Hmmm…it’s interesting to hear a model aknoweldge her privilege. But there’s little here in the way of why things are they way they are and how things can be changed for the better. 

I’m not the greatest cook. But my food does taste good and the number of times I burn, under-season, or explode things in the kitchen has dropped off significantly. Not least because of a dwindling discretionary fund.

But I had to go through a bunch of thoroughly unhelpful cookbooks and cooking shows to get to where I am. Especially the cooking shows!

I’ll let you in on a little secret: COOKING SHOWS ARE EDITED!

No, Emeril or Rachel or even the Contessa herself don’t chop and cook and bake and mix all at the same time. I’ll tell you more about that in a little bit.

So let’s get all those ideas out of your head – cooking shows aren’t real. Not the contest shows, the softly focused Food Network shows, none of it is REAL. It’s all edited to look either more hectic or more relaxed than cooking actually has to be. This is especially true for us singleton home cooks.

Cooking at home is somewhere in the middle. And if you’re someone, like me, who needs to paint by numbers before you venture out into Pollack territory, I hope my five lessons of the single home cook will help!

First Lesson: Read the WHOLE goddamn recipe before you even think about putting the pan on the stove

Read it several times, out loud, in many different accents. Trust me when I say in the beginning, the most frequent mistake you’ll make is missing a step. Usually it’s the one crucial step buried in between steps 5 and 6 because some cookbook editors are terrible people who laugh in the darkness of night as your onions turn from a glaze to a blaze.

Unless you’re borrowing this recipe from a library book, feel free to write all over and highlight shit you think is important. Some specific things to pay attention to:

- Typically the ingredient list is written by what gets cooked or prepared first.
- Simmer times
- Things that need to be prepared right before throwing into the pot / oven such as apples, pears, avocadoes, etc that tend to brown when you chop them up
- Tools you’ll need
- Terms you don’t understand (YouTube is your best friend. Someone out there has put up a video on how to braise, sous vide, and chop an onion).

Got that? Now for the best part!

Second Lesson: Mise en place or your ass is grass

Yeah, I just dropped a French phrase. But it’s the most basic step and the one that will save you a lot of sweat and tears in the kitchen.

Mise en place (meez-ahn-plas) means getting everything in its place. Restaurants have prep cooks who dice, chop, mix, and juice ingredients before the line cooks or chefs even step into the front doors. So, too, should you! Not hire prep cooks, but prep food before you even light that gas stove.

And that’s the rub with cooking shows. They may seem like they’re dicing up onions two seconds before sautéing them but at least 3/4 of that was prepared before the director said “Lights!”  It took me awhile to get over this shocker. Not because I’m gullible but  because I really wanted things to be that smooth and easy in real life.

Well, mise en place will get you halfway there. It’s so important to do this because after the prep work all you have to do is throw things in!

Small bowls or ramekins are your best friends to hold all the minced garlic, chopped onion, roughly chopped kale without mixing too early. If you can mix ingredients beforehand, by all means. As long as the recipe says you can!

Also, mix the spices before hand. It saves so much time – you won’t be sweating and shaking over your tomato sauce which you will inevitably douse in too much oregano…yeah.

Third Lesson: Salt and pepper will make or break you

You think you’ll remember, but you won’t. Stick a post it somewhere or leave your salt and pepper right next to the ingredients that need to be seasoned – hell if you can, season beforehand – because you will get distracted when things start getting heated.

A couple of basics of seasoning:

- Dried herbs pack more flavor than fresh herbs. If a recipe calls for fresh herbs and you’re lazy, use half what the recipe calls for in dried herbs.
- The earlier you season, the less apparent those tastes will be. If you season after cooking, it will be very obvious that you added salt or pepper or nutmeg. Play around with what you like.
- Salt is NOT a flavor. It’s a flavor enhancer. If your food tastes like salt, you’re doing something wrong. Also, you probably have high blood pressure.

