Tag: forking fantastic

Top 10 Reasons Not to Complain about 2010

A lot of people say, “Wow, Zora—you have so much going on! Food! Travel! Your job is so fabulous!”

It’s true–there’s a little fabulousness. But what’s really going on is the plight of all freelancers: Every week, I try 80 different things. If I’m lucky, one of them sticks maybe once a month. Because the success rate is so low, it’s hard to feel I accomplished anything. So please allow me a moment to consolidate the high points of this year—I found it surprisingly satisfying when I did it last winter.

1. I took a little time to enjoy the beach in Mexico. Tacking on just four more days than usual to my last research trip, in November, gave me a surprising amount of breathing room. Near the end, I actually spent the better part of a couple of days hanging out at the beach in Cozumel and snorkeling with my dad. Too bad those days were overcast and drizzly. But that in itself was educational—I’d forgotten what it was like to have a trip depend on weather, because I have to work no matter what. But sun is what 90 percent of the people who visit the Mexican Caribbean are counting on.

Topless Pictures: Only Ladies

(1b. BTW, lowlight of the year: Totally failing to learn to scuba dive. My plan was to take my course in NYC, then do certification dives in Cozumel. But I got so panicked and agitated in NYC that I never even got my paperwork to move on. I spent two weeks gnashing my teeth at my impatient instructor, and I have a million reasons for thinking this sport is not for me: expensive, tons of gear, requires a buddy, other divers, why would I go down deep where all the color goes away, etc. But it’s entirely possible I’m just rationalizing.)

2. I really got to like Twitter. Not much of an accomplishment, but it has been fun to go from feeling baffled and overwhelmed by something to seeing it as a tool and really connecting with a few excellent people through it.

3. I finally wrote down why I like Cancun. Everyone thinks I’m nuts when I say I love Cancun. I finally wrote my defense of the place. I’m not necessarily saying that you, with your only-two-weeks-of-vacation per year, should choose it above all other options. But you shouldn’t slag it off either. And it’s cool to see other travel writers encouraging the “love the one you’re with” approach I took to Cancun. Matt Gross’s “Getting Lost” column in The New York Times (great article on Chongqing), and Afar’s “Spin the Globe” stories are especially inspiring.

4. I finally wrote down all the specific things I like in Cancun, in an iPhone app. After eight years of writing guidebooks according to extremely precise instructions, for as broad an audience as possible, I can’t tell you how fun it was to write Cool Cancun & Isla Mujeres. I got to choose the subject, I wrote in my exact style, for exactly the people I imagine will use it, and I didn’t have to worry about word count or other directives. And when something changes, I can update it immediately, instead of three years later. Totally gratifying. I’m not predicting the death of the printed guidebook anytime soon. But I’m pleased to see how well smartphone apps can share info, and I’m proud to have a little hand in it.

5. Blog posts here have gotten less frequent. Wait, there’s a positive spin! I’ve had a ton of real, paid writing work this year, so too busy to blog. But also, I go back and look at those old posts, and they’re freakin’ epic. I don’t know if I’d read them today. Shorter posts, more photos–I kinda like it. I hope you do too. (This coming month, I will have been blogging for six years. I feel ancient.)

6. Rick Bayless said he liked my cookbook! I met him in January in Bangkok. Thanks to the aforementioned Twitter, I was able to introduce myself as the person who’d commented on his tweet on why Americans aren’t willing to pay big bucks for Mexican food. And then Peter (thank god for Peter!) mentioned I’d co-written Forking Fantastic!, and El Rey de Manteca said, “Oh! I know your book! I loved it. I gave it to my publishers to show them that entertaining books don’t have to be all slick and glossy and have pictures of the chef everywhere.”

I can’t help but notice that Fiesta at Rick’s is pretty glossy after all (and happens to have a killer recipe for this stuff called salsa negra–check it!), while FF! is probably teetering at the edge of the remainder bin. I am proud not only that Bayless liked the book, but so did Anthony Bourdain and Jamie Oliver—and, more important, scores of people who’ve told me it has inspired them to cook. Which is what I hoped all along.

7. I have a place to hang a hammock. Not a personal accomplishment at all, but the process went so smoothly, it was actually life-affirming. We hired two men named Rocco, and they carried out our architect’s plan, and now we have a roof deck, a place to lounge and watch the train go by. There are some nice plants up there, and a fig tree that one Rocco gave to us. And the colors are “very Miami,” according to the green-roof dude. But hey, a little Miami in Queens almost makes sense, just like all the other aesthetic choices here.

