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sweeethinny · 4 years ago

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The First ‘I love you’

me again here, writing about my favorite couple forgiveness for mistakes in English, it is a little difficult to remember that there are no certain expressions and that the grammar works a little different (a lot) from the Portuguese one!

SIYE

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He felt guilty when everyone in The Burrow seemed to look for any matter to keep his mind occupied in order to ignore the empty chair.

He also felt guilty when Mrs Weasley, the one who always made him feel family and loved, appeared with red and swollen eyes, getting lost in the middle of the pie recipe and breaking some dishes.

And he wouldn't even speak in George's desolate gaze, in the emptiness that gave him to see that man always cheerful and playful, silent and walking half aimlessly around the house.

That's why he was far from everyone, sitting as far away as possible from the Burrow in the garden, his feet in the lake and the sun burning his skin, wondering what excuse he would give to get out of there.

Other than the one who had caused everything, in the end, Fred wouldn't have died if he hadn't met Ron and avoided sticking the Weasley family, the one who always considered him a part, of this whole mess.

Molly hadn't let him go - who knows where - for at least a week, and he wouldn't even follow the request, but he felt guilty when he saw the pain snaking the eyes of that lovely woman who for some reason still loved him and let him into her house. She said she wouldn't realize if she saw him disappear again, and it hurt him in ways unimaginable.

Harry didn't want to hurt her, ever, enough was enough for the pain he had caused by killing one of her children, making her boggart true. It wouldn't hurt again. That's why he stayed.

Sitting in the same place as always, in silence, Harry pondered what he would do next; the war was over, really, but... What would become of him? He lived 17 years in one torture after another, first the Dursleys, then Voldemort. What was there for someone like him?

''Harry?'' That voice almost made him jump into the lake in fright. One more of the things i was running away from. Great Gryffindor! Godric should be proud

''Hi Ginny... did something happen?'' Of course, you idiot! Her brother was dead because of you!

''Just running away from inside'' She seemed to ponder whether to sit or not, opting yes. Ginny, the one he thought of before he died, and who was still one of the most beautiful and amazing people he had ever met, was by his side, her feet dipped in the icy water and a half-stiff face. ''Mom said you wanted to leave''

''I don't want to cause trouble''

''I don't think it's true'' He shrugged, looking at the trees that housed a litter of birds, who sang excitedly.

''I shouldn't be here... but your mother.. she convinced me to stay a while'' Ginny still didn't look at him, and it was even better, he didn't want to know that he had hurt her too (even more)

''Where are you going?''

''I don't know'' she finally turned to him, the most terrifying and beautiful brown eyes Harry had ever seen. If it was in another life, if he were another Harry, he'd give it his all to spend another day with her.But he was this Harry, and there wasn't much to give.

''I've heard it once, and things got troubled'' His heart hurt his chest, the guilt drowning him

''That's why I'd better go.' I've done enough in your family, you didn't deserve any of this,'' he got up, ready to go to Molly and say he would leave, even if he promised to wait until Friday.

''Don't you think all this would have happened to or without you?'' Ginny also stood up, but looking much more angry than he ever saw ''When will you understand that Fred's fault has died, it's Voldemort's and not yours!?''

''You were in his sights because you were with me!'' Was it so hard for her to accept that Harry wasn't such a hero?

''And we would be again! You know that! My parents were in the Order before you showed up, we've been in the crosshairs for a long time, Harry!'' She turned around, walked around a little, and he even thought Ginny would leave him behind if he didn't know her ''I'd face the Carrows again if i had to. None of this was in vain, Fred didn't die for nothing!''

''I know not, and that's why I'm leaving. It's best for everyone.''

''All who? You have no idea what it was like not knowing where you've been stuck in the last few months, whether you were alive or not.'' Harry was one step away from exploding into guilt, his chest burning with anxiety

''And I never wanted you, or anyone else, to go through this Ginny'"

''So why are you doing it again?!'' The redhead blew up

''Because I love you! And because it's horrible to think that the person I love was tortured and lost his brother and friends because of me! Because you deserve someone who didn't make you scared, or who makes you suffer. Someone who has something to offer you! What could I offer you besides me?''

''That's all I want, Harry... If you weren't here, I'd still be locked in the room in anger. Knowing that I can find you alive helps me deal with the whole situation. I love you, Harry, and I can't stand to lose you anymore.''

When the silence spread between them, Harry realized what he had said, what she had said. His mind went into combustion, had he even said he loved her? Did she say she loved him too?!

''Ginny...''

''..How do you say you love me if you want to leave me again? Just now that I need you the most? Harry understand, you're not to blame for people's deaths, you didn't do it, you're not a burden. You also deserve to live now'' He wasn't able to say anything, just keep looking at that beautiful face that made his heart hurt ''And if you think you don't deserve me. I'm sorry, but it's going to be the dumbest thing I've ever heard in my entire life. Those weeks we spent together? All the moments you were there? They all made me go on. I always knew you'd come back, and when I saw you and thought you were dead...''

''... I died'' She frowned, looking confused ''Very complicated, but in short.. You were the last thing I thought''

''And yet you want to run away?'' Harry swallowed the ball the size of the United Kingdom, approaching the redhead who still seemed half furious

''I don't want to hurt you''

''You're hurting now'' Sad brown eyes cut him like a sharp knife

''I'm sorry. For everything. I just.. just don't know what to do now'' she nodded, touching his face with her little hand

''I don't know either, Harry, the only thing I know is that.. I need you here, and if you still want to..''

''.. I also need you, Ginny'' He admitted, feeling weak suddenly, as if he were finally being true, becoming vulnerable ''I love you so much'' Her cheeks blushed, and her brown eyes seemed to gain little tears that she would never admit were there

''Stay with me... I don't think my mother will get over it if she loses you too'' He laughed, breaking the tense mood, and gently embraced her as he had been wanting since the end of it all. Finally felt that there might be something for him at the end of the tunnel.

''I think weasleys women have a thing for me'' he joked, just because he wanted to see another feeling not being pain, passing the girl's eyes in his arms

''It's the eyes'' Smiled kindly ''So you mean you thought of me before you died? How was I? I hope beautiful''

''You always are'' Kissed the tip of her freckled nose, feeling alive for the first time ''I'll stay'' Ginny lay her head on his chest, hiding her beautiful face

''Good...''

Harry kissed her smelly hair, feeling that all his demons were sitting watching them, looking astonished and not knowing how to make his head hell. Even his monster was purring

Yes, maybe there was hope for him, after all.

#harry X ginny #Harry Potter #harry one shot #post dh #hinnyheadcanon #i love you #first time #ginny weasley #Ginny #hp fanfic #hp couples #hinny au #hinny fluff #au #hp and the deathly hallows

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ellie-mnop · 6 years ago

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Hi everyone! I just finished the 100 Days Of Languages challenge and I wanted to do something new afterwards, so I came up with a challenge of my own! I’m calling this the Checkerboard Challenge because it’s an 8x8 grid. Along the top there are eight language-related skills, and on the side there are eight modes of learning, so each box contains a way to study a particular skill using a particular mode. I wanted to do that because exposing yourself to the same information in different contexts is so helpful for learning and I wanted to apply that to how I study Portuguese. The result is a list of 64 different ways to study languages, 71 if you include the alternate options listed below, each one versatile enough to be repeated as often as you want using different topics or resources and hopefully interesting and useful for your learning.

Ways To Use This Challenge

Complete all of the challenges on the table, in whatever order you want.

Choose a particular skill you’d like to work on. Complete all of the challenges in that column.

Choose a particular method of learning that works well for you. Complete all of the challenges in that row.

Use dice or a random number generator to pick a challenge to do every day, and see how long it takes you to get bingo or connect four or something.

Choose whichever of the challenges sound useful to you and incorporate them into your regular studying routine.

There’s no obligation to post anything you make; even when I say to record yourself doing something, that can just be for your own future reference. (It’s recommended for the collaborative tasks that focus on creating resources that would be useful to other learners or interacting on social media, but even then you can just write the posts/comments and not post them if you prefer) However, I would love to see anything you do want to share, or any updates on your progress, so you can post anything like that with the tag “checkerboard challenge” which is also where I will be posting the tasks I complete.

The tasks are listed below, with more detail than what would fit in the boxes.

Reading

(Visual) Read a comic book, comic strip, or webcomic in your target language. Depending on your skill level and the amount of time you have, you can choose anything from a single strip of a newspaper comic to a full-length graphic novel

(Auditory) Read along with a chapter of an audiobook, or another piece of writing with accompanying audio. Some language learning websites have articles with recordings of native speakers reading them. If you want, or if you can’t find anything else, you could even use a song and its lyrics.

(Hands-On) Option 1: Play a video game in your target language. This can be a computer or console game, or an app on your phone or even a little browser game. Check the language options on games you already have to see if your target language is available, or if not, many free games have lots of language options. / Option 2: Read and follow a recipe or another set of instructions, such as an art/craft tutorial, the rules to a board or card game, a DIY project or a magic trick.

(Logical) Solve riddles or logic puzzles in your target language. (Alternate: Read a short mystery story such as a minute mystery (or something longer if you prefer) and see if you can solve it before the characters do.)

(Collaborative) Talk by text chat with someone else learning your target language, or a native speaker learning your language.

(Read/Write) Read an article or a chapter of a book (or the whole thing) in your target language. It can be about any topic, and can be a children’s or adult’s book depending on your skill level and preference.

(Personal) Find and read a translation of a piece of writing that’s important to you, such as your favorite book as a kid that you feel nostalgic for, or a poem that resonates with you.

(Creative) Read story in your target language and illustrate what happens. The quality of the drawing isn’t important unless you want it to be; the important thing is to help you process what you’re reading.

Writing

(Visual) Choose a photo, either at random from a generator or by choice on a website like Unsplash, and describe it in as much detail as you can. Your description can focus just on describing visible details in the image, or you can make up contexts for and stories around the things you see, whichever you prefer. (Alternate: Do this with a physical object nearby instead of a photo.)

(Auditory) Try writing simple poems, focusing on the auditory features of what you’re writing such as rhyme and rhythm. You can use a rhyme dictionary to expand your vocabulary in an interesting way while you’re working on this. It’s not necessary to worry too much about the artistic quality of the poems unless you want to.

(Hands-On) Write instructions for how to do something you know how to do, such as recipe, a life skill, a game or sport, an art of craft project, or even your method of language learning.

(Logical) Create a persuasive piece of writing that logically argues a point. It doesn’t have to be about a serious or controversial topic. For example, you can defend your prediction for the next season of your favorite show, or what would happen if some fantasy or sci-fi concept were real (maybe a good way to practice the conditional tense if you’re studying a language that has one), or why your best friend is awesome.

(Collaborative) Use a language learning social media app like HelloTalk. Comment on posts and make your own.

(Read/Write) Write a summary of something you’ve read in your target language. You can either read in your native language and summarize in your target language, or do both parts in your target language.

(Personal) Write a journal entry in your target language, talking about how your day or week has been or what you are thinking and feeling. (Alternate: Write about one of your memories.)

(Creative) Write a small story in your target language. It can be about whatever you want, and it doesn’t have to be very long or detailed. You can (option 1) write it as prose, which could be better to practice description and narration or to focus on a particular verb tense, or in (option 2) a script style which could be better to practice conversational language.

Listening

(Visual) Watch a video with narration that describes it, such as a nature documentary, an instructional video such as a cooking video, or a video reviewing something.

(Auditory) Find an online stream of a radio station. Pay attention to both the music and what the announcers say.

(Hands-On) Watch a video demonstrating a craft project, recipe or other task and follow the instructions.

(Logical) Watch or listen to a mystery story and try to solve it before the characters do. This can be a whole movie or novel-length audiobook if you want, but it doesn’t have to be; even an episode of something like Scooby Doo should work.

(Collaborative) Exchange audio with someone else learning your target language, or a native speaker learning your language.

(Read/Write) Watch a video or listen to a piece of audio and take notes on what you learn.

(Personal) Watch a dub of a piece of media you are familiar with, such as your favorite childhood movie.

(Creative) Option 1: Listen to a story or other piece of audio and illustrate it. / Option 2: Listen to a song and make up a new verse.

Speaking

(Visual) Make a video of yourself showing something and talking about it, for example a tour of your home or neighborhood, a review of something, or a video about your pet.

(Auditory) Listen to a piece of audio and try to repeat what you hear. You don’t have to pause after every word and repeat it, it’s probably better to go at least sentence by sentence or with parts even longer so you can keep things in context.

(Hands-On) Explain to someone, or record yourself explaining, how to do something, possibly while demonstrating.

(Logical) Record yourself explaining, and possibly demonstrating, how something works, such as a science concept.

(Collaborative) Record yourself explaining a concept you’re learning, like a grammar topic or how to use a particular word.

(Read/Write) Read out loud and record yourself.

(Personal) Make a recording of yourself talking about something that’s important to you or a memory or anecdote you have. (Alternate: Make a vlog entry (even if you don’t have a vlog to put it on) talking about your day.)

(Creative) Record yourself telling a story, or tell one in person to someone.

Vocabulary (Most of these, with the exception of the first two, can be done with any vocabulary list you want.)

(Visual) Choose a page from a visual dictionary to study. One way you can do this is by studying the words and then covering the labels with sticky notes or whiting them out on a copy and trying to fill in the blanks.

(Auditory) Choose a song in your target language, and look up and study any unfamiliar words in it.

(Hands-On) Option 1: Use your vocabulary list as a scavenger hunt list. This works well if you have a lot of nouns and adjectives on the list. For everyday household items, you can look for the literal items on the list, while if they’re more obscure you can look for pictures or other representations of them. / Option 2: Act out the words on your list. This works well for verbs and adverbs, as well as more abstract nouns or adjectives like emotions. You can record video of yourself doing this and later look back at the video to try to guess the words.

(Logical) Option 1: Make a crossword puzzle using your vocab list. If you write the words and clues, there are tools online that will build the puzzle itself for you, or you can do that by hand on graph paper if you prefer. You can either wait a while and then solve your own puzzle to see how much you remember, or give it to another language learner to solve an ask them to make one for you to solve. / Option 2: Look into the etymological history of the words to find out why they mean what they mean and whether they have any connections to words in your own language.

(Collaborative) Create a vocab list post around a theme, including words you are studying as well as any related words you already know. Include any resources that you think would be useful to someone using the list, such as sample sentences, pictures, or whatever else you want.

(Read/Write) Try to write a small story or other piece of writing using as many of your vocab words as you can.

(Personal) Write a sentence about what you think of each thing on your vocabulary list.

