Heat and Homemade Pasta, Living the "Casalinga" Life

I just finished reading Bill Buford's Heat, a detailed account on how Buford, a former writer and editor of The New Yorker, quits his job to become an amateur cook in Mario Batali's Italian restaurant Babbo and travels to Italy to learn how to make pasta and butcher animals. Being that I'm newly Italian-by-marriage (Zeny Picone!) and a person who loves cooking, I soaked up every kitchen secret, tip and recipe that Buford revealed about making handmade pasta, short ribs, linguini with clams and tortellini the authentic Italian way.

Casalinga, which means homemade or "made by hand" in Italian, is a consistent theme in Buford's book which promotes the culture of "slow food"--the idea that food made by hand with better ingredients is more precious and delicious. The last couple of years I've embraced this idea of slow food, spending hours prepping and cooking large meals for dinner parties. The most recent a 10-person Chinese dinner consisting of my grandma's signature recipes.

Here's some pictures of my first time making homemade pasta with some friends, and as the pictures depict, our first time was pretttyyy dang awesome:

We found a basic fresh pasta recipe on Pinterest which called for equal parts semolina and flour.

Lesson learned, use lots of flour when rolling out the pasta.

We made linguini two ways--1) Carbonara and 2) with Wild Mushrooms

The Brooklyn Art Library, the Best Way to Spend a Day Off in Williamsburg

My 15 year-old brother Zadrian visited me all the way from Hawaii this weekend, so I took Monday off to spend time with him and celebrate my birthday. I struggled to think of things to do that would interest him in the neighborhood, so I suggested we taste chocolate at Mast Brothers on North 3rd mainly because I was craving chocolate. After Mast Brothers, we stumbled on The Brooklyn Art Library just a few stores down. I remember walking in here a few years back when they only had a small 3 ft high shelf and now the walls of the room are lined with sketchbooks.

The library is simple, you sign up for a library card (your name, email and phone number) and then you use their online catalog to browse for sketchbooks by interest, profession, location, color, mood, etc. The "librarian" (read: tight jeans, henley shirt, facial hair) will then bring you two sketchbooks at a time. Most of the fun is not knowing who's sketchbook you are going to get, and each sketchbook is inspiring in its own unique way.

My favorite sketchbook was by local Illustrator Greg Kletsel (see below). Anyone can participate by buying a sketchbook that cost $25--I assume part of the cost goes to maintaining the library--or $60 if you want them to digitize it, and submit it to the The Sketchbook Project, which to-date has close to 28,000 artists' sketchbooks.

I ended up buying myself a sketchbook to fill and a Pattern Box of postcards by 10 contemporary female pattern designers curated by the Textile Arts Center in New York. I've been super interested in pattern making and am currently taking Joshua Davis' Skillshare class on Generative Art, so hopefully I'll have some work to fill into my sketchbook!

Dave Eggers' New Novel The Circle Will Give Us All Some Perspective

This Tuesday, Dave Eggers' new novel The Circle comes out. Without going into detail, I think anyone who actively uses social media or a smartphone (which is likely everyone) or works in the tech and digital industry should read the book. It's a story about a 24 year-old girl Mae who begins a job at a large tech company--one that closely resembles Facebook and Google (if those two companies merged). I found the book particularly relevant because the digital industry and work environment is one I'm familiar with--the subject of tracking user data, the free lunches and open bar company events. The Circle, like most of Eggers' novels, is a reflective piece and a page-turner that touches upon a lot of timely, controversial topics like NSA's Prism and the effects of social over-sharing on human behavior. I'd love to hear what you all think about the book, so leave me a comment if you read it!

Why Every 20-Something Year Old Girl Needs To Read Sheryl Sandberg's Lean In

This post is the inauguration of my blog's return (hooray!) and as the first post of 2013, I feel that it is incredibly fitting to talk about Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg's new book Lean In. Sandberg's memoir-slash-life advice book is about fostering environments for female leaders and driving all women to achieve their dreams. Sounds soft, fluffy and a drag doesn't it? I literally finished the book in one reading (avoiding meals), which is hugely momentous because I can't remember the last book I read to the end.

Every word of Lean In is relevant to my life (okay maybe not the pregnancy parts but it will be someday). I felt like a 20-something year old Sheryl Sandberg and what she writes is what I feel and what she says is what I need to hear. It's hard for me to explain the urgency of reading Sandberg's book without sounding like a bandwagon feminist but I'm being honest when I say this is probably the most important book I'll read of my career.

My life both professionally and personally has propelled forward in the last 6 months, requiring me to make a mass of decisions--what I recently realized is called growing up--and a big part of growing up means realizing your dreams, especially the dream to lead. Ten years ago, my dream was to create kick ass advertising campaigns that ended up in advertising annuals and won awards. And I'm here, doing that (the awards part is coming). The question is what's next? What's next for me is to do what so many clients, VPs, Directors and Strategists have done for me which is guide, teach and inspire girls and boys like me to push the boundaries of the industry.

The most memorable quote for me in the book actually didn't come from Sheryl but came from a reference to Harvard Business School's definition of leadership: "Leadership is about making others better as a result of your presence and making sure that impact lasts in your absence." This has been an unspoken mantra of mine and I find it most fulfilling to lead in this way.

I applaud Sheryl for attacking the topic of female leadership face on with a book referencing her own experiences, thought provoking research and an actionable plan. As a 20-something year old you often want to idolize your peers and amplify the voices of your generation, but after today, I feel Sheryl Sandberg's message is really important and this post is my way of getting it heard.

I Would Read Lena Dunham's Book Because Her Self-Awareness is Incredible

My fiancé who works at Random House told me about Lena Dunham's book right before the press pounced upon the $3.5 million dollar book deal. Everyone seems to have an opinion on whether she deserves the high price tag and whether she's worth the hype (acclaimed movie, HBO show, Emmy nomination, now, book deal!)--my simple opinion: I think she deserves her success. Because she, I'm sure, worked very hard for it.

I re-watched a couple episodes of GIRLS, the one where Marnie breaks up with her boyfriend and the finale, and it occurs to me as I'm watching that no other show about 20-somethings is able to feel as raw, authentic and complex and at the same time look easy than Dunham's portrayal of four girls surviving the city. Lena sees the humor and subtle meaning in the everyday. She understands the universal feeling of having to (and being scared to) grow-up, prioritizing relationships and finding fulfillment in a job. She's not afraid to admit that girls can be a "tease", "users" and stereotypically insecure. She's not afraid to be naked. She literally gives it her all in her work.

Some people may not understand her humor or look past her background or look past her use of an all-white cast (has anyone seen a Tyler Perry movie?), but what I see is a talented, brave girl that is working hard and deserves to have her cake and eat it too.