The Power of Good intentions
Today was one of those days, especially with having a bit of a head cold when I thought 'right it is time for healthy food.'
But as the saying goes... the best-laid plans of mice and men😂
First derived from a poem by the famous Scottish poet Robert Burns, also known as Rabbie Burns, in his poem “To a Mouse,
But Mouse, you are not alone,
In proving foresight may be vain:
The best-laid schemes of mice and men
Go oft awry,
And leave us nothing but grief and pain,
For promised joy!Still you are blessed, compared with me!
The present only touches you:
But oh! I backward cast my eye,
On prospects dreary!
And forward, though I cannot see,
I guess and fear!
Source: Read the full Poem at Wikipedia Rabbie Burns Page
I started the day with 50 lengths in the swimming pool before breakfast. Then I had my usual protein hit of poached eggs with Avocado, which I forgot to take a picture of for this blog...
And after spending the rest of the morning writing a commissioned article for a magazine my stomach started to complain with a gurgling grumble and I noticed that slight angst that comes when you start to get hangry.
So I rummaged through my fridge and, after spotting those two samosas, realised I had everything needed for a seriously healthy, salad-laden lunch. As my first draft of the article was just about finished, I knew it would need proofreading and possibly a few edits before emailing it to the magazine editor. Who’d undoubtedly send it back with suggestions for further research and/or line edits. Knowing that the deadline was Saturday, I wanted to get it finished by Friday or Saturday evening as I'm out with friends for a birthday meal and drinks on Sunday.
I truly believe that plenty of salad, along with something spicy is a great brain food combo. The salad gives you a vitamin hit and the spicy samosas wake you up, enlivening the senses and giving you a good kick up the backside if you're on a deadline.
The first of the two salads consisted of some basic salad leaves I grew in my allotment along with a big handful of allotment basil as I have a glut of it already... too much to eat so if anyone wants some send me a self-addressed envelope 😉
The second of the two salads is one of my favourites because it has that sweet and sour thing going on that makes South East Asian cuisine so good. It is basically, teardrop sweet pickled peppers, a quarter of a cucumber, chunks of feta cheese and a sprinkling of torn allotment basil on top. Remember never to chop basil if eating fresh in a salad because the metal of the knife reduces the flavour and bruises the leaves.
Coffee Will Get Me Through
As the deadline was looming I brewed up a strong Italian coffee and put some bread in the oven that I had left overnight using the No-Knead method. and sat down to eat my lunch with a little work music to get the old synapses firing.
For me, it is always either classical music or Drum & Bass that helps me with writing. Usually, classical piano music is better for writing fiction, whereas liquid Drum & Bass helps me focus when writing an article, especially if there is a lot of research to do. Also, the smell of baking bread helped add to the perfect writing atmosphere.
After eating that tasty and healthy lunch all vestiges of my hangry-head had gone and I was ready to face my often over-zealous editor. Seriously, I've had to re-write more than one article that didn't need it in the past, confirmed by my friend and old university lecturer who also writes for a living. He always says to me, "sometimes editors just mess with you because they hate the fact that they don’t have that elusive creative spark that creates a unique writer’s voice/style."
It's the same idea as the saying: 'those who can't do, teach.'
As I sipped my iced coffee listening to the mix I shared above I double-checked my punctuation and fixed one or two clunky sentences and fired off an email to my editor with the first draft attached, fingers crossed he'd only come back with one or two suggestions and I'd only have to spend an hour max writing around his suggested edits.
The Great Cake Failure
I had decided to have a healthy eating day, but as time slipped by I realised my inbox was still empty which can mean one of two things; he's adding a thousand suggested changes in the tracked changes section of Microsoft word's review section, or he's out and won't get back to me until tomorrow. But as I wanted to go out early-ish for birthday fun on Saturday the last thing I wanted was to wake up to his 30-plus thematic suggestions which often require large re-writes.
So I gave into stress and ate the last piece of no-bake chocolate orange cake that I had left in the fridge while sipping coffee. There is something about coffee and cake that goes so well together, maybe it is a bitter/sweet thing, but as I polished off the final crumbs of the cake my phone pinged an email notification.
"Perfect and written to the brief in your usual concise style. Well done, this needed no edits apart from one typo that I have corrected. It is ready to go to press next week, enjoy your birthday."
It seems miracles can happen 😂
Photos by @raj808 - All Rights Reserved.
Camera used: Samsung S7 Edge Smart Phone.
Thanks for reading 🌿
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Happy birthday 😍
Sounds like a perfect start!
Do you make the slow overnight no kneed? It says leave at room temperature for 12-18 hours - does that work in the summer?