Overall, though, I’d say we’re going for a retro junkyard vibe, against the better wishes of our architect. Yeah, that’s an ice chest on the right.

roof deck

8. I got stuck in Amsterdam. Dude, hasn’t everyone? But really—this was the volcano talking. That thing blew near the end of my research trip, and I got held over for another week. (See how I’ve avoided mentioning the name of the volcano, just so I won’t have to go look up how to spell it?)

I seem to have a knack (so far, don’t jinx me, knock on wood, alhamdulillah, etc) for apparent travel disasters turning into non-events. In this case, “disaster” was even a godsend. I had extra time to research and write. And I met some nice guys who were also stuck there, and who were visiting Amsterdam for the first time, which reminded me of what that was like. Oh, and travel insurance paid for everything, including nights in some really nice hotels. A thousand thanks to whatever arranged all that.

From Amsterdam…the second installment

9. I bought a new camera. Overcame decision paralysis and bought myself a DSLR. Now I just have to figure out how to use it.

10. I made it to Asia. Now I just have to go back. Tickets are booked for January 5. In coach (no magical biz-class “mistake fare” this time). I’ll just focus on how happy I was at this food court in Bangkok. For 21 hours of limited recline.

Food Court

Cheers to 2011, and best of luck with all your travels and new projects in the coming year! What were your greatest hits of 2010?

Top 10 Food and Travel (mostly) Highlights of 2009

Everyone’s got a top 10 list! So I will too. I don’t know why I don’t do them more often–I certainly love making lists.

Like a lot of people, I’m coming away from this year feeling like it was pretty craptastic. But the nice thing about making a list like this is that you (I) realize there were some really good concrete things that happened, or that I managed to pull off. The crappiness, I think, just comes from feeling overworked and generally unfocused. And, of course, the creeping realization that there will never come a day in my freelance life when I get so fabulous that people are beating down my door offering me work. In fact, I will continue to have to rustle it up myself. Which, you know, is why I’m going on vacation for the next three weeks. (Holy crap! To Asia! Never been to the other side of the world!)

What I’m pretty pleased with, in no particular order:

1. I made croissants! This is fresh in my mind because it happened just a few days ago, only nominally fulfilling my 2009 resolution to work with yeast dough more. I can’t tell you how miraculous it is to make these things. I actually laughed out loud with delight the first time the dough rose. Simple (borderline idiotic) pleasures.

croissants 029

2. I traveled for a month in Mexico and did not get shot, kidnapped, ticketed or asked for a bribe. Actually, this is not such an accomplishment. Contrary to everything you read in the newspaper, Mexico is not a war zone. Allow me to briefly hijack my top-10 list for a mini-lecture: not going to Mexico because of the drug war is like not coming to the US because of the drug war. San Cristobal de las Casas, Merida and Tulum are a world away from Juarez–just like, say, Seattle is a world away from inner-city Baltimore.

3. I hiked for nine days and did not die. Granted, this was about the most candy-ass form of hiking–traipsing merrily from village to village in Andalucia, stopping for many glasses of tinto de verano along the way, carrying nothing but some almonds and a change of clothes (and barely that). But there were real mountains! We were up at 2,000 meters! And we hiked by moonlight once! But the biggest miracle of all is that both Peter and I, dedicated urban travelers, actually had a nice time out in nature, and thought we might do it again. Next up: hiking across an island in Greece.

Sierra Nevadas

4. I jogged. Sure, it was only twice around the track. But, honestly, it’s something I’ve never done in my life. It was right after the Spain hiking trip. Peter and I were jet-lagged and feeling like we needed to capitalize on our newfound fitness. It was satisfying. But then I got horrifically sick for the next week. A friend told me that’s normal when you first start running–all these toxins get pushed out. Sadly, I have not jogged again since.

5. I stayed at a ridiculously nice resort in Mexico, on assignment. I know, this isn’t really much of a personal accomplishment, and I’ve stayed at nice places before. What made this one nice was that it was free of schmoozing (my expenses were paid; I was incognito). And for once in my travel-writing life, I managed to get all the work done that I needed to do beforehand, so I really could just lie on the beach and wave at the waiter for a margarita. The funny thing is that now that I’ve done that, I really have no huge craving to do it again.

ff

6. I wrote a cookbook. Oh, yeah, that. The high point and sense of accomplishment came mostly in the last days of the manuscript-tightening process, at the very beginning of this year, and not actually at the time of publication, in October. This is because, by the time the book came out, there’d been so much wrangling over the layout, and of course, the title, that it was a chore to even think about the book. And in the interim, I’d also written large portions of three other travel guides, which effectively erased Forking Fantastic! from my mind. Can the publishing industry speed up, please, at least just so authors can get more of a thrill out of the process?

