Photography 101 Exercise: Water

This is my boss, Ben. He loves his oyster farm dearly, and I would argue probably as much as he loves his wife and kids. When I’m at our Boston shop, cooped up in the warehouse office sitting at a desk and reeking of fish, Ben is out on his boat harvesting oysters. I don’t know what’s worse: sitting at a desk for 8 hours a day or having to brave chilly winter winds and hauling heavy crates of oysters.

On special occasions, I make it down to Duxbury to capture the action on the farm. Today was one of those special days. When tides are super negative, the water recedes out of the bay and into the ocean, revealing the rich earth scattered with oysters. It’s mind-boggling to imagine the tide coming back in 12 feet higher and cloaking the oyster beds again until the next negative tide.

Today’s theme of “Water” and being on the farm was completely coincidental. It made me think of how we as humans rely on water in so many ways. People like my boss and I rely on water to support our livelihoods. Cities rely on water to flush sewage. Every single person on this planet relies on water to live. 783 million people in our world today do not have access to clean drinking water. We often take water for granted and never think twice about this precious resource, but when approached by a drought like the residents of central California, the importance of water really sinks in.

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Side note: The results of the midterm elections were in this morning, and it’s clear that we will have a Republican-controlled Congress. There was a very scary NY Times poll showing an overwhelming 83% of Republicans who do not think climate change is a serious problem. I’m typically not into politics, but climate change is one issue I am pretty passionate about, especially working in the seafood industry. I believe we’re already seeing some repercussions of climate change including the effects on our freshwater supply, and unless we make changes, it will only get worse.

Photography 101 Exercise: Street

In doing today’s Photo 101 assignment, I reached an epiphany on why contemporary artists and art aficionados are so obsessed with process. I have always held the view that art should have some minimum requirements or standards, e.g. a canvas with a red dot should not be considered art. Gerhard Richter’s Blood Red Mirror (it’s literally a canvas painted in red) sold for $1.1 million. I never quite understood these one-colored canvases until I took my “Street” photo above.

My initial idea for today was to get an open shutter shot since it’s not something I commonly do, and this Photo 101 course is all about experimenting. As I was taking my shot on the bridge, my bus pulled up to the bus stop, so I ran to catch it. My shutter was still open, and it captured little bits of details illustrating my short journey. This whole back story is not explained by looking at the photo, and to be honest, I don’t think it’s a great photo, but when considering the process and background of how this photo came to be, I find it ten times more interesting.

An artist may think his art is interesting because he created its context. By sharing this context (i.e. background, methods, intentions, etc.) with the audience, bad art can potentially become great art. The context provides a moment of clarity for the viewer, and this “aha, that’s why he did it” realization allows the viewer to forgive the artist for delivering subpar work. The work represents more than what meets the eye, the viewer thinks. Maybe art today is not about the art itself anymore, but rather about the art of making art.

At the end of the day, a restaurant is a business.

fritesandfries:

Things to ponder over: Joe Bastianich’s approach to restaurant profitability, via Food + Tech Connect. For the people out there who do own and/or take care of a restaurant’s numbers, what do you think?

I like that “miscellaneous” is covered because it’s easy to forget about licenses, permits, lawyers, and little things like linens. Of course, these things vary by city and state.

One Month Update

It has officially been a month and a half since I started my new job, and taking photos of shellfish has become my life. I have a huge library already and even created a Twitter handle (“OysterPorn” like FoodPorn… get it?) for my eventual never-ending tweets of oyster photos I have collected. Besides building a photo library of shellfish, I also launched our company website (you can see most of my photos there) and started getting deeper with social media, exploring apps like Feedly, Bit.ly, Target Pattern, etc. Social media marketing is truly about generating compelling content, but it definitely takes a lot of time and effort.

As of a few weeks ago, I was still living out of my suitcases so blogging wasn’t a huge priority. The good news, though, is now I am completely settled and can finally get back to a bit of normalcy. One of the nice things about moving in with Jonathan has been my motivation to cook more. When I lived by myself, I would waste a lot of food because I couldn’t eat it all in a reasonable time, and I would get lazy after a long day of work. Now that there’s someone around to appreciate my craft, I enjoy cooking on weeknights more often and feel assured that everything will be consumed!

Some nights when neither of us can make it to the grocery store, I really have to get creative with the ingredients in the house, and that has forced me to cook things I’ve never made in the past like miso ramen, butternut squash spaghetti, and a decent number of kale salads thanks to our weekly kale supply from our CSA (so glad I won’t see kale for a while).

