Hello, and welcome to my first “Recommended” post! I plan to do these every week for now. Whether I do it more or less often, or drop it completely, will be up to you and your feedback, dear reader! So do feel free to leave a comment below. If you have your own favorite resources to recommend, leave information in the comments and I’ll check it out for possible future posts.
I hope you find these recommendations as useful and enjoyable as I have!
My first recommendation just has to be the first YouTube channel I found that completely enchanted me! Until recently, I hardly ever watched YouTube videos, and only followed people I actually knew in person. I can’t even remember how I came across this channel, but once I did, I kept coming back, eventually working my way through 2 years of videos – and wanting more!
The Liziqi channel has been around since 2017, and is one of several similar channels from China I now follow (the others will have their own Recommended posts!).
While many of the videos are centered around food and cooking, there are also videos on making a warm, woolen cape, building furniture out of bamboo, traditional silk embroidery, and building a cob oven. Quite a range! Liziqi’s very first video was about making a dress – but first using grape skins to dye the fabric!
There are many things about these videos that are appealing.
One of the first things that stands out is the entire atmosphere of the videos. Just watching them leaves you with a feeling of peace. Even if you never want to actually do the things featured in the videos, they are a pleasure to watch. There is no narration. With a couple of exceptions in topic, no one speaking to the camera. Just LiZiqi doing her thing – and doing it beautifully!
Another thing that blows me away about these videos are the tools she uses. Her main tool in many videos is a massive cleaver that gets used to bash things flat or chop through bones one moment, then finely shave food into the most delicate of pieces the next. Many of the tools she uses have clearly been used for many years, if not generations. In fact, it’s almost a surprise when she brings out modern tools, like a cordless drill, or takes things in and out of a refrigerator.
I think one of the things that I find wonderful about these videos, is how they often run from the very beginning of something, through to the final product. And by “very beginning” I give you the following video as an example: How to Make Salted Duck Egg Yolk Sauce.
First, acquire fertilized duck eggs, and get a chicken to brood them…
See what I mean?
Watching these videos leaves me incredibly inspired. It’s not just about the things she makes, but the entire process. That perfection in the smallest of details. The videos are so beautifully filmed and edited, it makes the simple act of cleaning out a wok or picking produce from the garden look gorgeous.
Also, Grandma is adorable.
I definitely recommend checking out the Liziqi YouTube channel. Don’t be surprised if you find yourself wanting to go through all the videos!
The Re-Farmer
The Re-Farmer 