Professional Highs, Lows and Plateaus
Most Terrifying Work Experience: While working on an all female commercial fishing boat in Alaska, we got a line wrapped in the prop of our boat hundreds of miles offshore. We couldn’t move, and a storm was coming, and I had to dive under the boat to cut the line. (A co-worker actually got the line out, but I loosened it!)
Could of, Would of’s: My fiction has been a finalist for Iowa Writer’s Workshop Short Story Collection Competition, for the Pen Bellwether Award for Socially Engaged Novels, and my memoir, Hold Me Tight and Tango Home was optioned for a television series by Fox Studios and Nigel Lythgoe, producer of “So You Think You Can Dance” signed on to direct it. But they weren’t to be. I consoled myself with milkshakes.
Best Memory Meal: I missed the ferry to Capri for the tango festival, so instead went to the fishing village of Cetera for a fundraiser. In the boat harbor they were cooking vats of local anchovies in olive oil and finishing them with Sfusato Amalfitano lemons. They passed around plates of prosciutto and buffalo mozzarella wrapped in lemon leaves. A live tango band started to play and the locals taught me how to get the smell of anchovies off my hands by squeezing lemon on them so I could dance. Second Best: Steaks at La Cabrera in Buenos Aires. Third: Yogurt with rose petal honey and pistachios in Agra with view of the Taj Mahal.
Most Life Changing Writing Assignment: Scuba diving with hammerhead sharks on Cocos Island. Suspended in another time and place-felt like a state of grace. Inspired my first, only tattoo.
Worst Related Injuries: While butchering a pig in the Autodesk Creative Lab kitchen on Pier 9, I sliced through a fingernail. While working on deck a halibut boat in Alaska, I sliced through my pinky-with hours of fish cleaning left to go.
Most Pleasantly Surprised Restaurant Experience: For my 40th birthday, I went to eat alone at the bar at Babbo in NYC. I asked a lot of questions, and the staff started treating me like I was slightly mentally disabled, explaining things like “we grate cheese on pasta.” The bartender recommended excellent, moderately priced wines, bought me dessert, even though I never mentioned it was my birthday, and the hostess and coat check were very friendly and accommodating. I left impressed that they treated someone they considered mentally handicapped so graciously.
Worst Restaurant Experience: The first time I ate sushi, I thought the green stuff was avocado. It was also a first date.
Most Glamorous Culinary Moment: Gary Danko fell off my houseboat during a party I hosted for Katy McLaughlin when she won the James Beard Award.
Most Humbling Professional Experience: While on book tour in Phoenix, AZ. for Mexico in Mind, five people showed up to my reading, and two were there on the wrong night. They were hoping for the local psychic.
Biggest “Oh, No” Moment: When on assignment to cover the Havana Biennial for the New York Times, the exhibition I based on story idea on was cancelled due to funding pulled because the Cuban government had imprisoned dissidents. Also, when writing about Sandhill Cranes in Cuba for Audubon, asking a park ranger if there was somewhere to swim nearby, as it was so hot. He said "Yes, those lakes over there." I headed to them, and he added, "But there are crocodiles."
Most Startling Culinary Experience on the Job: Yu’pik Potlatches I attended while working on the Yukon-Delta. I think I tried sea lion stew, whale fat ice cream, and salmon sperm. I tasted before I asked. I did the same at an asado in Uruguay.
Contact me: finn.maria1 at gmail.com
Most Terrifying Work Experience: While working on an all female commercial fishing boat in Alaska, we got a line wrapped in the prop of our boat hundreds of miles offshore. We couldn’t move, and a storm was coming, and I had to dive under the boat to cut the line. (A co-worker actually got the line out, but I loosened it!)
Could of, Would of’s: My fiction has been a finalist for Iowa Writer’s Workshop Short Story Collection Competition, for the Pen Bellwether Award for Socially Engaged Novels, and my memoir, Hold Me Tight and Tango Home was optioned for a television series by Fox Studios and Nigel Lythgoe, producer of “So You Think You Can Dance” signed on to direct it. But they weren’t to be. I consoled myself with milkshakes.
Best Memory Meal: I missed the ferry to Capri for the tango festival, so instead went to the fishing village of Cetera for a fundraiser. In the boat harbor they were cooking vats of local anchovies in olive oil and finishing them with Sfusato Amalfitano lemons. They passed around plates of prosciutto and buffalo mozzarella wrapped in lemon leaves. A live tango band started to play and the locals taught me how to get the smell of anchovies off my hands by squeezing lemon on them so I could dance. Second Best: Steaks at La Cabrera in Buenos Aires. Third: Yogurt with rose petal honey and pistachios in Agra with view of the Taj Mahal.
Most Life Changing Writing Assignment: Scuba diving with hammerhead sharks on Cocos Island. Suspended in another time and place-felt like a state of grace. Inspired my first, only tattoo.
Worst Related Injuries: While butchering a pig in the Autodesk Creative Lab kitchen on Pier 9, I sliced through a fingernail. While working on deck a halibut boat in Alaska, I sliced through my pinky-with hours of fish cleaning left to go.
Most Pleasantly Surprised Restaurant Experience: For my 40th birthday, I went to eat alone at the bar at Babbo in NYC. I asked a lot of questions, and the staff started treating me like I was slightly mentally disabled, explaining things like “we grate cheese on pasta.” The bartender recommended excellent, moderately priced wines, bought me dessert, even though I never mentioned it was my birthday, and the hostess and coat check were very friendly and accommodating. I left impressed that they treated someone they considered mentally handicapped so graciously.
Worst Restaurant Experience: The first time I ate sushi, I thought the green stuff was avocado. It was also a first date.
Most Glamorous Culinary Moment: Gary Danko fell off my houseboat during a party I hosted for Katy McLaughlin when she won the James Beard Award.
Most Humbling Professional Experience: While on book tour in Phoenix, AZ. for Mexico in Mind, five people showed up to my reading, and two were there on the wrong night. They were hoping for the local psychic.
Biggest “Oh, No” Moment: When on assignment to cover the Havana Biennial for the New York Times, the exhibition I based on story idea on was cancelled due to funding pulled because the Cuban government had imprisoned dissidents. Also, when writing about Sandhill Cranes in Cuba for Audubon, asking a park ranger if there was somewhere to swim nearby, as it was so hot. He said "Yes, those lakes over there." I headed to them, and he added, "But there are crocodiles."
Most Startling Culinary Experience on the Job: Yu’pik Potlatches I attended while working on the Yukon-Delta. I think I tried sea lion stew, whale fat ice cream, and salmon sperm. I tasted before I asked. I did the same at an asado in Uruguay.
Contact me: finn.maria1 at gmail.com
