Category: TikTok

So many of us have creative dreams that we never quite pursue.

Maybe you want to be an artist or a writer or a dancer or a musician or anything where you’re creating something… but you’re scared.

What if you’re no good? What if nobody likes it? What if you just can’t do it?

I’ve had a lot of friends come to me and ask how do I do it, and the thing that I tell them every single time is: make your shitty art.

And that might sound like an insult, but it’s the truth… no matter what you try to do, you’re going to be terrible at it at first.

Your art is gonna suck, and that’s okay, because if you ever want to be any good you’ve got to get through the shit first.

So make your shitty art, share it with the world, and someday you’ll be amazing.

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I love the practice of referring to stretch marks as tiger stripes. It just sounds so fierce.

I haven’t been pregnant yet – I have no children, but I do have stretch marks on my legs from when I hit puberty and my hips just blossomed like crazy.

So I’ve got these stretch marks on the outsides of my legs, and society tells us that’s something that you should hide: hide your stretch marks, hide your cellulite, hide any imperfections about your body.

But the thing is – the human body is nothing to be ashamed about. We’re all beautiful in our own ways, and all of this is just natural.

So I let my stretch marks shine, and hey – they’re tiger stripes.

That’s fierce.

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Every single time for the past 15 years that we’ve gone home to my in-laws house, they always have to send home fruit.

Sometimes it’s apples. Sometimes it’s oranges or tangerines or homegrown dragonfruit, but every once in a while, we’ll get some kiwi.

And my husband will always say don’t you worry – I will eat this kiwi.

And then it sits in the fridge.

For a while.

So I have eventually found a way to use up the kiwi that he never eats and make something really really tasty out of it, and that is these muffins.

They’re super easy to make, so so so light and fluffy, they’re incredibly addictive, and they’re tasty tasty muffins.

So you should absolutely make these.

Kiwi Banana Muffins

adapted from this recipe from Aldi

Ingredients

• 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter
• 150g caster sugar (or regular granulated sugar)
• 2 eggs
• 5 kiwi fruit
• 1 ripe banana
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda

Cooking Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
2. Cream the butter and sugar together until pale, light and creamy. Add the eggs one at a time and beat well.
3. Peel and grate the kiwi fruit. Peel and mash the banana.
4. Add the 2 fruits and the cinnamon and vanilla extract to the bowl with the butter. Mix well.
5. Sift the flour, baking powder, and baking soda into the bowl.
6. Gradually stir in the fruit batter mix.
7. Pour into the muffin tins and bake for 20 minutes – until risen, golden and firm to the touch.

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I was one of those girls growing up who hated the color pink.

I would not buy anything pink. I would not wear pink, except for ballet, because you really can’t avoid it there, but given a choice I’d rather wear that purple leotard – not the pink one. Give me the black tights – not the pink.

But pink, the poor color, it gets such a bad rap.

It’s associated with femininity, which is seen as weakness.

It’s associated with girliness, which is just too prissy.

But there’s really nothing wrong with any of that.

As I’ve grown up… you always hear about people being very comfortable in their masculinity. Well, I’ve had to become more comfortable in my femininity and see that it’s not a bad thing.

It’s okay to be a woman.

It’s okay to be feminine.

It’s okay to like these things that are portrayed as weak, but they’re really, really not.

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I am not really a morning person, but I’ve always had this positive association with getting up early and getting to see the sunrise – it always makes me really happy.

And I think this comes from my childhood, where as a family… we weren’t really early risers if we could help it, but about once every year my parents would wake us all up really really early, pack us into the car with orange juice and donuts, and off we’d go down the freeways of Southern California.

And they wouldn’t tell us where we were going, but eventually we would figure out that we were going to Disneyland!

They would take us every year because my dad had a former coworker who now works at Disneyland so she could get us in for free and it was just this big family trip. We’d get there as early as we could, we would leave as late as possible after the fireworks and everything and it was such a long exhausting day, but it was always just such a good family memory.

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Growing up, I didn’t really wear makeup except for the occasional dance show or Halloween.

But the older I’ve gotten, the more makeup kind of feels like a shield against the world.

Oh, well, I have to wear it because I’m going to look washed out if I’m filming and I’m not wearing makeup.

Oh, well, now I feel like I have to because last time I showed up without makeup, somebody asked me if I was sick. Thanks.

So it’s become more and more of a necessity – something that oh, well, it’s a requirement.

I’m going to look terrible without makeup. I look tired and childish and washed out and just eugh.

