This blog post is brought to you by a missed flight connection and five hours of "free time" in the airport.
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I have fallen into a pitiful pattern. I pump some life back into this blog for a few weeks and then fall off almost completely for months. During the periods of silence, fleeting thoughts of blogging enter my mind... but they never go anywhere. Instead, my shame builds... then anger... then disappointment... then resignation.
But then I jolt back into gear and reset my goal of blogging more often.
This process -- my method, if you will -- also involves coming to an understanding with myself. The pressure to write more often? It's all self-inflicted. The shame I feel for not writing more often? Completely unfounded. The anger for failing to meet my goals? Unnecessary. The resignation? Way too dramatic.
I'm not a full-time blogger, so I don't have to write on a regular basis. I understand that readers engage more when they know there's something to engage with... But I'm not willing to take time away from my kids or to sacrifice sleep to follow a rigid content calendar.
And that's okay.
From day one, this blog was a hobby... a creative outlet... a fun way for me to share recipes and stories. I'm a member of an early generation of bloggers. I've seen how the job of "being a blogger" has changed over the years. Expectations grew. Numbers and analytics became much more important. Suddenly you needed a tribe... a hive. Blogs started to look the same and sound the same... And I couldn't keep up.
And that's okay.
I have to stop feeling badly about not being like every other blogger out there. I don't have a list of brands who work with me on any consistent basis. I'm not generating paid content. Sometimes my photos are nicely staged... But most of the time they're shot with minimal staging and without trendy props.
And that's okay.
I continue to write posts from my heart. I don't bother with keyword placement or worry about where a post will land in search results. But I do worry about sharing something that few people wind up reading and that no one responds to with a comment. (Analytics aren't top-of-mind for me, but I do glance at numbers every now and then.)
Obviously, most of what I've written so far was for me. Putting into words what I've been feeling on the inside helps. It's cathartic. And it sets me up for what I'm about to do next -- share a recipe for homemade pesto sauce... In mid-September... At the end of basil season.
Why share it now instead of at the beginning of next summer, at the start of basil season? Because I took these photos in April 2015, when I had only one kid -- a newborn! -- and I can't bring myself to wait even longer. And... this way, I'll be all set to share this post when basil starts appearing in the farmers' market by the bunches.
Let's just call this planning way in advance rather than running three years behind schedule. ;-)
Quick-and-Easy Pesto
A quick-and-easy recipe for basil pesto from Taste As You Go.
Prep time:
5-10 minutes
Cook time:
5-10 minutes
Total time:
10-20 minutes
Yield:
10 servings
INGREDIENTS
-
2 cups
packed basil leaves (about 1 1/4 ounces)
-
2 cloves
garlic, peeled and crushed
-
1/8 cup
pine nuts
-
1/4 cup
grated Parmesan
-
1/4 teaspoon
kosher salt
-
1/4 teaspoon
freshly ground black pepper
-
3 tablespoons
extra-virgin olive oil
-
1/4 cup
warm water
INSTRUCTIONS
-
Add basil, garlic, pine nuts, Parmesan, salt, and pepper to the bowl of a food processor. Process for 10 seconds.
-
Combine olive oil and water in a small bowl.
-
With the processor on, slowly drizzle in the oil and water mixture, processing just until blended.
-
Serve pesto right away or store with plastic wrap against the surface of the pesto in an airtight container in the refrigerator until ready to serve. If using after the sauce has been in the refrigerator, stir the pesto well before serving.
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