Author Archives: Dani

Mulligitawny Soup

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WARNING: This soup is messy to make. FURTHER WARNING: It's also pretty much addictive. I make this a lot in the late fall/early winter; it's creamy and comforting, and the texture is amazing. It's very similar to the mulligitawny soup that you get in Indian restaurants, but it's a bit richer, and the extra veggies (should you choose to add them) add a nice balance to the bowl.

To make it: 
  • 2 cups red lentils
  • 4 cups vegetable stock
  • 1 can (16oz) light coconut milk
  • 1 can (16oz) diced tomatoes
  • juice of 1/2 fresh lemon
  • 2 serrano chilies, seeded, ribs removed
  • 1 onion, cut into largish chunks
  • 1" piece of ginger
  • 3 cloves garlic, peeled
  • 1 carrot, diced smallish
  • 1 tsp coriander seed
  • 2 allspice seeds
  • 2 cloves
  • 1 tsp ground turmeric
  • 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp cardamom seeds
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 tsp ghee (clarified butter) or butter

Optional:

  • 1-2 cups grated zucchini
  • 1-2 cups cubed white turnips

Heat ghee in a large soup pot over low heat. Put onion, chili, ginger and garlic in a mini food processor and process until finely chopped. Add to ghee along with carrots and continue cooking over medium-low heat until onions start to soften. Pulverize spices with a mortar and pestle (or use a spice grinder), add to vegetables and cook for another two minutes until spices start to pop a bit. Add lentils, stock, lemon juice, additional vegetables (if using) and tomatoes, cover and simmer over low heat for about 30-45 minutes, until lentils are very soft - they'll start to disintegrate, but they should mostly keep their shape.

Once the lentils and vegetables have softened, put about 2/3 of the soup into a blender and purée until smooth. Add back to the pot. Add coconut milk and simmer for another 10 minutes, and serve with a bit of fresh cilantro.

Getting unstuck

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I’ll admit it: I’m feeling a bit stuck lately. Part of the next stage of business development at my studio involves making room for and landing higher-paying jobs, and instead of moving forward, plan in hand, I’ve spent the last couple of days staring at my computer, hitting “Get Mail” over and over again. That, and feeling incredibly guilty, like I’m somehow sabotaging my business with non-productivity.

What causes this? Is it a fear of failure? Is it fear of success? Is it the fact that spring has been threatening to invade New England for a couple of weeks now, but the temperature doesn’t seem to have caught on to this yet?
A little bit of each, I think. But what to do about it?
Looking back at the times I’ve felt this way, I realize that it’s usually a relatively short, passing thing that always precedes something major – and it usually marks the fact that there’s something I’m missing in the path I’m taking. The worst part of this, as an entrepreneur, is feeling like you’re being unproductive, like you should be out *doing* something. But part of owning your own business is making room for creativity and brainstorming, and sometimes that means having a couple of days off while you sort through something that’s sticking you.
And thinking about it some more, I realize that becoming unstuck generally requires two things:
  • telling someone you’re feeling stuck (which I’m doing)
  • going somewhere quiet, away from technology and all the things you “need” to do, and contemplating what it is you really want from whatever’s sticking you.

Step two is where I’m at right now; thus, I sign off. But here’s a question: what do you do when you find yourself not moving forward?

Blog, Tweet, or Facebook?

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The other day, while having a conversation with some friends and fellow designers, I was asked how I decide whether a particular piece of information is better for a tweet (aka twitter post), my blog, or my Facebook profile. Since I know many folks here might also be confused about that, I wanted to share my personal philosophy.

I use twitter mostly for:
  • quick thoughts, often unrelated to work directly.
  • quick questions that I need an immediate answer to; since I have so many fellow designers and entrepreneurs following me, it’s an easy way to get quick feedback on something I’m stumped on.
  • quick shout-outs of Happy Work Stuff™, such as launching a new project or landing a speaking engagement, contract, etc.
  • quick links to interesting articles I think people should read, but I don’t have any specific commentary to add to.

I find that this balance of personal and professional, self-promotion but also promoting others, works really well for twitter. It does a good job of promoting my work without feeling spammish. Plus, it’s really easy to keep tabs on; I generally only spend about 15-20 minutes a day at most on twitter.

