Keeping along with the food theme, this latest video is a quick bite (and perhaps a new series!) of some treats brought to me by a friend visiting from Germany! Get to know the origins of gummy bears and fulfill your curiosity about Germany's most typical wine, riesling.
Yerba Mate/Chimarrão: A Taste of South America
Following along with the theme of Brazilian cuisine, I just had to share with you the most emblematic beverage from the Pampas region encompassing south Brazil, northern Argentina, Uruguay, and a bit of Paraguay. It's a lot like green tea and you've probably seen it pop up in an energy or health drink, so get to know everything you need to about this potent South American staple!
Trying Brazilian Sweets
I spend a significant amount of time with Brazilians and absorbing aspects of their culture, so naturally I thought it would be fitting to take advantage of having some friends visit from Porto Alegre and share with you some sweets they brought me. This video is subtitled in Portuguese for anyone who speaks it to follow along with ease, which I will be doing in my videos from now on. Enjoy!
Two Years on YouTube
To commemorate two years of making and uploading videos, I made a video highlighting some of the people who I've gotten to know and who inspire me on the site, since the community aspect of YouTube is what makes it so special to begin with. Give it a watch:
How to Take Perfect Instagram Photos
A lot of people come to me asking how I get my photos on Instagram to look so colorful, whether it has to do with where I am or maybe what I use to take them, or even if I have a special filter they don't know about. My answer is that it's none of that. All you need to know to take better photos are a couple of photography tips that will help you take and edit better photos, whether you post them to Instagram or not. Check today's video and go find out!
Stop Saying Um
We all have our habits and patterns in speech, whether you say like a lot or you have your favorite word for calling everything cool. Sometimes, though, these little words become filler that doesn't have very much meaning and gets in the way of us expressing what we actually mean, and takes away from the confidence that we want to project to the people around us. Um is probably the biggest problem word, and it's a little devil on your shoulder that you ought to kick off. Check out this week's video all about this:
Around Barcelona: Festa Major de Gràcia
To kick off something I'd like to become a new series, I went around the festivities in Gràcia to see what the locals had crafted for their streets and balconies and take in the scenery before the crowds set in. There was even samba being performed in one corner of the neighborhood! Go check it out:
Travel Planning (ft. Jet): Wine O'Clock
Today's edition of Wine O'Clock is special—I have a guest! In my first ~collab~, we do a follow up on my travel tips video to offer you guys a look at the things you should be thinking about when you're planning your long-term travel. We've got everything from getting your documents in order to finding a place to call home in your new land! Go watch:
What's So Gay About Rosé?: Wine O'Clock
There's this perpetual conversation going on about how some drinks are for girls, or how you're not manly enough if you don't like to eat some foods, and there's no drink more contentious than rosé. Watch as I explain why that's all bunk, and that food doesn't care about whether or not you have a penis...because it's food.
Video: Drown All of Your Sims/Creative Block: Wine O'Clock
I've written at length here about my struggles with overcoming creative ruts and writer's block, and now that it's struck again, I decided to dedicate a whole video to it. I've also been playing The Sims 4 a bunch lately and have drawn some concerning conclusions about how its gameplay reflects on us as a society. Have a laugh and sweat with me in this week's video! Go watch:
Video: 3 Quick Tips for How to Move Abroad
Moving abroad, whether you want to be an expat/immigrant, work temporarily, or just study abroad for a while, can be a difficult task. The question I get most often is always "how did you move to Europe, isn't it really expensive?", so I decided to answer it with the 3 easiest tips that no one is telling you about moving abroad. Go watch:
Video: Pride Weekend
In lieu of writing another post on the topic this year, I thought I would make a video to highlight the big events surrounding this year's Pride season and my own evolving feelings on the matter. Don't forget to check out the podcast, where we dedicated an entire episode to topics of Pride and the Supreme Court ruling!
Video: Polish Chocolates & Snacks
This week I went out and discovered a wee little Polish grocery near the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. Watch with me as I try some Polish chocolates and snacks and whet your appetite as well!