But the other day I was like, oh, well, I can’t film the sushi stuff because I don’t have makeup on, like I look terrible and my husband was like you look fine. You’re cute without makeup. It’s okay. You don’t look ugly. It’s alright.

So this is me with no makeup, and the world hasn’t ended.

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As the weather gets colder, I’m really getting in the mood for soups. Any kind of soups.

One soup that I’ve never actually made at home until now, but has always been really good when I’ve tried it, is broccoli cheddar soup. BUT I’m lactose-intolerant, so I can’t really go for the kind of soups that are totally cream filled, super super cheesy… I gotta keep it toned down or I will regret it. I WILL regret it.

So this soup uses the broccoli to add to the heft of the soup, and obviously the flavor. But then it uses a potato to give it that creaminess without adding any cream. And then of course, you gotta have the cheese, it wouldn’t be broccoli cheddar without the cheese, but you also add greek yogurt, which adds a good bit more creaminess without as much… lactose intolerance as heavy cream would.

Overall, it’s a really tasty soup!

Broccoli Cheddar Soup

from Bon Appetit

Ingredients

• 2 onions
• 4 garlic cloves
• 3 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes, plus more for sprinkling
• Kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 2 heads of broccoli
• 1 medium russet potato
• 5 cups water
• 1 tbsp kosher salt
• 8 oz sharp cheddar cheese
• 4 thick slices rustic white bread
• 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
• kosher salt

Cooking Directions

1. Halve 2 onions. Peel and coarsely chop. Peel and smash 4 garlic cloves, then coarsely chop. No need to break out your best knife skills because it’s all going to get blended, but try to cut everything into somewhat even pieces so they cook at the same rate.
2. Melt 3 Tbsp. unsalted butter in a large Dutch oven or pot over medium-low heat. Add onion, garlic, and ½ tsp. red pepper flakes; season with salt and black pepper. Stir to combine, then cover pot and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and just starting to take on color, 8–10 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, trim bottoms of 2 heads of broccoli, then peel. Separate hefty stalks from florets (the thin, little stalks attached to broccoli tops are fine to leave attached to the crowns). Set aside florets. Coarsely chop stalks into 1″–2″ pieces. Peel 1 medium russet potato. Coarsely chop into 1″–2″ pieces.
4. Add broccoli stalks and potato pieces to pot and stir to coat in butter. Pour in 5 cups water, add 1 Tbsp. salt, and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low and keep at a simmer. Cover pot and cook until broccoli stalks and potatoes are completely tender (test with a cake tester, paring knife, or fork), 20–25 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, chop reserved florets into small pieces (you can take the time to separate them into baby florets or just have at them with your chef’s knife). Grate 8 oz. sharp cheddar cheese on the large holes of a box grater. You should have about 2 1/2 cups.
6. Add half of florets to pot, cover, and cook until bright green, 3–5 minutes. Transfer to a blender, let cool for 5 minutes, and purée until smooth. Some blender advice: Don’t fill your blender more than halfway—work in batches as necessary. To avoid explosions, remove the center lid from the blender and cover with a kitchen towel. Alternatively, use an immersion blender. Your soup won’t be quite as smooth, but it will still be great. Return purée to pot.
7. Return to medium heat and add remaining florets. Cover pot and cook until bright green, another 3–5 minutes. Add 2 cups cheddar cheese and stir until smooth. Cover and reduce heat to low; set aside while you make the cheddar croutons.
8. Heat broiler. Broil 4 thick slices rustic white bread on a rimmed baking sheet until lightly browned (watch closely: broilers vary dramatically in power!), 2–3 minutes. Turn bread over (soft side up), then sprinkle with reserved cheddar cheese and a few flecks of red pepper flakes. Continue to broil until cheese is bubbling and browned in spots, 2–3 more minutes.
9. Remove soup from heat and stir in ½ cup plain Greek yogurt. Season generously with black pepper; taste for salt.
10. Cut cheese toasts into 1″ (spoon-sized!) pieces. Divide soup among bowls. Top with cheddar croutons.

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I am an introvert.

I’m a shy awkward nervous socially inept introvert – which means meeting new people is always a little nerve-wracking for me, but I can deal with the meeting new people.

What makes it really really terrible is when there’s an ice breaker.

Does anybody actually like this? I can never come up with something interesting about myself and I never really wanted to play these awkward games that everybody hates, but the worst part is when they ask you to come up with a descriptive word about yourself that matches the first letter of your first name.

There are no good A words.

There aren’t any – Awesome is just boring, Alliterative is too obvious. Arabesque… I mean, I am a dancer. I don’t think that works though.

A is for Allison, and that’s me, but I can’t come up with any other words!

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