A Mess and Success
I’m a girl that likes preparation. I like going into things with all the knowledge I can possibly have. So it makes sense that before March 1st, 2023, I read all the posts I could about Slice of Life. I read the tips from slicers, read some posts from others, stalked the comments sections and the frequently asked questions. I have a sense that no matter how much preparation, I’m still going to run into some writer’s block, amongst other struggles, this month. But I’m also a girl that loves to be challenged and hates to be bored. So here I am, and I have one goal: to show up every day, and write something.
One point I loved reading in my preparation was that, because of writing for one month over the last 14 years, she now has primary information and stories about life that otherwise she wouldn’t have remembered. She has clear memories and snippets of her children growing up over 14 years – that was motivating, despite the whole me-not-having-kids thing. But if in ten years, I have a primary account of my time in NYC as a 23-year old, then that would also be pretty cool.
I’m going to do my best to give honest, raw stories about life at the moment. Perhaps there will be humor, life reckonings, clamored feelings and frustrations, and – I hope – relatable stories. And to follow the rules which I found through my preparation, they will be stories, despite their forms! So here goes – day one: story one.
I made soup on Monday night. To be more specific, I tried to make my mom’s infamous potato leek soup. Mind you, making soup in a New York apartment is a feat in itself. Potato leek though? That was a bold thing for me to take on. I peeled my potatoes, I prepped my carrots, my leeks were cleaned, I had my bouillon (not a cube because they were out, so I got the paste) and my broth ready. The other thing to mention is that my mom has a special way of cooking – without a recipe. Which is great for her, love that she can cook. But for me? When I call and ask how many potatoes and leeks she uses and she says “five-ish potatoes and two leeks kinda sliced?” Don’t love it. I get to the step where I’m ready to blend my potatoes and carrots to make the soup. This is the nitty-gritty of the process – the part that really matters. So I pour the mixture into my fruit ninja, spin the top on, and press down. Nothing happens. It won’t turn on. I stumble backwards a bit and take in my surroundings. I have soft potatoes and carrots, a roommate I promised dinner to, and a blender that’s not blending. Plan B: my food processor. You’re probably thinking, “why didn’t she use that first? Why is she panicking?” Well, I don’t have a normal sized food processor. Like my kitchen, I have a mini one, New York style, about the size of a size-3 soccer ball. It’s adorable and usually does what I need. It did not let me down. I stood in my kitchen for the next hour slowly pouring little bits of the mixture in, painstakingly, with love and labor, blending together my soup. The soup is fine, it’s too salty and a weird green color instead of my mother’s glorious orange, but the fact that I made the soup despite the obstacles?? I’d call that a success.
The Bam Cam 