TOURS / TALKS / TOMATOES

I have started apartment hunting with my friend Marcus. We’re currently both living at home with our respective parents, and while neither of us are in any particular rush, we’re looking for something ASAP.

This means touring some interesting places.

We haven’t endured much yet, only doing two spurts of touring so far and only having submitted one failed application, but it’s still been a fairly comedic endeavor.

On our most recent tour, we unlocked the door to find a completely gutted first floor, construction equipment, exposed wires, paint buckets, etc.

The second floor would be nice, if you’re okay with nonstop construction and random people coming in and out of the downstairs.

The upside? There was a $400 bidet installed. The (other) downside? No fridge.

I choose to laugh (rather than cringe) at all the funny places we see. I choose to embrace the small moments in these random living spaces that I won’t live in. They’re just silly little excursions until we find the right place.

This is a mindset I have had to almost force myself to adopt. My whole life, I have been used to knowing when the next step will appear. With school, there is a structured timeline. If you do well enough, this estimated timeline will be the actual timeline you live by.

After school, everything is much more wishy-washy. Life is a series of trials and errors, mistakes and miracles. You’re warned ahead of time that adulthood is “different”. From eighteen to 21, I was like, “What could these people possibly mean by that???”

At nearly 23, I’m starting to get it. There is no set-in-stone or prescribed “next step”. It’s all up to you.

You’ll tour and tour and tour apartments, and they’ll all suck or reject you… until one works out.

You’ll apply and apply and apply for jobs, and they’ll all fall through… until one won’t.

Things, if you keep trying, eventually do work out. It’s just difficult sometimes for my rigid, critical brain to accept this.

Silly little touring excursions, submitting to multiple lit mags a week, and continuously trying and trying…

The steps I’m taking are helping my unyielding brain persevere through the unknown.

On that note…

I had an interview this week!

I am often shy and secretive about the potential opportunities I’m offered. I love to presume I won’t get the things I’m applying for.

I never hope to win or hope to “get the job”… or at least I try and strangle the hope that seeps out of me. I don’t want to get those fragile little hopes up too high… they’ll fall down even farther in the end.

In this case, though, I had an interview and I think it went very well. In typical Annabelle fashion, I will be shy and superstitious and won’t share it here (yet).

I will, though, put my positivity out on the interwebs, out here on this Substack, so that I can hope in public… just a little bit.

I adore my job at Dry Goods Refillery, but I have simultaneously been seeking ways to incorporate more writing into my daily life. As you all know, I’ve been sending my poetry to whatever lit mags I can find. I have also been applying to (and getting rejected/non-responses from) literary arts admin jobs that pique my interest. Though I can get a little gloomy and self-hateful amongst the rejections, it only takes one acceptance to be accepted. I DON’T NEED EVERYONE TO ACCEPT ME.

These acceptances can arise in the most unconventional of ways. I have recently realized that every single paying job I have had has come from cold emailing.

Every role I’ve acquired has come from a random email inquiry to a hiring manager or small business owner. No job listing, no recruitment, no nothing. I’ve just emailed on a whim, and things have worked out. Taking random chances and expressing your interest is never the wrong way to go. The people who appreciate you for taking a risk and expressing yourself are the type of people you want to work for.

Sometimes, opportunities also just arise out of nowhere.

I have been granted an amazing opportunity by my former coworker (Sharlene of @misosleaf) to be a featured baker at her Bakers Buffet picnic event on June 8th in Brooklyn! We were put in baking teams of two, and my partner and I met up this week to devise our two menu items!

“On That Note…” EXCLUSIVE: we’ll be making miso/black sesame swirl brown butter cookies and matcha/lemon swirl mochi brownies. I won’t share more until I have the actual marketing materials to provide, but this is super exciting. I am incredibly proud of how we were able to merge both of our styles into these flavor combinations and concepts.

PLEEEASE watch this space for more information on that event.

On a completely different note…

Tomatoes get so much unnecessary hate, and I’ve been thinking about that a lot lately.

It is one of those things that makes me unnecessarily, but necessarily, very angry.

I firmly believe that half of the people who are like “I don’t like tomatoes, I only like ketchup and marinara sauce” have only had raw tomatoes that were stored in a cold fridge or freezer.

Tomatoes must be at room temperature! If you can, invest in a deeply red (or even crazy-colored heirloom) vine tomato.

Not only will you experience the heaven that is the smell of a tomato vine, but you also get to eat the tomato! How lovely.

Now, the crucial step is to keep this tomato at room temperature. It is an insane misconception that tomatoes should be refrigerated. No. They become mealy and cold and lose all their flavor. They last a long while at room temp, too. Like… a LONG while.

When you’re ready to eat, slice some hunky chunks and sprinkle with salt. Eat it just like that and experience something incredible, OR take this salted tomato and match it with fresh basil, mozzarella, and Extra Virgin Olive Oil (maybe balsamic, if you’re feeling extra). OR take an oil-toasted piece of sourdough, smush some raw garlic into it, and put that tomato right on top. Oh my goodness, I could just eat that right now.

This tomato is like… a completely different entity than that thin tomato slice you’re asking the waiter to leave off your burger or your cold grape tomato on the “house salad”.

This is an umami bomb, packed with nature’s most potent MSG goodness. YUMMY YUMMY. And I’m just telling you this information now so you’re prepared once we finally get to GOOD tomato season this summer. We’re not there just yet, but it’s approaching. Get your Jersey tomatoes this year while they’re good, and don’t knock them ‘til you try a good one.

Take a risk.

You can grow to like it.

Pretzel crisps dipped in creamy goat cheese spread (this is, like, my favorite snack ever)

Iced unsweetened peppermint tea

Farmers Market season is hereeeee

absolute animal by Rachel DeWoskin

My Samantha Pleet flare flower patch jeans that I haven’t worn in like FOUR years, that I put on this week and was like… OMG I STILL LOVE THESE.