I’ve finished my third revision of Chapter 2 at last!
The past four months have been really intensive and I must admit I have been struggling to write the chapter.
But now I know that the difficulties were important to me. I developed the habit of writing for fixed hours every day. I found that I am most productive as soon as I wake up and that morning productivity is really important. I am going to continue to devote my mornings to writing and won’t get back into old habits. I have also educated myself on how to stay motivated for a long-term project… If I don’t, I might get lazy again, haunted by ‘procrastination’.


Julie & Julia
I watched Julie & Julia, a comedy film from 2009 based on a true story. Julie cooks 524 recipes from Julia Child’s classic French cookbook in the span of one year and writes all about it on her blog. I simply like the idea: she wanted to do something to break the monotony of her life. In Julie’s case, it was food blogging. She tries eating an egg for the first time and more difficult recipes.
After watching the movie, just as Julie tried an egg, I felt like trying beef. There are scenes of boeuf bourguignon (French beef stew) in the movie. I don’t eat beef – I haven’t tried it for years but I’m not allergic to it. On Saturday evening, Luca and I went to a French restaurant. They had boeuf bourguignon. I ordered it and tasted it. The dish came with mashed potatoes with herbs. The beef was so tender. It was a nice feeling to break a fixed idea that I had been sticking to just for the sake of it.
Espresso chocolate blondies
Today, I baked espresso chocolate gluten-free blondies, using teff flour and tapioca starch. I sourced a recipe for coffee chocolate chunk gluten-free blondies and added espresso. I love the texture of teff flour. The combination of chocolate, pecans and espresso is wonderful. They smell great and are yummy!
My achievements in week 96
- finished writing my chapter draft after a four-month struggle
- submitted a piece of coursework for the teaching programme
Goals for week 97
- have a meaningful discussion in a meeting with my supervisors
- make a quiche
- work on my conference paper