I have been planting myself in a remote part of the world to focus on my writing and I am making myself be more disciplined with it. No distractions of sites to see, dishes to explore, and things to do. As I sit, in my bungalow overlooking a rice paddy field with birds nattering away to themselves, I am extremely lucky and grateful to be here and get a wriggle on with the multitude of projects that have been swarming in my head but are now making some wonderful progress.
Like happiness, goals, discipline, and becoming the person you want to be - this is never and should never be a destination. It is an ongoing journey; it takes time and effort to push yourself to learn something new every day and also to step out of your comfort zone.
Making the conscious decision to write AND be disciplined about it is not an easy one. I have always written in journals, about my travels, and always about food and food history. It takes practice and needs to be approached like a job (whether I see any money arise from it or not) and it forces me to read and learn more.
One of my favourite quotes from The War of Art: Winning the creative battle by Steven Pressfield sums it up perfectly.
“There’s a secret that real writers know that wannabe writers don’t, and the secret is this: It’s not the writing part that’s hard. What’s hard is sitting down to write.” (Steven Pressfield, The War of Art)
Photo by Mainichi Simbun - 1935 Tokyo. From Rare Historical Photos
So here I sit on a Sunday, spilling out some snippets of what I have read, seen, and heard in the food world, and thought I would share it. I’m holding myself accountable, here, every Sunday, as part of the process.
Indulge if you wish, or if not, that’s ok too.
I’ll post a wonderful food history photo here, each Sunday that will take you back in time, yet somehow can be relatable to the modern world (or so I will try).
The thought behind this image…
My friend loves getting food delivered to his door, every Sunday, and I am always asked the question “What should I order?” This is always a difficult one to answer because I am not the one that has been drinking and I have no idea what those taste buds want, yet I remembered this wonderful picture I chanced upon of the unreal soba delivery guys of Japan from 1900-1950. ORDER SOBA!! I told him.
Here is where I found the picture
As you may or may not know, I've been jumping in and out of Vietnam for a month at a time in various towns and cities to understand and get a feel of the place. Slow travel has allowed me to discover lesser-known street foods and try a few variations of them.
I found a delightful list of Hanoi’s 10 Most Iconic Dishes
And I also wrote a little piece on Bánh Bột Chiên, a lesser-known street food in the south of Vietnam
Have you heard of the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt?
Although the above seaweed blob is different from this one, I travelled down a rabbit hole that led me to Seaweed Farming in Canada.
In my feed, I read this great article on DANK BEER by Danny Chau
AI generation is a constant topic and we are seeing something new every single day……. I discovered this somewhat disturbing tweet of women eating salad.
Lastly, as I am in this part of the world, this article about a Thai Farmer that has unlocked the key to slow living caught my eye.
And with that, I am going to jump on my scooter and enjoy the rest of this wonderful day.
