This is how I write, sitting on someone's bed, with increasingly bad posture. Photo by Kristen Hahn.
In September of 2010, I moved to Montreal for love. Somewhere along the way, I found a wonderful job as a baker at a small, fun restaurant called Dépanneur le Pick Up. Popcorn Plays has become a space where I write about my life at the Dep, and what I prepare at home. (And no, I don’t believe that you’re either a baker or a cook, because I am definitely both.)
As a writer by morning and baker by night, I am often satisfied by how the two practices join together. After a torturous day of writing, the work kitchen becomes a place of escape and relief, and space where my arms turn sore and speckled with flour and cocoa powder. Writing lacks the physicality that helps me know I’m actually getting something done; it can be so hard to feel a tangible sense of completion with something as abstract and unquantifiable as words. Baking, though, lets you feel like you’ve really earned the collapse into bed, because you’re simply exhausted after a long day of rolling out dough, melting chocolate, scrubbing fruit, and creaming butter and sugar.
Sometimes other things sneak into this space. (I also organize the popular culinary workshops at Le Pick Up. Voir wrote a nice little piece about it here.) Thanks for stopping by.
When I’m not baking up a big mess, you can find me writing up an even bigger mess at Acquired Taste Magazine, Kinfolk Magazine, Signal to Noise magazine, YETI magazine, Foxy Digitalis, Paris Transatlantic, Montreal Mirror, Serious Eats, Montreal Gazette, and more. I also have a Twitter. Email: natasha.pickowicz AT gmail.com.
Recent work:
Old-School Pies Made Perfect, Montreal Gazette, January 11, 2012
Home Fermentation: Add a Little Culture to Your Cooking, Montreal Gazette, January 18, 2012
CBC Planning To Go Off the Record, Montreal Gazette, February 10, 2012
Perpetual Pantry, Montreal Mirror, January 5, 2012
Whoopie Pies, Morning Buns, enRoute, July 2011
Hidden Gems of Montreal’s Music Scene, Burlington Free Press, December 1, 2011
Our Insider’s Guide on Where to Eat in Montreal, Burlington Free Press, February 17, 2012
Things To Do in Montreal When You’re Cold, Burlington Free Press, February 16, 2012
Sound and Season, Acquired Taste Magazine, Issue #2, Print Only
Pop Montreal: R. Stevie Moore’s Best Video Moments, Maisonneuve Magazine, September 19, 2011
Jerk Chicken: It’s Not Just Hot, Montreal Gazette, July 20, 2011
The Luxury of Legault’s Strawberries, the Montreal Gazette, June 8, 2011
Precious and Dwindling: Quebec’s Wild Leeks, the Montreal Gazette, May 18, 2011
Fleisher’s Meats Hosts Butcher Blackout at Joe Beef, Serious Eats, March 14, 2011
Maple Syrup Season Arrives at Au Pied de Cochon’s Cabane à Sucre, Serious Eats, March 8, 2011
Pizza D’Agostino: Old-School Montreal Pizza at its Best, Slice, Serious Eats, July 7, 2011
Daily Slice: Spanakopizza at Van Horne Pizzeria, Slice, Serious Eats, October 5, 2011
Via Ristorante: A Hidden Gem in Montréal-Nord, Slice, Serious Eats, November 2, 2011
Toronto: VPN Pie at Pizzeria Libretto, Slice, Serious Eats, September 2, 2011
Hold the Meat, Montreal Mirror, May 26, 2011
Pieces of the Past, print only, Signal to Noise Magazine #62, 2011
Your Own Personal Vibe Coach, print only, YETI Eleven, 2011
R. Stevie Moore’s Abundant Singularity, essay, print only, POP Montreal Program, 2011
An Interview with founder of Signal to Noise magazine, Peter Gershon, Foxy Digitalis, August 15, 2011
Within Mirrors: An Interview With Filmmaker Paul Clipson, Foxy Digitalis, April 11, 2011
An Interview with Jon Mueller, Paris Transatlantic, June 2011
An Interview with Charles Curtis, Paris Transatlantic, March 2010
I like the photos. BRB soon!
thanks, aestar!
I dig the Self Portrait Polaroids!
thanks, broughman! i really used to hate taking pictures of myself, too.
You made it on one my Blogroll lists
Consider yourself followed.
P.S: You are absolutely stunning.
WOW, Natasha! I just went through a large part of your blog–it is fantastic!!! I just went through a bunch of albums and found some fun pics of you and my sister. We just moved a lot of stuff in, so I’m not sure where they are lurking at this very moment, but if you want me to, I will definitely copy and send some to you. You look gorgeous lady! Judging by the blog your life looks grand!
Love,
Ash
ashley – thanks so much! so wonderful to hear from you. send over those photos of me + amy ASAP! a million memories waiting to be relived…
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hiya there. Bless you! especially for the hilarious Maisonneuve Magazine bestvideos article, had not seen b4. keep in touch!