Video: Subscribe to the Podcast
Bottom of the Mainstream is here and in full force! Get a laugh with our big gay selves talking about everything from hot button social issues to the pop diva drama of the week every Monday on the show. You can subscribe on iTunes here and watch a video describing a little more about it here:
Video: Wine 101: Wine Glasses
Picking the right kind of wine glasses is often touted as one of the most important parts of drinking wine. Today I'll let you know why that is and what the secret is behind selecting the wine glasses right for you from the dizzying array of options available out there! Go watch:
Video: 23 Things I've Learned by 23: Wine O'Clock
In light of my recent birthday, I decided to do a different kind of video. For this week's Wine O'Clock, here are 23 things I've learned by 23 years of age, or at least those things that I like to think I've fully gotten a grasp on. Enjoy!
Introducing Bottom of the Mainstream, a Podcast
You may have noticed that there has been a dearth of posts here lately, and plenty of videos. I've been in a slow, evaluative process of where I want to take this piece of the internet in the future as my projects branch out into different areas, so the text has not been flowing as much. I'm not going to make any promises, but I do think the other things I'm working on are a worthwhile alternative!
Now to the point. I've been working on a couple of podcasts these days, one with my friend Emma, who you may know from me promoting her (relatively) newfound YouTube channel or otherwise linking to her. We will announce that when it's up and ready, but today I wanted to draw your attention to another podcast I'm working on with my friend Aneesh, aka Neeshi Minaj, an LGBT and pop culture-oriented podcast called Bottom of the Mainstream.
We're still working out the kinks in our web setup, but we've got our mics ready and the publishing taken care of! Each Monday we're releasing new episodes to talk about important LGBT issues, current events and projects, pop culture happenings, and much more. We want to take the caricature out of all things queer while still staying true to our roots, crossing all the intersections we can along the way. You can subscribe to our episodes on iTunes or by following our site on Tumblr, where you can also leave us questions and comments that we will be excited to answer in each episode.
Now to the point. I've been working on a couple of podcasts these days, one with my friend Emma, who you may know from me promoting her (relatively) newfound YouTube channel or otherwise linking to her. We will announce that when it's up and ready, but today I wanted to draw your attention to another podcast I'm working on with my friend Aneesh, aka Neeshi Minaj, an LGBT and pop culture-oriented podcast called Bottom of the Mainstream.
We're still working out the kinks in our web setup, but we've got our mics ready and the publishing taken care of! Each Monday we're releasing new episodes to talk about important LGBT issues, current events and projects, pop culture happenings, and much more. We want to take the caricature out of all things queer while still staying true to our roots, crossing all the intersections we can along the way. You can subscribe to our episodes on iTunes or by following our site on Tumblr, where you can also leave us questions and comments that we will be excited to answer in each episode.