7. I became a “guru.” On the basis of the wit and charm and deep, deep knowledge displayed in Forking Fantastic!, Tamara and I were on The Brian Lehrer Show every week this December. It’s kind of hilarious to hear yourself introduced as a “holiday entertaining guru.” And I love Brian Lehrer–hardest-working man (along with his crack producers!) in public radio. We got some excellent calls too. The segment on holiday food traditions made me so proud to live in New York City.

8. I cooked dinner for Jamie Oliver (as shown on TV in 2009). Speaking of being proud to live in New York: Back in late 2008, Tamara and I taped a segment with Jamie Oliver, for his series Jamie’s American Road Trip. Seeing how I’ve loved Jamie Oliver’s cookbooks since early, early days (like, Naked Chef days) and I’m floored by all the cool food advocacy he does in Britain, it was really an honor to meet him. But that was technically the year before.

The real honor came when I finally saw the finished episode, which focused entirely on food in Queens, and especially on immigrant culture. Honestly, I cried the first few times I watched it. The Peruvian ladies with the secret restaurant! Colombian George, who feeds homeless illegal immigrants! The Chinese noodle dude! The ranchero musicians on the subway! It was great TV, and I felt proud to have had a hand in it (I directed them to Ali and the live-poultry place). Unfortunately, it hasn’t been picked up in the US, and likely won’t be, and there are only a few clips online–here’s one (ignore the freakout about the live-poultry place; oy).

podcastlogo

9. I started Cooking in Real Time. If you’re not subscribed to my home-cooking podcast, go ahead and do it now. It’s like that Cookalong with Gordon Ramsay thing, except it’s not a ridiculous variety show, and it actually teaches you something.

What I’m really proud of, though, is that I designed the logo and header, and built the website myself. OK, so the site was mostly template-tweaking, but it was still immensely satisfying to learn how to control all these little elements. It was very nice to have a project that ended with a concrete result (aside from cooking, which is my usual make-stuff-with-my-hands outlet) and that involved both creativity and code-cracking. Unfortunately, just this week, I dropped my voice recorder on the floor and broke it, so now CiRT has to go on hiatus while I’m away in January.

10. I painted the dining room pink and orange, with gold trim. The vision of the Bollywood dining room, finally realized! The real accomplishment here is that I triumphed over decision paralysis, as presented by 8 million paint chips, and finally picked some colors. Plus, I exploited visiting child labor to get the painting done.

Zora O'Neill and Tamara Reynoldsphoto courtesy of Katja Heinemann

Happy new year, everyone! Here’s to an exciting new decade! Health care and croissants for all!

Forkin’ A: Profanity in Print

ffmontage2

First, can I just say that it’s total bullshit that the only person who got to say ‘fuck’ in Julie & Julia was Stanley Tucci? I applaud Julie Powell for bringing female profanity to the bestseller list. I didn’t realize what an issue this was until mine and Tamara’s cookbook got its cover profanity euphemism (not even real profanity) cutesified, while men continue to get to write On Bullshit and Drink, Play, Fuck. (To be fair, though, at least inside the book we still swear plenty.)

And those of you who know me know that actually, I don’t swear all that much. Only when I’m really fucking pissed. Or excited. And occasionally when it might be funny.

Anyway, on to the matter at hand: Forking Fantastic! (nee F-ing Delicious) is in my hot little hands! A solid month before the proper release date.

That means you still have a month to trot on over to Amazon and preorder your copy. You know you want to. By the time it comes out, the weather will be good and autumnal, just right for baking the bad-ass ham we have in there.

And can I point out that this is almost certainly the only book on the market to use the phrase “like potluck, but for your ass”? Thank you, thank you, for your appreciation of my contributions to the English language. A check is most generous.

And finally, on the same profanity trajectory: There is going to be hella more Momofuku in my life! Not only is David “Foulest Language Ever Documented in the New Yorker” Chang’s cookbook coming out, but a new Momofuku is opening in midtown, in the Chambers Hotel, with a Vietnamese slant, no less. That is conveniently right on Peter’s commute back from John Jay and a dangerously short hop from Astoria. Expect us to weigh twice as much this time next year.

(BTW, in our cookbook…we have a bastardized version of David Chang’s miso butter. I’m just saying bastardized because it’s fun to say, but really…I think it’s a much better way of making it. Serious.)