(Creative) Try to write an interesting sentence using each word on your vocabulary list. (Alternate: Illustrate each word on your vocabulary list. You can do this on index cards if you want, to make illustrated flash cards.)

Grammar

(Visual) Create a color or shape coded system to classify a concept like verb tenses or noun gender. For example, you can read through a piece of text and highlight all of the verbs using a different color for each tense, or you can make flash cards with your vocabulary words and mark them with different symbols depending on the gender.

(Auditory) Grammar is a common topic for educational songs. Find a one intended for kids who speak your target language.

(Hands-On) Using words on sticky notes or index cards, build sentences that demonstrate grammatical concepts. If you have access to some of those little word magnets in your target language, those would probably work great for this, but if not (and I know I don’t) you can write various words, affixes, etc. on index cards or sticky notes, or use your existing flashcards if you have them.

(Logical) Create a table, chart, or diagram of a grammatical concept you’re studying.

(Collaborative) Write a post explaining a grammar topic you are learning.

(Read/Write) Read through a text, to find (and maybe highlight, circle, etc.) examples of a grammatical concept, then write more examples.

(Personal) Write about a part of your life that corresponds to the grammar topic you are studying. For example, for the future tense, you can write about your plans or hopes.

(Creative) Write a small story relying on the grammatical concept you’re studying.

Pronunciation

(Visual) Look up diagrams of how to pronounce sounds you struggle with. These can be found as images or in an animated form in YouTube videos, and usually show what your tongue, teeth, etc. are supposed to be doing when you pronounce the sound.

(Auditory) Find a recording of a native speaker, record yourself saying the same thing, and listen for differences.

(Hands-On) Try to pronounce some tongue twisters or other pronunciation-based challenges.

(Logical) Try learning the linguistic names of sounds you work with, and look into how they compare to other sounds. Wikipedia has articles about the different sounds that can exist in languages and tables showing how they are used in various languages.

(Collaborative) Record yourself reading something that contains sounds you struggle with and post it for feedback, possibly on an app like HelloTalk.

(Read/Write) Look at the written IPA pronunciations (these can be found on Wiktionary) of words you learn and look up what the symbols mean.

(Personal) Sing along to songs you like in the language, especially (for the personal category) nostalgic ones or ones meaningful to you.

(Creative) Write a tongue twister using words that are difficult for you to pronounce and practice saying it.

Cultural Context

(Visual) Explore a museum website in your target language. The museum should be located somewhere where your target language is spoken, but it up to you whether you want to look at an art museum, a science or history museum, or something else. Look at the exhibits and read the descriptions.

(Auditory) Create a playlist with traditional, classic and modern songs in various genres that either were invented in or popular in a place where your target language is spoken. Ideally using resources in your target language, learn about the songs and genres.

(Hands-On) Using resources in your target language, learn how to do or make something from a culture that speaks it. For example, you can look up a recipe, a tutorial for a dance style, the rules to a game, or how to make an art or craft project. (Make sure the thing you pick is being openly shared by members of the culture it came from.)

(Logical) In your target language, learn about a scientist / inventor / etc. from somewhere the language is spoken. Learn about their work, with explanations of what they invented or discovered, and if you want, find out other information about their life too.

(Collaborative) Comment on or otherwise interact with the blog/YouTube channel/etc. of a native speaker, after you read or watch it, of course. (You don’t need to receive a reply to check off this box, because that part is not under your control.)

(Read/Write) Try reading a significant work of (children’s or adult) literature in your target language.

(Personal) Learn about something relevant to your job/hobby from where your target language is spoken, using resources in the language.

(Creative) Read about artistic or literary themes, movements or eras where the language is spoken, and create something (it can be something simple) using those concepts.

[Image: The title “Language Learning Checkerboard Challenge” above a purple 8x8 table. The information contained in the table is repeated above.]

#langblr #studyblr #language learning #language challenge #learning languages #checkerboard challenge

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lia-jones · 4 years ago

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Growing Pains - Chapter Twenty Two - The Jones Family

First and foremost, thank you to my friend @muart0113 for the amazing art to illustrate my work. This girl is incredibly talented and makes my heart sing with joy with her every work. I love you, girl! Now, scroll down for the chapter...

It was a fantastic day. I had Victor by my side, and we were on our way to my parents’ house. I had received the highest praise from the University. Professor Williamson, that was so crude when I was defending my thesis, showered me with compliments right after, complimenting my hard work but, most of all, my vision. I had completed a milestone towards my healing, and with flying colors. It did feel as if I had healed, like the darkness in me had faded away, maybe for good, and I had found myself again. Better, I had found an improved version of myself.

I had managed to get my life back on track. I had found love and success. And to top it all off, Victor was in a very good mood as we drove in the sun, the Atlantic Ocean as our background.

“I may have to give you a raise.” He said, touching my leg. “When the other companies find out about you, I’ll have to fight for you tooth and nail.”

“Please.” I made a flat voice, but couldn’t avoid the grin. “If I’m here, it’s because of your help. Can you imagine what would have happened if you let me quit like I intended to? I might not be here now, celebrating with you.”

“I didn’t stop you from quitting, I teased you to stay.” He corrected. “You could have quit anytime, give it all up, but you didn’t. You faced the challenge.”

“Don’t think I don’t know you cherry-picked the clients I would work with.” I looked at him from the corner of my eye.

“Of course I did. But it wasn’t all for your benefit.” Victor looked at me with earnest eyes. “I merely saw a good opportunity, and yes, cherry-picked the people I enjoy and trust the most to profit from it. It wasn’t all because of you, it was also because of them. Mr. Mills’ business, for example, benefited immensely collaborating with both Guy and Xavier, increasing his sales. Xavier got excellent quality grapes at a very competitive price, and Guy now has superior fresh ingredients for his restaurant. Everything your study promises. A win-win-win situation.”

I couldn’t help but smile, not because of the praise, but because my “utopic reasoning”, as some teachers put it, made some sense after all. And the practical applications of it, that allowed these companies to grow, was the final proof.

“And I got you.” My hand leaving the wheel and reaching for his. “And you were my greatest support, Victor. If it wasn’t for you-“

“Just take the praise.” Victor sounded annoyed, but I could see the soft smile on his face. “I will not repeat myself. Just say Thank you, handsome.”

“You enjoy your new nickname, is it?”

“I don’t hate it.” Victor feigned aloofness.

“Thank you, handsome.” I offered, just letting the happiness wash over me.

A comfortable silence filled the car, and all we could hear was the hum of the motor running, and the seagulls outside, jumping on the warm sand of the beach beside us. It suddenly dawned on me where we were driving to. It was Victor’s first real interaction with my family. I started feeling nervous again, my happiness thrown to the background, as an uneasy feeling settled in my stomach again.

“Are you nervous?” Victor asked, reading into me.

“Why should I be?” I answered nonchalantly.

“I can tell you are worried.” He said, matter-of-factly. “Are you afraid they won’t like me?”

“I’m afraid you won’t like them.” I confessed. “I mean, you’ve seen them. They are caring and supportive and I love them to death, but they’re also overly expressive, and noisy… Nothing you are used to.”

“How judgmental do you think I am?” Victor frowned at me.

I didn’t answer, afraid to start an argument. Victor could be judgmental sometimes. Not that he did it on purpose, or with a mean intention, but he was quick to draw conclusions about people. It was how he navigated through the world. He categorized.

“Perhaps I’m a little nervous as well.” He offered, almost in a whisper.

“Don’t be. You made time in your very busy schedule and took a twelve-hour flight to come and see my presentation. When asked, you spoke highly of me. They already like you.” I chuckled, relieved to see the tone of the conversation shifting to a more amicable one.

“After what you’ve been through…” He hesitated for a moment. “I want them to see I’m not like that.” He confessed.

I turned the car to the side of the road, pulling the brake. Unfastening my seatbelt, I turned to Victor.

“You’re nothing like him.” I said, stroking his cheek. “Nothing at all. They will see that too, I’m sure.”

Victor ran his fingers through my curls, taking the back of my head and pulling me towards him for a kiss. I wrapped my arms around his neck, trying to get as close as I could, despite the parking brake and gear shift between us.

“I’ve been wanting to kiss you since you left Loveland.” Victor whispered, his forehead touching mine.

I parked the car in front of my mother’s villa. My family had just arrived, and everyone was working to get lunch started.

“Welcome, Victor.” My mom greeted him. “Andrea will show you around while we set the table.”

“Do you need help?” Victor offered.

“No, not necessary. We have plenty of people to help. But it’s very nice of you to offer.” My mom smiled.

As we stepped inside, we were greeted by Lady, my black and white Border Collie. Well, I was greeted. Seeing Victor, a stranger in her pack’s territory, Lady positioned herself in front of him, taking a defensive stance, growling at him. Victor instinctively took a step back.

“Lady!” I called, trying to break her attack focus. “Sit! Calm down.”

Lady immediately sat, waiting for orders. I hugged Victor, and patted him on the chest. Lady was watching my behavior closely.

“He’s a friend, see?” I told her, and then turned to Victor. “You need to show her you are friendly.”

Victor gave me a confused frown but obliged, hugging me back and pecking me on the forehead. Lady was apparently pleased with the gesture, going to Victor and nudging his hand. He hesitated, but after a moment he started petting her. Her tailed wagged happily.

“Good job defending your family.” He offered, kneeling to let her come closer. “Good girl.”

I took Victor to the back of the house, where the greenhouse was located, connected to a small bright study and the kitchen. My mother’s house wasn’t as luxurious as Victor’s, but was well located near the beach, and with good access to the city, and it was incredibly spacious. We arrived at the study, where my piano was, by the door of the greenhouse, which was open at that time.

“What’s this smell?” He asked, breathing deeply the aroma.

“Lavender and lemon. From the greenhouse.”

Victor nodded in approval and then walked to my piano, looking at one of the pictures on top of the varnished wood, me playing that same piano when I was 7 years old.

“Is this you?” He asked, observing it carefully. “You were cute.”

“I still am.” I pretended to be offended.

“Debatable.” He gave me a mischievous smile, and I could tell he was relaxing a little bit.

“There you are.” I heard my mother, coming from the kitchen. “Lunch is on the table, come eat. Victor, there’s a bathroom near the kitchen, if you want to use it. Come, I’ll show you.”

Victor thanked my mother and followed her inside. I was about to go inside, when Cristina stopped me.

“Is he your boyfriend?” She whispered in Portuguese, so my father and Victor wouldn’t understand us. “He’s hot!”

“Shhhhh!” I urged her to keep quiet. “I haven’t told anyone yet. Did my mother say anything in the car?”

“No, she just commented on how nice he is. Josh is very suspicious though, he acted moody all the way here.”

“Oh God…” I whined, hiding my face with my hands.

“Hey! Snap out of it!” Cristina slapped my arm playfully. “Are you happy?” She asked, giving me a warm smile.

“Yes.” I smiled back. “Very happy.”

“Good. I got your back if things get chaotic. Don’t worry.”

“Are you ladies going to have lunch with us or are you watching your figure?” My father teased from inside.

As I entered, Victor was already sitting at the table, engaged in conversation with my brother, trying hard to blend in. There was a place next to him saved for me. My mother cooked a feast, from the usual codfish to the typical fava beans with pork. When everyone was happily eating, I tried to break the news.

“So…”

“Victor, have you tried Portuguese food before?” My father asked, making conversation.

“Yes, on one occasion.” He kept it vague, not wanting to tell them I had been cooking for him. “I tried the codfish, but not this recipe. It had cream, I think. I never had the fava beans before. They’re delicious.”

“And the wine, do you like it?” My father asked again. “It’s from a winery I sometimes visit, in Alentejo. They make the finest wines.”

“Yes, Andrea told me you are an oenologist. Actually, one of our clients seems to know you. Xavier Breton, do you know him? He’s a big fan of your work.” Victor was a far cry from the moody CEO everybody was used to. If any of his employees could see him relaxed and making conversation like this, they wouldn’t believe it.

“I heard of him. He owns a winery near Paris.” My father turned to me. “How come you never told me you were working with Xavier Breton? I could’ve given you some pointers.”

“Clearly she didn’t need them, given her results. And on that subject, we should make a toast.” My mother said, raising her glass. “To our Andy and a job well done!”

We all raised our glasses and drank. I still had the glass on my lips when I heard my mom again. She spoke in a deviously calm fashion, with a smile on her lips.

“Now Victor, do tell me, what are your intentions with my daughter?”

I somehow managed to keep myself from spraying the wine I had in mouth all over the table, but I still choked a little. Victor patted me on the back, his cheeks pink, as I tried to catch my breath. Nice going, Mom.

“You had to wait for her to drink to ask, didn’t you? Couldn’t avoid the scene.” My brother spoke quietly, his head low, as he focused on his food.

“Well, I may not be the typical meddling Portuguese mother, but I do feel entitled to some drama.” My mother joked. “So, Victor, you were saying?”

“The very best.” Victor’s voice came out a little higher than usual, so he cleared his throat. “I care very much for Andrea.”

“And how long have you been dating?” Cristina asked with dreamy eyes. You’re supposed to make them stop, not ask any more questions, Cristina.

“For about three months.” Victor said, reaching for his wine. He seemed cool and casual, but his jugular pulsing fast and hard told otherwise.

“Oh, so it’s recent. That’s why Andrea kept quiet all this time.” My mother smiled at me.

My father looked at us like we were speaking Klingon, surprised at the turn of events. He was a very bright man, but was also a bit naïve sometimes, completely oblivious to subtleties. An innocent soul, as my mother called him. Suddenly, he became somber.

“Son, I do hope you know what you are doing. Our Andy has been through enough.” He declared. I could just dig a whole and die there. My father just called Victor Lee, Loveland’s mogul and CEO of LFG, son.

“I do.” Victor nodded, looking at me. “I plan on making your daughter very happy.”

“Do you know what I did to the last guy that hurt my sister?” Joshua suddenly asked, throwing Victor a threatening look.

“Josh!” Me and Cristina reprimanded in unison. Victor sipped his wine like nothing had happened.

“I do. I would’ve done the same thing. Except, I wouldn’t get caught.” He answered, matter-of-factly.

“So you know.” My mother concluded, a surprised smile on her face. Victor nodded. “Don’t worry, Josh. I don’t think he’s like Daniel at all.” She eyed Victor, like she was analyzing him. “Victor seems to be from a different breed altogether. He seems to be a man of honor.”

“He is.” I said, smiling at Victor, giggling internally when I saw him blush again.

