On Inspiration + Çilbir with Ground Bison

Or: The Advantages of Living with a Lovely Wife

Mrs. CWD is a terrifically thoughtful woman. To help me get over the shock of hitting the one-third century mark last week, she got me a lovely book called Rooms of Their Own, which, as the subtitle suggests, details the rooms “where great writers write.” I read through it last night, soaking it in¹.

Some things I learned: Jack London wrote on the porch of his California home; he slept there so as not to wake his wife when he woke up to write at 5am². Ernest Hemingway wrote standing in his bedroom, typewriter balanced on a bookshelf, amidst shotgun shells and a collection of predator teeth. D.H. Lawrance wrote outdoors, underneath and among trees; Mark Twain, in his billiards room, facing a wall. Kurt Vonnegut wrote at a desk etched with a reminder from Thoreau: “Beware of all enterprises that require new clothes.³”

Samuel Johnson, an English writer and father of the modern dictionary, liked to write from the garret of No. 17 Gough Street in London. Johnson liked writing from the attic so much, he wrote an ode to it in 1751 called “The Advantages of Living in a Garret.” The major one, he believed, was that inspiration came from on high — living and writing at the top of the building put you closer to that divine spark⁴.

When I write, it’s rarely atop great heights. More often, I’m writing a ground level, in fits and spurts, conveying as best I can the convoluted signals coming from the universe, antennae tuned to whatever random frequency I can pick up⁵. Perhaps this is why my writing doesn’t always pop: I’m just writing from too low an elevation. Maybe I need to raise my proverbial receivers, get a cell booster.

Inspiration is a funny thing: You never know where it will come from. Reading good writing, watching good television, even looking at good art — that’s easy. Good work feels effortless when you’re consuming it. But getting it out there, into the world — relaying and refining the transmissions you’re picking up — that can be hard. Perhaps that’s why so many of the writers in Rooms of Their Own had self-prescribed word counts for each day they wrote. When you need to hit a number, you’re bound to get at least one or two good sentences⁶. Sometimes you need to sift a lot of silt before you can find gold⁷.

Cooking really is the same way. Sometimes cooking can feel effortless — meals plan themselves, then come together quickly. Other times, it takes hours of flipping through cookbooks, recipes, and old CWD posts to figure out what is for dinner⁸. That’s why it’s nice to have a few go-to recipes you can breakout when it feels like, rather than cooking from atop Everest, you’re instead at the bottom of the Mariana Trench.

Recently NYT Cooking featured this recipe for Turkish poached eggs with a garlic yogurt sauce. I was inspired to cook it, since I love eggs and it seemed easy — perfect for those nights you’re lacking inspiration. We kicked it up with some ground bison⁹ — but you can just as easily omit the meat or sub for something else¹⁰.

Let’s give it a go — and if you can, try cooking this one from elevated heights¹¹.

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In a small bowl, put a few scoops of plain Greek yogurt and mix with a clove or two of grated garlic. Stir well to combine. In another small bowl, combine a smoked paprika, chili flakes, salt, and a dash of pepper and incorporate into some ground meat, reserving a spoonful or so. Cook the meat, in butter, until cooked through.

In a separate pan, melt a large knob of butter and sprinkle in some of the spice mix.

Bring a medium pan of water to boil, add a splash of vinegar, and swirl the water with a slotted spoon. Reduce to a simmer and drop in a few cracked eggs, cooking gentle for 3-4 minutes until the whites are cooked. Remove the eggs and serve them over a dollop of the yogurt sauce, some ground bison, and then spoon some of the spiced butter on top.

I’d recommend serving this with some fresh baked bread or pita.

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There you go folks — get inspired by Turkish poached eggs. I have to imagine this would be just as good with fried eggs, but poaching is something we do so rarely on the CWD Ranch it feels awfully nice to mix it up every once and awhile.

I’ll let you get to your weekends. After a week feeling like mid-August in New England, we’re getting temperatures down in the 50s. Positively winter-like. Keep an eye on your garden. Try not to spend too much time indoors. We’re already two days into June and the joy of summer is ticking away!

1. This is a perfect gift for me. I love to read. I love to write. I love great writers. I love carefully arranged rooms and I love reading about writing. (EB White’s Elements of Style is one of my favorite books.)

2. He had aspirations of dream home, 24 bedrooms, The Wolf House — but it burned down in a fire just before completion.

3. Good life advice, really.

4. For example: The Muses resided at the top of Mount Olympus,

5. This is how Rick Rubin describes the “creative act” in his book under the same title. It’s fantastic and I’d highly recommend it — it’s the basis of a future post, believe it or not.

6. And as Hemingway said, the secret is just to write one true sentence: all you need to do is write the truest one you know.

7. That was an attempt to make an allusion to Jack London, who is, of course, famous for his writings about Alaska, gold prospectors, and dogs. Did it work? I dunno — think my antenna is busted.

8. Or I guess you could just read this post…

9. Huge shout out to one of our newest readers, Matt, from North Bridger Bison!

10. I think mushrooms browned in butter would be delightful here if you want to go vegetarian.

11. I don’t imbibe in mind-altering substances, but — perhaps this idea is why they call it “getting high.”