in good taste, vol. 52: pivot to video
Idea Pins, secret gardens, cliches, and a late-summer vegetable salad
Nothing humbles quite like learning something new. I’ve started dabbling in making recipe videos, and dang if it isn’t an exercise in pride management. It’s led me to think maybe one of the clearest mile markers between my generation and the one that follows it, is how and what we learned to create on the Internet.
My early content education was all basic writing, photo editing, a loose definition of “curation” -- on blogs, Flickr, Instagram, even Pinterest to an extent. By contrast, high schoolers and college students are out here making genuinely awesome instructional video bodies of work, storyboarded and produced to the hilt! It looks great and, perhaps more importantly, effortless! (Then again, allegedly this is what they’re craving.)
Anyway, I’m going to keep working on it, partly out of professional responsibility, but mostly to learn and get better. Ultimately I’d like to create Idea Pins for all of these recipes, for easier reference. And also, you know, fame.
AT LEAST I’M TRYING
A fun roundup: “These 36 Homes Tell the Story of Design by the Decade, from the 1910s to the 1990s”
On mist gardens and fog fountains
How to make a Korean rolled omelette
Creating a secret garden in your backyard (current backyard goals; refer to last week’s newsletter)
A VERY GOOD SUMMER SALAD
Thank god we have only a few scant weeks left of this wretched heat season, and we can start to wear more sensible clothing and marvel over seasonal treats. Until then, here’s an incredibly simple, delightful summer vegetable salad that can be repurposed for lunch with a bit of tuna, or roasted sweet potatoes.
INGREDIENTS
1 ripe avocado, cubed
2 summer beefsteak tomatoes, chopped
1 small can of no-salt-added corn, drained
¼ red onion, roughly chopped
1 cucumber, cut lengthwise and chopped into half-moons
1 lime, zested + its juice
Olive oil
Salt & pepper
Pinch of cane sugar
Goat cheese crumbles (optional)
WHAT TO DO
Place onion and lime juice + zest in a large bowl, let sit for about 5-6 minutes to mellow the onion. Add vegetables, lime zest, olive oil, salt, pepper, sugar, and toss with a fork to combine -- taste and adjust seasonings to your preference, and add goat cheese as the last step.