LIFE: Good Luck Works

Hello my lovelies! I know you haven’t been getting many recipes lately with all the changes and me rushing around working on other things so I thought you’d like to see a bit of what I’ve been doing. My dear friend Lauren has put on a beautiful art exhibition called Good Luck Works. It’s an exploration of the interplay between luck and hard work through the lens of food. I’ve been working on a few food related things to go with the opening night. It’s part of me pushing myself further out into the world and trying different things to see what sticks. It’s been terrifying. But worth it. I’ve learned a LOT about all sorts of things. Not least of which is how to better manage my anxiety.

So first up a bit about what I was doing. I developed a recipe for one of the opening night snacks – a kinako shortbread and miso caramel sandwich cookie. Kinako is a roasted soybean flour that is totally delicious. As well as making the cookies I also designed a limited run of recipe cards for guests to take home with them to recreate the cookies themselves.

I also made, jarred and labelled a very limited edition run of the miso caramel to have available at the exhibition. That was an adventure to be sure.

Last of all I perfected my fortune cookie recipe and designed recipe cards for people to take away from the exhibition in the way you would have an actual fortune cookie at the end of a meal.

I learned about designing for print, dealing with printers, getting labels made, batching food and how it changes results, Facebook competitions, gold pens and the abject terror of making a thing and presenting it to the world. I now own almost every gold pen available in this country after my quest to find one that writes well on labels and is still has a good colour and shine. FYI it’s this one.

I was having so much fun planning and developing the recipes and designing the cards in the early stages that I didn’t really plan for the anxiety. I had been feeling good about the plans I’d been making, and the goals I’d set were still sitting in a bit of an abstract space. Because it was closely linked to the refresh of the blog it all piled up at the same time. When I hit that wall it was a bit of shock and I wasn’t prepared to deal with it. I hadn’t put time in my schedule for extra self care and for naps to make up for lost sleep. It’s something that I need to organise as much as any other part of a project. Wiser people than myself tell me that it will get easier each time and the first is always the hardest. It’s hard to take that on faith. But like everything else difficult (climbing mountains, having babies) your brain forgets the hard stuff so you keep moving forward.

The results of the opening night were mixed for me. People loved the cookies. The other items weren’t interacted with as well as we’d hoped. So I also learned a lot about last mile marketing. Leading people to do what you want with placement and signs. It’s really difficult as a person who strives to produce high quality content and things to accept that quality and value aren’t necessarily self evident. That people need to be encouraged to see it and interact with it. Another tool to add to my kit. At the time I was crushed and I felt like I wouldn’t get over it for ages. But I’m making jokes about it two days later and looking forward. It’s reassuring to know that I’m more resilient than I thought.

Let’s all calm ourselves with a peek at some gorgeous artworks. If you’re in Wellington you can check them out in person until Sunday the 18th at Thistle Hall. They look better in person.

A new recipe is only days away!

Challenge yourself. Look at beautiful things. Look after each other.

xo