“Well, my mother is the best judge of character at this table, perhaps of the entire city. If she approves, I do too.” Josh extended his hand for Victor to shake. Victor took it, torn between shyness and satisfaction.

“Thank you.” He answered, looking more relaxed.

“You can stop blushing now, Andrea. The awkward part is over.” My mother teased, and that made my cheeks burn even more. “Tell me, Victor, for how long do we have you in Portugal?”

“I’ll have to leave tomorrow. I have a rather busy schedule, I can’t take any more personal days.”

“Lovely. Since Victor took these days to come and support you, it’s only fair that you make the best of his time and take him to visit Lisbon, don’t you think?” My mother turned to me, smiling suggestively.

“Actually, if you don’t mind, I would like to steal your daughter for the evening. I have something planned for us.”

My mother and Cristina exchanged glances, smiling.

“I don’t see why not.” My father chimed in. “You surely have better things to do than to entertain us old farts.”

“What do you think?” Victor turned to me.

“Wait, I do actually have a say in the matter?” I joked. “I would love to.” I smiled at Victor, caressing his knee under the table. Victor’s hand left his knife, holding my hand instead.

“Next time you two come here, we have to schedule a night out.” My brother chimed in, as Cristina nodded enthusiastically. “We can go to our old pub, you could watch my band perform, we could even convince Andrea to go on stage and sing and play the piano. She used to sing in our band, you know.”

“Now, that would be something to look forward to.” Victor’s eyes widened, as his interest peaked.

“Well, we can watch your band, but I will certainly not sing. Those days are over.” I warned.

“I’ll convince her to sing, don’t worry.” My brother whispered, winking at Victor.

“No you won’t!” I argued, as everybody started presenting reasons as to why I should sing.

Lisbon was incredibly sunny and warm that afternoon, despite being February. I took Victor to visit Belém and see our famous Mosteiro dos Jerónimos, Belém’s Tower, and the outstanding Padrão dos Descobrimentos. We enjoyed the sun sitting at a table near the riverbank, the Tejo River keeping us company, as we drank coffee and had some pastéis de nata, a delicacy made of puff pastry and a silky custard-like cream.

Victor hummed as he ate his last piece of the confection, taking a sip of his coffee right after.

“You were right, Portugal is a lot warmer than Loveland.” He spoke as he turned towards the river to feel the breeze. He’d already taken off his jacket and tie, keeping only his white shirt with the sleeves rolled up and the first two buttons of the collar undone. “Lisbon is a beautiful city.”

“I did ask you if you wanted to stop by your hotel to change.” I raised my eyebrows at Victor. “Are you too hot?”

“I’m fine.” He assured me. “Besides, if we went to my hotel room, we wouldn’t leave at all.” Victor smiled suggestively and got up, taking his cellphone from the table. “Come, let’s take a walk. I need some help digesting all the food that I ate.”

We watched the sunset touch the river as we sat on a park bench, holding hands. Victor was relaxed, happy, soft and I loved this side of him. He leaned on me, his nose brushing mine.

“Now it’s time for your surprise. Come, let’s go to the hotel.”

Victor was staying at the famous Palácio Belmonte, located in Alfama, one of the most fashionable neighborhoods in Lisbon. It was already dark when we arrived, so I spotted the large quantity of fairy lights illuminating the suite’s terrace right away.

“Dinner will be served in 15 minutes, Sir.” A butler came to us. “Would you like to have a drink while you wait?”

“A brandy, please.” Victor answered, fully in CEO mode. “What would you like to drink?” He turned to me, his voice softening.

“Same.” The butler left and we sat at the exquisitely decorated table. The light of the candles gave Victor a dreamy look, and I started imagining myself being held in his strong arms, his mouth tasting my skin. Something inside me, down south, clenched a little.

“I love my surprise, thank you.” I said, trying to take my mind off it.

“This is not your surprise. This is just us having dinner. The surprise is after dinner.”

I spent the entire meal hanging onto the edge of my seat, although playing it extremely cool. We talked about the city, the things he loved the most, my memories of the place. As the waiters were clearing the table, Victor led me to his bedroom.

“Wait here,” He said, as he sat me on the bed.

He returned with a velvet box. Slightly larger than the ones for rings. I opened it. It was a white gold charm bracelet, which already included some charms: a small silver Eiffel Tower, a tiny bottle with sand in it, a snowflake adorned with small crystals and the letter V.

“Victor…” I whispered. It was too much.

“Give me your hand.” He gently took my wrist and secured the bracelet around it, softly touching the charms one by one. “The Eiffel Tower represents our trip to Paris and our first kiss, the sand in the bottle is actually from Dubai…”

“The snowflake represents our first Christmas together, and the V stands for… you?” I finished.

“The V stands for victory, you achieving what you have worked so hard for. The fact that it also stands for Victor is a happy coincidence. But maybe it will remind you of me when you look at it.” He smiled at me.

I wrapped my arms around Victor, and he immediately placed his hands on my waist, bringing his face closer to mine.

“I don’t need a bracelet or a charm to think of you. You’re always on my mind as it is.” I said, brushing my nose against his. “Now… Does the surprise have a part two?” I whispered seductively in his ear, which made Victor take a deep breath.

“What do you have in mind?” His low voice rumbled in his chest.

“I don’t know…” I smiled mischievously at him, my fingers running down his chest. “I have been wanting to get rid of this for a while now.” I said, tugging at his shirt.

To the point as usual, Victor kissed me passionately, as he slowly laid me on his bed.

#Growing Pains - Series #growingpains #mlqc victor #victor x oc #mlqc li zeyan #mlqc fanfic #mister love queens choice #love and producer

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langblrwhy · 4 years ago

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New Year’s Goals

June

(Yes, june, I'm sorry)

I didn't made a lot of topics this month, but I'm happy because the topics I did are in my routine now, I don't need to put effort to make me doing new stuff, eating variety of food, studying, watching movies, reading, etc. That's one of the reason why I did this list, to improve on my daily life.

Now I just need to put effort to get used to actively study languages and exercise.

1 Try 2 new foods every month (food, beverage, recipe)

I ate beet, Kıbrıs Tatlısı (Cyprus Dessert Cake, but popular on Turkey, I cooked and it's delicious)

I ate açai with fried fish and it's so so, maybe if I had the original açai, it would be better. This is a recipe from Pará, north of Brazil.

Also I'm happy because I've been eating more healthier stuff, more vegetables and leaves in my everyday life (that's one my goals in this topic).

2 Be fluent in esperanto and active in the community

I've been writing in esperanto, I created a twitter to post only in esperanto (follow @raissinha_eo xoxo) and I translated the wiki page about vaporwave into esperanto (I didn't create the page, but I added a lot)

3 Practice having conversations via audio and video

I've been practing almost every week.

4 Write a 10k fiction in french and publish it on Wattpad

I didn’t.

5 Try to study russian again and focus on the basic

I didn’t.

6 Watch a movie every week

1. Surplus: Terrorized Into Being Consumers (Sweden, 2003)

2. Plastic Ocean (UK, Hong Kong 2016) (my favorite one, great doc about the problem of plastic!)

3. Lady Bird (USA, 2017)

4. May Fools/Milou en Mai (France, Italy, 1990)

7 Read 5 books

I finished my second book: The Bell Jar (by Sylvia Plath), I'm in the half of Morangos Mofados (by Caio Fernando Abreu) and I started Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky.

I've been reading almost everyday before sleeping or just after waking up in the morning and I feel great.

8 Finalize 1 art every month (it doesn’t have to be good, just finished)

I've been finalizing almost everyday (and they're good)!

9 Doing some exercise every week

I was rationalizing why I haven't done any exercises in 3 months, 90 days without no exercises.

I learned something about me: when I go for a walk, I do because I relax, I sunbath, it's a means of transport and I can go to the supermarket AND I do to feel pretty.

On the other hand, all the times (since ever) I made exercises at home I did only to feel pretty. I don't care about this right now, since nobody will see me.

So I need to resignificate the "exercises at home".

I rationalized all of this 2 weeks ago, but I didn't found the courage to do something about it yet lmao.

(I can't even hold my cat without panting)

10 Try to make listening podcasts an habit

I’ve been listen to them while I do some art, it’s almost in my routine now, that’s exactly what I wanted 2.0

-Bonus: Learn toki pona

I want to cut this topic. I was all excited at january because I met some "jan pi toki pona" anu "jan mute li toki toki pona" (I don't know how to write because I don't study, SORRY), but I don't care that much anymore. For sure the future me would be grateful to learn when I see others tokiponists, and I love the idea of the language... So I'll leave this topic as a bonus.

11 Write a fiction in esperanto

Almost nothing.

12 Try 1 new thing per month

I started doing digital art on Adobe Illustrator, it's been great and I want to tests other programs in the near future.

13 Interact on virtual groups (telegram, tumblr, whatever)

I've been interacting on twitter, I created a twitter to post only in esperanto, cool, but I need more effort.

(Actually I forgot what is the point here, new webfriends? Esperanto community? Share my art? No idea lol)

14 Be more proactice and publish my stuff somewhere online (draw, fiction, whatever)

I've been posting all my good art on instagram and almost everything on twitter, aka everyweek.

BUT I should publish my FICTIONS, I need to focus on this.

-Finish all duolingo tasks by the end of the year

I was on 107 day streak, doing awful. I didn't care about this anymore, everyday at around 11:52pm I was like doing the lessons ONLY to not lose the streak. I don't feel that duolingo is the best method to learn my target languages right now, I know more than the basic, and I need to actively study.

So I deleted the app and will risk this, I'm RELIEVED.

15 Sketch every week

Skething every other day, practing new stuff, etc 2.0

16 Study spanish, focusing on write, listen and speak

I watch random vlogs on youtube, not enough and I'm sorry.

17 Study french, focusing on write, listen and speak

I DIDN'T.

WHY NOT???

(the answer is: because I don't know french, if I knew, I would watch youtube videos and write a sapphic fiction aka STUDY. But I don't know enough french so I won't study [more])

Again: I need to improve

18 Study whatever theories (such as astronomy, lingustics, ecology, whatever)

I have an anarchprimitivist enthusiast friend and I started reading stuff about it, the first movie I watched this month (Surpus) was about it.

I also watched the documentary about plastic.

I need to do better, I know.

Right now I'm in the vibe to study about politics and economy, I just need to START (maybe with podcasts or easy books!).

19 Study for vestibular (mathematics, physics, geography, philosophy, sociology, biology, chemistry, history, english, portuguese, brazilian literature)

I've been reading books (not the brazilian literature I need, but it helps per se), I've watched a couple videos about sociology and biology, but I need to do BETTER.

13/19 = 68%

(Need to do better)

You know what? I'm the only one who is holding me to get at best version possible, I'm doing great and I'm happy for this. Even though we're living in a pandemic, my country is the second worst in a global scale (greeting from Brazil), I've never been happier and I truly think it's because of this list, because it focus on a health mind, health body, knowledge, hobbies, friends and future source of income (since I want to work selling my art online).

#goal #goals #new year 2020 #new years goals #glow up

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jjuzoir · 5 years ago

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★Tag Game!

————🌷————

I was tagged by @newtie-14 !!!

Name: Sora/Roro

Nickname: Dorito, Dora or Dot !! Very dumb nicknames!!

Zodiac: I’m Sun Libra !! Moon Pisces with Mercury in Virgo;;;

Height: I’m 1’64cm but it’s possible I’ll grow more according to my doctor’s;; My family varies in height a lot though, my sister is 1’45, my mom is 1’57, and my dad is 1’84.

Languages: English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and I’m currently learning Arab, Japanese, and Korean!!

Nationality: I was born and raised in Rio, Brasil so Brazilian but my parents are both mixed! My mom is Arab and my dad is English/Spanish;; But! I also have Chilean nationality!

Favorite Season: Winter/Autumn! I seriously hate hot weather, I’m very pale so whenever I stay in the sun my skin burns red for months, that and I get sweaty and it feels icky;;

Favorite Flower: I love lavender because they were planted all around my great-grandma’s house and I have many memories with their scent + Tulips since they’re both my parent’s favorite flowers!

Favorite Scent: My mom gifted me my first bottle of perfume when I was like 5 and it was this small bottle of the Moschino x Olivia Oyl perfume, the one that kind of looks like her. She made me promise to only wear it on special occasions, so my favorite memories are always tied with that scent!

Favorite Color(s): I love purple (as you can see) but my two favorite colors have always been baby blue and black! I dress in tons of black irl and many articles of my clothing are black, there was a time my parents thought I was emo because of all the black I was wearing;; They were very concerned mostly due to the caricaturisation of emo’s by boomers;; I was also super pale back then and it did not help my cause at all TT

Favorite Animal: I love birds in general, I have one and she’s so fucking annoying I love her, but if not then Red Pandas! I saw one at a zoo last year and I burst into tears because of how cute she was.

Favorite Fictional Characters: I’ll do them from my main fandoms and the ones that come from the top of my head so; Sayaka Maizono, Kaede Akamatsu, Shuichi Saihara, Kyoko Kirigiri, Hajime Hinata, Toko Fukawa/Genocider, and Celestia Ludenberg. Kuromi, Hello Kitty, and My Melody. Masumi Usui, Juza Hyodo, Izumi Tachibana, and Yui Komori! Black Tea, Bloody Mary, Brownie, Peking Duck, and Brownie. Eren Jager, Armin Atler, and Historia Reiss. Annabeth Chase and Nico DiAngelo. Usagi Tsukino, Prince Demande, Black Lady, basically all of Sailor Moon. Daisy Mae, KK Slider, Tom Nook, Timmy and Tommy, Isabelle, and Beardo.

Tea, Hot Chocolate, or Coffee?: Coffee! My parents accidentally got me hooked on coffee from a young age, I remember stealing my mom’s espresso shots and chugging them much to her horror- since then, I always need to have coffee or else I go through the 7 stages of denial.

How many hours of sleep do you get?: It depends,,, before I got my medication assigned to me last year it could vary from 2-12 hours but nowadays it can be 5-12 hours.

How many blankets do you sleep with: 1 during Summer, it’s a knitted one my mom got me recently it’s not too heavy during, during Winter I use up to 3.

Dream Trip: I’d love to make a tour around Asia during Spring and Summer and go around Europe during Winter and Autumn. I probably won’t be able due to studying and the plans I have for my future but maybe someday, especially since I’m planning on studying abroad for a year or so in Korea (mainly because I’m planning on becoming a Plastic Surgeon) or Japan (I have a close friend there!).

