Garnish, like play, seems… frivolous. It gives… unserious. Like, why are you adding that little bit of parsley on top? Are you ffr rn? And it’s like yes, actually. I am. Because that little bit of parsley on top added that gorgeous verdant green to the color palette of the overall dish, and that same cutie cilantro-looking-cousin-leaf on top pairs perfectly together with the orange-reds of the drippy seeded cherry tomatoes and the gold of the long pasta noodles and the translucent white of the cheese clouds and the contrast of the dark peppercorns underneath.

Okay??

I won’t sit here and tell you I was always a garnish girlie. Because... I wasn't. In fact, I scoffed at it. I was like ew, why am I going to spend time on that. My precious time. MY PRECIOUS FREAKING TIME. Why would I slow myself down to add a touch of a thing before stuffing it inside me anyway? When it’s just going to disappear? When it’s going to be there for a second, and then gone?

It’s just going to leave. me. anyway!!

Well, you know what, not-yet-fully-realized-me? I am that bitch now. I fucking love a garnish. I fucking love to add a thing. I love to think, hm, what could add a lil somethin’ somethin' to this? And yes, even when I’ve bought the food from a restaurant, I still ponder: is there a pop of taste, a pop of yum, a pop hidden in my pantry for me to sprinkle, drizzle, toss, spread apart, lay over? 

I buy a pizza, I get home, and I don’t bite into it immediately. Maybe the restaurant would be offended, but I don't care because one, I wouldn't be, and most importantly two, maybe I do have a lil thing that could bring me that much more delight. Garnish is the candle. Garnish is foreplay. Garnish is for the extra. For the slow swirl and swallow. For life.

Garnish gets me wet.

Can I even call myself a designer and not love garnish? Can I even call myself a silly romantic hoe and not love garnish??

But honey, you might say. Don't you believe design is elegant, Em? That design is uncluttered, and only should have what is absolutely necessary??

Well, firstly how dare you know me so well stranger on the internet or even dear friend (!), but also how dare you question garnish girlie supremacy. Garnish is absolutely necessary if you want to savor, pause, smell, ponder, zest, i.e. enjoy life at all.

Garnish represents the je ne sais quoi, the final touch, the motherfucking cherry on top.

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And I do love a top.