Being Geek Chic is a blog about one woman navigating the male-dominated industries of production and tech. It's written by Elizabeth Giorgi, Founder, CEO and Director of Mighteor - one of the world's first internet video production companies. Learn more about Mighteor here.
I am a total wannabe foodie. But then I get in the kitchen and I get overwhelmed almost immediately. My grandmothers were both masterful in the kitchen. One was Italian and taught me everything there is to know about basil and noodles. The other was Scandinavian and had a real talent for meats, potatoes and breads. Yum, breads.
If I have one of their recipes in hand or in my mind, I’m set. But as soon as it gets beyond that, well, I start to feel OVER IT. And so I set out on a mission to make my kitchen conquests more geeky and therefore, more my speed. After all, if you make it high tech and dorky, it’s bound to be at least a little bit fun along the way.
1. Start with the Nerdy Recipes Archive on Being Geek Chic!
I don’t know if you know this, but Emma Carew Grovum, our resident food writer is a freaking genius. Like honestly, she makes food so much more approachable, because she tackles all my favorite things. Some of my personal favorite recipes she’s dreamed up for us: Veronica Mars Marshmallows, Death Star Popcorn Balls and Iron Man’s Arc Reactor Cookies.
2. Use a Giant Tablet for Referencing Recipes and Images
I’ve been using the AOC My Smart All in One Tablet to get access to all my favorite recipes on my family’s shared Google Drive, check out Emma’s awesome images on the blog and watch some really great cooking shows on YouTube so I can follow along with some of the funnest shows on the web. Not only does it feel super high tech, it makes my time in the kitchen feel like play time, which is both shocking and delightful. It’s also kind of shocking to me how affordable it was to add this tech to any kitchen. For under $400, you’ve got a touch screen tablet that can stream movies if you get bored, give you access to a ton of tutorials via YouTube and even let you Skype with your aunt so she can help you with the perfect onion slicing.
3. Subscribe to Bitchin’ Kitchen and other great YouTube cooking shows
I am perfectly willing to admit this: Bitchin’ Kitchen is silly as hell and I love it. Nadia G, the internet cooking show host turned Food Network host, is Italian so I feel a certain kindred spiritness with her food tendencies. Also, she is 100% who she is and I respect that. AND, she did the thing so many internet people dream of: she turned a web show into a television series. Gotta respect that. Other shows you might like to check out: Bon Appetempts is hilarious because it’s all about trying to make fancy foods and failing. And then hopefully succeeding through learning new stuff. Kitchen Vignettes from PBS Digital is just absolutely beautiful and aspirational. To put it simply: it’s food porn. It feels weird to call something PBS distributes porn, but people, it is. Blueberry Lime Cake. It’s on my list to try and make it. No promises it will look quite this beautiful. In fact, let’s just admit right now that it just won’t be that beautiful.
4. Holy geek kitchen gear. You win.
Spatulas don’t have to be boring. How about a spatula shaped like the Enterprise? Who says mixing bowls can’t be beakers? I refuse to subscribe to the idea that a Spock oven mitt is impractical. No, no my friends. It’s a winning solution to not burning your hands.
I may not be a master chef anytime soon, but by making my kitchen a bit more tech savvy and a lot more geeky, suddenly cooking feels like a game I can win.
Allow us to introduce Abby Stewart. She’s a blogger, writing consultant, world-traveler, educator, and certified lady geek. You can find her working social media like a pro on Twitter (@abby_cake), Instagram, and Pinterest.
The biggest thing to know about Stewart is that she’s got guts. She’s written and self-published two books (a mature YA novel titled Menthol Kisses and a book of poetry titled Unsent Letters), she lived in South Korea for a year, and she’s got a super ambitious and vibrant life list - full of lifetime goals, 50% of which are already checked off.
Before you examine your own life list, check our Stewart’s interview with Being Geek Chic. You’ll discover the story of her globetrotting tattoos, how she launched an early passion for HTML, and which Star Trek favorite she would share tea and red wine with. Read on!
