Kind of an unwieldy title, eh? I compressed the last three months into a single blog post because, as has been the ongoing pattern this year, my project output has swerved downward. My excuses this time: I decided a couple of months ago that I wanted to revise my novel (My Novel™; is there any way to say this that doesn’t feel obnoxious?) so I’ve been focusing on that; I’ve still been cooking and baking, just Other Things; I had a work trip in the middle of October; the list goes on. The charm of this project has worn off a bit, just in time for it to end! I wasn’t planning on continuing it through 2020, and I’m still not; instead I have something else I’ve been dreaming up, so keep an eye out for that in January.
I’m not quite ready to do any sort of reflecting on this project, although as ever I would like to thank it for helping me try a lot of new things. (Or a handful of new things, if you’re just talking about September-November.)
A quick overview: Apples is the one I most regret not making more from, and it’s the one that fell during the aforementioned work trip that sort of jolted my cooking. I will definitely be revisiting over the winter. I really want to try the tartines. I liked Broccoli, which is my girlfriend’s favorite vegetable, which itself means we’ll be back to this one. I liked Chickpeas too, but learned that I either don’t like chickpea flour or I don’t like the brand we bought. I’ll grab another bag from Kalustyan’s someday and we’ll see.
Onward!
Read MoreAnother month, another Short Stack! This month’s was Prosciutto di Parma, which was great because prosciutto is one of my favorite meat products and I really enjoyed learning new ways to cook with it that aren’t just “slap it in between a bagel with fresh mozzarella and call it a sandwich” (although that ‘recipe’ is really good, I promise).
I did better than I thought I would, given that prosciutto di Parma can be expensive and given the other things I had going on this month. I shot for CASE/BY/CASE NYC for the first time this year, a wonderful interview with the incredibly inspiring Ale Lariu, who spoke with us about the unique challenges that women (and mothers in particular) face in the workforce. I love shooting for C/B/C — I’ve learned so much and been privy to so many fascinating, educational conversations. I like to think of myself as someone who can get excited about anything so long as I’m interacting with someone who is knowledgeable and enthusiastic. There are very few subjects that outright bore me. I’m thinking here of another C/B/C interview, this one discussing data science, which I really know next to nothing about and yet found so interesting. (I won’t go on here, but you should read it.)
This is really my goal in doing this Short Stack project: I want to get enthusiastic about ingredients I don’t know anything about.
Read MoreI haven't really used my RB67 since December, when I was in Canada, taking photos I thought I was going to like at the time but didn't really later on. I like these a lot, though. At the end of March I went down to Louisiana for the first time since summer 2015 (which, incidentally, was when I used the RB67 for the first time!). I toted around my cameras (which was easy, because we drove everywhere, so). I took a lot of photos. This is just one day, at my Papou's house, walking around his pond with my camera as the sun began to set.
Read MoreOn January 23, I met up with some of my coworkers to see another coworker — Mike Dautner, or Hills to Height — perform at Rockwood Music Hall. It was a happy occasion, but also a bittersweet one; we were saying goodbye to Sarah, who was moving to Michigan shortly thereafter. Sarah and I had worked together for more than a year and a half, and we spent eight long months together holding down the fort on the overnight shift — to say I'd grown fond of her would be an understatement. At least there was a good soundtrack to our goodbyes.
Read More