Whew! Talk about learning courage! Admitting to a problem publicly takes one heck of a dollop of courage. Then attacking the problem with ferocity builds enough to stand on a platform of confidence.
I'm writing a cookbook. Sounds simple, those words, writing a cookbook. R-i-g-h-t. Well, putting the words on a page isn't that hard. But a few other things have turned out to be a challenge.
Here's the big reveal, if you didn't already know. This last year I was diagnosed with microscopic colitis. Embarrassing, frustrating, stupid condition. Basically, I have a collagen layer blocking food and water absorption and a second layer of lymphocytes flaring up that also blocks nutrition. Try finding good information on food and treatment. Uh huh, not so easy. Websites don't agree, doctors don't agree, and even the Mayo Clinic isn't sure about the disease. Medical treatment is trial and error. What works for one person probably, maybe, might work for another.
After being really sick for a long time, the not so fun colonoscopy at least told us what was the problem. But not how to fix it. I've been on a wild ride trying to discover what I could eat that didn't make me sick.
But I have dreams and goals and a purpose. Microscopic colitis is a diagnosis I have to learn to live with and manage. So off I went on the adventure of discovery.
Last week I began writing tips and recipes for people like me. People who want to eat without fearing their food (sounds crazy, but it's true) and want to be able to eat with their families. The birth of Creative Cooking for Colitis begins with 20 tips. I now have several recipes and am working on more.
The challenges: Sharing publicly in order to help others, photographing recipes and figuring out the right size and resolution for food photography, and finding out how to format a cookbook.
The potential: The opportunity to help others with this same condition really engages and inspires me. Friends are already asking for it and it's only about half done and I'm learning new skills along the way.
The humorous: My family now knows they cannot cut into a dish until I take a picture. LOL, you should see them standing over dinner like vultures circling. I'm planning some very strange combination menus just so I can get a certain recipe or photo. One night steak, but the side dish was another main entree. Another night home made egg drop soup with stroganoff, lol.
I've been caught with a measuring tape trying to figure out which size I want to make the book. I'm opening and shutting all sorts of cookbooks looking for the kind of binding I like best. Don't you hate a cookbook that won't stay open in the middle of cooking, especially when your hands are gooey???
I've never written a cookbook before, but I can tell you that I'll know how when I'm done. Courage comes from doing even when you don't know how. Confidence comes from realizing that you now know, from what you've learned, while being courageous.
Angie
Related Posts:
1.http://godusesbrokenvessels.blogspot.com/2010/01/building-confidence-on-past.html
2.http://godusesbrokenvessels.blogspot.com/2010/01/confidence-get-it-by-learning-something.html
7 comments:
You get 'em, Angie! I can just picture your hungry family, eyeing that beautiful dish...
And it is scary to do something totally different. My non-fiction book threw me for a loop, because it was so different. I can't imagine a cookbook!
Actually I can. One for vegans. Normal vegans - the one who don't eat all those weird ingredients or shop only at the health food stores.
Diane, Maybe you should write a cookbook too now that you're finished with the last series :-) Take a break and have fun in the kitchen. It's hilarious sometimes. One recipe I'd made a long time ago, I started making again. I'd never written it down. I'm totally known for not measuring. You should see me trying to figure out how much I dump in! So now the recipe isn't turning out because I keep trying to measure it, lol. I think I have an idea. I'll dump things into clean bowls as if I'm putting them in the pot. Then I'll measure what's in the bowl before I dump it in the pot. Hee hee. Sometimes I just have to think outside the box. But it does make for a lot of dishes!
Angie
Angie,
I created a cookbook of all the family recipes, because it wasn't published I borrowed pics from the internet. When I finished each actual book cost me $50+ to make. You wouldn't want to do this for your actual "for sale" cookbook, but you might want to make one for yourself like this:
Go to Walmart get a clear plastic front three ring binder (the 1.54 in is $2.00.
Buy clear page protectors (I'm a baker & got tired of my cookbook pages getting food on them.
You can make an index, get some tabs & the book stays open. Everyone fights over them. My poor aunt died & a fight ensued over who would get it.
Good luck to you. If you email me & tell me the things you can't eat, I'll look thru my recipes. author@jadaykennedy.com
Aday Kennedy
The Differently-Abled Writer
www.jadaykennedy.com
I'm sorry to hear about your Microscopic colitis, but I am grateful to see that you are stepping out to assist others. I laughed at the thought of your family sitting around the table, waiting for you to snap a picture! Thanks for sharing.
Thanks so much, Aday. I'll send you a message for some of your recipes. It's so nice of you to share :-)
Angie
Lol, Eddie, it's true. Last night I made dinner really late. You should have seen my husband teasing me about the pictures. I showed my dil the photos I'd taken and she had some great advice on how to make them even better. But this would mean making the dish again. I don't know if they can take it much longer, roflol! It was one of their very favorites, Mexican Lasagna.
Angie
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