Fourth Lesson: Taste the rainbow

I know you’re not going to want to do this, but taste your bland ass food before you season so that you know what a difference it makes. It will help refine your palate (hur-hur) so that you know how to balance your flavors better.

Keep tasting while you’re cooking to make sure everything is right. Obviously, don’t taste things like RAW chicken or eggs. Just thought I’d mention that in case some of you were thinking of it –  you know who you are. You can however taste the season mix. I don’t know what that will do but maybe you can figure something out.

If you’re cooking for others – for the love of Buddha - use different spoons or forks when you taste! No double dipping. No one wants to eat your mouth germs, mmkay?

Fifth Lesson: Clean up after your damn self

One of the biggest reasons I didn’t cook at home was because I hated the big mess at the end. But guess what doing all that mise en placing has freed you up to do? That’s right – wash up!

While things simmer, bake, or rest, wash utensils or bowls that you won’t be needing anymore. It takes out so much stress. All you’ll have left is the pot or pan and spoon or spatula you cooked your food in.

What are your basic food tips and techniques?

Burgess is a Korean-American who’s stripped down style and nuanced details set him apart from most modern dance choreographers.

In the spirit of creativity, I spoke with Burgess on the phone about his creative process and what lessons other artists can take away from his body of work.

Transcend language and create your own

Dance is as much a language as French and Swahili. Across the globe, cultures have their own set of movements that convey emotion.

Hula dancers use `ami honua to refer to the world or the earth.

Thai dances have108 distinct dance steps with specific meanings.

Burgess and other dance choreographers have their own unique language that threads through their tapestry of work. It’s those small gestures and turns that set Martha Graham apart from Vaslav Nijinsky.

This holds true for all art forms – writing turns of phrases and voicing; the thickness and fluidity of lines in drawing; the volume and pace of a movement in concertos.

It’s all about getting into the details.

Burgess’s signatures include distorting time, the angle and positioning of shoulders, and small hand gestures. Put together, these movements give depth to a performance with an impressionist portrait of traditional Asian dances.

Looking deep into your own art work, asking yourself why you chose one direction over another, and building on that new language is essential to discovering your own voice.

Immerse yourself in a story

Creating a new story or coming up with a new idea can be a daunting task. I know that I feel paralyzed or rushed to get my idea produced. But it’s important to step back first, and as Burgess recommends, immerse yourself in a story.

Becoming part of that story will help you define what the most emotionally impactful points are and where you relate the most.

“I always try to find an entry point for the audience…something universal and approachable,” said Burgess.

Researching can be daunting when you have so much ground to cover, so zero in on a particular experience – see where that takes you. Once you’ve got that narrative in your mind, observe your own feelings and thoughts during the process to help you define what your vision is.

Don’t be afraid of failure or editing

When choreographing a new work, Burgess throws out whole phrases or movements that don’t work.

“I don’t get stuck because I’m not afraid of editing,” said Burgess.

Indeed, when writing especially, it’s difficult for some to even get enough words on the page because of constant self-editing [I’m doing it right now!]. Instead of evaluating everything that comes out of your head, just put it down somewhere like a sketchbook or index card so you can work through the process of creating a whole work. You may or may not use those ideas but have faith that the end piece will be much better for it.

Attend tonight’s anniversary show and watch some of the Company’s most memorable pieces:

April 5-6, 2012 8:00pm
Dorothy Betts Marvin Center
800 21st St. NW
Washington, DC
Tickets: $15/$22/#25

Buy Tickets

Photo by Zain Shah

Here’s a link to the tests: Test Your Creativity

Saunders defines “layering” as: 

I define “layering” as strategically deciding to do tasks that require different “channels” of mental functioning such as visual, auditory, manual or language. As David Meyer, one of the world’s leading experts on multitasking, explains in this New York magazine article , “The only time multitasking does work efficiently is when multiple simple tasks operate on entirely separate channels.”