Followers: Around 162! I don’t know why and/or how but it’s something, it’s crazy to think 162 people follow me;; That’s almost as many people I had in my grade,,,

Random Fact: I like to bake! Super random, but it’s one of the things I love the most! I’ve been baking for 5 years now, I started when I was 10, my favorite recipe is honey & coffee chocolate muffins! I also cook but I cannot for the life of me cook meat of any sorts without having a panick attack (just today I hyperventilated and went into shock just from seeing bones on a piece of meat),,, if it weren’t for my mom I’d probably never eat any sort of meat.

Tagging: Anyone who wants! I’m very bad at tagging 😖👉🏻👈🏻 So do this if you wanna, it’s very fun!

#( hehehe thnq jasmine for tagging me ilyal )#—🫖 chat’s with sora!

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idk-loving-kpop · 5 years ago

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The title to this is ... I am curious so ship me *lol*

Okay ... So I have 130+ followers, which is amazing didn’t expect that many in the 3 months I have been shipping. So, THANK YOU!!! to everyone who follows and has requested ships.

I am really curious who you would personally ship me with.

It can be any group, disbanded or not. They could also be former members of a group. If you are wondering my TOP groups are Super Junior, BTS, Monsta X, 2PM & tied for 5th is EXO & GOT7.

I wont post a picture of myself .. So it will be more of a detailed written ship *lol*

PHYSICALLY: I am about 158-160 cm (I am NOT short I am fun size okuuuurrr), thick dark brown curly/wavy & frizzy hair, I am curvy (like I said in a previous ship I am a DD & it not all that is cracked up to be) brown eyes, kool aid smile (which I would say is my best feature)

Fun fact: English is not my 1st language, Spanish is. I also understand some Portuguese, Catalan & Italian. I really want to learn Korean. I have gotten books in Korean to teach myself, but memorizing characters instead of letters is kinda hard.

PERSONALITY: I would say I am more of a introvert or maybe Ambivert. I am really shy and quiet at first, especially in a new environment. I don’t tend to let people in easily, which why I only have a handful of close friends.

I can be hard headed at times & piss me off I would be more passive aggressive than anything. I hate fighting with people it is exhausting, causes wrinkles & most of the time it is not worth your time.

Coworkers Describe Me As: Hardworking, Helpful, Sweet, Friendly, Funny, Good Listener, Understanding, Special, Unique, Smart Ass & Sarcastic

Friends/Family Describe Me As: Loud, Crazy, Sarcastic, Kind, Caring, Loyal, Thoughtful, Extra, Goof ball, Dork, Nerd & Smart

Things I love/love to do: My family (including our fur babies). I do my best to take care of the people I love. I come from a loving, loud, crazy & annoying family.

Fav past time is probably listening to music. I am NOT talented in music at all. I can’t sing, dance, play instruments or compose. BUT I love music & boy bands since I can remember. Being the baby of the family I got exposed to a lot of different music, so I love all kind of music. Even though I am not talented I still jam out .. If I like the song I am either singing it, dancing to it or both; regardless if I'm in my room, in the car, at work or out with family/friends ...

I'm more of a homebody just watching a movie or tv, but when I do go out it is usually to Concerts, Sporting Events, Art Galleries or maybe drinks w/ friends. Even though I can cook (by cook I follow recipes), I love baking more especially cookies, cheesecake & flan.

I love giving & shopping for others, so Xmas is my favorite holiday. Yes I am that person to put a gift inside box inside another box lol

Things I hate: Letting people down. Two face people, liars, cheaters, people who are rude ...

MBTI: INFP / INFJ (my P & J are basically 50/50)

Harry Potter House: Hufflepuff (almost Ravenclaw *lol*)

Eastern Sign: Horse

Western Signs:

Sun, Moon, Mercury, & Venus - Libra

Mars - Gemini

Jupiter - Leo

Saturn, Uranus & Neptune - Capricorn

Pluto - Scorpio

Lilith - Sagittarius

Rising Sign or Ascendant sign - Pisces

N Node - Aquarius

#IDK LOVING KPOP #IDKLOVINGKPOP #idk-loving-kpop #ME #SHIP ME

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dancekickboxcardio · 5 years ago

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Friday. Yay 😃 🎊 . I am not really cheerful 😀. I am ok just not bubbly. I am not doing bad. Simply not energized ⚡️ and on it like it’s a mission. I checked the mail 📭 and my Target Red Card 💳 is not here. There is a promo 🏷 on hair heat spray 💇🏼‍♀️. I am drinking my fit Americano ☕️ without pumpkin 🎃. I remember that I forgot to write ✍🏾 lemons 🍋 on my grocery 🛒. Do you want nausea 🤢 or not? I should pen 🖊 it right now. BJ’s day. What surprise 😧 shall I get? I have:

(1) Deodorant

(2) Olive Oil

(3) Always

(4) Baby 👶🏻 wipes 🧻

(5) Argan oil

I just ✏️ penciled the lemon bag and my post it had marks like circles ⭕️ as if zeroing in. If you compare the succeeding pictures 📸 they are not interesting as gym life 🏃🏼‍♀️ 💪🏾 . If I were to describe my day yesterday how it was, emotionally draining. I needed that rest 😌 after my doctor 🥼 ‘s appointment and that’s out of the ordinary. Usually, I have that ability to continue and do more like a lot.

Before I discuss how my day was yesterday I would like to start with something thoughtful 🤔.

I saw this yesterday and to me it’s worth discussing. I just felt Jamesicle 🐈 hit his head under my mattress. He is in the trundle. Well, let’s start with that. I feel that you have to be excited 😆 with your life. You have to be with some passion 😍 for it. I know that sometimes we are not given the best circumstances. We all run into probs. I tell people that if that were the measure 📐 well I should have a nervous breakdown right now. I know it’s unfair to say that. But daily life can bog you down. Money 💵 can be the deciding factor on what dictates what you do. Tell you what, even if you are making tons whose to say that it’s what you want your life to be. Maybe you are stuck with horrible people at work and it does mean anything to you and you feel like you have no value. We all have issues unless you are Vie right? I am lucky 🍀 that I get to do what I want to do. I am not where I would like me to be. I am off by a longshot but I find meaning in the things that I do. I enjoy 😊 them. I look 👀 to a better life for the future. There is drama 🎭 and shouldn’t you feel like you should enlarge your head for that? I flip that statement. I have only $300. What can I do with it instead of having to conform what I want with so little. Work with what’s in front of you. Also, you have to learn that the reality of it is you don’t get everything at once. You build it up and it’s not going to be perfect. Learn to let go and keep on moving. Life doesn’t end in one terrible circumstance.

Apart from hesitating and doing a doubtful thinking 🤔, I had something in mind. I want to blast those thigh fats. That should get me excited 😆. I feel good coming out of the gym 🏃🏼‍♀️ 💪🏾 even if I have a resting beach 🏝 face all the time. I have this idea 💡 that the clincher is how you tackle things and how you compose yourself.

I didn’t have a lot of time to get ready yesterday and for the most part I hate being rushed. I am used to this on my own pace on my own terms and what I want life. I am basically whatever it is I want it to be. I enjoyed 😊 my listening 👂🏾 pleasure. It had something to do with the current whistle blower issue. Then, coming back from the wellness appointment 📅 it switched up to this caring segment on a little girl 👧🏻 with OCD. I asked myself if she is being locked in to fears or if they are really debilitating and she cannot cope with life. A lot of kids have fears. They are in many way irrational. That’s what separates them from adults like duh 🙄. What raises the question is what makes them so bad that they are irrational. I also want to say that I made a follow up for another department’s office 📞and I am due for a flu shot 💉Friday and yes I am going to discuss my headache 🤕, nausea, dizziness after folding in half. I’ll let Dr. M make the decision for me. Maybe she’ll discuss her opinions and it may just be what I am talking about. Jamesy wants 🐈 to be let out. I just remember another matter. I keep on sneezing 🤧. I know that my room is freezing 🥶.

I don’t believe I listened 🎧 to enough Portuguese. Maybe I shall continue today. My current headphones is pretty snug on my ear canal and that makes me wonder if the energy passed between my technology and ear drums is altering that balance and orientation organs causing all these symptoms. Speaking of which, my gawd, Wawames 😼is mischievous. He wants to be let in. Drives you nuts. Imagine being a mother. I am a very detailed oriented person. I am not showing off. I paid for my education 📚 and that’s what I know and who I am. Why should I apologize for not being like you? I would like to join the 60 Day Challenge because I want to know the proper way in nourishing myself. I want it down to a science 🧬. They give you so much resources from exercises 👟 , techniques to recipes and you get to meet new people 🤝. Most of my friends and acquaintances are from group exercises. I know I say it a lot. I am not shy ☺️ in speaking out and knowing exactly what I need help on, I want to continue showing up because of the many benefits being physically fit gives you. I have a laundry 🧺 list of goals 🥅 . I still need to lose weight and I am seeing great results. I have to cut my hair in two months 📆. Can I hold on? End of December or when it starts? Let’s make if tougher and at the end of the year. It just dawned on me because I wanted chocolate 🍫 cookies 🍪 this morning.

If I continue to see that the scale goes down and I like my size and it’s unhealthy, well shouldn’t I just eat 🍽 more and with more calories. Technically, it solves the issue. But if you want to be proper about it, you look 👀 at your body fat composition, how your body utilizes the energy and ask for Laura to know the best way to fuel ⛽️ your life. I know her recommendations are a torture for lack of flavor. She says I eat for pleasure. Yeahha. I am excited that I get to dress my pasta 🍝 more when I have my ideal weight, body comp and size. It is not a close system. Things are going to change up or down and you have to be sure you are being healthy.

I would like to talk more how Jayjay is affectionate 😻 and funny 😆 and cute. My cats have total ease living with us. I love ❤️ it. I saw pretty in my cooking 🥘 and I can’t wait 😊 to get my sets of cooper pots and pans. I should start getting ready. Ooh 😯, before I go, I am crazy 😜 about the soup 🥣. It is flavorful 🥄 . I made mushrooms 🍄 to supplement my veggie servings in liquid form.

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plotleek8-blog · 5 years ago

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Special Sauce: Nik Sharma on the Stories Told by Seasoning

[Nik Sharma photograph: Courtesy of Nik Sharma. Biscuit photograph: Vicky Wasik]

Cookbook author (Seasons: Big Flavors, Beautiful Food), blogger (A Brown Table), and newspaper columnist (A Brown Kitchen) Nik Sharma made the perfect Special Sauce guest. Why? He has a great, dramatic story, and he isn't afraid to tell it like it is (or was).

Sharma grew up in India, and as a man who recognized that he was gay at a young age, he had a tough childhood. "At least back then, it wasn't talked about. I'm talking about in the late '80s, early '90s, when I kind of realized something was different about me. It was difficult, because I had nothing to compare anything to. The only stuff that I heard about in terms of gay life was about Indians who were either getting arrested, or bodily harm, or even being killed. So for me, that was quite terrifying. As a child, then you start—you think there's something wrong with you."

Sharma resolved to leave India, initially coming to the US to study to become a medical researcher. But his interest in food eventually drove him to the blogosphere. "I'm really passionate about flavor," he told me. "I’m really curious to see how people in different parts of the world approach the same ingredient or the same technique. I find it fascinating, because a lot of it is also a reflection of society, the socioeconomics of a country.... I find that fascinating, and I wanted to reflect that in my work. I started reading a lot, and also cooking and experimenting with flavor. That's what I started to do with the blog and bring that in."

Though Sharma's blog brought him enormous pleasure and a devoted following, it also brought him lots of uninvited blowback about his sexuality and the color of his skin. He found himself at a crossroads. "I think one of the things people forget [is] that when you write or you do something and you put it out there, you're making yourself vulnerable.... Fortunately, I took a step back, just to reevaluate my decisions in life at that point, whether I really wanted to do a blog. I said, ‘Well, you know, this is something that I'm actually enjoying more than I was before. I would be a fool to give it away just because of the opinions of a few. Let me stick to it, do it in my best way that I possibly could.’ So if they had to critique me, they could critique me on the quality of my work, but not on anything else."

When reading Sharma's book, I came across a passage that I found particularly beautiful, one that summed up both his relationship with food and what he's learned from his chosen career thus far. I loved it so much that I asked him to read it on the air, and he graciously obliged:

"Mine is the story of a gay immigrant told through food. It has been a journey of self-discovery I embarked on more than a decade ago. One that taught me to recognize the inherent tension between originality and tradition, and to opt for the former without rejecting the latter. It's been a journey of acclimatization, adaptation, and acceptance. During times of discomfort, food became my friend and teacher. It taught me to reinterpret conventional techniques and flavors, and apply these reinterpretations to my food that would become a part of my new life in America. Seasoning is more than just a way to achieve flavor in the food we eat. It represents our desire to connect with our past, present, and future. It tells our story."

To hear more from this eloquent writer, you're just going to have to listen to the whole episode.

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Ed Levine: Welcome to Special Sauce, Serious Eats' podcast about food and life. Every week on Special Sauce, we talk to some of the leading lights of American culture, food folks and nonfood folks alike.

Nik Sharma: I was unhappy because I was photographing everyone else's food.

EL: You wanted to photograph your own food, dammit.

NS: Right, right? I was critiqued a lot on my work, which is fine, you should be critiqued, but it wasn't constructive.

EL: Sure.

NS: I felt demeaned every day. I would go in and they would tell me to make my photos look less attractive, so customers would not be disappointed.

EL: What a concept.

NS: Right?

EL: This week Nik Sharma's going to hang out with me. Nik is the author of Season: Big Flavors, Beautiful Food. He has a terrific blog, A Brown Table, and in his non-existent spare time, he also writes a column for The San Francisco Chronicle called A Brown Kitchen. Welcome to Special Sauce, Nik.

NS: Hi, Ed.

EL: It's so good that you're here. I have to tell you up front that I hope having you come on Special Sauce will be further enticement to your contributing to the birth mother of Special Sauce, Serious Eats. Maybe not, but we're going to try. I'm just going to tell you that. This is really just an hour and a half sales call.

NS: Okay. Okay. I'm all for it.

EL: All right. First of all, the book is beautifully written.

NS: Thank you.

EL: It's quite a compelling story. It was an absolute pleasure to actually read it from cover to cover.

NS: Oh, thank you.

EL: I can't say I cooked from it cover to cover, but that would take a long time. Tell us about life at the Sharma family table growing up.

NS: Well, disorganized is probably the best way to describe it.

EL: That's everybody's family table.

NS: It just seemed much more, a little more intense at mine. I guess, again, that might be everyone's experience. Yeah, I mean it was fun growing up. I came from a family where my two parents, my dad was from the north of India and he's Hindu, and my mom's from the west coast. Her family's from a former Portuguese called Goa, and she's Catholic.