For blog posts, the formula is this:
  • new projects, with imagery and a quick story about the project;
  • news items, press clips, etc.
  • links to blog posts or articles that I think people should read, and I actually have original commentary to share. This is the difference between blogging an article and tweeting it; blogging an article is meant to add something thoughtful to the conversation, not to just say “hey, read this!”
  • occasionally, I’ll post stuff about working in the office, design, etc.

As for Facebook, I simply import my blog via the Notes feature, and I have the Twitter application importing my tweets as status messages, so it’s generally self-maintaining. That said, sometimes if I see something cute and not work-related, such as a funny picture from I Can Has Cheezburger, I’ll share it on Facebook, since I have a much more casual relationship with most of the people on there. I do, however, have a Fan Page for my business, which I upload new work to. It’s a way to have a quick overview of my studio’s work available for people who might not otherwise discover my business.

How do you decide what goes in your various social media feeds?

The search for balance

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1117007_pebble_balance I have to admit that I’m a bit of a workaholic. Running a business that (thankfully!) seems to be thriving in this economy ends up taking a serious toll on every other aspect of my life, from dishes to working out to getting to sleep early enough so I don’t want to kill people the next day.

But somehow, this year is going to be different. Here’s what I’m choosing to do:
  • Make more time for fiction. While some of my friends (who are also busy with work) claim that they “don’t have time for fiction,” frankly, I bill myself as a visual storyteller. How can I do that authentically if I’m not spending time reading good stories? Therefore, I’m making time for fiction. After all, it’s technically research.
  • Never miss a workout. This is an easy one for me to talk myself out of, but even if I have to get up at 5:30 every morning, I have to get my workout in. It helps me focus for the day, and I’m actually more productive as a result.
  • Keep lots of healthy food handy. One of my biggest problems working from the home studio is feeling like I don’t have time to make lunch; I find that if I make a big pot of soup on the weekend, I can heat some up for lunch and eat well without interrupting the flow of my day.
  • Make a list for the week. One of the best things I’ve implemented recently is a 5-days-a-week To-Do list, inspired by Knock Knock’s awesome “5 Days a Week” mousepad. Being able to fill out my tasks for the week on Sunday night, and block them out by day, has been an immense help in getting everything done.

So far, so good – I’ve felt more productive than I have in months, and I’m still making time for the things I love. What do you do to balance everything?

Movie Review: NEW IN TOWN

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Kao
Admittedly, I’ve never really understood the image of executive women that’s typically presented in the media. Being a business owner, and one who’s achieved what I consider to be success, it’s always confused me that the image of a “successful” woman in magazines is inevitably someone wearing completely impractical heels and a bag that costs as much as I pay for groceries in a year – who wakes up at 5am every morning, goes to bed at midnight, and somewhere in there manages to fit in a family. Call me crazy, but I walk everywhere. I’m a flats and hiking boots kinda girl.

When I started watching New in Town (the new Renée Zellweger film from Lionsgate), I initially bristled at Zellweger’s character, a Miami-based food company executive who gets thrust into running one of the company’s plants in Minnesota and facilitating a changeover in product lines. Initially, Zellweger’s character is portrayed as someone who’s too caught up in her work to notice the world around her. She wears impractical clothing. She insults the locals (and, as it turns out, all the people who would be in the best position to help her). I found her shallow and annoying.
But, as the movie goes on, Zellweger’s character begins to adapt to her new situation, and the movie offers a few really important lessons to professional women.
1. Don’t underestimate the folks that work beneath you. Zellweger’s character initially behaves, well, badly, towards her assistant when she invites Connick to dinner so Zellweger can meet him. Although Zellweger thought that the assistant was inviting Connick to set her up with him, she actually invited him because he’s the union boss, and she wanted to give her the chance to meet him casually before they had to meet professionally, and discuss potential layoffs.
2. Be adaptable. Although it takes her a while, Zellweger realizes that making her new situation work isn’t just about suits and stilettos and being tough as nails. She had to find ways to work with a completely different set of people with an entirely different set of needs, and she managed it very well.
3. When disaster threatens to strike, look for the opportunity. Without getting too much into movie spoilers, one of my favorite moments in the movie is when Zellweger is faced with orders from above that could dismantle everything she’d worked for. Instead of accepting defeat, she finds an opportunity within the community that creates a win-win for everyone.
All this, and the chemistry between Zellweger and Connick is, quite frankly, really nice to watch.