I have been reading about nuka pickles, which is a Japanese method of fermenting with rice bran powder, water, and salt.
It looks like so much fun! Like playing with mud, but you can actually eat the vegetables after fermentation!
Unfortunately, with my schedule, I can’t make the time to turn the pot twice a day. One more reason to live with another fermentator as collaborator…
But the more I learn about the possibilities of fermentation and pickling, the more amazed I am. For example, I just learned about narazuke, an alcoholic pickle made in Japan! After sitting in sake lees for 1-3 years, I guess the vegetables can’t help it.
I gave a 5-minute talk on Friday about fermentation. I was really, really nervous.
Plus, I broke my 5-month long coffee fast. Drinking coffee was made worse by having to drink bad drip coffee—ug. All buzz, no flavor. No, no, no one talked me out of it.
So, spazzed out on the ghost of coffee + super nervous = BAD .
At least, it is now DONE. And I can move on to my next projects…
Five things I learned about public speaking:
1.Entertain your audience.
Not everyone is a nerd like me. Not everyone wants to learn about something new. I thought that sharing something I thought was interesting would be enough, but a lot of people just want to be entertained.
The audience favorite was a talk about making strawberry jam. He didn’t emphasize his awesome recipe. He was just really, really funny, which leads to…
2.Delivery can be more important than the content.
3.5 minutes can be two lifetimes.
My heart literally stopped twice during this 5-minute talk.
If you want to live forever, try public speaking!
4.Choose your audience wisely. Choose to speak only to people who share my values.
Speaking live is intimate. The feedback is immediate whether people care or not. The bond you create with your audience has to be sustained for as long as you are on stage. Preparing something to which your audience will pay attention is much, much easier if they already are receptive to it.
In my case, I have a niche audience. My message is not for everyone. I should have chosen to speak at a food, not general, event.
5.Surviving public speaking for the first time ever in front of more than 100 strangers makes you feel invincible.
Did you know that not all the chemicals in a product have to be listed? If something is a byproduct, then the chemical is a 'contaminant,' not an ingredient.
To anyone who questions that genetically modified foods should be questioned, biologist Arpad Psuztai tells you that you are wrong.
And I LOVE LOVE LOVE this line from my favorite blogger with attitude: 'billions of people continue to eat death on a daily basis, pretending that it is food.'
Some more things that made me happy this past week: making burn-the-back-of-your-throat kombucha with chile-soaked water, finding out that we are all connected through less than 6 degrees at a secret supper party, meeting an old-school butcher and hearing fascinating stories of...well, butchering (what can I say? I am a rebellious vegetarian), strangers eavesdropping on my dinner conversations and revealing themselves, and cooking a 3-course dinner for 6...and being so happy at the deliciousness that I forget to document anything for my blog.
Photo from kyotofoodie
