Sunday, April 5, 2009

light diet

I recently received an email from a writer friend saying that she is on a diet of 1,000 words a day. This is a very respectable diet for any writer to be on and in her case I am quite certain it will be a rich and nutritious one. My own diet doesn’t bear much scrutinty. It is unpredictable and barely enough to keep the writerly body and soul alive. There are binges of notebook writing which we could compare to the pie and chips one might unwisely scoff at 2am after a night out on the tiles; there are snippets of densely poetic utterance – the petits fours that no-one really needs, they are exquisite, delicious and quite forgettable; there are worthy attempts at putting in some solid substance towards ongoing project/s (as I actually don’t know which one I want to go on with it’s a bit random), and this is the brown rice and steamed veg option – you know it’s good for you but without the right condiments and a bit of something extra it just kind of sits there, you put the leftovers in the fridge for the next day and then can’t face eating it all over again so it gets thrown out.

Then there is the meat. I was going to say that vegetarians could substitute this with a protein of their choice (I am partial to tofu, have never quite got my head around quorn), but if I am going to extend the metaphor in a way that has any meaning it really needs to be meat. It is solid, organic, with blood and bones that you can boil up to make a rich stock for soup. Well the truth is I am off meat, literally and metaphorically and if I have to eat it then I don’t want too much of the dark stuff. I lean towards the white and the sweet. But in me, and in the writing, the dark stuff is there and keeps coming. It keeps coming and it isn’t what I want on my plate.

The mater and her spouse are coming for supper tonight and I am making fish pie followed by honey and ginger poached pears with meringue.

8 comments:

Zhoen said...

Food in season, perhaps? Writing what is fresh and available.

Cusp said...

Never mind the writing. Thumbs up for the nosh --- sounds lovely. Can you make up a doggy bag amd post one over this way ?

Reading the Signs said...

Zhoen, yes - fresh, homegrown produce, and a grace, perhaps: for what we are about to receive ...

Cusp, please teleport over here and help yourself to the substantial (and very gorgeous)leftovers. I also made heart-shaped easter biscuits.

Cusp said...

Beam me up Scottie --- I'll be over in a jiffy. Are you ready with suitable utensils ?

Reading the Signs said...

er - knife, fork and spoon do you? Or we have chopsticks, if you prefer. Pears are almost gone so here is the recipe - seriously delicious (esp with a bit of brandy)

Cusp said...

Oh Yum ! Best silver I think. I used to do a very nice sweet omlette with pears and plums poached in red wine with a little cinnamon inside it. Dust with icing sugar.

Madame Moed overleeft said...

enjoyed your post and understand all too well ... (including the quorn thing, something about it, yes ;-))...

Reading the Signs said...

hi Joni - thanks for the comment. I think it's the idea of Quorn and it being made out of mushrooms or something. I mean mushrooms per se are fine, but you know.