Q: How did you discover your passion?
A: The greatest passion in my life is teaching. I’m not sure that I ever really discovered it, it more or less discovered me. I can’t recall a time that I didn’t want to be a teacher. I still get the most thrilling high when I assist a student in understanding some aspect of language or literature that they may not have previously understood. Sharing my love for reading and writing is such a rewarding experience, despite the fact that my students call me a “nerd” on a daily basis – I am just really excited about Beowulf! And I know they mean it as a term of endearment. :)
Q: When did you discover you were “geeky?”
A: When I was 11 or 12, my parents got the Internet. And I am talking straight dial-up that took hours to load each individual pixel of an image and tended toward disconnection rather than expediency. I’d had a computer previously (which I’d primarily used to play Oregon Trail) but this new Internet gig seemed pretty interesting. Over time, I discovered message boards, adoptable html pets and personal websites. Once I realized that I could own my own little piece of the Internet for the generous price of simply knowing how to develop a Tripod or Angelfire username, I was hooked. I went to the public library and checked out every single book I could find on HTML, read them, and proceeded to build and develop my own website. I think I called it “Abby’s Lair” and gave it a dragon-related theme, complete with dungeon midi and burning torch .gifs. I was really too young to ascribe “geeky” to what I’d done – it was really more of an obsessive interest in a new topic, which I think tends to be the broadest definition of geekiness.
Q: Can you tell us a bit about your tattoos?
A: I love tattoos!! When I travel I tend to get tattoos rather than a snow globe, or something. My first tattoo was a “less than three” heart on my ankle, I now have an accompanying “hashtag” on the opposite ankle that I recently acquired during a blogger trip to Virginia. My entire right thigh is tattooed, I sat for a total of twelve hours to get that one done. I got my wrist tattoo in Fukuoka, Japan and I almost got arrested getting my arm tattoo in South Korea. My boyfriend and I have matching tomato tattoos (inside joke). And I have a few others that probably wouldn’t make sense to anyone but me. I’d love to get a really large chest piece, but keeping in line with my desire to continue a career in education, I think chest and neck are out of the picture.
Q: If you could take any fictional character out for a drink, whom would you choose and what would you drink?
A: Jean-Luc Picard – for sure. We would, obviously, drink Earl Grey (hot) followed by some fabulous vintage of red wine that I would ask him to recommend. I’d love to spend an evening discussing literature, classical music and archaeological discoveries. I think Jean-Luc is a fabulous model for future leaders and could provide essential advice for me, as an educator. He is constantly challenging his crew to aspire to greatness and his awareness of cultural differences (for example, he speaks to the Klingons in their native language) make him an inspirational figure who I’d like to spend an evening with. And what happens on the Enterprise, stays on the Enterprise [insert suggestive eyebrow waggle].
Q: What would you tell your 13-year-old self?
A: Girls are mean, the Internet is awesome, you will (eventually) make it to Japan, keep drawing, dress however makes you happy (wear ALL the plastic bracelets, girlfriend!) because style is totally a valid form of self-expression.
Emma Bauer is a Being Geek Chic Contributor. Clearly, she’s got great taste. She is a PR enthusiast, history scholar, tea drinker, fashion devotee, and of course, aspires to Be Geek Chic. Follow her on Twitter: @emmalynnbauer
Do you ever think that art is just a little too…pretty? Do you find yourself wishing that that prim Victorian lady strolling through the garden was arm-in-arm with, say, a Dalek? Or maybe that the charming 19th century girl was playing dress up with her favorite giant fly instead of her dollies? That picturesque Parisian street would be improved with a few zombies, don’t you think? Perhaps our traditional jolly Santa Claus would like to be accompanied by our favorite Time Lord?
Enter Jennifer Hales, our Lady Geek of the Week. She takes classically pretty paintings and throws in startling, delightfully geeky twists. Check out her Etsy page!
How did Hales come to creating such whimsically bizarre artworks? We’ll let her tell the story…
Q: How did you discover your passion?
