When 140 Characters Just Isn't Enough

There once was time in my life when I actually wrote a lot and it wasn’t in college despite the fact I was an English major. At least I was an English major the last time I flunked out of college. I think. Parts of the 1980’s can be a bit hazy at times but that is neither here nor there and most likely is a potential topic for another blog at another time. (It’s deja vu all over again but now I am getting way off track).

Anyway, as I was saying. I used to write a lot over at the ghetto of social networking more commonly known as MySpace. You could count on my posting at least two to three blogs a week there about football, travel, food, LOST or my real specialty - everything you could ever want to know about nothing in particular. Those were my favorite blogs to write because I tend to look at the world differently than most of the folks I know, yet in a way in which most people can relate if they twist their minds right. Certainly not unlike the way that I write 140 characters at a time on Twitter and that may be in & of itself the whole problem here.

Ever since I joined Twitter and really started tweeting last summer, I have quit writing blogs. Not entirely quit but certainly not written them with the same frequency as before. (I will pat myself on the back and point out that I did pick the New Orleans Saints to win the SuperDuperBowl last September and I did name all 34 winners in my College Bowl preview but everything thing else I have written in the past six to 9 months has been nothing more than a rehashing of stuff I had written before. Not exactly awe inspiring from either side of the page and not exactly satisfying for me.) I found that I got lazy thanks to Twitter and when a thought popped into my head, I would just spin it out in 140 characters and move on without a second thought. But it’s those second & third thoughts that I have now found that I miss the most. I have come back to the realization that sometimes 140 characters just isn’t enough. That sometimes even 140 words can’t be enough. (Don’t worry, I am nowhere near the possibility of 140 pages – that’s for my dead in the water for the past 20 years novel idea). That I really need to come back to blogging. Consider this your fair warning. Your “shot across the bow” so to speak. Swampy is back.

And that is view for now from Behind The Shades…

Spicy Butternut Mango Soup or yet another swampy recipe using fruit

The following recipe was adapted (ie: stolen) from Everyday with Rachel Ray so obviously now it is considerably better than it was in her shill of a magazine.

And yes, for those of you who remember my other successful recipes from my allrecipes.com site, it does incorporate FRUIT……

Spicy Butternut Mango Soup

2 tablespoons of Vegetable/Canola Oil

1 Onion – chopped/diced

2 ½ lbs of Butternut Squash – cubed

2 tablespoons of Brown Sugar

2 teaspoons (heaping) of Chipotle in Adobo

3 cups of Vegetable Broth

2 Mangoes – chopped

1 cup of Buttermilk

Salt & Pepper to taste (I only use Hawaiian Sea Salt)

Garnish with whatever you feel like garnishing with – I garnished with a spoon myself

Directions

Saute the onions in the oil over low to medium heat until translucent. Add the brown sugar, chipotle in adobo & butternut squash cubes and stir until incorporated. (I like that word) Add vegetable broth. Bring to a boil and then back to a simmer until the butternut squash cubes are soft. Add mango and let simmer a few minutes before pureeing in blender. Return to pot and add buttermilk. Serve & Garnish.

If it sucks, which it didn’t for me, then blame the editors of Everyday with Rachel Ray. If you like it, then it was my changes to the recipe that made it a success.

Looking at an empty bowl from Behind The Shades….swampy abides