A Bit of Exposition
Aglaia Ho |
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I am incredibly blessed to travel for work and experience new places. This summer, my job took me to Chicago, Illinois. Determined to make the most of this opportunity, I decided to fly into the Windy City (fun fact: Chicago does not even make the top ten in The Weather Channel’s list of the windiest cities in the United States) early to do some sightseeing on my own. Here is a look at my fantastic weekend! A Bit of ExpositionDespite my well-versed repertoire of domestic travel, I had never been to Chicago. Being the snooty New Yorker that I am, I had always considered New York City THE city, far superior to any other in America. Thus, while Chicago was on my bucket list, visiting was never a priority.
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I am a strong proponent of greater accessibility to culture, especially music. Growing up, I was privileged to have piano lessons, sing in a local choir, and be taken to concerts at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center. I was also fortunate enough to live in a city that values performing arts and offered plenty of free and affordable music programs, such as the NY Philharmonic’s annual Concerts in the Park series, Lincoln Center’s Free Fridays, and numerous recitals at the public libraries. During my recent trip to Chicago, I was pleased to find that the windy city offers its residents similar opportunities as well. I attended a performance of the Grant Park Music Festival, an annual summer music series held at Millennium Park (home to the Bean). It was interesting to experience another city’s take on a free concert and engage with the local community.
It is not difficult to pick out a New Yorker in a crowd of people. You will hear him. Not only will he be loud, like obnoxiously loud, he will talk a certain way. His speech will have a twang to it, as distinguishable badge of honor that he is an old-timer. Every other word will be a profanity probably the f-bomb and he will be talking at a bazillion words per minute. Oh and did I mention you will never be able to fit a word in? While New York is famous for its pizza, bagels, and skyscrapers, it is also notable for its accent. Of course there is no “standard” accent that defines such a diverse city, but there is a distinctive linguistic element that you hear in those old mob movies or Newsies (yeah, I know that is a weak example). It enchants and intrigues both visitors and native residents alike and has come to signify so many aspects of our city. It represents the classic underdog struggle that is bound to be present in any newcomer’s journey. It stands for a tough, no-nonsense attitude needed to claw to the top of the food chain. It also evokes nostalgia of a New York that was gritty, dirty yet, also charismatic in its own way. If These Knishes Could Talk breaks down the iconic New York accent to unearth what it truly means to be a New Yorker. This entertaining hour-long documentary features interviews, anecdotes, and insight from Big Apple residents from all walks of life. Cooking Through NYC's Famous Fine Dining RestaurantsNew York City’s fine dining scene is a mixture of the old and the new. The restaurants that are all the craze may have established themselves over time or skyrocketed immediately to fame. My next two pursuits demonstrates this contrast.
Enter Le Cirque, an Italian-French restaurant in midtown Manhattan that first captured my attention when I was five years old. When I was little, being the aspiring chef that I was, I used to play restaurant with my plastic toy produce and tiny lavender tea set. I would make up my own dishes, pretend to cook them over a cardboard range, and then serve them to awaiting family members. My inspiration came from a VHS that I played potentially more times than Barney’s Great Adventure. The video featured executive chefs cooking a dish or two from their restaurants’ menu. My absolute favorite participant was a very young and charming Daniel Boulud from Le Cirque. I remember being impressed by his creativity and quirky uniqueness- cooking a chicken under a brick, for example. He taught me how to plate raspberry sauce and cream into a beautiful heart design with the help of a simple knife. Since that video, I was always set on visiting Le Cirque- mostly for Daniel Boulud (at the time, I was unaware that he had already left the restaurant’s kitchen), but also for the food. Every summer my family and I head off on a quest to embark on exciting adventures, find new experiences, and make timeless memories. This year, we visited Iceland, an untouched, raw beauty shaped by Mother Nature and Nordic culture. Take a look at our journey to the land of fire and ice!
The generation that I am a part of, call it Generation Z, the iGeneration, or the post-Millennials, grew up in a world tinkering between the real and the virtual. We emerged into a society that was in the midst of a technological revolution. When I was born in the mid-1990s, floppy disks and tape cassettes were still the norm, cell phones looked like Kim Possible gadgets, and e-mail was in its early stage. Throughout elementary school, my family had dial-up Internet and surfing the net was a privilege rather than commonplace. By the time I entered high school, technology had improved drastically. Everyone had an iPhone, an e-mail address, at least one social network account, and “Google” was a casual verb. How is it possible that someone who grew up carrying a bulky Walkman, now can listen to music, browse the net, play games, and text on a slim smartphone? The tech industry is booming and our culture is changing as our dependency on electronic gadgets and virtual communities grows at a terrifying pace. However, what direction are we really heading in?