EL: So that was a mixed marriage.

NS: Yeah, they had a love marriage, and the influences as you can expect then were quite different.

EL: Who did the cooking?

NS: Initially, my mom did most of the cooking. Then it was I think four years after she had my sister, she felt comfortable to... I think she was also fed up with just staying at home and she wanted to go back to work, and that's what she did. I was off to school, and my sister spent most of her days during the week with my grandmother who lived close by.

EL: You have publicly said that your mom was not a good cook, which is like my mom. My mom was a terrible cook. I mean, she was proud of it. I don't know how proud your mom was. Where did you get your love of cooking? If she didn't love to cook, somebody must've loved to cook.

NS: Well, I think that's the deciding factor, right? If you have someone, and I feel it's really funny because my mom cooks a couple of things and she cooks them really well. Beyond that, she's just really not interested, and doesn't get it why. I think I over-compensate for the lack of that, which is why I went into food.

EL: Your grandmother was a serious cook.

NS: Oh yeah. My grandmother taught my mom to cook. She taught my aunts how to cook. My grandmother was an excellent cook. I think a lot of the stuff that I know now, a lot of the techniques and a lot of the basis for a lot of things are through her.

EL: You talk about cooking and experimenting in the kitchen when you were 12 in the summertime.

NS: Yeah, that probably wasn't my best moment.

EL: What's interesting, yes, I'm sure there were lots of disastrous dishes as a result, but the fact that you just dug right in, like you just dove in hands first.

NS: I think that's the exciting thing though about food or anything that requires you to be creative, is that you have to get in there. It's not something that you... You can read about cooking, but it's much more exciting when you actually delve into it and get dirty. I think that's what I find fascinating about food.

EL: You write in a very poignant part of the book, "I had a fairly normal childhood, but I knew I was different from a very young age. I knew I was gay." Talk a little bit about what being young and gay in India was like.

NS: It was difficult, to be honest. It was really difficult, because it's not talked about. At least back then, it wasn't talked about. I'm talking about in the late '80s early '90s, when I kind of realized something was different about me. It was difficult, because I had nothing to compare anything to. The only stuff that I heard about in terms of gay life was about Indians who were either getting arrested, or bodily harm, or even being killed. So for me, that was quite terrifying. As a child then you start, you think there's something wrong with you.

NS: There's no role models that have had a positive experience to compare yourself to in your own country. You start to feel out of place. Then the same situation happened in school, where I think a lot of the kids kind of guessed. I went to an all boys school. I was bullied a lot because I was also smaller in physical size. Also because I probably displayed a lot of behaviorisms that people thought I was gay. So I would get teased, bullied a lot. I hated it, and I just wanted to get away from all of that.

EL: School and home are supposed to be places of comfort, and it doesn't sound like there was a safe space for you growing up.

NS: Right. The other problem was I couldn't talk to anybody about it, which made it even more compounding, because you're holding it all in. You don't know if you could talk to anyone at home. That made it quite difficult.

EL: You must've endeavored, how can I get out of here as soon as I can?

NS: I did, yeah. I had a game plan.

EL: You did have a game plan. Tell us about the game plan.

NS: The game plan. Well, besides being gay, I kind of knew when I put two and two together what it was and what my potential outcomes were if I lived in India. Through media, one of the things I think that was good about watching movies and TV shows, it kind of exposed me to the idea that there were people outside India in the west who were living openly as being gay, and they were in a much better situation than I would have been if I stayed on.

EL: You thought that sounded like heaven.

NS: Right, because there were men and women who were living openly at that time in certain parts of the country. It felt freeing. You didn't have to think twice about it.

EL: You ended up applying to college in the States?

NS: I did. I was studying biochemistry and microbiology in India. I decided I would go into genetics, so I had applied to a bunch of schools in the US for graduate school.

EL: You ended up at the University of Cincinnati?

NS: I did, yeah. I ended up in the PhD program at the College of Medicine over there.

EL: You stayed for four years, you say, studying, cooking and eating a lot of pizza.

NS: Yeah.

EL: I could tell you, as someone who's written a whole book on pizza, I did not go to Cincinnati for my book.

NS: You didn't? Oh, no. I think Cincinnati was the only place in the country that I've eaten a potato, what is it called, a potato pizza.

EL: Oh, with the thinly sliced potatoes and rosemary or?

NS: No, no, no, it's mashed potatoes put inside I think it's a deep crust pizza. Mashed potatoes, and then it's scallions and sour cream on top.

EL: That must be a Cincinnati specialty.

NS: I feel like you missed out.

EL: The real question is, if you're eating a lot of pizza, did you have time for your studies? I know when I get into pizza I'm just like in the zone.

NS: I did. It was an interesting experience, because I had now moved into a different form of academia, where research was pretty much you end up being in a closed room. So going out to eat with your friends is kind of a nice way to socialize and get away from just being stuck in the lab. When you're in the lab, you're waiting for experiments to run for hours sometimes.

EL: Yeah. You say in the book that, "School and lab potlucks became a new source for my cultural initiation and culinary education."

NS: What happened was, in the first few months when I was getting ready to come out to my family, I started to... I knew my immunology professor at school was openly gay. So I reached out to him and I said, "Hey, I'm going through something personal, can I talk to you?" He was really supportive. He then introduced me to this medical school potluck that would happen where the MD students, the MD PhD students, and the PhD students at the College of Medicine would get together every month at a professor's house or someone else's house and people could kind of connect and talk. That became a sudden initiation in to what American food was, because here were people who had come from all over the country to school, and I was getting to learn in a much more intimate way.

EL: It was at that point, you're in Cincinnati, and you come out to your friends and family. In your family's case, that's long distance, right?

NS: Right.

EL: How was that?

NS: It was difficult at first, because on one hand I set the stage up because I'm analytical and I always plan things out. I set the stage up so I would be independent from my parents, where I wouldn't be financially dependent on them just in case things didn't work out. At the same time, you still want everyone's approval. Even though you're not looking for approval, I think it's in basic human nature to still seek it.

EL: Sure, and it's a very freighted moment in your life.

NS: Right. I had come out to a couple of friends. My sister, I had told her and she was fine. She said she kind of guessed, and a couple of my other cousins also said they kind of always knew, which was great. Then when I had to tell my parents, I couldn't do it, it was so hard. I sent them an email, and the good thing was I had the excuse of being on a different continent in a different country. I sent them the email, and then they got back to me. My dad was cool with it. My mom struggled a little bit because of her Catholic upbringing. But it worked out.

EL: It took her a little while to come around?

NS: It did, yeah. They didn't cut me off or anything. She just struggled, and she blamed herself for a lot of it, but we worked through it and we're fine. I think the cool thing about that was my aunts and uncles were very supportive on her side of the family.

EL: That must have helped.

NS: Yeah. They talked to her and said, "It's not about you, it's about him. So we need to work on this." It really helped that I had everybody's support.

EL: You end up moving to D.C. to take what sounds like what was a very satisfying job to you as a researcher.

NS: Right.

EL: Getting another degree, a Master's in Public Policy. Man, you've got a lot of degrees for a cook. That's all I have to say about that.

NS: Yeah.

EL: You wrote, "Still something was missing." You'd come home exhausted, but then you would miraculously get energized in the kitchen. That must've been a sort of seminal moment in your life. My friend Brian Koppelman has a great podcast called The Moment. It's all about the moment when somebody realizes what they were put on this earth to do.

NS: You know, I've talked about this in the book too, where initially as a child I wanted to go and work in culinary school. My mom still works for hotels, and she said, "I don't think you're cut out to sit in a cold room peeling onions, because all they do is bleed. You just don't seem to have that kind of a stamina for it." Plus, coming from an Indian family, your parents always want you to be in something that's much more stable financially, and a lot of the classic careers like engineering, medicine, et cetera, fall into that. There was definitely that push. Neither of my parents belonged to those fields, which is also kind of fascinating that they want that for me.

NS: It was when I came to D.C. that I realized that I was so entrenched in academia morning to night. I was having fun, but there was still something that wasn't making me happy. I think one of the things about that was, A, I was watching the government push a lot of the research funding from the NIH, they were moving that money out into defense. A lot of my professors were losing their labs. It was really disheartening to see people who had really studied so hard, worked so hard, published a lot of papers. Even I had published papers at that point in my career in research. But labs was shutting down, and I couldn't understand for the life of me why this was a situation.

NS: Highly qualified individuals, it just wasn't working out. It made me really scared that even after putting so much effort into something, I would not have control over my own life. The second thing that happened was, because in academia and the kind of work that I did was research, I liked the experimentative attitude towards things. You try something, it doesn't work. If you're looking for an answer, then you try and attack it a different or multiple ways to come close to the truth. I found cooking to be like that.

EL: You have the Kenji López-Alt gene.

NS: Yeah. I just tested his egg thing, and it worked great. It was the only recipe that worked for me. I tried a bunch of different hard boiled egg peeling recipes. Kenji's was solid.

EL: That's awesome. You started A Brown Table, which in the book you call an online photo journal, but I assume it was really a blog.

NS: Yeah. I didn't know what I was getting into, and I had no idea what blogs were. Based on a couple of what my friends had told me, "You should start a food blog. This is what people are doing." Then I looked at food blogs, and I said, "Wow, this is actually something fun." I started spending a lot of time during my incubation periods at work during running experiments, I would just scroll through blogs and say, "Wow, these are beautiful. I'm getting to see parts of the world I wouldn't, learning about new things and this is fun. Maybe I could do something." I didn't know what I was getting into, or what I had to tell people.

EL: Welcome to my world there, Nik.

NS: Right?

EL: What do you think was going on with Serious Eats?

NS: I love Serious Eats.

EL: You start it not to make a living, but just as an outlet for creative expression.

NS: Right. I mean, to be honest, I didn't know anything about blogging. Like I said, I didn't know what I had to tell people, and I also didn't have anything really to say about cooking. I just wanted to have some fun.

EL: Yeah, and then it took over your life in a wonderful way.

NS: Yes. It's the beast that keeps needing to be fed.

EL: Yes, we know that for sure. You met your husband, Michael, in D.C., who was from the south and that opened up a whole new set of cooking vistas for you. You say in the book, you started making biscuits with ghee instead of lard. I love that. How are those?

NS: You can actually get a really good texture, and I find it better than the texture I get with pure butter.

EL: You say that Michael's parents, who had a farm, were extremely supportive of both your cooking and you cook with your mother-in-law. And that it was really one of the seminal moments in your cooking life.

NS: Yeah. What had happened until then, I had experiences with American families before from my friends. This was a little more intimate, because I was also trying to fit into with his family and making a much more conscious effort.

EL: Right. It's the old in-law thing, man, it's rough. It's rough. It's rough.

NS: Yeah. One of the things before I met his family, Michael told me that both his mom and I have a lot... I guess you always marry someone like your parents. He told me that his mom and I had a lot of interesting similar features. We both like to garden, we both like to cook a lot. We both like to read. Oh, and we have a thing for old objects, according to him, which what he meant by was old vintage books or antiques. He had decided the best way to introduce us would be via email to our love for food.

NS: We started talking over email, and they invited me down to the farm. I went to the farm, and she definitely wanted me to cook for her. The thing that I said, knowing Michael, he likes meat and potatoes. He's from the south. I'm guessing everyone else in the family, it will be safe to kind of play with that a little bit. I picked every meat and potato dish I knew of and I could cook well, and made that for them and it was fantastic.

EL: That's great. You guys got hitched, you moved to San Francisco. Then like a fool like me, you quit your job to pursue your dream of working in food. How the hell did you think you would support yourself?

NS: It's a good thing I was married by then.

EL: Your husband had a gig.

NS: Right. I'm very honest about that. I don't think it would have been possible. I did toy with the idea before I married him. The problem was, first I was on a student visa and then I was on a work visa. You can't change your type of employment. If you're in science, you have to stay in science. Of course when I got married, things changed. I got a green card, became a citizen. I had now the freedom of not being in that job lock situation. So I said, "Well, my time has come."

EL: Free at last.

NS: I spoke to him about it, and he had... Michael was in defense. He had done his time his in the Air Force, done his service, and then became a defense consultant, and was sick of it, needed a break. He said, "I want to change. I want to leave D.C. and get away from all of that. Let's consider moving to California." He wanted a job change, which he did. I said, "Well, we moved here now for you." I had taken a part-time job as a researcher for a small pharmaceutical company. I said, "I kind of want to have a change too. I can do it. Let me see what the possibilities are." I wanted to be a pastry cook, because that felt very analytical.

EL: And you have a sweet tooth.

NS: I do, I have a terrible sweet tooth. I reached out to, I think it was 15 or 21 bakeries and patisseries in the neighborhood, looked into going to culinary school at the ICC.

EL: ICC is the International Culinary Center. It used to be the FCI, right?

NS: Yeah. They had this program that I could have attended, but I was going to use Michael's, his leftover money from his school loans. The problem was he didn't leave, but what is the right it, he's a vet. He did his time, but he left before that rule came in that the money could be transferred to your spouse, so we wouldn't qualify then. I remember reading a post David Lebovitz's blog about should you go to culinary school or should you work in a restaurant, like what are the pros and cons? I said, "David's kind of right. I don't know what I'm getting into. Then investing all this money into something which is a high risk career might not pay off, right? So what do I do?"

NS: I took his advice, called up a bunch of bakeries and patisseries. One lady called me back and said, "Are you really sure you want to do this? Come in and stage." I staged for two weeks, and then she made me an offer. She said, "Are you sure you want to do this, because I will not be able to pay you the money you're getting at your pharmaceutical place." I said, "You know, I think we can do this. I spoke to my husband at home. He said, 'Fine, I'm going to support you on this. Go do it because you're really enthusiastic, and you're going to chew my head off.'" So I did it, with his support.

EL: That's so great.

NS: Yeah.

EL: That's the same thing what happened with my wife with Serious Eats, so I know exactly what you're talking about. You start blogging. I mean you're still blogging, you're working at the bakery, and then you begin taking the photography on your blog more seriously. Which is weird because your dad was a commercial photographer.

NS: Yeah, yeah.

EL: We haven't really gotten into the nuts and bolts of what people found and still find on A Brown Table.

