Birthday Lessons and Links

My birthday was on Tuesday, and while I was checking Twitter on my phone, I happened to click on a link over to a post at Food 52. The tweet mentioned something about why there is basically no future for hopeful food writers. Ack! I'm not even starting on my career yet, and apparently it's over. Amanda Hesser kind of bummed me out (on my birthday!) about how and why food writing, at least as the 90s and 00s knew it, is dead. But then! She got inspirational. It doesn't mean you can't write about food-- in fact, food writing will always exist, since people will always eat (and enjoy it) and always write. But building a career around food writing period is the issue. There are so many other things to do to be involved with food, and writing about those experiences can be a by-product. It overwhelms me, honestly. It takes innovation and dedication and creativity, and aren't we all terrified we lack those things? In her advice, she said to never eat the same meal twice, and I laughed. I feel perpetually stuck in a rut of the same stir fry, the same pizza, the same curry, the same pasta every single week. I've started to feel like all I ever do anymore on this blog are post links, but I guess it means I'm doing different things in the kitchen, and that's important. So I may not be creating yet-- merely imitating-- but I hope that's a step.

Successes from this week: 
Barbecue Bean Tacos from Cheeky Kitchen. Simple, vegan, positively delish. (I used anasazi beans!)

Chopped Miso Salad from 101 Cookbooks. I found this recipe when I bought miso paste for the first time last fall. It seemed to simple to fill me up, and, I'll admit maybe boring? But I made it for lunch today and wanted more, more, more.

Sushi Bowls from 101 Cookbooks. Actually, a theme with this food blog could be me seeing the recipe and thinking, too simple? But then I am always, inevitably wowed. This made a delightful dinner that really tasted like a deconstructed California roll-- I might even add cucumber next time.