Video: How to Learn Any Language
One of the most challenging videos I've decided to make yet, but definitely one of the most helpful! If you've ever stumbled your way through learning a new language or are thinking about starting one soon, learn from some of the advice I have. Added bonus: the video is entirely in Portuguese! Subtitles are edited directly into the video in English, so don't worry about not understanding. Go watch:
Video: Wine 101: Sparkling Wine
In this episode of Wine 101, let's learn all about sparkling wine! Did you know that Dom Perignon was a real person, and that sparkling wine used to cause wine bottles to explode? All that and more:
Video: Mouth Feel, Man Buns, & Podcasts: Wine O'Clock
Wine O'Clock is back! This time to serve as a bit of an update on everything, including the projects I'm working on and what I'm going to be doing for the next little while. Go watch:
Video: How to Make Dumplings
In today's followup video to the Russian market haul that I did, learn the easiest way to make dumplings (of any kind!) and have a fast, filling snack! I enjoy them with sour cream, but dumplings are one of the most versatile foods you can eat. Go watch:
Video: Where to Get Russian Food in Barcelona
In today's video, I visited a Russian supermarket and brought home some delicious snacks for you guys to try with me. Go watch:
Video: Wine 101: Tannins
In the third installment of Wine 101, I look at one of the main reasons wine can feel dry in your mouth when you're drinking it: tannins. They're what give wine texture and cause red wine to be so different from bottle to bottle. Go watch and learn more:
Video: International Women's Day
In honor of International Women's Day, I decided to make a video talking a little bit about why I feel it's important to stand by the causes that affect women and my experience with it. I have also included some great female YouTubers (bonus: Little YouTube!) to feature so that you can expand what you watch to include more female voices, links all in the video description. Go watch:
Video: Wine 101: Types of Wine & Why to Drink Wine
In the second installment of Wine 101, I take a look at how grapes can produce different kind of wine as well as different reasons to drink wine. You don't have to be a sommelier to appreciate wine more, and you don't have to drink expensive wine to enjoy what you're drinking! Go watch:
Video: The Real Color of the Dress
I woke up to a Twitter firestorm that happened to be right up my alley. This week, let's talk color theory, digital photos, and how to make your own photos optical illusions in simple apps like Instagram:
Video: Romanesco Broccoli
In today's episode of Sacha Eats Strange Fruit, let's learn what happens when you let Italians selectively breed their own kinds of broccoli/cauliflower. The results are both more and less interesting than you might expect. Go watch:
The Rise of Content Creators
For those of you who are not as familiar with why I have dived into video-making and other audio/visual projects with such enthusiasm over the past year, this post should serve as a bit of an explainer about that as well as how I view the state of internet media. For the rest of you, well, let's talk YouTube.
It seems to be that in the last year, the term "content creator" has surged as a new buzzword for the people who make all of the things that are earning money on the internet. A quick search of this and some related terms reveal that it hasn't risen so much in that timeframe as it has plateaued into a slowly rising peak over the last year, but I digress. Content creation could mean via blogs or digital sales of music (or a plethora of other things), but it has also expanded extremely quickly into video, mostly by way of YouTube. The same dorky people who were talking alone in front of their cameras before have now started to see some monetary success and, in limited scope, cross-platform convergence. A slew of YouTubers have written or are writing books, not without some controversy, many have moved to Los Angeles in the pursuit of other media ventures, many work in more traditional television-style formats sponsored by networks or cable TV, and there is now one outright YouTube-to-television crossover that will be popping up on cable TV in the spring. It's become an internet industry, and the days of videos being a nerdy pastime are long gone.
Video: How to Be a Workaholic
I don't know. I don't have the key to being Type A. But let's take a look anyway! Go watch:
Learn to Keep Your Plants Alive
In Lisbon, I eventually took notice of the two-inch succulents often on sale in supermarkets for the cost of a baguette. They're adorable. I figured I would probably kill one if I got it. I also thought that all of the materials for making a terrarium would be more expensive than I could justify. Moving roughly every six months and not knowing whether I would be somewhere with living conditions that could maintain a plant also posed its own problems, be it for social or lighting reasons, and so the idea of keeping plants remained an idea that would spring to mind when walking by them at the store or late at night during wishful Google searches, educating myself on how best to take care of one just in case. You can't kill a plant that exists only on Pinterest or in tumblr images.
Since moving, however, I decided that it would be a good time to take advantage of stable housing and IKEA warehouses that are easier to access via public transit. My apartment is small and the light is not perfectly ideal for sun-hogging plants like basil, but the climate in Barcelona is favorable for growing just about anything. It's not too dry, it's not too humid, and the temperatures are never extreme. What I thought would be a small, cheap indulgence quickly proved to be a deceiving source of enjoyment, starting with a collection of cacti and a lucky bamboo, culminating in several more succulents, attempts to propagate new succulents from bigger plants, and an assortment of other types of foliage that look nice and aren't fussy.