Thanks for the birthday wishes @shanibeer
Yes, yes and yes lol
But to answer properly, I use the overnight method and usually leave it alone between 14-18 hours which works even in the summer. The trick is to cover it overnight with cling film, then once you've taken it out and shaped it really carefully on a piece of floured grease-proof paper, then put it in a small-ish round Colander (still in the grease-proof paper) which sits on the cooker for an hour as the oven heats at the highest temp possible for an hour with a dutch oven pot in the oven. That way the bread gets a second rise as the dutch oven heats up, and then when the hour is up and you put the bread in the cooking pot it cooks rapidly and gives a kind of sourdough-style texture.
It did take me a while to get it right, and also it is 50/50 on whether you get a slightly flat loaf or a proper round Boule-shaped loaf.
That one in the picture didn't turn out perfect rise-wise, but it tasted great :)
Ah, great. I thought it might rise too quickly with the higher temperatures in the summer. I did put an ordinary recipe to rise in the fridge overnight, but only because I'd started it too late 😂.
The colander tip is a good one, provides a bit more support. I'm trying it with some rye flour, that's always really nice with a more open texture.
What about the recipe for the chocolate cake? 😍
What about the recipe for the chocolate cake? 😍Ha ha, because it is you @shanibeer I will dig it out.
I hope that helps... and remember, with the amount of butter in it don't eat it all at once. I ate half of one in the same day once and I have to say it made me feel stuffed and like I was high as a kite from the sugar rush 🤣
First No-Knead Loaf - 50% Rye/50% Canadian Strong. It looks the business, can't wait to taste it, have some proper butter (wrapped in greaseproof paper), but maybe nice with sliced tomatoes and olive oil and sea salt.
That looks delish. Just be sure to let it cool for at least 3 hours as if you cut it too early it doesn't store as well but also goes soggy 😒
That sounds like a gr8 idea, maybe try cutting a garlic clove in half as well, then rub that over the bread before adding the tomatoes and Olive oil.
😁
Thank you 😍
Haha you made me laugh reading about the expectations of tons of edits at a not convenient time as it were birthday day's :) lol.. Awesome that it was not needed at all, an extra birthday gift!
I had to look up if these "empanada-ish" things were the samosas you spoke about, I didn't know them, but after some googling, I'm like damnnnnnn I need to make these one day :)
Looking great!
Anyway, glad you had some good days and an easy commissioned article in terms of no extra edits.
Have a good rest of the weekend!
!CTP
It was my birthday present that I had to do no edits... this is not the norm for my writing commissioned ghostwriting work 😂
Perhaps my editor felt sorry for me due to it being my birthday... but I highly doubt it. It has never stopped him from being a massive dick-tator 😂 I think I just did a very good job this month. In fact I know I did, for research writing I mailed it1 If I do say so myself.
£590 in the bank with very little messing around 😁
Such a contrast, it might be the first time I see someone putting these two together. I'm drawn more towards the D&B part as the classical music mellows me down, this one may work better while I'm driving.
Wish you a splendid Sunday! Voted on ListNerds!
Both have there place for me :-)
Same here, but for different purposes or different goals, the state of mind I get with D&B would be totally different than the one I would get with classical. I found it interesting that you put the two together because usually if someone is saying that they like classical music there is a high probability that they do not like D&B.
Yeah, same here m8. For me, usually, classical music is what I listen to when writing fiction (short stories) or working on my novel. I think classical music is much better as background mood music.
Drum and Bass is good for giving me a boost, often cooking or cleaning the apartment, but it can also work when I'm writing research-based articles like the one that I was near to deadline for a magazine I have written for a while now. So I was listening to that mix to push me through the 2nd and 3rd drafting process. And it seemed to work as the editor didn't ask for any further edits lol
Which was amazing as I wanted to go out 🍻🍻 for birthday beers 😂
Thanks for checking out my post and your meaningful comment @drlobes
!LUV
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I didn't want to comment again here but this had to be said.
There is no music or anything that can give me a boost to clean the apartment! 😆 NEVER! It wasn't invented yet! 🤣
😂🤣
Ha ha dude.... that is too funny.
I used to be the same for a long time, then I got a mouse infestation in my last apartment which changed me into a tidying cleaning person 🐁
Well someone is cleaning the house, even if I have to pay, I can't get myself to do it, it's like I'm allergic to it. I'm kidding you not, if you were to see me, from the moment I start the vacuum cleaner and then 20-30 seconds later while using it, my whole body starts to sweat like I've been doing some heavy work. Something must be wired wrong in my brain.