..after 9 years, it is time to slow down + Basic Curried Corn Chowder recipe

Tweet

Today's post: celebrating 9 years of food blogging; why it is time to slow down and be your best; a basic curried corn chowder recipe by Mark Bittman to cure those 5pm hunger pangs.

“If you’re having difficulty coming up with new ideas, then slow down. For me, slowing down has been a tremendous source of creativity. It has allowed me to open up — to know that there’s life under the earth and that I have to let it come through me in a new way. Creativity exists in the present moment. You can’t find it anywhere else.”  - Natalie Goldberg (Source)

I will tell you this. Times have dramatically changed since I started food blogging 9 years ago. Almost a decade earlier, there was no prominent social media presence; no madness to churn out SEO-driven posts like a machine and definitely no concept of 'fast blogging' . A handful of food bloggers published content for their love for food, wrote meaningful comments on each other's blogs and made real connections which bloomed over time.

Of course, like I said blogging is a whole different genre now and let's say to keep up with my truly amazing peers around me, I changed too. In fact, I became that machine who sometimes blogged recipes that were most searched for; who incorporated keywords into meaningful sentences to impress the Google gods. Don't get me wrong. I am not judging anybody's approach here. What feels not-so-good to me might be just perfect for somebody else. So, over time, a template of sorts emerged and all I had to was plug and publish.

..and then suddenly one day something snapped inside me, just like that..

Blogger burn-out is real you guys and when it strikes, it strikes real hard! I lost the mojo to write; to cook; to photograph; to blog. I no longer wanted to compete with my nagging desire to keep up with everything. As if god-sent, I stumbled upon two posts recently and realized I am not alone in this struggle. First was Edlyn's heart warming post on How to be the best and then Kristen's well-timed article on Slow Blogging Movement. It became clear to me how important it is to get back to the roots, to be true to yourself and take things slow. Most importantly, it is not only hard but almost impossible to DO or BE everything!

..and with that in mind, I have decided to tread a new path from now onwards - to publish blogposts when inspiration hits, choosing quality over quantity and along with recipes I love, share more personal content like books I read from my never-ending TBR list, zentangle art I occasionally do and other everyday mundane yet beautiful aspects of my life. :-) Sounds good?

..and you know what else is real. 5 pm hunger pangs - when lunch is long gone and there is still time left for dinner. When you come home from work ravishing and try real hard not to munch whatever comes to hand. Well, that is what I do every single day. A plan had to be devised to keep a check on cravings and a make-ahead thick soup/chowder was the answer I came up with. For this week, I made an easy corn chowder recipe Mark Bittman shared on NYT cooking. If you have access to fresh corn, I would highly recommend to use it. Frozen corn should work too.

Ingredient list is short with corn, potato, milk; simply seasoned with salt, pepper and a tad bit of curry powder. I am so pleased that right now, four boxes of neatly portioned chowder in tupperware boxes are stowed in my fridge. All I have to do is heat it up in microwave and eat with a piece of toast. Yum!

For coming weeks, I might try this soup or this lentil stew. 

Basic Curried Corn Chowder

PRINT RECIPE

Adapted from NYT Cooking

Category: Soups/Salads
Time: 30 mins
Serves 4

Ingredients

4 ears of fresh corn
1 tbsp butter or neutral oil ike canola or grapeseed
1 medium onion, chopped
2 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp curry powder
1 cup low fat milk
few tbsp of spring onion, chopped
2 tomatoes, cored, seeded and chopped (optional)
½ cup chopped parsley (optional)

Preparation

Shuck corn, and use a paring knife to strip kernels into a bowl. Put cobs in a pot with 4 cups water. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer while you continue.

Add butter/oil into a saucepan, and turn heat to medium. When butter melts or oil is hot, add onion and potatoes, along with a sprinkling of salt, pepper and curry powder. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onion softens, about 5 minutes.

After corncobs have cooked at least 10 minutes, strain liquid into onion-potato mixture. Bring to a boil, then lower heat to a simmer. When potatoes are tender, add corn kernels and milk, and heat through.

Taste, and adjust seasonings. Garnish with the parsley, and Serve.

Notes: No tomatoes were used in this version and I added some spring onion instead of parsley.

Did you like this recipe? Are you craving for more? Keep in touch on Facebook,Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram for updates on books I read, artwork, future blog posts and much more. You can also Subscribe to Cooking With Siri feed for automatic notifications and if you are looking for some inspiration, check out Cooking With Siri Recipe Index which has more than 500 recipes, neatly categorized. Happy Cooking!

until next recipe,