Cacti are succulent plants as well, so all together, the plants tend to fall into similar watering routines and need similar amounts of sunlight. Propagating succulents turns out to be similarly easy. Usually they will take root from a leaf that has fallen and dried, sprouting a tiny new plant in a matter of days. It doesn't always work—over- or under-watering the leaves and not letting the end dry can ruin them—but in most cases, you can quickly grow the cute little plants that seem so cheap and enticing at the store right from your own larger plants at home.
The way you arrange the plants allows for a lot of room to be creative. You can create a terrarium from just about anything, so long as it has space to allow for drainage. I found a bunch of pots around the apartment going unused, so I decided to take advantage of them for the sake of saving money on buying new ones. I've so far only had to get two pots, one of which houses a small ficus, and the other, which houses the two larger succulents. The smaller plants that remain in two-inch containers, as well as the propagated succulents in their glazed pot, will eventually be moved into more visually appealing homes, but for now, it works together as a set. I'm particularly fond of the clay pot with a cork-like textured outer appearance.
Cost, as I mentioned, was a concern. I assumed soil, fertilizer, pots, and any other treatments might end up exorbitantly inflating the single-digit cost of the plants, but as it turns out, if you do your research, you can get all of those things for a minimal amount of money. Plants can be found everywhere, from your local florist and supermarkets to bigger specialty stores and places like IKEA. I got my cacti from IKEA in a pack together for €3.50, the three succulents in the clay pot were purchased at a local plant shop for €1.50 together, and the remaining succulents were gifts that came from the garden of a neighbor who has a house overrun with plants in the mountains. Sandy, fast-draining soil for cacti and other succulents cost €1.50 for 5kg (more than plenty to get a small arrangement like mine set up, with soil left for more) at the only large garden center in Barcelona city limits, conveniently a short walk from home, and the rocks used for drainage and decoration range from €1.50 to €2.50, depending on the size of the pebbles. Water is free (well, nothing is free, but it's not an extra cost relative to the plants), so it's nothing to worry about, and the season for giving these kinds of plants fertilizer is several months away still, so those are costs not to worry about. Otherwise, pots are very flexible. You probably have some lying about your house that you forgot about like I did. The ones I paid for ranged from €2 to €3.50. In total, for the cost of a nice lunch, you can get your own plants.
Keeping the plants alive costs nothing, though, and there's nothing to say you shouldn't have fun with them. They're pretty, they're cute, they even may seem to have personalities of their own. I grow cilantro that is very sassy—dramatically flopping about and perking up based on the sun, water conditions, and what kind of mood it happens to be in. I like to give the plants names as well, old-fashioned lady-style names. I couldn't tell you why I find my plants to be ladies, but it seems to fit them better. So I have Mildred, Winnie, Edna, Letitia, Eunice, and Henrietta, among others. As they grow, they give way to new arrangements and make space for new small plants. Just be careful, once they start growing, you may not be able to stop getting new plants to thrive in your house—I can't seem to now.
Video: Wine 101: Read the Label
The first installment of Wine 101 is here! Today we start with the basics: reading the label. The more you know, the better the wine! Go watch:
Goddamn Muffins
You will need varying proportions of the following ingredients at a minimum. This recipe is not about exactness, so just approximate, the kitchen shouldn't explode:
- Flour. I use half-white, half-whole grain, because I don't like to go full hippy with it.
- Baking powder. Don't use yeast, this isn't a loaf.
- Salt.
- Sugar. You can do without, but why do you hate yourself?
- Cinnamon. Actually optional.
- An egg.
- Milk. Any product masquerading itself as the equivalent of cow juice will do, but it might be a little gross.
- Margarine. You can use either this or butter, depending on how much you're channeling your inner Paula Deen. Minus the racism.
Make a crater in the middle of the dry mix and crack your egg into it. Beat it enough to break the yolk and mix it up, then calm yourself down and stop it. Don't mix it all yet. Melt your margarine or butter. Don't be shy about it. Be generous. Use enough that will make your foodie friends tut in judgmental disapproval. Mix it into the egg, then mix them into the rest. Don't get too crazy, you have to clean up your messes and this shit's still dry.
