Writing and Eating and Anxiety - Three of the Four Basic Life Groups

[teddy_radiator]

TheHubs™ and I are currently eating lots of plant-based stuff. We're also eating up all meat and dairy products until we done with them, so I don't know if that qualifies for doing something good or not. But we have been trying some fairly good plant-based meat substitutes and like them. We've done this before and I failed spectacularly - mainly because I tried to exclusively substitute tofu for meat and it was a disaster of monumental proportions. I cannot cook tofu. And I don't know what I'm doing, so I don't even know if I dislike it or not. What I need is for someone who really knows what they are doing to cook me some decent tofu and tell me, "This, now THIS is the way good tofu is supposed to taste." Then I'll know for sure if I actually do like it and just don't know how to cook it, or, like eggplant, I can't stand it no matter how well it's prepared.

Still battling depression - still fighting the good fight. It's approaching two years since TheHubs™' stroke. We still talk about it alot. Both of us were deeply traumatised by it, and right or wrong, it still haunts us a bit. Both of us are doing all the right things - eating well, taking our meds, getting regular checkups, but the event itself fucked me up mightily. I am still prone to bouts of anxiety and fear. I have been a fearful person all my life. Some Leo, huh? I'm the original cowardly lion. I find myself afraid about 70% of the time. I hate it, but I think it's just the way I'm wired. Talking about what happened helps, and writing helps, and working helps, but still, sometimes I'm almost paralyzed by fear. Now we are nearing the two year anniversary of the stroke, and I find myself afraid of that day. Hell, I get anxious if we drive past the parking lot where it first happened.

I started writing a short story today. We drove by an old house yesterday, and we started talking about a prompt for a story. We knocked it around while we drove from job to job, and today I've worked on it. It's around 2K, and I don't know if anything else will come from it, but TheHubs™ cried like a baby as I read it to him. I think that's about the best compliment I've ever been given. He even mentioned it on Facebook today. It makes me think I should submit it somewhere, but I've got no idea where. If you have any suggestions, I'd love to hear them.

Comments

[arcanetrivia]

If you can find anywhere to get fresh-made tofu, it's leaps and bounds better than pre-packaged stuff. There was a guy at our local farmer's market (who unfortunately had to recently go back to Japan for family reasons) whose tofu I would just about eat plain. You could also try tempeh or, if no one has gluten issues, seitan. Or mushrooms can play the part of meat in some dishes, if you like them.

(FWIW I have never enjoyed eggplant either, no matter how well it supposedly is prepared. Knowing that millions of people all over the world like it, I occasionally re-try it just to see if I have a magic "oh, this is fine now" moment like I did with mushrooms after hating them for years, but it hasn't happened yet. Best I can say is that we have an Israeli hummus shop around here that makes baba ghanoush I don't hate, but I wouldn't choose it voluntarily.)