NS: I didn't grow up in a family that was very traditional. We ate a lot of different things at the table, and that was kind of the way I started to eat even when I moved to America. I started to experience new things, and I started to bring that into the kitchen in terms of flavors, techniques, and of course the actual dishes. I wanted to reflect that in my blog, because it made no sense to me to write about classic Indian cooking, which is often what is expected of me, because it's already been done. Unless I'm contributing something new to that equation, it doesn't make sense for me to just harp on the same topic again and again. If I can make like a naan better, and I think it's better and I think it's going to make it easy for you, then yes, I'll work on it. I'll want to tell the story about that. Otherwise, there's no point in me just saying the same old thing. That's what I wanted to do with the blog.

EL: It was really a matter of combining your love and understanding of Indian food with an exploration into the food that you found in America, and then using your geeky scientific self to explore that stuff.

NS: That's the way I approach it. I thought that was the best thing for me to do, because that's what I'm familiar with and I'm really passionate about flavor. I'm really curious to see how people in different parts of the world approach the same ingredient or the same technique. I find it fascinating, because a lot of it is also a reflection of society, the socioeconomics of a country or at the time point in life. I find that fascinating, and I wanted to reflect that in my work. I started reading a lot, and also cooking and experimenting with flavor. That's what I started to do with the blog and bring that in.

EL: Got it. In the beginning, it seems like the photography, which must have been its own interesting part of the process because your dad was a commercial photographer, you were doing a lot of process shots, right? There weren't many pictures of you.

NS: Right.

EL: The moment you began photographing yourself, you started to get some blow-back about the color of your skin, your sexuality.

NS: Right.

EL: You wrote something very, very beautiful in the book, which is that "Sometimes during moments of vulnerability you can find your strength and voice." What did you mean by that?

NS: One of the things with getting into the blog world, I didn't realize how many opinions come out.

EL: There's nothing but opinions.

NS: Right? The simplest thing can be misconstrued in many different ways, intentionally or unintentionally. That was the thing with, I had come from a world where the only thing you were critiqued on was the quality of your work. I'm used to that. Being critiqued on something that I had no control over was very confusing at first. I started getting a lot of pushback against the color of my skin being burned or dark or whatever. Also on my sexuality, because I didn't think that was also something I had to hide. I kind of assumed that it was obvious in many ways, but it's part and parcel of the nature of the game as I've learned now.

EL: Oh, yes.

NS: You've got to take it with a bit of salt. Initially, obviously because I was uninitiated into the online digital space, I was a little uncomfortable and obviously a little even frightened. You get that sinking feeling in your gut every time you read a negative comment.

EL: Oh, yes. I've had my life threatened online many times.

NS: Oh, god. It also was something that's not that important to me. I mean what I do I feel is important to me, but people getting even more emotional about it is bizarre.

EL: Yeah. I don't mean to equate what happened to me. Although, the Asian people who worked at Serious Eats were subject to, and also there's a lot of antisemitic stuff. Again, I don't want to equate it with what you went through, but this shit is hard out there, man.

NS: It is. It is. Yeah. I think one of the things people forget that when you write or you do something and you put it out there, you're making yourself vulnerable. I think people who read that forget that. I think there needs to be some level of compassion. Fortunately, I took a step back just to reevaluate my decisions in life at that point, whether I really wanted to do a blog. I said, "Well, you know, this is something that I'm actually enjoying more than I was before. I would be a fool to give it away just because of the opinions of a few. Let me stick to it, do it in my best way that I possibly could. So if they had to critique me, they could critique me on the quality of my work, but not on anything else."

EL: Yes. You say, "At that moment there's two options. You either stop blogging or continue to do what I loved." You obviously chose the latter, which is really awesome. The blog leads to the Brown Kitchen column in the San Francisco Chronicle. How did that come about, and how does that differ from your blog?

NS: Yeah, so that was actually a very fortunate thing that happened. We had decided to move from... We were living in South Bay in Sunnyvale, and we decided to move from Sunnyvale to Oakland. What happened at the time was actually... Sorry, Santa Clara, I was working in Sunnyvale, but we decided to move from Santa Clara to Oakland. When I came to Oakland, I needed to look for jobs. I had to quit the pastry shop. Started looking for jobs, I applied at a digital company that was looking to enter the food space, and disrupt it like they all do. They hired me to be their food photographer where I would take photographs, style the food, take photographs for the food that would then be sold on the app. During that period, I was unhappy because I was photographing everyone else's food.

EL: You wanted to photograph your own food, dammit.

NS: Right, right. I was also doing a lot of stuff that I didn't expect to do, like data analysis on photographs. Which is great, it's a good skill to have, but I really didn't need to know about the engineering aspects of it. I should just come in photograph, style and leave. I was unhappy because I had no creative control over anything. I was also told that, I was critiqued a lot on my work, which is fine, you should be critiqued. But it wasn't constructive. I felt demeaned every day. I would go in, and they would tell me to make my photos look less attractive so customers would not be disappointed with what they read.

EL: What a concept.

NS: They also had this thing where they wanted to win a James Beard award for an app. It was just very bizarre. I was constantly being told to perform less than what I could. As a creative person, that sucks. I started looking for freelance options, and I reached out to a friend of mine, a writer named John Birdsall, who also wrote the forward to my book.

EL: Terrific writer.

NS: Yes. John's been a really supportive mentor and friend in my life. He lives in Oakland. I reached out to John, and I said, "Hey John, I'm really stressed out. I need to get out of the situation I'm in. Do you know anyone who would be looking for a photographer?" I thought that was my skill. So I reached out via John to my editor, Paolo Lucchesi at the Chronicle who was not my editor back then. I met up with Paolo, and I sent him my work. I said, "This is what I've done." He said, "Okay, let me talk to my team."

NS: Then he came back I think after two weeks and said, "Hey, so we're thinking you shouldn't be a freelance photographer with us." I said, "Oh shit." He goes, "Would you be interested in writing a food column for us, a recipe based column, because we think that's your strength." I said, "Oh, really? Okay, I don't know what this is about, but it sounds fun. I'll do it." It turned out to be one of the most important defining moments in my life. When you're on a major platform, like a newspaper, people start to take you much more seriously.

EL: Yes. You must have been like, can I really do this? Then you're like, wait a minute, I can do this. I write my blog, I take the photographs.

NS: Right. It taught me a lot, because not only was I able to talk about food, I've also been given the opportunity to write about food culture.

EL: Yeah, which is great.

NS: Yeah. It's also a different audience, and so it helps me kind of expand the horizon on what Indian food is known as in America, but also what people can appreciate it for.

EL: You wrote this amazing paragraph on page 20 in the book. Rather than have me butcher it, I would like you to read it. It's the one that starts with, "Mine is the story."

NS: Yeah, of course. "Mine is the story of a gay immigrant told through food. It has been a journey of self-discovery I embarked on more than a decade ago. One that taught me to recognize the inherent tension between originality and tradition, and to opt for the former without rejecting the latter. It's been a journey of acclimatization, adaptation, and acceptance. During times of discomfort, food became my friend and teacher. It taught me to reinterpret conventional techniques and flavors, and apply these reinterpretations to my food that would become a part of my new life in America. Seasoning is more than just a way to achieve flavor in the food we eat. It represents our desire to connect with our past, present, and future. It tells our story."

EL: That's an awesome paragraph. I wish I had written it. In fact, I may take credit for it and plagiarize, and please don't sue me.

NS: I won't sue you.

EL: Nik, we're out of time for this episode of Special Sauce. What you just read is a perfect segue to talk about Season: Big Flavors, Beautiful Food. We will get to that topic during your next episode of Special Sauce. Thanks, Nik Sharma, for starting us off right.

NS: Thanks for having me, Ed.

EL: We'll see you next time, Serious Eaters.

This post may contain links to Amazon or other partners; your purchases via these links can benefit Serious Eats. Read more about our affiliate linking policy.

Source: https://www.seriouseats.com/2019/06/special-sauce-nik-sharma-part-1.html

#read more #see more #check it out #interesting #learn more

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365footballorg-blog · 6 years ago

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Jose Mourinho: Manchester United boss should smile more - Brian McClair

Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho should show he is “enjoying one of the best jobs in world football” and fans would like to see him smile more, says former striker Brian McClair.

Mourinho has seemed unhappy in pre-season – taking aim at players, the club’s lack of new signings and the poor showing in the loss to Liverpool.

“There has to be a balance,” McClair told BBC World Service Sport.

“You should, at some point, look as though you are enjoying it.”

Listen to the latest episode of the World Football show

Mourinho left or was sacked from his roles at Real Madrid and twice at Chelsea after the third season and he is entering that period with the Red Devils.

The club won the Europa League and League Cup in his first season, which was followed by a trophyless second, suffering defeat in the FA Cup final against his old club.

During the club’s tour of the US, Mourinho said he was hoping for one signing from the list of five options he gave the club “a few months ago”.

He also said if he was a United fan he would not have paid to watch their friendly matches and the 4-1 International Champions Cup defeat by rivals Liverpool in Ann Arbor “gave me nothing at all”.

The Portuguese boss has a number of World Cup players unavailable, while captain Antonio Valencia’s poor condition was because of “too much holiday” and he “doesn’t not know” when winger Anthony Martial will return after leaving the tour to attend the birth of his second child.

United begin their Premier League campaign at home against Leicester next Friday (kick-off 20:00 BST).

McClair said: “It is fine to be critical, upset and happy – Sir Alex had those moments too, but there were several times where he looked very happy.

“Jose maybe enjoys himself internally but from a football point of view, the Manchester United fans would very much welcome to see him smiling and laughing at appropriate times.

“From an opposite view, your great rivals have been Liverpool and they have a coach (Jurgen Klopp) who does laugh and smile and look pleased to be there. That must grate as well at times if you are a United fan.”

Jaffa cakes the recipe for success?

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Former Scotland international McClair played for the Old Trafford side between 1987 and 1998, scoring 127 goals in 471 appearances.

He won four Premier League titles, two FA Cups, the European Cup Winners’ Cup and European Super Cup during his spell.

McClair revealed the snack which helped the team under manager Sir Alex Ferguson, who was in charge for 26 years.

“I would stop at the corner shop to buy the biscuits to go with the tea and coffee,” said McClair. “My choice of biscuits tended to be custard creams, bourbons or chocolate digestives. They got wolfed down every, single day.

“Trevor Lee, who was the dietician, noticed we got quite comfortable eating biscuits on a morning but the sugar levels and dietary contents were not as good as they should be.

“He knew that Jaffa cakes, with the chocolate on the top, jam in the middle and the sponge, would be good for you. We would eat huge quantities of then before and after training and games.

“I have never touched a Jaffa cake since but it saved me a couple of quid every day not having to buy biscuits.”

‘Lingard bought a new car and had a daft paint job’

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After finishing his career at Motherwell, McClair returned to United in 2001 where he became reserve manager before being appointed director of the youth academy, eventually leaving his role in 2015.

Players such as France World Cup winner Paul Pogba and England international Jesse Lingard progressed into the first team under his tutelage.

McClair said: “There are two parts to the journey, the first part is getting through puberty. You fall in love with football and carry that through but when you reach puberty all of a sudden your eyes are going in different directions.

“You spend a lot of time looking in the mirror, whether that be deciding if you are pretty enough, squeezing your spots or hoping that female over there might find you attractive. If you get through that and still love it, you have a chance.

“The next part is the distraction of affluence – being in love with the game or being in love with the image of it. Plenty have been turned by the image and lost concentration and drifted away.

“Jesse Lingard was no different when he could afford to buy a new car then have a daft paint job on it. My job outside the first-team was to reduce the number of distractions as possible.

“I would not let them wear coloured boots because if everyone wore black boots, there would be no distractions. Everyone would come out and do their job and work as hard as you can.”

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Jose Mourinho: Manchester United boss should smile more – Brian McClair was originally published on 365 Football

#Boss #Brian #Jose #Manchester #McClair #more #Mourinho #should #smile #United

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minamikan · 7 years ago

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Tagged-About me Tag

tagged by @thektopopmycherrybomb (thanks sweetie)

Nickname: Bia (bee-ah) and bi (bee)

Zodiac: Gemini

Height: 1,54.5

Age: 18 almost 19

Time: 23:03

Fav Bands/Artists: Beyoncé, GOT7, TWICE, Little Mix and i’ve been really into Janelle Monáe lately

Song stuck in my head: earlier today it was Vai Malandra

Last movie I saw: man i really don’t remember i think it was Coco

Last thing I googled: creamy hot chocolate recipe (it was delicious)

Other blogs: okay so i have three other blogs @gilrsbands for girl groups in genereal but mainly twice and blackpink, @gyomies for got7 and @iwadoodles for my art ( i don’t really post in this one cause im lazy)

Do I get asks: nah maybe in my other blog but it’s still rare

Why I chose my username: i don’t know i was a multi fandom blog for a while and wasn’t happy with how my blog looked so i decided to change my url to something knew and not cringy so i went with makoami aka the best sailor moon ship

Following: 72 people i don’t really like having my dash full of stuff

Average amount of sleep: around 6 - 7 hours

Lucky Number: i don’t know

What I am wearing: some cozy reindeer pijama pants and a one direction sweatshirt

Dream Job: i’d love to be an animator or an illustrator

Dream Trip: i really wanna travel around asia or latin america

Favorite food: in can’t decide

Play any instruments: nah

Favorite Song: like at the moment i don’t think i have one

Play (ed) any sports: i dried voleyball for a month in 6th grade and then i gave up

Hair color: like right know is blonde ish

Eye color: dark brown

Most Iconic Song: bruh i don’t know

Lenguages you speak/learning: i’m fluent in portuguese and english i understand spanish but im not really good at speaking it and my japanese skills are sad

Random Fact: i used to do ballet when i was 5 and the only reason i stopped was because one day i couldn’t find anyone from my class and then later when they found me i was too awkward to say this so just said i wasn’t doing the class anymore

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lia-jones · 4 years ago

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Growing Pains - Chapter Fourteen - Pretty Ladies Shouldn’t Drink Wine

“Victor wants me to go to Paris?” I asked, the volume of my voice higher than what I was aiming for. “What for?”

“I honestly don’t know. You know how he is, he didn’t explain himself to me. Only that you need to get in the company’s jet and fly to Paris in two hours.”

“No, I’m going to call him.” I said, reaching for my phone.

“Good luck reaching him. He's busy with meetings, his phone is off.”

I stared at Goldman in disbelief, not knowing what to say. There was a brief awkward silence.

“So… maybe you should go home and start packing.” Goldman suggested.

“But how do I prepare?” I started panicking. “It’s impossible to prepare for work if I don’t know what I will be doing there!”

“Don’t worry. If you need anything I will be here, at the base. I will help you in everything you need.”