Slowly pour half to two thirds of whatever cup you used to measure your flour into the mix. Mix it until it's thick like a dough at first, then pour more. The result should be a batter that is thick and heavy, but gives. It should be fairly liquid. Stop stirring and go take a xanax, a glass of wine, yell at your kids, or whatever you can do that will occupy roughly 15 minutes of your time. You could probably skip this part, but the baking powder needs to activate and mama needs to calm her nerves. This is no bakery.
Preheat your oven to 190°C or 375°F and get your forms ready. I don't have a cutesy muffin tray at my disposal, so I use all-purpose forms that are relatively large. Doing it like so will yield four muffins. If you are a responsible adult and have a muffin tray, good for you. I have no idea how many muffins you'll get out of it.
Stop right here. This is the part where, now that you're calmed down and ready to go again, you have two choices. You can either go full-on Betty Crocker, or you can go the lazier route now and risk a greater struggle later. If you opt to do the first thing (how quaint), you'll need parchment paper or any kind of baking paper that isn't waxy. Cut out enough of it that it fits into the form with room for the paper to hang out of the edges. We're talking real, artesanal, Martha Stewart-level bullshit. More points for decorative paper. Less points for cheating with pre-bought muffin papers. This is where the two points converge, in case you were on the verge of peace out, this isn't Pinterest. Take a paper towel and use it to coat your paper or your forms with butter. You could probably use a non-stick spray, but PAM's expensive and cow byproducts are not where I live. The paper route will make the muffins very easy to remove later, but the nonstick part will probably suck more. No paper almost guarantees that you will be eating your muffin in two parts: the crispy, delicious top that fell off as you were banging on your muffin upside-down like a moron and the soft, cake-like, but ultimately tiresome rest of the muffin. It's your choice.
This is where you can get creative even if you're lazy. These muffins can be made with anything you like to eat in a muffin. Don't send me stories of you making deliberately weird muffins, no egg and cheese muffins, no two piece and a biscuit muffins, no kale muffins. I don't have time for that. Pour the batter into the forms. Like small children and vegetables, you want to leave enough room for the muffins to grow, but not too much that they don't do anything, which in my case works out to roughly half an inch from the top. If you're adding other ingredients, try adding them in layers: batter, extra, batter, extra. You'll get even distribution, and you'll fool whoever you live with into thinking you knew what you were doing. You can drizzle some honey on the top of the muffins before baking to give them a glaze on top as they bake, but if you add too much, the honey will sink and you'll have a soggy drizzle down the side of your muffin. Don't be a sloppy, soggy mess.
Put the muffins in your oven and bake for 20-30 minutes. Use the toothpick trick. They should come out golden. Common sense. Take them out of the oven and let them cool before you try to take them out of the forms if you didn't use paper. If they're still hot, they'll a) stick and b) burn you, for which you have only yourself to blame. Once that's done, congratulations, you successfully made muffins! The house didn't burn down! Now go wash your dishes.
Video: Happy 2015 Videos
The video to go along with my other blog posts about the new year. Go watch:
4 Goals for a Happy New Year
Part of my issue with resolutions comes from the fact that they are so dependent upon a specific time of the year, the idea that one specific date in the year is responsible for magically turning us into fully realized humans, or at least has put us on that path. It's the same logic that I apply to birthdays and why I mostly downplay my own. When we want to change something about ourselves, it depends on so many factors that the time that we put into accepting changes and acting on it can and ought to happen at any point in the year, and at any point of life. Goals don't wait for the calendar to change, and neither should we.
This is not to say that I don't think using the new year as a means of reflection and refining goals that you've been working on, recently started, or have gotten ready to start is a bad thing—much the contrary. So in that spirit, my early year reflections have laid out a map of the goals that I have been coming into 2015 with, and in my case, they are mostly a refinement of the things I spent my time learning about and putting energy toward in 2014.
