I grew up in a somewhat…chaotic home. We were poor, but we lived in a huge house with tons of books and had airs above our station. Like, I was chronically underweight as a kid (ah, those were the days), but damn if I wasn’t near the top of my class every year! Intelligence was prized above appearances, which caused a lot of friction between me and my parents. Why, you ask? Well, you see, we lived in a very small, socially stratified town. Either you had, or you had not, and like any 7-year-old, I didn’t understand why I “hadn’t.” As such, I got bit by the “uppity” bug really early.

“My friends get to go to <Insert Local Resort Town Here>, why can’t we go?”

“Because we’re not that kind of people.”

“It looks really cute! There are ponies!”

“We’re too poor. We’re not in that phase of life.”

“Well, can I have a few friends over to visit?”

“No! Are you crazy? Do you want them seeing the way we live?”

*blinks, looks around, sees a spotless Victorian mansion* “…Yes?”

But what I lacked in social contact, I made up for with Martha. Oh, Martha! With your infinite resources to make mozzarella from scratch, create succulent wreaths and host Thanksgiving in your Party Barn! I’d lose myself in a world where everyone was rich, and polite, and helpful, and creative – not raucous, and secretive, and judgmental, and weird.

I still find the old MSL extremely relaxing, almost in an ASMR way. In fact, and this sounds completely counterintuitive, I often find myself putting her on to pump myself up before I clean – I have anxiety and depression, so cleaning the house is a daunting task. Martha keeps me from feeling overwhelmed, with the added benefit of inspiration! (P.S. I highly suggest you seek out the original MSL episodes if you are similarly afflicted. I’d share my source, but I really don’t want them to get DMCA’d. They are easy enough to find, if you look.)

So here I am on the flip side of childhood and I have my cool Permanent Roomate. He’s restaurant-trained, inventive, and he loves food. He’s taught me a lot and I him, with my crazy, weeby ways. And we both have a minor major crush on David Chang. So the following clip warmed the cockles of my jaded, Millennial heart: http://www.marthastewart.com/1002182/pork-bun-recipe-chef-david-chang (Oh, Martha! Why must you gate your videos? Youtube will not hurt you, I promise!).

Apparently, Martha is a giant David Chang stan, as well she should be! Perhaps she should follow my Pinterest Board: David Chang is a God and I want to have a beer with him.

So, to Martha Stewart, who infused my fraught childhood with her WASP-y magic, I salute you! And as for David Chang, well, if you ever venture to the frozen north, I owe you a beer.