“Come on, it’s Paris.” Diane chimed in. “Maybe you have some time to go sightseeing, it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity. Oh, and I want a miniature Eiffel tower.”

I had no idea how to avoid this trip. I had to go.

“Do you want something from Paris too?” I asked Goldman, still annoyed with the whole situation.

“At this point, I want you to pack and get in that plane on time so I don’t get shout at. Bon voyage?”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah… Have a nice weekend, guys. Enjoy the break while I spend my weekend working…”

“In Paris. Shut up.” Diane interrupted me, smiling.

I ran home and started packing. Got some dresses, some suits, high heels and sensible shoes. I checked the weather and learned it would be raining in Paris. Not nice for sightseeing. I could already forecast endless days in conference rooms and hotel rooms, chained to my laptop, watching the Eiffel Tower from afar, through a window.

I went straight to the airport and arrived at the spot the jet was landed. Waiting for me was one of the flight attendants of the jet, talking on the phone.

“She just arrived, Sir, wait a minute.” He turned to me, handing me the phone. “Mr. Lee would like to have a word.”

I took the phone from him, slightly annoyed. He could have just called me.

“Yes, Victor.”

“Your phone is off.”

I went to my purse to check my phone. It went off somehow.

“Ha. So it is. Sorry for that.”

“You better not lose it like last time. I’m too far away to return it to you now.” I felt like he was scolding me.

“Could please tell me why am I going to France at such short notice?” I asked, changing the subject.

“The French companies you work with required a meeting. You’ll be ending your internship in the near future, so they want to renegotiate the terms.”

“I see.” I said, handing my bag to the flight attendant. “And why do you need me for that?”

“You already know them. It’ll be easier to approach them with you there. Besides, don’t you want to meet in person the people you’ve been working with for your thesis?”

The idea of seeing how their businesses evolved with my ideas, the ones I was going to defend in my thesis, was extremely alluring. I felt very giddy all of a sudden, the stress I had been feeling for being summoned on such short notice subsided.

“Yes! Of course, it’s a great idea! Thank you for the opportunity!”

“Just come prepared. Enjoy your flight.”

I gave the flight attendant his phone back and boarded in the jet. As expected, the jet was luxurious, all decorated in neutral colors, the extremely comfortable seats in leather. I let myself sink on my seat and sighed, smiling. I wasn’t much of a fan of the idea of having so much money while others could barely get by, but this was amazing.

Everything moved pretty fast after we landed. I was taken to show my documents, then taken to a car, that drove me to the hotel. By the time I got there, it was raining heavily, and someone was already at the hotel door holding an umbrella.

“Mr. Lee apologizes for not greeting you. He got delayed in a meeting and will be coming shortly. I will lead you to your room where you can freshen up and get ready for dinner. Mr. Lee will be waiting for you at the lobby at 8:30.”

I got in my room, admiring the decoration. The room was in soothing earthy tones, soft fabrics on the bed, a desk and a vanity table, large windows with a view to the Eiffel Tower. The private bathroom was huge, with a wooden floor and a huge frosted glass shower and an infinity tub, orchids everywhere. Next to the door to the bathroom, there were two more doors. One that led to a small but finely decorated walking closet, the other one was locked. Maybe it led to some kind of maintenance room for the suite.

I started unpacking the dresses, deciding which one I would wear for dinner. I had no idea where I was going, but I knew I was going to meet partners, so a more professional one would be the best choice. Not too revealing, not too shiny, simple and elegant, that’s what I needed. I decided to wear my short round neck black cocktail dress with flowers embroidered in silver in the A-line skirt from the hem up. I would wear my black high heels and my black woolen coat and I was good to go. Despite the moisture in the air, my curls were having a good day, so I let my hair down, applying just some light make up to hide the effects of traveling for 11 hours.

I was grabbing my purse to leave when my I heard the sound of an incoming message. It was Victor.

Meet me in the lobby.

I walked to the lobby and found Victor right away, impeccably dressed in a charcoal suit, black shirt and silver tie, sitting on one of the chairs, busy with his phone. He looked tired and tense, his shoulders not quite relaxed, his eyebrows in a knot.

He didn’t even let me greet him, getting up and going straight to the car, expecting me to follow him.

“Did you have a good flight?” He asked in his icy tone.

“Yes, thank you.” I said, my tone matching his. I didn’t miss Mr. Icy CEO at all.

And that’s all we spoke for the entire ride.

When we entered the restaurant, we were told that Monsieur Xavier Breton was already waiting for us at the table.

Xavier Breton was a well-built bald man with piercing green eyes and a stubble. He was probably already in his 70’s, but he exuded confidence and sophistication. Adding to the package, he had this bad boy voice and a perfect smile, which made him extremely attractive, despite his age.

“Miss Jones! So happy to finally meet you! You are even more beautiful in person.” Xavier stood up, taking my hand and kissing it.

“Thank you.” I blushed slightly at the sudden attention. “Nice to meet you too.”

“Now that everybody is properly introduced, let’s cut to the chase and discuss our contracts.” Victor said, his tone moody.

“Oh, Victor, always business, business!” Xavier jested. “But you’re right, let’s discuss business and then just enjoy the good food and the good wine.”

It turns out, there wasn’t much to discuss anyway, and my role in the whole interaction was less than minimal. Victor never asked for my assistance, so I was quiet listening to them the whole time. By the time the food came, they were already finishing. Xavier turned to me.

“So, Miss Jones, I heard your father is an oenologist. Your father is not Jeremy Jones, is he?”

“Yes, exactly. It’s my father.”

“Her father wrote for many years for the Michelin Guide.” Xavier turned to Victor, who nodded, seemingly impressed. “What is he doing now? I haven’t seen his work in years.”

“Well, he was tired of all the traveling, so he decided to find something closer to home. He now works for some Portuguese wineries. One of them is Quinta do Valado.”

“Oh, I know that wine. Prized wine, very good.” Turning to Victor. “Portugal has excellent wine, Victor, you should try it. This producer makes the very best wines in the region.”

“I’ll make sure to order a few bottles as soon as I get to Loveland. They will look nice in my collection.”

“And will taste even better on your tongue!” Xavier exclaimed, laughing loudly.

The waiter came to our table and announced the soufflé would be served soon, and that the chef would join us shortly for dessert.

Victor and Xavier continued their conversation about wine, and I just sat there, wondering why the hell had I been summoned to Paris. Victor didn’t need me at all.

The chocolate soufflés arrived, and the chef Guy Sauvant came and greeted Victor and Xavier. Victor introduced me to the chef.

“Chef Sauvant, this is Miss Andrea Jones. Andrea, this is Chef Guy Sauvant.”

“Oh to see the face of the lovely voice I spoke to so many times! Miss Jones, it is a pleasure to finally know you. Did you enjoy your food?” The chef spoke, extending his hand my way. I shook it, smiling.

“Everything was delicious, chef. And I love your restaurant, it’s beautiful.”

“I don’t know if Victor told you, but I know this gamin for a while know, taught him everything I know! Including the recipe for this soufflé! Eat it, before it gets cold.”

We all buried our spoons in the soft and chocolatey soufflé. It was extremely light, immediately melting in my mouth and developing a strong chocolate flavor. I hummed in satisfaction.

“Oh, that sound is the best of compliments for a chef! Merci, belle Andrea! Now, let me get a good bottle of wine for us to toast." Chef Sauvant said, going for the kitchen.

The chef returned with another bottle of wine, and promptly filled my glass. I thought about refusing, since Victor was watching my glass like a hawk, but it would seem crass to refuse wine brought specially by the chef. I wasn’t feeling the effects of the wine, so I decided another glass wouldn’t mean any harm.

“So Victor learned how to cook from you?” I asked the chef.

“Oh this gamin is pretty smart, you know. He understands that the quickest way to a woman’s heart is the stomach! Give a woman jewelry and she’ll give you her body, but cook her a five-course meal and she will give you her heart!”

“I’ll drink to that!” Xavier chimed in, raising his glass.

We all raised our glasses and drank. Xavier quickly grabbed the bottle of wine to fill my glass again.

“I think Andrea has had enough already.” Victor said, covering my glass with his hand.

“Oh, nonsense, beautiful women are happier with good wine. Besides, she’s an adult, she can decide for herself.”

I looked at Victor, whispering to him “I’m ok.” Victor released my glass, and Xavier filled it.

Xavier and Guy resumed the conversation about women and Victor took that moment of distraction to swap his empty glass with mine, drinking it immediately. Xavier turned to Victor, not noticing anything, still excited about the current topic:

“I’m surprised, Victor, you, of all people, having to cook to seduce women? A man with your fortune and your physique shouldn’t need to resort to that! You must have them at your feet!”

I looked at Victor from the corner of my eye. Victor caught my gaze and suppressed a smile, speaking calmly.

“You’ll give the wrong impression to Andrea. Cooking is a hobby, not a scheme. And I have no intention of having anyone at my feet. Not even my competitors.”

The men agreed and started a new topic in their idle discussion, the honor in business. After a while, Victor announced that we were leaving, since we were traveling the following morning.

When I got up, however, all the wine I drank went straight to my head, making the room spin for a second. Victor either noticed it or was already expecting it, because I felt his hand on my shoulder, supporting me.

As we left the restaurant, he leaned close to my ear, whispering softly:

“Do you want to walk it off, take a little stroll?”

The rain had stopped and the city lights looked beautiful at night. I didn’t know how long I would be in Paris to get another chance to see it, so I nodded.

“Good wine has that effect. You won’t feel the alcohol until you get up. Do you feel nauseous?” Victor asked as we walked, still supporting me with his body.

“No, I’m fine. I didn’t drink that much. I just wasn’t expecting it to go to my head like that.”

“Dinner went well.” Victor said, in approval.

“Yeah, about that…” It was nice to meet them, but I still was confused as to what I was doing in Paris.

“I have to give you some advice about Xavier, though.” Victor continued. “You probably noticed he is a ladies’ man, and you clearly caught his eye.”

I released myself from Victor’s grip and faced him, offended he would think I would get even slightly involved in such situations.

“Who the hell do you take me for? I’m not the one taking cooking lessons to get laid!”

He stared at me, confused. I continued my tirade.

“You really are something else! You demand that I come all the way from Loveland to Paris with a two-hour notice, saying I was needed to help you in a negotiation I barely had any time to prepare for and that basically didn’t happen at all, and now because the guy was friendly, you go all self-righteous on me telling me I shouldn’t get involved? Do you really think I’m that naïve that I can’t say no to a man?”

“Andrea, you’re drunk.” He stated in a gentle voice.

“I am not! I may have had a few glasses of wine, but I am certainly able to speak my mind clearly, so listen!” I noticed I was raising my voice at that point, so I lowered my tone. “I am grateful for all you’ve done for me, I really am. But just because I had a traumatic experience with a guy, it doesn’t mean you have to protect me like I’m some silly girl that can’t help herself. I don’t need your protection, do you understand?”

At that precise moment, fate made me shut up real fast. My heel got caught in a crack on the pavement and broke, making me lose my balance. I felt myself falling backward, and I mentally braced myself for the impact. Victor moved fast in my direction, grabbing me before I could reach the ground, panic in his eyes. We stood like that for a moment, my body supported in his arms, and Victor, bent forward, his face close to mine, his eyes looking deep into mine. His scent, returning to my nostrils, brought back the image of our moment in my kitchen. My anger and frustration, all gone, replaced with a warm feeling and a hint of shame. His stone-cold expression replaced by one of affection.

I closed my arms around his neck to support myself and placed my other foot firmly on the ground, standing up. Victor also straightened himself, eyes now on my broken heel.

“Your heel broke.” He stated.

“I know.” I replied, a bit flustered.

“Are you hurt?”

I moved my foot, it seemed fine.

Victor suddenly swept me off my feet, and cradled me in his arms, walking towards the car. My body stiffened.

“I can walk, Victor. You can let me go.”

“With a broken heel? I don’t think so.”

“I said, you don’t need to carry me. Put me down.”

Victor ignored me.

“I mean it, Victor, put me down.” I said, trying to wiggle myself out of his grip. Victor led me down, holding me strongly by the waist without letting my feet touch the ground, and looked me in the eye.

“Let’s make something very clear. There is no way I’m going to let you walk barefoot on the cold, wet ground. It seems like you have two options: I either carry you gracefully in my arms, or I just carry you over my shoulder, with your behind facing up.” He paused, his face dead serious, letting his words sink in. “How is it going to be?”

“I’ll show you how it’s going to be.” I said, trying to free myself from his grip and put both my feet on the ground. Without letting me go, Victor motioned to swing me over his shoulder, and I quickly held on tight to his neck. “Ok, ok, I got it! You win!”

Victor chuckled, holding me tight in his arms and carrying me bridal style. He did it like it was nothing, like it wasn’t a hindrance, like it was a natural thing, just looking forward as he walked. When we got to the car, the driver, who was waiting for us outside, smiled mischievously at Victor.

“Les belles femmes ne devraient pas boire de vin! (Pretty ladies shouldn’t drink wine!)” The driver said, opening the passenger back door. I could feel the blood rising in my cheeks.

“Vraiment. (True.)” Victor answered, sitting me in the back seat and tightening my seatbelt.

“I speak French, you know!” I whispered at Victor, when he sat next to me. He gave me a cocky smile.

As we arrived to the hotel, I opened the car door, decided to walk on my own to my room. But the minute I put my bare foot down, the cold from the floor made me lift it haphazardly and lose my balance, and the only reason I didn’t fall with my face first on the floor was Victor, who hurried to support me. Without a word, he scooped me up again, and walked towards the hotel. The doorman gave us a sly smile.

“French wine is not good for ze ladies, n’est-ce pas?”

I sighed heavily and buried my face in Victor’s shoulder, begging for the ground to open and swallow me whole. I heard the rumble of a heartfelt chuckle on Victor’s chest, who was clearly having fun with my misfortune. Crétin.

#Growing Pains - Series #growingpains #mlqc victor #mlqc li zeyan #victor x oc #mlqc fanfic #mister love queens choice #love and producer

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sashawong33 · 8 years ago

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Welcome back to another episode of #5QuestionsTo series. This time I am in talk with a talented lady, who I’ve been longing for interviewing: Emiko Davies.

I met Emiko the first time during a gathering at Giulia’s place, when I learned that she was a food writer. And in the many later contacts , I have also known that besides her talent in cooking, she also has an art study educational background, and a good photographer. The interactions between her and her daughter Mariu always inspire me to encourage my son to start helping in the kitchen. Emiko definitely has become the one (and maybe she hasn’t know this yet), to whom I will go for advise on getting kids involved in the kitchen.