It’s true that you can’t do two verbal tasks at the same time – such as driving and talking. You may not think driving is a verbal task but it is because you are constantly processing “verbal cues” like signs and signals. Talking while driving disrupts those processes.

So Saunders iterates that you can mix up these channels to do two things at once like listening to a podcast and tidying up your desk or eating a sandwich and reading a book.

Some of her examples seem weird to me. For example, I would not talk to friends or read a book while running on a treadmill because, really, some tasks require your full attention so that you don’t injure yourself. You know what I mean, gym rats.

On the other hand, sometimes I need to do “physical” tasks in order to work through some mental ideas. I drafted this blog post, a cover letter and a to-do list while I was washing the dishes not 10 minutes ago. Because I tend to do this daily, I have pens and notebooks scattered about to make sure I capture a brain wave (even if it turns into more of a brain blip).

My rules of layering are:

- Make sure one of the tasks you’re doing won’t cause you injury without your full attention

- Keep a notebook by you at all times to jot down random thoughts

- Don’t get too lost in your thoughts otherwise you’ll have a very irate Burger King cashier screaming, “NEXT CUSTOMER!” at you while simultaneously deciding whether or not to spit in your mayo

Safety first.

A trick of the trade in the blogging world is coming up with a good series that readers will wait in anticipation for you to post then share wildly with their friends. But how do you know if your series idea is gonna be good for the long haul?

First of all, not all series have to be life long. They can be short and thematic (that you hopefully remember to link to all parts at the end of each post). Typically these series aim to solve a unique but common problem for their readers. Because they are so useful and informational, they often become very popular and emblematic of that blog.

A series that is constantly updated however can be a little trickier. And that’s what I aim to help you with in three easy steps.

Can you come up with 10 specific posts?

Once you come up with a genius idea for a series, you have to plum its depths. This requires a lot of research and example hoarding (e.g. bookmarking, link listing). Try to find at least 10 substantial ideas for specific posts in the series. If you find yourself struggling, maybe it’s time to hang up the idea or find a new angle. If however you feel that you’ve only scratched the surface, well then go on, you handsome devil!

Can you cover multiple angles? 

All the posts in the series can’t have the same angle. That would be boring. Often, you’ll find patterns to develop a sub-series…a series within a series, if you will. And you know that everyone loves a subplot. Sometimes (1). But anyway, something to break up the large chunk of the topic will usually be a welcome respite.

Is it sustainable?

The way to evaluate if this is a long lasting series is if it’s something that continues to happen. Like horrible advertising (2). Or disastrous fashion choices (3). These things won’t ever stop. But you don’t have to exploit people’s mistakes to find a good series – although those are the most hilarious options. I can’t think of any good-deed type series at the moment, but I’m sure you’ll tell me, my dear smart and charitable readers.

Now that you’ve checked off the list, I strongly recommend writing those 10 posts today or soon while you’re on that fresh idea high.

Go forth and serialize!

1. Example of a boring subplot everyone hates all the time: http://www.omega-level.net/tag/boring-subplots/

2. Copyranter: http://copyranter.blogspot.com/

3. Go Fug Yourself: http://gofugyourself.com/

“All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth.” – Orson Welles

This is the infernal question many a journalist must ask whenever they get a tip or overhear a conversation in the bathroom stalls of The Caucus Room. But a seasoned journo can evaluate in two seconds whether a story has legs because of her years of networking and hiding out in toilets. She knows the players, the rumors, the trumors, and the rumths.

If you’re a green cub reporter or even just a wannabe freelance writer, you may not be able to tell if the random blog post you read on the outer reaches of the internet can make the FOB or the Well. Most of the time, the editors you’re pitching won’t care to tell you why your story needs a root canal.

As someone in-between green and yellow, here are my strategies to figuring out if the story is worth the paper it will be printed on…or the hits from reader clicks.