For Thanksgiving yesterday, I cooked a feast: 3 appetizers, 2 mains, 3 sides, 2 desserts, and 1 digestif. It was the first time I cooked for 10 people, and it was EPIC. It was also the first time that dinner was served on time! Prepped the night before and timed everything perfectly, even dessert. The menu was as follows:

• Deviled eggs
• Couscous Salad
• Bacon-wrapped stuffed pears
• Honey ham
• Broccoli and mushroom casserole
• Sweet potato corn bread stuffing
• Creamed corn
• String beans sautéed
• Pumpkin pie
• Brownie with pumpkin ice cream
• Irish coffee

Unfortunately, I have no photos from last night because I have been without a camera for a while — I gifted my DSLR to my sister, but as of today, Black Friday, I am awaiting my new Canon D70 scheduled to arrive Wednesday! And it’s coming with a telephoto lens, eeee! May have splurged just a little too much… Black Friday always does that to me.

Excited to post more recipes and photos finally! Just in time for the holiday itis!

A Year and Five Months Later

In June 2012, a lot of big things happened: I graduated from college, moved to Seattle, and embarked on my career as a full-time business woman (you can see that post here). Now a year and five months later, like deja vu, I’m going through big things again:

1. I decided to leave my corporate job to pursue my passion.

"Forget about the fast lane. If you really want to fly, harness your power to your passion. Honor your calling. Everybody has one. Trust your heart, and success will come to you." - Oprah Winfrey

A long time ago, I made a promise to myself that I would make food my life. And this past September, I decided to take that step. Maybe it was Steve Job’s biography, the numerous articles floating around the interwebz about “making every day count,” the discussions with my mentors, or simply a combination of all those things that pushed me over the edge. Basically, I realized and/or acknowledged the following:

• The best time to take risks is when I am young and not tied to any responsibilities.
• Money isn’t everything.
• Ask myself every morning: Is this what I want to be doing if this was my last day to live? (Wisdom from Steve Jobs)
• I am not running away from something, I’m running to something better.

Which led me to the next change:

2. I now do marketing for an oyster wholesale company!

I’ve only been on the job for three weeks, but it is pretty freakin’ awesome! In a nutshell, I take photos of oysters, harvest oysters on the farm, create marketing material, and really get to flex my creative/design muscle! Did I mention that I get to eat them too after a photo shoot? Oyster tastings every Monday!

I have always loved the field of marketing (that’s why I studied it), and to finally be able to do FOOD marketing is like a dream come true. I know my experience is still premature with only a few weeks in, but I work with great people and have an opportunity to grow the business, which really excites me!

There’s me in my waders, harvesting oysters for the first time!

3. I moved back to Beantown!

Words can’t describe how much I love Seattle. I see myself moving back one day because I love the Pacific NW so much. But Jonathan has had a few big changes of his own too, and we decided it made the most sense for us to be in the same city — for the sake of our relationship and having each other’s support as we embarked on new directions.

I will admit being closer to my significant other has been great. We made long distance work for a year and a half, but now we can cook dinner together, try new things in real-time, and simply be on the same time zone! Working in the seafood industry means I’m up early (I have to be at work by 7 a.m.), which also means I’m in bed early. Sometimes if it’s too late, Jonathan will pack my lunch for the next day and leave little notes or a slice of pumpkin pie to surprise me. I have grown to appreciate him more and more, and these little things are only one example of how he takes care of me.

Jon and me at a friend’s wedding this October (my first wedding ever!).

4. Leaving the Comfort Zone

Moving to Seattle forced me to make new friends and try new things because I knew no one and nothing there. Moving back to Boston has been much easier because most of my college friends are here, I know the area, and Jonathan has physically been here to help me. But I do not want to fall into that trap, resuming or sinking easily back in to what was familiar and comfortable. The first few months in Seattle were challenging, but it pushed my limits and made me a stronger person… and I had so much fun!

I want to continue pushing my comfort zone even in Boston. It’s a new chapter in my life, and it deserves new problems, new experiences, and new friends. I’m hoping to brush up on my Chinese, play more piano (join a band?), and be more rigorous with my yoga practice. Travel more, do NYC justice, and broaden my horizons.

I’m really excited and optimistic about the decisions I have made, and I can only pray that things work out, which they always do. They say being in your twenties is a special time, so I am determined to make the most of it!