Winter has set in and every evening soup is on in our home! As I went about making cauliflower soup for this evening’s meal, I was was still wondering what I’d write about here today. And then I realized that I love writing as much I love making soup. The creative process process of writing and soup making are quite similar for me. I decided to share with you what writing and soup making have in common for me.
I’m an intuitive cook – I’ve never had any formal training and I just follow my gut when it comes to putting the soup together. I’ve learned to work with the ingredients I’ve got on hand. But in my mind there’s a particular taste I want the soup to have. The basic ingredients stay the same – a vegetable or a meat stock, but I keep varying the other ingredients. Sometimes I’ll add onions and garlic, other times it’s ginger. Sometimes I’ll put in a couple of basil leaves from my garden for flavour. Other times it’s mint, parsley or celery. Sometimes the stock will be lentils. I keep stirring the pot, tasting and adding the flavours till I think it’s just right. I love sharing what I’ve made – my parents are regular recipients of soup from my kitchen and I’ll almost always call and ask them how they liked it. (If you’re interested here’s a link to one of my soup recipes : Bottle Gourd and Corn Soup )
Can you see the ingredients of a blog post in my soup making process?
- An idea of what I want it to turn out like – the outline.
- Following my intuition as to whether I think it might be interesting to others
- Basic ingredients – good language and easy style
- Adding ‘flavour’ – personalizing it to make sure it reflects my thoughts
- Tasting – this involves reading it over and over to see if it is what I want to express and editing it
- Sharing it
- Asking for feedback.
Do you have a similar process for writing?
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Mahathi Ramya says
November 18, 2015 at 6:09 amInteresting analogy Corinne. I agree that you add lovely ‘flavours’ to your blog by personalizing with you thoughts 🙂
corinnerodrigues says
November 19, 2015 at 4:29 amThanks, Mahathi. Glad you liked it.
Carol Graham says
November 17, 2015 at 4:42 pmThe way you laid this out can be applied to public speaking as well. I have done so much of it lately (3 – 4 times a week) that it just gets better. Isn’t that like cooking and adding more “spice?” I hadn’t thought of that until you pointed it out.
Nicely done, Corinne
Debbie D. says
November 17, 2015 at 4:58 amThis is a terrific metaphor, Corinne. 🙂 I’ve never made soup from scratch, but yours sounds delicious! When it comes to writing, the tasting part lasts a long time – yup over and over until it’s perfect.
corinnerodrigues says
November 17, 2015 at 5:51 amGlad you liked it, Debbie. I’m not very much of a can or packet type and much prefer cooking from scratch. I’m glad that you got the part about tasting! Sometimes, I ask another taster to for flavour too – when I’m writing!
angel stew & devil's brew says
November 16, 2015 at 8:34 pmFirst of all, I want to make your soup but I don’t know if we have bottle gourds here. What would be a good substitute do you think? Second, I’m not sure that I do have a process for writing my blog. Much like in real life words just kinda’ fall outta’ my mouth and there they go. Maybe I should work on that.. Really great connection there with the soup. I really want to try it!
corinnerodrigues says
November 17, 2015 at 5:19 amI’ve been asked this before, Karen. I’m thinking calabash or squash in American English. Does that make sense?
I love your writing – so even if there’s no process, it makes fun reading!
Dorothy Johnson says
November 16, 2015 at 7:10 pmI love the metaphor and love the way you developed it. I bet your soups are good!
corinnerodrigues says
November 17, 2015 at 3:50 amThanks, Dorothy. I think they are! 😉
richa singh says
November 16, 2015 at 3:36 pmWow Corinne such a nice thought. Comparing a blogpost with soup! Your soul is like Chicken soup for bloggers soul 😀
corinnerodrigues says
November 16, 2015 at 3:53 pmHa ha..you just love me too much, Richa! I guess I should have written about poha too! 😉