I’m learning that other cultures are quite good at cooking what’s in season. I’m not sure what it is about Americans, but we seem to want what we want when we want it.
This means we’re eating less optimal produce during the off season which doesn’t taste all that great and costs a buttload.
Do you like getting feedback?
For me, it’s a love/hate relationship. Love because don’t we all want to get better as humans? Whether it’s in your work, relationships or craft it’s nearly impossible to improve unless we get some sort of acknowledgment from outside parties.
Hate because if I disagree with said feedback I wanna tell them to stuff it where the sun don’t shine, you know?
If we were smart (rational) enough to sit with our feedback for a minute, we’d see that our hate for said feedback says more about us than the other person. Do we hate it because it’s true and now we have to consider changing? Or not true and therefore it bothers us that we care so much about the other person’s opinion?
I recently looked back on the advice I’ve doled out over the past year through emails or blog posts.
How easy it seems when you think you’ve got it all figured out. You have a moment of clarity and everything seems so…simple.
I’m thankful I’ve felt this way at times, because when those moments are few and far between you forget that finding peace with yourself is WORK. Hard work. Constant work. Never-ending work.
Lately I’ve been losing track of time. I’ll be doing something and realize that hours have gone by without pausing to notice what I’m doing or where I am.
Autopilot.
You know when you get in your car to go to the grocery store and you get there and you’re like holy crap I’ve been driving this whole time?
It’s funny but also jarring. It makes me feel like I’ve literally lost time. And it shows me that if I don’t start paying attention, I’ll lose track of it all.
Writing feels hard lately.
Sometimes it feels like I have limited creativity, and right now that creativity is getting used up at my day job and cooking after work. Writing unfortunately takes a back burner.
“Unfortunately” because writing has been the thing to spark my creativity this year. Even though I hate doing it, I hate reading it back and I kind of hate my writing.
The act of doing it pushes me past the mental barrier of “I don’t like this thing make it stop”.
How is it already August, and how is the summer almost over?
Though I can hardly complain because I’ve had a grew summer, I just didn’t do the things I really love to do all that much.
Long hikes in the mountains.
Lazy mornings at the farmer’s market.
Yoga on a balcony. Guess I don’t have one of those anymore.
These posts are slowly trickling out, but I’ve been cooking Mexican food up FAST.
Starting a new job has been challenging because now have to figure out how to balance my love of cooking, photography, editing, styling, and writing with making money.
Because I also love making money.
Helps fund said hobbies of cooking, photography, editing, styling, and writing. Oh and puppy.
DID I MENTION I HAVE A NEW PUPPY.
Took a month off.
But I guess that’s what happens when you set big goals for yourself. When I decided to cook from a different country every month for a year, it felt impossible.
No way could I learn all those dishes. No way could I cook that often. No way I could set a goal and not meet it!
This is a reminder to myself that if we don’t set big goals we will only ever achieve what we believe is possible and nothing more.
Thai month is the first month where I made fewer meals than the previous month. Though there are fewer Thai recipes this month, I really didn’t hit a dish I didn’t fall in love with. And all of the Thai dishes are stupid simple to make.
My inner critic is telling me to get it together for July.
But let’s take a breath and just enjoy this last one. Good for you… it’s the best one yet.
I’m always looking for meals I can keep in my back pocket for when I have no idea what to cook for dinner.
Whether I’m just cooking for myself or for a group, I need an “oh shit what do I make tonight” kind of dish on hand.
Usually, this is some sort of salmon dish or even Pho Ga because they are easy and I know exactly what I’m doing.
No recipe needed.