A: I had a really artistic and nerdy friend when I was growing up. She made me feel like I could make anything I wanted with a pencil and paper. She had artist parents and really knew how to draw even at a young age. I would watch as her imagination would spill across the paper in awe of her skill. I decided then that I wanted to be able to do the same. I signed up for classes with a local artist, and eventually got a degree in art, so that all of things that I imagine can find their way to paper. She helped me to discover an outlet for my imagination that I will always be grateful for.
Q: When did you discover you were “geeky?”
A: When I was around 5 years old it was a weekly tradition for my dad and I to sit down and watch StarTrek: Next Generation together. Those are really some of my earliest memories I share with my dad. I learned to like all of these scifi things from my dad, it was important to me because it was what we shared an interest in. Growing up, it was how we connected. By the time I got to 7th and 8th grades I knew that most girls didn’t really didn’t have an interest in those things, but I didn’t care. It was cool to me, because it was cool to my dad, and that was really all that mattered to me. It is fun now looking at all of the things I had been made fun of for, they are all things that are popular now. Not to sound like a hipster, but I liked them before it was cool.
Q: Can you describe for us your artistic process? Where do you find your inspiration?
A: I love thrift stores. It is probably my second favorite thing after Dr. Who. I love being able to go into a shop and find the discarded things people leave there. These things all tell a story, they lived in someone else’s home, and now I get to see them on the shelves like a museum of lives. These paintings have been discarded for one reason or another, but they can still have a new life. I see stories in these pictures that have been so neglected. For me it is like being able to add to the story that some other artist started. I get to write my own version of a fan fiction with my paint brush. I get to imagine my favorite things in these existing paintings, making a new story with what was already there.
Q: If you could take any fictional character out for a drink, whom would you choose and what would you drink?
A: I like to keep things simple. I would love to have me some Tea. Earl Gray. Hot. With Picard. I would probably bring my dad with me the three of us would have a great time.
Q: What would you tell your 13-year-old self?
A: I’m not sure what I would tell my 13-year-old self. I don’t really think it would be safe to tell myself anything. Seriously we could do some unrepairable damage to space and time if I were to just go up and down my own time line giving myself advice. I feel like I turned out pretty well, and I don’t think I would have listened to anything anyways. So how bout we don’t mess with the timey wimey. I cherish my experiences and even though I have grown since then, I never would have become who I am without those experiences, why would I try to change anything about that? If I were to try to give advice and change things then I wouldn’t be me now, I would be someone else. See I am trying to explain why this is all a bad idea and things are getting messed up just trying to do that. But if I were to give any 13-year-old from this time advice, I would tell them that our experiences make us who we are. Without them we will never become who we are supposed to be. The good the bad it is all necessary for us to become what the future needs us to be.
Emma Bauer is a Being Geek Chic Contributor. Clearly, she’s got great taste. She is a PR enthusiast, history scholar, tea drinker, fashion devotee, and of course, aspires to Be Geek Chic. Follow her on Twitter: @emmalynnbauer
Introducing our final February Lady Geek of the Week: Stephanie Medeiros (@writerary on Twitter). She’s an advertiser, content marketer, freelance writer, Midwesterner, and “nerd for life." According to Medeiros, "Combining the culture of nerdom with the lifestyle of a girly-girl should be celebrated, embraced, and shared with others. And that’s where Nerd Allure comes in."
Nerd Allure is where Medeiros geeks out over Jazzpunk fashions, eyeshadow, Star Trek style, and more. One of our favorite posts on Nerd Allure is ”The Leslie Knope Guide To Life.“ (Check out Liz’s musings on Knope wisdom here.)
Need even more from this stellar Lady Geek? Check out Medeiros on Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, and of course, her interview with Being Geek Chic.
Q: How did you discover your passion and what led you to launch Nerd Allure?