At the center of every good story is conflict…

Capulet versus Montague. Faust versus the Devil. Harry Potter versus Voldemort. Snooki versus the World. All great stories need a conflict and hopefully a resolution.

There doesn’t have to be a clear hero – that belongs in fiction. And if you’re wondering how a story can revolve around two villains, I invite you to watch Alien vs. Predator or even Freddy vs. Jason.

But people do want a likable person in a story. In journalism, that likable person is often the reader. “Oh, dear reader, you’re so smart and enterprising for reading this article that will change your view of this whole situation. How can you and anyone else live without knowing about the facts in this story? Spread the word!” is what we say with ev’ry keystroke.

I’m getting away from my main point, though, which is that a story needs conflict. There is conflict in everything. In environmental journalism, it’s usually Gaia versus greedy corporate interest or human apathy. Business journalism is supposed to protect consumers (That’s you, again! You’re so popular!). Journalists covering City Hall are fighting to make sure you know that your sidewalks are going to get smaller, damn those Escalade driving City Councilors!

Why is conflict important? Well, if everything was honky-dory, what the hell do you care?

That doesn’t mean all stories will end in crushing defeat of the proletariat. It just means that there has to be some juice squeezing, whether the conflict happened months or years ago.

In summary: Find the conflict in the story that preferably puts the reader in the protagonist role, those charmers.

But your conflict also has to have teeth and have an adequate answer to the question…

So what? 

I hate this question. Editors always ask this stupid question when you present a story to them. Ok, it’s not stupid but it is frustrating and I have a tendency to take things personally.

Depending on your piece, though, the answer doesn’t have to be earth shattering. The exceptions are investigative pieces – if the rag is gonna put a brick ton of money that they don’t have and hours of overworked staff time, your pitch better knock their titanium socks off. Yeah, titanium socks.

However, if you’re writing about keeping your pots clean the So What can just be a soft breeze from your derriere.

A good way to figure out the So What is researching the publication’s readership. Who are they? How old are they? Where are they in their lives? Why are they so handsome? What makes them so wonderful? What kind of angels are they – Cherubs? Seraphim? Blue?

Then you can write up your So What to hopefully solve some sort of problem (conflict!) in their lives or get them to pay more attention.

I hope this helps you, dear precious readers. If it does, please shine your ray of healing light in the comments below.

I believe that anyone in an organization can be creative. In fact, I think employers should give more time off to workers who pursue Informal Arts. But more on that later.

From accountants to copywrtiers, the creative potential is there. But it’s usually drowned by drudgery. Even creatives who work in-house are subject to “Let’s all work harder and pull longer hours!”

Except that the effect is really the opposite – the more hours you throw at something, the sloppier your work gets. You lose creative juices which should really be conserved like a precious resource.

My brain pulses in anger at the thought of being told to “work harder!” Well, gee, what does that mean exactly?

Write for longer hours?

Come up with 50 brilliant ideas an hour?

Add more strategies to my work plan?

“Work harder” means nothing in an office environment. Our keyboards aren’t shovels. If I type faster that doesn’t mean my work gets done quicker. It just means I’m typing crappy copy faster.

When I was growing up, my mom would constantly ask “Why do you make it so hard on yourself?”

Little did I know then that she was priming me to be an productivity monster. In essence, my Filipino mom didn’t tell me to “work harder,” she told me to “work smarter.”

And that’s what I do. I look for the easy route without sacrificing the quality. I’m a fast writer. I know how to get my head in the right place to write so I can be creative and effective.

I’m not a machine though.

You can’t pump more mojo into my fuel tank every hour and expect to get brilliant ideas. That’s not how creativity works.

I’m willing to bet that 90% of the time these conversations happen because Los Jefes didn’t plan ahead and ignored staff’s warnings on priorities. Maybe 10% of the time it’s because of a real communications crisis or last minute project.

All of this to say – stop draining your employees. Stop throwing more hours or money at a problem. It won’t go away or change. Instead ask yourself – how can we work smarter? How can we be the most productive and still preserve our employees’ creativity?

