Meet our member of the month, Sujhey Beisser,
the talented blogger behind Five Senses Palate.
What was your original motivation for your blog? What keeps you motivated?
My original motivation came from my close circle of friends asking me for recipes I had prepared or simply asking me where to go for recipes. I keep a binder of recipes that I print or cut out of a magazine. The thing was that 90% of the time, I wasn’t following every step of a recipe. I was adding something, replacing an ingredient, combining a different cooking method, etc. That resulted in other’s making the same recipe, which did not turn out the same way. I figured that I could give more specific instructions and show with pictures some of the steps along with what the end result should look like in my own blog. My biggest inspiration to start my own blog was my good friend Claudia from Cocina con Clau. She not only inspired me with her work, she encouraged me, and she also got me hooked with an online photography school, Jackie Rueda Photography, where I’ve taken a number of classes including “Blogging ABC” where I learned the basics for starting my own blog and got connected with a group of women bloggers from all over the world. We created a closed group on Facebook that kept us all connected after the class, and we have been able to collaborate, ask and answer questions, learn, and most importantly – encourage and lift each other up.
I guess I can say that being a part of that group and seeing everyone’s accomplishments is part of what keeps me motivated. What also keeps me going is hearing from friends and family members that have actually cooked some of my recipes, and my desire to keep trying new things and share it with others.
If you could only eat one meal for the rest of your life, what would it be?
I had to think really hard about this. There are so many meals that I love. I am going to say that if I could only eat one thing and one thing only it would have to be Hallacas. A Venezuelan meal that we make only during the holiday season every year. It is a corn flour base filled with a mixture of chicken, beef, pork, vegetables, and spices. Then it is wrapped in smoked plantain leaves and cooked in boiling water. It’s so good I could definitely just eat that for the rest of my life! You can learn more about Hallacas here.
What has been your biggest cooking disaster?
Growing up we didn’t have an oven, only a stove top. Baking was definitely not something I learned growing up. I’ve sort of learned the art of baking on my own and that includes a lot of cooking disasters. The first time I tried to make pastry cream following a recipe but not really knowing the right method was a total disaster. I burned the bottom of the pan to a point that the pan was basically ruined. The amount of smoke also created a lot of chaos (hear the background: smoke alarm beeping and my husband yelling “what are you doing???”). It took me a while to recover from that disaster, and I did not try to make pastry cream for few years after that. I am happy to report that I can make pastry cream with no incidents now.
How do you plan to celebrate the Fourth of July?
We don’t have any big plans this year. We’ll probably be hanging out in our backyard, sipping Margaritas and grilling something.
What are your favorite dishes to throw on the grill?
I love grilled chicken (bone in, of course), but I also love grilling veggies. Every summer I make grilled salads a lot. I just throw any and all veggies I have in the grill, toss them with any kind of grain, and make a simple vinaigrette. It smells and tastes like summer!
Enhorabuena!!!