A: I made an account on Polyvore and started making fashion sets inspired by some of my favorite fictional characters and then discovered there was a whole community for what I was doing! I eventually got into blogging around the same time and initially wanted Nerd Allure to be a place where I could talk about women in technology careers but eventually found a new passion in nerdy crafts, fashion, and makeup and it worked with my Polyvore account! So I changed directions and have been liking it so far.
Q: When did you discover you were "geeky?”
A: Probably when I was really young and became obsessed with Power Rangers! From there it turned into an obsession with Star Wars, Lego, computers, and other fandoms and now I’m a geek girl and proud of it!
Q: Proudest moment thus far?
A: Not exactly blog related, but, I got to meet Marina Sirtis (Deanna Troi from Star Trek: The Next Generation) and had my Star Trek Pez set signed by her, haha. And I didn’t freak out and turn into a blubbering fangirl!
Q: If you could take any fictional character out for a drink, whom would you choose and what would you drink?
A: It’s a tie between Littlefinger (Game of Thrones) in an attempt to pick his brain or John Kennex (Almost Human) because of my huge crush on him right now. But either way, I’d be ordering some craft beer.
Q: What would you tell your 13-year-old self?
A: Don’t sweat the small things, do better at math, and don’t try to hide your geek pride! Us geeks will be taking over the world in the future, I promise.
Emma Bauer is a Being Geek Chic Contributor. Clearly, she’s got great taste. She is a PR enthusiast, history scholar, tea drinker, fashion devotee, and of course, aspires to Be Geek Chic. Follow her on Twitter: @emmalynnbauer
Meet Kat. By day, she’s a filmmaker (specifically - a development exec at a production company in LA) and writer of geek culture editorials and video game reviews. Her work has appeared in IFC, AOL, Spike TV, E!, and more.
But that’s just the beginning of this lady geek powerhouse. She and her adorable husband Cam have been blogging for just three months over at Our Nerd Home. They chronicle their adventures in geeky home decor, DIY projects, style, small-space living, vintage furniture, and more. Our favorite posts include these DIY chocolate D20/gaming dice (have a terrible roll? Just eat the die!) and this delightful DIY geeky wreath.
When you dive into Kat’s interview with Being Geek Chic, you’ll discover that her passions for geeky home decor, Star Trek, and a certain magical blue box make her tick. And that her 13-year old self owned an awesome thrifted Misfits tank top. Read on!
Q: How did you discover your passion?
A: My older sister gave me a dusty old Atari 2600 and original NES when I was maybe 4 years old. Gaming instantly became my passion and progressed from there. Other geeky pursuits followed, and stuck with me my entire life. My guy and I just moved into our first non-apartment home, and wanted to blend our mutual love for geek culture into our home decor, which is how Our Nerd Home was born - basically to share those projects with our friends. A great bonus has been all of the new friends we’ve been making through the blog.
Q: When did you discover you were “geeky?”
A: I think it was when kids would make fun of me for constantly talking about Star Trek TNG. I didn’t really know I was a geek until people starting calling me that (back then it was a negative thing, for some reason).
Q: If you could take a fictional character out for a drink, whom would you choose and what would you drink?
A: Jean-Luc Picard, and probably Aldebaran Whiskey. But I would rather have a nice round-table dinner and drinks with Picard, Jareth the Goblin King, Dana Scully, the Doctor, and Zer0 from Borderlands 2 (I’m picturing a drunken ninja speaking only in haiku). How awesome would that party be?
Q: You can choose one superpower. What is it?
A: Hmm. I would like to be able to summon a large box that can travel through time and relative dimension in space.
Q: What would you tell your 13-year-old self?
A: So much! Some of the main points would be that none of the things you’re dealing with will matter in ten years, get an adult to buy Apple stock for you, and please don’t throw away that thrifted Misfits tank top - your adult self really misses it.
Emma Bauer is a Being Geek Chic Contributor. Clearly, she’s got great taste. She is a PR enthusiast, history scholar, tea drinker, fashion devotee, and of course, aspires to Be Geek Chic. Follow her on Twitter: @emmalynnbauer