I’ll continue to weigh in on this issue and research organizations and businesses who are great at this..

A bientot!

It’s tough going it alone, especially in a field that you have natural talents but only some experience. Recently, I’ve been focusing on becoming a better copywriter and features/magazine writer. I set weekly goals for myself but more often than not, those goals fall by the way side.

Working full-time is a serious drain on the creative energies. Add to that a two hour commute a day, poor food choices (hey Jack’s!), and the stress of politics within politics wrapped in politics and you have the biggest demotivating clusterfuck known to man. All I want to do is lay in bed and watch Murder She Wrote.

But watching Jessica Fletcher solve crimes and write a novel an episode isn’t going to make me a better writer, no matter how much I love Jess.

So what do I do?

Well, my bestie is also going through the same demotivating clusterfuck. With the two of us beating our heads against the wall, the resolution became much clearer once I stepped back, dazed and bleeding, looked around to check out the damage. And my first instinct was to try to pull my friend away from the wall too!

That’s when we both agreed, like two days ago, to be each other’s life coach. Each week, we’re setting goals and holding the other’s feet to the fire.

It’s different having an outside person as both your motivator and feet-the-fire-holder. In essence, it’s more motivating. We want to see each other succeed. We want to see ourselves succeed. And we don’t want to disappoint the other. Nor do we want to disappoint ourselves. It’s the perfect plot for success!

So if you’re stuck in a rut, too, grab a buddy to help you work it out.

Wine helps. I like a nice Syrah.

For the last, I don’t know, 10 years my creativity has come in spurts and wells, ebbs and eddies. It’s never been so consistent. And really the only thing that I pursued doggedly was singing – which varied week by week, month by month. It’s always been difficult for me to think up great ideas on the spot. When bosses or coworkers ask me for an idea or shoot stupid ones my way, I really have no response until about a couple of hours later when the ideas have had time to marinade.

But being a creative professional – there’s no room for that. You gotta have a good idea right now! There’s a lot of pressure to be the lone genius in the room. I prefer to be in a group of really different people to brainstorm ideas (using IDEO’s methodology). Lately, though it’s just been me. Woe! Oh woe!

Luckily, I have an experimental mind that I’ve used to start melding and molding my own personal creative process. Yes, it’s all about process people. You can tell those “I’m only interested in outcomes” yack-offs to, well, yack off!

So here’s what I do.

I drink some coffee in the AM because this is when my brain is the most alert. I take a pen. I take a notebook. And I write whatever is on my mind. Usually I’m pissed off about something that I need to get off my mind and just write down to stop me from perseverating on one damn conversation. Sometimes I have a goal or topic in mind. Other times it’s just to get all the gunk out. I do this in the morning and evening. It helps get the writing flowing and sometimes helps me sleep.

Then, I seek inspiration. I have go-to places that constantly inspire me. The Daily Show, The 99 Percent, Salon.com, my friend’s political musings on Facebook and Twitter, Murder She Wrote. I do this for about half an hour, jotting notes down as I go along. Following story leads and asking the Oracle (Google) questions. By this point I’ve got some half-baked ideas for blog posts.

Sometimes I’ll outline these ideas, especially if they are multi-faceted and complicated. And I’ll decide right then and there whether I can write it up in 15 minutes or if it will take a couple of days of digging to get to the good stuff. Then I write, write, write. Well, I turn everything off first then I write like the dickens.

I also keep an online Swype File on Tumblr where my whims and interesting things I find on the ‘net are posted.

Then I put it all aside for a couple of hours. Come back to it and edit. Read it allowed. Format, insert links, and hit publish.

It sounds really simple but believe when I say it’s a struggle everyday. I feel that I’m in compettion with myself to write The Best Blog Post Ever even though I advise others to really STOP, I’m serious! STOP thinking that way.

To growing!