When I was in college, I had the opportunity to intern for a national news outlet at the Washington, D.C. office. I was young, impressionable, and generally thought that a career in journalism was glamorous, fast-paced, and well paid.
Kids. Listen. To. Me. Journalism is an amazing profession that will take you amazing places and (sometimes) let you experience things you never though possible, but it is a wolf den. You will be eaten alive in your ill fitting pants that you bought on sale because they were the only size left and you can’t even afford to get them tailored unless you make friends with the girls who work in wardrobe.
One of the first assignments I was sent to do was the United States Naval Academy graduation. I remember thinking “Oh! How cool! This will be so much fun!” Wrong. Very wrong. The day had started out with a torrential downpour. While it was no longer raining, the humidity hung in the air like that white grocery bag in that weird movie from the early 2000s. In my infinite stupidity, I had worn a dress skirt, shell, cargidan, and sling back shoes with a kitten heel. Did I, for some delusional reason, think that I would be the one to do the live shot? I was hauling, stacking, and standing around uncomfortably for a large portion of the day. The camera guy and sound woman had me standing on milk crates to do the test shots. Here’s a tip: milk crate wins against kitten heels any time.
When “the talent” (And, trust me, she is talent. You’d know her by sight if I could tell you who she was.) showed up, she perched herself on the milk crate in her sensible flats, looked at the playback, and instantly decided whatever she was wearing was “all wrong” for the backdrop. She then rooted around in her shoulder bag, which, I kid you not, rivaled Mary Poppins’s, and pulled out three full changes of clothing — for the waist up only. It’s all that really matters in a live shot.
She ripped through all three of those outfits, looked at me, and demanded asked that I take off my cardigan. I will never forget that it was coral, 3/4 length sleeve, and now had a distinct aroma of Dove deodorant from the aforementioned humidity. She wore it for the live shot… and then kept it. Yes, she kept it. She who traveled around with no fewer than four outfits and two changes of shoes kept one of my few serviceable pieces of professional clothing. I can guarantee you that she is rarely underdressed. Ever.
Around about the coral sweater theft and the F-16 flyover, I realized that I still had the entire ceremony to endure without food, or the remainder of my work attire, for that matter. ((Note: there is rarely craft service, AKA catering service, at live television shoots.)) So, there I was, in a partial state of undress and on the brink of falling out on this exceedingly humid day. At that very moment, the cameraman must have seen a glimmer of the last expendable calorie in my eye, because he showed me the snack pouch on his camera bag. Bless this man whose name I cannot recall — or his wife — or whatever angel of mercy put all of those snacks there. He had all forms of power bars, dried fruits, and nuts. A true professional.
At that moment, I vowed never to leave home, even if going only to the grocery store, without some form of snack… and a spare change of clothes in the trunk.
In homage to my snack attacks, I will share with you my ridiculously easy go-to snack. When I’m living in a dwelling with a pantry (which is, admittedly, rare), you’ll be able to find a bag of these on the shelf.
Baked Almonds with Lemon, Salt, and Olive Oil
INGREDIENTS:
- 2 cups of almonds (or however many you want)
- 1 bag of lemons for juicing
- 1.5 Tablespoons of salt (or more… or less…. your sodium levels are between you and your doc)
- a glug of EVOO
PREP:
- Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Put it on convection, if you’re fancy.
- Slice and squeeze lemon juice into a shallow dish. I use a pie pan.
- Once the lemon juice has helped you discover how dry and cracked your skin is, go ahead and add the almonds. Soak the almonds in the juice for at least 30 minutes. NOTE: I like to make sure I have enough juice to cover all of the almonds. If you don’t have that many lemons, just make sure you turn the almonds every couple of minutes to get equal citrus soak time for the almonds. Yes. The lemon juice will turn brown from the almonds. This is normal.
- Once the citrus bath is over, strain almonds and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. DO NOT skip the parchment paper. You will hate yourself later.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Bake a little shorter if you’ve got that fancy convection thing going on.
- After about 12-15 minutes, take the almonds out of the oven and dump them into a glass/metal bowl. Toss them with as much salt and EVOO as you want. Don’t skip the EVOO or else the salt won’t stick. I like the coarse sea salt, but I also don’t have a heart condition.
- Once satisfied with the oil/salt ratio, bake for another 7-9 minutes, or until they are golden-y brown.
- I tend to remove them immediately from the baking sheet and just let them cool in a bowl. Once cool, I usually store in a glass container w/lid, or a re-sealable bag.
- Remove parchment paper from baking sheet and throw away. Voila. See? Told you that you’d hate yourself if you had to scrub those little bits off the cookie sheet.
Enjoy!
