A brief history of Edition 9.99 (Also, I missed you!!)
Previously: “Edition 9”, “Edition 9??”, “Edition 9.1”, “Untitled document”
In the depths of my two week long edition rendition turned brief writing hiatus, I hung out with 5 different google doc versions of Edition 9. Some had a thought scribbled. Others a half baked idea for weird food form factors. What they lacked in substance they made up for in brain-fueled-judgement. Sorry past self!!
The writing muscle felt oh so forced. So I turned to drawing. And took some vacation. The combination of both seemed to do the trick. Anywayyyyyy (Lizzo voice) we got some catching up to do!! Let’s dig in!!
Sundae candy
Last week I got to meet a Twitter friend IRL. We had a handful of amazing mutual friends, so the likelihood of hitting it off was at a solid 8.5 (out of 10). By the first sip of wine, it was a fast friendship. By hour 6 of hanging out, the creative juices were in full motion and we’d come up with an obscurely on-brand activity: “If your creative role models were a sundae.” ‘Twas a hit. For new friends and first dates alike.
Instructions: you match your creative role model to the ingredients in a sundae. Who’s your banana? Why? Who’s your ice cream? Why? etc!!! Here’s a printer-ready version for you to try out:
Here’s a “during” pic to prove that it is in fact a lot of fun:
My sundae of the week:
Clearly influenced by my recent rabbit holes into comedy icon backstories, food and illustrators
Banana: Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson (creators and writers and everything else in between of Broad City) - all week I was reflecting on their hustle. From a Youtube web series to a 5 season comedy central hit show, it wouldn’t have happened if they never brought their vision to life. Check out their origin story here.
Ice Cream: Lisa Hanawalt (creator of Tuca & Bertie, production designer/producer of BoJack Horseman)- An artist who stuck with their day 1 passion: horses. Plus has created stories with so much depth, only anthropomorphizing and adult humor could tell them. I’m a big fan of her art, which you can purchase here. And this video really cracked me up + inspired me. She had to be the ice cream!!
Fudge: Samin Nosrat- First of all, she would make a delicious fudge. Also, she is yet another amazing example of combining passions, instinct and delectable follow-through. If you don’t own Salt Fat Acid Heat (or haven’t watched the Netflix special), this is your nudge. It also features whimsically wonderful illustrations by Wendy MacNaughton.
Cherry: Jennifer Coolidge- Every sundae needs a little Coolidge. A prime example that we can all peak in our careers multiple times. In this fantasy world, she’d be a dolphin-shaped cherry though. Plz watch this Jennifer Garner vid.
What’s in your sundae?? There are no wrong answers (and they will likely evolve)!!
DJ Mustard: Ultra Condiment Festival 2024
Somewhere between Edition 9 and Untitled Document, I had been inspired to dig into odd food form factors. It spiraled out a conversation about ketchup (yum), where I learned about the 1979 Heinz campaign, “the taste that’s worth the wait.” Chuckles to self. The shape of their bottle (think diner style) made it so that the ketchup would pour out oh so slowly. They played off that and created a whole new marketing campaign around it. For our visual, yet non-reptilian-style-learners, here’s a grainy screenshot:
My memories of this bottle design includes one too many smacks that led to a gloppy ketchup mountain. It got me thinking about other food form factors that have changed our behaviors. Listen, you can take the girl out of mechanical engineering degrees, but you can’t take the mechanical engineering out of the girl. A few that came up over my recent voyages *frantically searches through old google doc editions for coherent writing*:
Graza olive oil “meant to be squeezed, not saved”. Brilliant. 'Who doesn’t feel like a chef when they have a squeeze bottle? Also, it just makes sense. They took a page from the Method playbook by making it a design you’d want on display.
BokBok Balsamic Block Say that 10 times over. It’s like a block of cheese, but it’s actually balsamic vinegar and fermented korean blackberries. Brooklyn readers, get on it!
#Lemonpig - People are turn their lemons into pigs for good luck in the new year. This feels more like Jordan Peele’s next protagonist. Terrifying. Backstory on Lemon Pigs here.
Next billion dollar ideas: Bulk rice in cat litter containers. Eggs but in a whipcream container (fluffy eggs??)
But wait, there’s more!!! Creativity Galore!!
If you call now, you’ll get a lifetime supply of… creativity?! This week I’m pumped to share my first creative collaboration with the team at daydreamers. They’ve designed a program to help us all unlock our most creative selves through a mix of analog tools, coaching and even an app that tracks your creative brain juice trends?!
They’re launching their early access membership and have given In the Kitchen readers a fast pass to the top of the 20,000 person list + 50% off. I’m signed up!
To join me in the creative portal unlocking voyage, follow these steps:
Get on the waitlist for Early Access to Daydreamers by filling out this quick Typeform - be sure to put my name in the "Who told you about Daydreamers?" section so you can jump the 20,000-person waitlist for free. From there, you'll get a call with Katina, Daydreamers' Chief Well-being Officer, to learn more and get the code to sign up. BTW - by joining in Early Access phase you'll get 50% off pricing - forever - and access to all their latest features, products + community.
If you call in the next 5 days, we’ll include a pen & ink illustration workshop?!
In the spirit of sharing more creative juice flowing activities, here’s ANOTHER one. I’ll be taking a Pen & Ink Illustration virtual workshop hosted by the awesome folks at Root Division. Dates: Mondays, February 27, March, 6, 13.
Comment below if you want to join or email me at dporeh13@gmail.com! If 5 of us register together, we get a free one (making the workshop 112$ instead of 135$). I’ll be signing up next week so huurrryyy!
What We’re* Cooking
A weekend in an Airbnb and a new cooking partner (Reuben) has made cooking all the more collaborative and fun!! Some artifacts of the last couple of weeks:
Oldie, but never made it into an edition: Shakshuka with Everything but the Bagel Seasoned Avo.
Woof, that was a doozy. That’s all for Edition 9.99. Hope to hang with you all soon.
-Chef DPo