Following her first cook book Florentine, Emiko published recently her new book ACQUACOTTA, presenting a list of recipes from the southern Tuscan riviera Maremma. Similar to the region itself, the dishes there are as well “not the usual Tuscany you know”. Inside the book, recipes are categorized into 5 sections: woods, sea & lagoon, vegetable, farmhouse, sweet. You can find many vegetable and seafood recipes inside the book, which make it a good references for vegetarian and gluten free ideas, as well as a wonderful gift to anyone that enjoys cooking!

In this Q&A post, let’s hear what Emiko talks about her cooking inspirations, ideas on everyday dishes, as well as tips on food photography, etc.

Name: Emiko Davies Profession: Cookbook author Blog/ Website: http://emikodavies.com

1. From the book and some previous interviews, I learned that you were majored in Art subjects at the beginning. What made you turn to food section? Does art education background contributes to your cooking inspirations?

I think I have always been a creative person, as in someone who needs to create, to work with my hands, whether that was drawing, printmaking, darkroom photography, restoration or cooking. I’m at my happiest doing things like that! And I see a close correlation between why I love the process of baking bread or pastries, for example, and creating an etching or developing a black and white photograph. They all require a bit of patience and what feels like a little bit of magic, too!

Happy New Year! Wishing everyone plenty of clinking of glasses, good food and merriment x

A post shared by Emiko Davies (@emikodavies) on Dec 31, 2015 at 3:19am PST

2. You mentioned in the book that one-pot dishes are preferred way of cooking in the Maremma area, and it ranges from seafood soup to lamb stews. That sounds amazing! As a Mom, I think one-pot cooking is such a great solution for preparing family meals: easy to prepare, spontaneous in the way that we can add in whatever we have/ prefer, and needless to mention that there are less to be washed!

Which of those one-pot recipes is your favorite for a lazy day meal?

Yes I agree entirely, it’s the ideal family meal! I particularly love the classic acquacotta, which is a tomato and onion soup. Once you poach the eggs in it too, it makes such a delicious and hearty meal with relatively little. And if you’re feeling particularly hungry, you can add some sausage in there too, or perhaps some cannellini beans. If you want more vegetables, anything leafy green goes well, but so do mushrooms or strips of red peppers, depending on the season. It’s so adaptable.

Acquacotta recipe (photo by Lauren Bamford)

3. I also like cooking. I think it is one of the most precious and beautiful thing you could do for the others. And I definitely would like to involve my son in the kitchen more when he’s bigger. I’ve seen from your photos that your daughter Mariu helps a lot in the kitchen. What is her interpretation of “cooking” at this moment? A fun game, or a daily errand, or a way of showing love, etc?

We practically live in the kitchen, Mariu is always watching me cook and offering to help. Often, she will get an idea and ask to cook something herself – in particular she loves baking cakes and cupcakes, and this is always because she wants to give it to someone. A chocolate cake for her nonna, or strawberry cupcakes for her friends, decorated with icing and sprinkles, the works. The reason I know this is fully out of love is because she never once has eaten one of her sweet creations! Can you imagine a four year old that doesn’t like cakes or cupcakes?! I have one.

photo by Emiko Davies

4. These days a like-able #OnTheTable photo helps a lot in food blogging & writing. In order to get a picture-perfect dish, do you need to compromise in certain aspect (cooking time, colors of the ingredients, table set up, etc.)? Tell us some truth behind the food-photographer’s lenses!

I absolutely cannot stand wasting food, so I’ll never compromise on the food itself, it has to be delicious! But I usually cook during day light hours so that I always have natural light to photograph the dishes. Natural light just makes taking a good photograph so much easier. And I use some portable surfaces so that I can even photograph outdoors – my own kitchen is quite dark, even though I have a huge window that looks out to the garden, we have a lot of vines covering and hanging down over the front of the flat that act like a curtain!

I also try to use very neutral colours – beige, off white, light greys and white, which keep things minimal and make the food the focus. To have different backgrounds, I often buy a meter of fabric to have as a “tablecloth” – there is a stand at the Sant’Ambrogio markets that I often go to that sells lovely linen and cotton fabrics.

I'm craving simplicity and comfort right now. And for ages I've been particularly craving a bowl of zhajiangmian, a Chinese dish of thick noodles with a sauce made of pork or beef with ginger, garlic and shallots in fermented bean paste, topped with a garnish of fresh cucumbers. Each slurp (the only way to eat it) of this reminds me so much of my adolescence in Beijing. The idea is remarkably like spaghetti al ragu, or not far from it. Both are comfort in a bowl. #eastmeetswest

A post shared by Emiko Davies (@emikodavies) on May 2, 2017 at 7:28am PDT

5. Choose one of your favorite dishes from the Acquacotta book, and add an Asian twist in it. What would that be? LOL

Oh there already is one!

It happens to be the dish to try if you’re in Orbetello, an ancient dish that goes back about 500 years when the lagoon town was under Spanish rule. It’s made with eel (the lagoon is famous for it), usually, and is known as scaveccio, from the Spanish ‘escabeche’. Pieces of eel are floured, deep-fried then marinated in vinegar, white wine, garlic, chilli and herbs.

My first taste of it took me straight to my childhood in my grandmother’s home near Tokyo, and a dish that my mother often makes at home still, but with mackerel. In Japanese it’s called Nanbanzuke and it is also about the same age as scaveccio, a Japanese adaptation of a dish they learned from Portuguese merchants. It’s practically the same: pieces of fish, dipped in flour, deep-fried then marinated in rice vinegar, soy sauce, chili, sliced onions and perhaps thinly sliced carrot. It’s one of my favourite dishes, ever.

In Acquacotta I’ve done it with mackerel, which has a similar, meaty texture to the eel but is considerably easier to get and to prepare!

Cooking class announcement! June 17 I'll be teaching a class at the wonderful Latteria Studio in Rome with recipes from my latest #Maremma inspired cookbook, Acquacotta. We will handroll strozzapreti, cook a fisherman's stew, whip up a refreshing salad and make melon granita, all with a few laughs, some wine and then we get to eat it all too. For more info check my events page or the Latteria Studio website. {Fun fact: Acquacotta's recipe photos were shot on location in a secluded B&B @ilbaciarino in Maremma with props rented from @alicekiandra.adams' Latteria Studio and an all-Aussie team @laurenbamford @debkaloper @weaving @helenj97 @alicekiandra.adams 😍}#acquacottathecookbook

A post shared by Emiko Davies (@emikodavies) on May 4, 2017 at 3:57am PDT

5 Questions To: Emiko Davies Welcome back to another episode of #5QuestionsTo series. This time I am in talk with a talented lady, who I've been longing for interviewing: Emiko Davies.

#5QuestionsTo #cookbook #Food #gift ideas #interview #Italy #Q&A #recipe #slider

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berthastover · 8 years ago

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Why Do We Love Buzzfeed?

Whether you’re interested in news, the latest celebrity gossip, or a video where stoned people pet sloths (yup, that happened) there is only one place you need to visit to take it all in – BuzzFeed.

The digital giant, founded in 2006 by Jonah Peretti, John S. Johnson III, and Kenneth Lerer, has taken over the Internetz. I write “Internetz” because BuzzFeed has reached an audience so broad that even the “cat memes” corners of the WWW were moved.

In an article by FastCompany, the author mentioned that Peretti was inspired by CNN – he had a vision ahead of time by being the Ted Turner of our times,

“owning all the elements of a modern media business: a global news team, its own video production studio, a sophisticated data operation, and an in-house creative ad agency”

BuzzFeed took that power a step further, a big millennial step not only into the “now” but also to the future – social media.

1. Viral lab

The appeal of BuzzFeed is that most of us don’t know what their website actually looks like. Peretti saw an opportunity all the way back in 2014 – why lure people into clicking a link and going to their website? Why do we HAVE to have clicks and website visits? Instead, BuzzFeed thrives on content posted right on social media with occasional links back to the website. What’s more, there is no such thing as republishing! Let that sink in:

Every. Platform. Has. Individual. Special. Audience-tailored. Content.

The magic lies not in excellent SEO (in fact, BuzzFeed believes in emotion for humans over SEO-ing the crap out of titles for robots) but in analyzing every single piece of content that is being shared. Seriously, every link (even on that website you’re flipping through) is tracked – just look for the “utm” in the URL.

It’s not about someone finding your URL on Google but about you creating a brutally honest title, like “7 Reasons Why Mondays In The Office Suck” – someone bored at work on a Monday morning will see it in their Facebook news feed and click/watch/share faster than you can say “these are not the droids you’re looking for.”

First, we laughed at their ridiculous quizzes like:

Which Hipster 2016 Trends Need To Go? (IMHO avocado will never be “over”)

How Overprotective Of A Pet Owner Are You?

If You Click 20/30 On This Quiz, You’re Addicted To Coffee (Some of us don’t need a quiz to know that)

Then we got sucked into the glories of Tasty – short videos that used beautifully minimalistic shots that used a minute (two max) to show how to cook some either very cheesy, very sweet, or (once in a blue moon) healthy food.

People LOVED the idea of quick videos that didn’t require anyone to read lengthy recipes or leaving their Facebook page. In fact, Tasty has 76,964,211 Facebook Page fans as of mid-December, 2016. BuzzFeed went on to create dedicated pages for the international foodie in all of us:

Proper Tasty – British cuisine (14,571,567 Facebook Page likes)

Tasty Miam – French cuisine (1,668,311 Facebook Page likes)

Bien Tasty – Spanish cuisine (10,436,915 Facebook Page likes)

Tasty Demais – Portuguese cuisine (13,182,260 Facebook Page likes)

Einfach Tasty – German cuisine (1,917,710 Facebook Page likes)

Tasty Japan – Japanese cuisine (1,640,969 Facebook Page likes)

To blow your foodie mind even more, BuzzFeed decided to release the Tasty Book just in time for the 2016 Holiday season. The beauty of the book is that it can be individually made. Tasty has produced so. many. videos. that it has a recipe list that seems to go on forever – and that’s why you get to pick EXACTLY what you want in your Tasty Book:

Genius.

But the viral content didn’t stop at food videos and TMI quizzes.

2. Social campaigns

To get to the heart of every person BuzzFeed began tackling reactive marketing in a way that hasn’t been done before – controversial YouTube videos.

BuzzFeed is known for its liberal and eye-opening honesty in environmental, social, political issues and although these videos started a while back for the sake of time and sanity let’s list videos that focused on bigger issues and causes of 2016:

Racial Inequality: BuzzFeed created videos dedicated to showing what different communities go through, asking questions like “what do black people want white people to know”. The most controversial video “If ‘All Lives Matter’ Logic Was Applied To Everyday Life” brought in over a million views and 10,000 comments. The digital giant aims to ask controversial questions to create a dialogue through videos like “Whitewashing in Hollywood” or “Asians/Women of Color Photoshopped Into Disney Princesses.”

LGBTQ: A huge supporter of the LGBTQ community BuzzFeed created a couple series like “Lesbian Princess”, “Love Wins”, and “In The Closet” to educate others and create a forum where commenters could freely ask questions they normally were too scared to ask.

Veterans Lives: Introducing veterans to YouTube videos was an opportunity for them to share their stories, talk about being different and in the military, answering questions about coming how, and most of all – raising awareness about PTSD.

Immigrant Lives: BuzzFeed is famous for its diversity, they used their platform to talk about the lives of 1st generation American immigrants, about the struggles of having a parent that doesn’t speak English well, or being Muslim-Americans in the States. This lead to series like Pero Like.

Gender Equality: “Women Try Manscaping For A Week”, “Dressing Beyond The Binary”, or “Men Wear Heels For A Day” are just some of the videos that BuzzFeed came up with to show exactly how different lives men and women lead, and most of all – how society reacts to men and women switching roles.

Health: Have you ever tried being vegan for a month? Maybe you worked out every day for a week to see what it’s like? Well, BuzzFeed did that and more! With great campaigns like “Mental Health Week”, “Body Positivity Week” or Try Guys videos about prostate cancer check-ups, BuzzFeed keeps up with health education.

US Presidential Campaign 2016: One crazy presidential campaign is behind us… And BuzzFeed was a part of it. In order to encourage young voters to register to vote, BuzzFeed created videos that talked about Trump/Clinton voters, what Republicans and Democrats think of their candidates, and why voting is important. “Turn Up To Vote” is one of the playlists that was created thanks to US Presidential Campaign 2016.

3. Catching the celebrity wave

BuzzFeed made use of how popular particular employees were getting and used them as brand evangelists with their own Facebook fan pages, Twitter feeds, and Instagram posts that engaged people and showed them the “life” inside BuzzFeed. Some of these people took their comedy to their BuzzFeed social media profiles and generated even more buzz:

Eventually, it wasn’t enough to see our favorite BuzzFeed employees in a video. Over time there were personalities that we saw click and we started grouping people into our own virtual TV sitcom cast. BuzzFeed saw how quickly videos with our favorite “cast” shared and so began the saga of The Try Guys, Ladylike, The Try Friends, High-Friends, or BuzzFeed Violet:

With YouTube Red coming to more and more regions of the World, it was an opportunity to take segments like “Broke” and turn them into paid episodes (going for 1.89 GBP per episode). The first episode was free and brought in over 2 million views!

4. Quality or quantity?

Lately, there’s been a lot of criticism that BuzzFeed is focusing on quantity over quality. More and more commenters started to troll videos with criticism and complaints that BuzzFeed is running out of ideas. From videos, all the way to quizzes that predicted which Harry Potter character you are based on your zodiac, it seemed that there wasn’t anything more that BuzzFeed could write or talk about.

Their response? Videos titled “Running Out Of Ideas” starring the infamous Jordan, who did the most random pranks or challenges. To no one’s surprise, the videos still generated more than 2 million views – BuzzFeed wasn’t going anywhere!

What can you learn from BuzzFeed?

Although BuzzFeed has its own special Internet sphere where it seems that they’re allowed to do more than us regular marketers, there is a lesson to learn: research and niche targets.

We do have to follow the “quality over quantity” rule, but we can spice things up! I do believe that research and very specific customer personas are the keys to social media success. This has been the year of personalized content, but what if we took personalized and made it very, very, niched content?

What are your thoughts on the tactics BuzzFeed uses? Do you use customer personas to personalize your content? Share in the comments below!

6 Crucial Content Marketing Lessons from BuzzFeed

40 Ways to Make Your Blog Posts Go Viral

The post Why Do We Love Buzzfeed? appeared first on GetResponse Blog - Online Marketing Tips.

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