much like the thing we’ve lost as possible.
When I went to visit my parents recently, I found this waiting for me. I LOVE this thoughtful gesture (especially the arrows!). My family was so supportive of my new dietary needs, but I have to admit I didn't love the cookies. Hooking up with these might be a little like dating someone because he reminds me of the boyfriend who just broke my heart.
2. Or, we can find an all-new love, maybe one we never considered while in that old relationship.
Lemon chicken and edamame are both brand new for me. This is something I can love without looking back.
I’ve been experimenting with both approaches since I’ve learned that I must go gluten-free, and so far, the second approach is my hands-down favorite.
Here’s why: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Food
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10 Comments »
Posted: April 6, 2012 by: Rita