I cannot emphasize enough how rapid development in technology really is a two-edge sword. As much as new advances can expand our innovative possibilities in pertinent fields like science and medicine, it can also become a crutch on which tenuous interpersonal relationships stand on. Think of how many of us will like a Facebook post, but will never contact the poster for coffee in person. Think of how busy parents often shove an iPad in their toddler’s face in order to keep them placated during dinner at a restaurant or a long drive in the car. We have become somewhat withdrawn and incapable of socializing healthily. At a party with strangers, we can seek familiarity in our phones and feign busy social lives, but really we are lonely and insecure. We live in a constantly plugged in society where our virtual interactions are more frequent than our real-life ones and it is problem. Thanks to the Internet these days, finding decent restaurants for a dinner out is much easier. Whenever my family goes on vacation, we use Yelp to find a spot for dinner. Granted, with our destination of choice being in the middle of nowhere, we really are not relying on the app to find good restaurants. Rather, we are using the app to find A restaurant. Actually, in our experiences, we have learnt to be wary about Yelp, especially when you are in the boonies and the restaurant with a five star review is a Vietnamese place. No one does ethnic foods like New York and LA, period. Thankfully, back at home Yelp can be quite invaluable and allow you to weed out the delicious from the disgusting.
Unfortunately, following a five star review, my family and I had a less than satisfying dinner at Room 55, a New American restaurant in Glendale. The restaurant had received uniformly spectacular ratings for both its food and its service. Maybe our visit happened to be on an off night because the food was severely lacking, especially for the price that was being charged. Cooking Through NYC’s Famous Fine Dining Restaurants When my family eats out, we tend to stick to the bare-bone minimum- an entrée per person, sometimes even two entrées split between three people. We scrap the appetizers, the desserts, and even the drinks, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic. We joke that we are every restaurant’s least favorite customers because our bill always comes out significantly cheaper than the next table over! Because of our dining habits, opportunities like Restaurant Week can be quite a treat for us because it allows us to sample a reasonable-sized three-course meal. This year, I have been fortunate enough to partake in three different dining experiences. However, not everyone in my family was able to make it out to Manhattan for the culinary expedition. Thus, I decided that I should bring Restaurant Week to my home kitchen with a three-course dinner using recipes from the Gramercy Tavern. The Gramercy Tavern actually did not participate in Restaurant Week this year, although it is boasted as one of the best restaurants in the city. This new-American establishment nestled in the historic Flatiron district prides itself on seasonal dining with inventive recipes featuring whatever fresh ingredients can be obtained throughout the year. The restaurant is divided into a casual tavern with a la carte fares and a fine dining room, which offers various tasting menus. As delicious as many of its specialties sound, such as its duck breast, a bite of its three-course dinner will run you close to a hundred dollars ($98 to be exact). As gentrification turns even the seediest of neighborhoods of Manhattan into trendy, unaffordable hot spots and Brooklyn into a cool, pricey hipster haven, there is one borough that does not seem to be getting the same amount of love. Once a coveted getaway for upwardly mobile families who wanted to escape the plight of 1970s Manhattan, raise kids, and have a backyard and front lawn, Queens is perhaps moving in the opposite direction when it comes to progress. Though still heavily residential and housing one of the most diverse populations in the country, the area seems to be missing out on the growth appropriated to other boroughs. Instead, efforts to revitalize Queens have been superficial, at best, and have not really demonstrated a strong commitment to preserving its cultural institutions, amenities, and unique historical landmarks.
This year, I was fortunate enough to work in midtown for my summer internship around many iconic New York City landmarks. With a mandatory hour lunch break and relatively beautiful weather for most of June and July (and then it got hot...like I-want-to-die hot), I took advantage of this time to go exploring in the city. My spontaneous adventures have led me to the New York Public Library where I not only did research for my history thesis, but also saw some Alexander Hamilton documents and the original stuffed animals that inspired A.A. Milne’s beloved Winnie the Pooh; Broadway in Bryant Park where I stood stupidly star-struck four feet away from Sierra Boggess; the Princeton Club/Williams Club where I got a personal tour from a sweet Williams alum; and even a street fair where I spent over an hour’s wage on cute muscle tees and zeppole.
Yet, nothing was more embarrassing and sadly hilarious as my ordeal through the labyrinth that is Grand Central Terminal. Long story short: I, a native New Yorker, alum from Stuyvesant High School, student at Williams College, managed to get lost for thirty minutes. Here is the story. The visit to Grand Central was entirely unplanned. It had been a muggy, overcast day. Thinking that rain would be improbable (mistake number one), I left the office to eat outside and then go for a nice stroll. However, not even five minutes into my lunch break, menacing dark grey clouds rolled overhead and unleashed an onslaught of rain. So I ducked quickly into an indoor public space on 42nd Street to take cover. After eating my lunch, I was just settling in to read a magazine when a hobo walks through the door and sits maybe three feet away from me. The smell was horrific! The poor guy just reeked of bad BO and probably weeks (years?) of no showering, only made mustier by the rain. I felt bad about changing my seat so I packed up and headed back into the rain. Standing on the curb, I noticed that Grand Central was right across the street. Perfect, here was the opportunity for a new adventure! Although I have been there in passing, I never fully explored this prominent station. I rushed over and headed inside. |
About this BlogA collection of random musings from the mind of a native New Yorker. Be sure to find everything from personal narratives, reviews, lists, and rants. SubscribeCategories
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