July 19, 2024
Happy Friday!
Here are some things I found interesting, inspiring, and just plain cool this weekā¦
I thought I knew what I was going to write about for this newsletter, but then everything changed.
Dramatic? Yeah, a bit.
This week, Iāve been finding myself in š°Ā task-rabbit mode. Each day, Iāve opened up my to-do list only to be instantly overwhelmed by the 150+ tasks š±Ā that I am supposed to be working on.
After going through the inevitable cycle of despair, fatigue, and just general apathy, I start work. š
But today, I was able to recenter.
And it was all because my parents asked me for help planning a trip.
Some beautiful combination of my love of š§³Ā travel, research, discovering cool things for loved ones, and quite frankly, the fact that this had no hard deadline just ā”Ā lit up my brain!
I spent 3 hours looking at šļøĀ vacation destinations, vegan food, cool activities, and more. And you know what I found?
My big WHY. Again.
(yes, and also destination options for the parentals)
I got to reconnect with WHY I started the Museum in the first place.
I want to inspire curiosity, creativity, and community. And my favorite way to do that is food, history, and culture. Today I got to do just that without the pressure and admin of fundraising, marketing, and project management.
By setting aside my task list just for a little bit, I got excited again.
Itās easy to fall in love with the joy of ā checking things off the to-do list, but I also want to do a better job remembering the bigger and deeper love of the reason behind it all. š„°
Last week, I saw Inside Out 2 and I š§”d it! (HIGHLY recommend)
I knew I didnāt want popcorn this time, but I knew sitting in a theater for 2 hours that smelled like popcorn would do me in. So I gotĀ popcorn. šæ
Why is going to the movies šļøĀ practically synonymous with eating popcorn?
Also check out this cool TED-Ed video šš½
P.S., this is one of my favorite food history things and one day, Iām hoping to do a popcorn (or theater) exhibit!
I finally finished š»Ā The Bear!!! (Itās only been a week and a half). Hereās one of my favorite quotes from the 3rd season when a bunch of chefs are talking about their biggest professional fails. The scene quickly turns into a meditative discussion about āØĀ theĀ importance of food and the work they do.
My new favorite food quote:
āThereās a nobility in this. We get to help people celebrate some of the most important moments of their lives. We can give them the grace, if only for a few hours, to forget about their most difficult moments. Like, we can make the world a nicer place. All of us in this room. We have this opportunity, perhaps even a responsibility, to create our own little magical worlds in a world that is increasingly in need of a little more magic. And every time I find myself, like, about ready to burn out, I reconnect with the fact that that is the business weāre in.ā -- Chef Will Guidara
š«Ā Why is homemade/small-batch tempeh sooooo good?
Yāall back in grad school, I was in the š§š½āš³Ā Fermentation Club, and we made tempeh after class. If that sounds weird, please remember that I was getting my Masters in Food Studies, so there were many things weird LOL.
I got really good tempeh at the City Park Farmers Market last weekend and have been thinking about trying to make tempeh again! š¤ (My solo results werenāt as delicious as the grad school ones sadly).
So, for video inspiration, I watched:
And hey, if youāre in Pittsburgh, check out Community Cultures, an amazing fermentation-loving org!
ā¤ļø And finally, hereās something that just always makes me laugh! (The other side of the famous candy factory bit) š š° š
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