Dinner and Creativity

[browngirl]

So when I logged in this morning it wasn't to write that last post. *blush* (And why do I always blush after I get angry? But I digress.) I'm having a wonderfully social week: Star Trek with issendai Wednesday, dinner with spinrabbit and family tonight, dinner with my coworkers Monday, brunch at thespian's and of course my date with WD tomorrow.

Last night I went out to dinner with bercilakslady, which was great fun (she brought me vanilla! she likes the books I knew she had to own! Yay!) and not just because she took me to Yoma in Union Sq, Allston, a really lovely Burmese restaraunt. I had tamarind drink (I love tamarind, it's like a sour raisin, but really it has a fruity sourness that's not red or citrusy but is all its own), pork cabbage salad (fresh and delicious, sour and spicy -- I was right to ask for mild, any more would have been too much) and coconut rice (the perfect creamy hefty balance to the salad). For dessert I had this baked semolina solid-pudding thing that was tasty, not to sweet, and whose name I can't recall. BLady ordered us a crunchy appetizer sampler including 'samsas', or samosas without the 'o', and she had a luscious looking Happy Tofu Curry and ginger icecream.

Yummy good times, and now I know about a new-to-me restaurant, a deserved favorite of BLady's.

Meanwhile, this morning I had a minor spat of artistic temperament, which was greatly ameliorated by a kind hug from Wolf and e-hugs from wonderful people who know who they are, and which led to an interesting chat with Tigerlily. I don't really know why I'm so driven to make stuff -- my grandmother made magnificent cakes, and my father painted long ago before I was born, maybe I get it from them -- but I really am driven. If I go too long without writing or drawing or cooking creatively I start going crazy. It's like something is pounding at my temples, trying to get out.

Considering my relative lack of talent this seems kind of ridiculous, and yet it's how I seem to be constructed.

Anyway. On to breakfast and to get some more things done.

Comments

[bercilakslady.livejournal.com]

*pokes you gently* "Considering my relative lack of talent this seems kind of ridiculous, and yet it's how I seem to be constructed. " Stop that, please. The self-depreciation, not the making of things.

It was lovely to see you. I'm inspired to actually pick up my dulcimer again, which I haven't done since mid-February.

And on a note from last night, I've not aquired a duvet cover, a wallet, and a candy thermometer. :)

[n5red.livejournal.com]

Don't worry, from this distance I can't see you blush anyway.

[lomedet.livejournal.com]

Considering my relative lack of talent this seems kind of ridiculous, and yet it's how I seem to be constructed.

As someone who has first-hand experience of your talent in at least three different arenas, I feel totally justified in saying that the first half of that sentence is poppycock. And that, given the second, it might me an interesting project for you to figure out how to build a life with lots of making-things in it.

[cellio]

Word.

[nellorat.livejournal.com]

As others have said, you are too down on your talent!

I think my own need to make things has at least three discernible roots:
(1)I like making physical things because most of my work is in my head, and I need to do even semi-creative things, such as painting sun-catchers, to use nonverbal/physical aspects of my brain,
(2)I like other people and want to share things with them (it seems certain this is true of you also), and
(3)Years ago I decided that not passing along my genes was OK with me, but I like passing along my memes via writing and other art.

Btw, I really liked the LJ entry you linked to in your previous entry, as you may or may not have seen by comments there.

[lblanchard.livejournal.com]

"If I go too long without writing or drawing or cooking creatively I start going crazy. It's like something is pounding at my temples, trying to get out. Considering my relative lack of talent this seems kind of ridiculous, and yet it's how I seem to be constructed."

Never mind the truth of it (you look plenty talented to me), but I love the way this passage is constructed. It makes me giggle.

Tamarinds make me crazy. They're so hard to deal with...

[hitchhiker.livejournal.com]

http://www.recipedelights.com/recipes/desserts/soojikahalwa.htm is an indian solid semolina pudding; not sure if it's anything like the burmese one but it might be worth the try