1. Work with video making and the site as a consistent project, posting content weekly and mapping out what will be posted.
This goal comes from the shift that I experienced last year both toward my writing on the site as well as to making videos. As I have come to have a clearer understanding of my developed interests (hobbies? pastimes?), I have begun producing things here, on YouTube, and scattered about in plenty of other places that has come to reflect that. Wine, food, traveling around, and learning new things about all of them has been the focus of my energies, so I want to double down and really get into more of the nitty-gritty of all of them. I want to learn more about wine and share my progress and discoveries with anyone who will watch, just as I want to cook more and discover more foods from more places, and share those as well.
On the other side of things, I want to learn to edit my videos more smoothly, refine my audio tuning, and learn how to do more things that I as of yet am not entirely sure how to do. I want to continue to learn how to translate the designs in my head into the designs I am capable of making on my computer and share them with all of you. And, most importantly, I want to do this regularly. By setting the goal of producing some sort of written and video content each week, I can get myself into a routine and get myself working with this goal for more time, more consistently. More hours means more expertise.
2. Upgrade technology in order to do better with goal #1.
This goal is self-explanatory. Whether it is upgraded audio, a new camera, or something else to help get to a better place with my creative endeavors, I aim to upgrade the tech that I'm using in 2015. I don't want to get a new camera or a fancy microphone just for the sake of it, but because as I've gone through the process of making videos and doing other things that involve audio and visual production, I have come to realize that my current equipment is inhibiting me from being able to learn how to do things that are essential to achieving better quality in what I'm working on. A DSLR simply has more manual control than a point and shoot and thus a wider range of possibilities for learning, to say nothing of the quality upgrade. Similar things can be said for everything I would like to get in 2015. Onward.
3. Be more outspoken about relevant issues that matter.
With Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and the digitalization of our news media, it is no longer possible to be ignorant to at least some of what is going on in the world without actively trying. I spend quite a lot of my time reading about current affairs and learning about the context behind them, but considerably less time commenting on them and being an active part in them. That needs to change in 2015.
I am not a social justice warrior, and I probably never will be. Even still, there are plenty of issues that either affect me personally or happen in my surroundings in a way that makes them very relevant and important for me to have an opinion on and express it. Just the same, one of the big lessons that we all should have taken out of 2014 is that social progress is never complete. There is always something more to learn and some other barrier to break down in the name of freedom and justice for all. In order to recognize my understanding of my place in the issues of today, I increasingly believe it is necessary to speak up about injustices, take a constructive stance on issues, and be ready to learn and grow from issues that provide new understanding. I'm not a perfect person, I'm not always right, but I always want to be a better person, and there is no better way to do so than to get a little uncomfortable. For me, that means engaging, whether by tweeting or posting to people or writing on here, the point is that in 2015, I will take part in the conversation.
4. Be more courageous.
Whether it's asking clients for a better rate, hustling for more jobs, or being more communicative with friends and family, I consistently feel that I take a step back because I'm afraid of the adrenaline and uncertainty involved. In 2015, I want to take a step forward and be more proactive, letting go of some of my fears and embracing the head rush and blushed cheeks that come from being more assertive with people.
Whether it's asking clients for a better rate, hustling for more jobs, or being more communicative with friends and family, I consistently feel that I take a step back because I'm afraid of the adrenaline and uncertainty involved. In 2015, I want to take a step forward and be more proactive, letting go of some of my fears and embracing the head rush and blushed cheeks that come from being more assertive with people.
This goal is less tangible than the others, but it's perhaps the most important of them all. It is so much of what it means to me to be an adult that I almost feel as though the other goals will not be possible without it. Let's see where this year takes me.
My last goal, but not specifically for the new year, is to engage more with everyone who takes part in this big project with me. Whether you're watching my videos or reading this blog, following me on Twitter or chatting with me on WhatsApp, I want to know what you think and I want to hear from you more. What are your goals for 2015?