NYC Wine & Food Festival

My dear friend & college roommate, Mary Kate, and I had the pleasure of attending the NYC Wine & Food Festival "Meatball Madness" event hosted by the Food Network's lovely Giada de Laurentiis in SoHo last night. Renowned chefs from over 20 restaurants in New York City competed for the title of "Best Meatball" to be determined by three Food Network judges. However, Mary Kate and I were more concerned with judging the meatballs ourselves, and we took the task seriously until we of course got distracted by the Godiva stand and the cupcakes. We did decide that our favorite meatball was a toss between the the chef's grandmother's classic recipe at Abbocatto and a delicious meatball parm  on a crispy baguette from Hearth. I would definitely recommend checking out those places if you ever find yourself in New York City with a craving for meatballs!

Mary Kate and I had a blast as we certainly found ourselves in our element (I think my version of Heaven looks very similar to a Food & Wine Festival). As an added plus, I managed to walk away with a purse full of wine-corks. The guy pouring the wine was going to throw them all out so I convinced him to let me have them. I now have perfect supplies for an upcoming project ;)

There are many festival events going on throughout the weekend (including a few that are free) that are sure to be just as delicious. Even better, the entire festival is a charity event benefitting the Food Bank for New York City and Share Our Strength, a nonprofit that aims to end childhood hunger in America. Last year they raised over a million dollars for these wonderful organizations. It was great to see so many people come out to enjoy food while also helping to provide food for others. Definitely check it out if you can!

Leave

"Everybody has to leave, everybody has to leave their home and come back so they can love it again for all new reasons. I want to keep my soul fertile for the changes, so things keep getting born in me, so things keep dying when it is time for things to die. I want to keep walking away from the person I was a moment ago, because a mind was made to figure things out, not to read the same page recurrently. Only the good stories have the characters different at the end than they were at the beginning. And the closest thing I can liken life to is a book, the way it stretches out on paper, page after page, as if to trick the mind into thinking it isn't all happening at once. 

I want to repeat one word for you: Leave. Roll the word around on your tongue for a bit. It is a beautiful word, isn't it? So strong and forceful, the way you have always wanted to be. And you will not be alone. You have never been alone. Don't worry. Everything will still be here when you get back. It is you who will have changed."

 -Donald Miller, Through Painted Deserts

One of my favorite books is Through Painted Deserts by Donald Miller. The book chronicles his road trip across the country with a friend--detailing his journey and simple yet often profound reflections on change, growth, & life in general. 

I was reminded of how much I loved the introduction to this book (quoted above) by my good friend Sarah, who I was privileged to spend time with when I stopped through Denver, CO on the trip home. We were talking at a coffee-shop about my time in Oregon and all of the experiences of the past year. Sarah is just about to move from Denver (the place where she grew up and loves) with her husband to Pennsylvania as he starts work with a wonderful micro-finance organization. They are fully embracing the unknown to follow their dream of eventually going overseas to work in Africa. While I am at the end of my journey away from home, Sarah is just about to begin hers. 

We discussed the craziness of jumping into a world completely new and unknown--how one minute you are completely thrilled with excitement and then utterly terrified at the next. Yet even with the roller-coaster that change initially brings, it is amazing how you somehow arrive at the point when you are looking back on it and realizing how thankful you were for the experience. Despite the inevitable second guesses and occasional moments of difficulty, I am so glad for the opportunity that I had to move to Oregon to live, explore, and truly come to love a new place. Back now in a familiar environment, I have been able to process a bit just how much the whole experience allowed me to discover more about myself, my values, and more of what I want my life to be about. 

Above all I have realized that chasing those new experiences makes life so much richer. It does not provide for a safe or comfortable route at all times for sure, yet it is so worth it. Even now it is a funny transition to be back in the place that I know, and as I settle back in I want to keep chasing different experiences and new perspectives. I want to continue to seek opportunities to learn, grow, challenge myself, and explore at every chance I get. As part of treating life as a story worthy to be put on paper, I want it to be one that continues to be of interest to read until the end.

The View from Brooklyn

Having gone to school in the Bronx and worked in Manhattan over the summers and semesters during my time there, I would say I am pretty familiar with New York City. However, the exciting part about moving back to New York and moving/working in Brooklyn is that, even though it is NYC, it is a completely new world to me. The neighborhoods, bars, cafes, parks, events, and, in actuality--the entire borough--are uncharted territory for me to explore. That being said, I have been spending a lot of time walking around, stumbling into new spots, and investigating online, which has me eager with excitement over all that Brooklyn has to offer. 

One of the great things I recently found is Brooklyn Brainery, a collection of accessible & community-driven classes on everything you could imagine including gardening, poetry-writing, soda-making, and hair-cutting. It harnesses the idea that everyone in the community has the ability to teach something they love to others who are eager to learn (and that you don't have to have a PhD to teach or pay $50K to be educated!)

I love the whole notion behind crowd-sourcing education in this way. It provides a great outlet for finding community over shared interest while celebrating skills and shared knowledge. I am definitely signing up for a few classes this fall (already on the wait-list for "Low-tech Screenprinting" :) and am excited to get involved, meet new people, and learn! Do you know of something like this in your city?

Dead Horse State Park

After waking up in Arches National Park, I did not think that Utah could have amazed me more. However, my brother and I found the breathtaking beauty of Utah's landscape to be far from over when we arrived at Dead Horse State Park, which was only about a 20 mile drive from Arches. 

Dead Horse State Park (with its quite disturbing name) is one of the most vast & beautiful spots I have ever been to. The main viewpoint looks out on the awe-inspiring expanse of Canyonlands National Park, the surrounding area, and the snake-like twist of the Colorado River. Besides the potential for an amazing photographic opportunity, I found it was the perfect spot for a little yoga (plus, my legs were in major need from all of the hours spent in the car...)

In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous. Aristotle

Arches

There was an article this week in the New York Times in which Nicholas Kristof argues that America as a nation is extremely rich--in nature (a must read). In the article he speaks about the amazing access we have to the most beautiful National Parks and the experiences that they offer, and I could not agree more. Having experienced Yellowstone on the drive out to Oregon, Crater Lake and more during the past year, I have been consistently blown away by the beauty that can be found within our borders. There is such a value to be found in the National Parks system, so much simplicity and joy to be found residing in nature, and sincerely a mind-blowing awe & appreciation for the mysteries of the earth. Often times when I have thought about where I would like to travel in the past, foreign destinations were at the top of my list. However, I am so thankful that this experience has allowed me the opportunity to discover these amazing destinations within the United States. 

That brings us to Utah's Arches National Park, 20 miles outside of Moab. I have seen mountains, waterfalls, rivers, and desert, yet I have never been so amazed by rock formations in my life. My brother and I camped out surrounded by brilliant red arches. We woke up at 6am to see the sunrise over one of the most beautiful landscapes I have ever seen, and then took off to hike around, continuing to be amazed at every arch we saw. It was like being a child exploring around a movie set, with surroundings so amazing, large, and foreign that your jaw drops even as you walk around.

Our remnants of wilderness will yield bigger values to the nation's character and health than they will to its pocketbook, and to destroy them will be to admit that the latter are the only values that interest us. 

-Aldo Leopold, Outdoor Life, November 1925.

Great Salt Lake

My brother and I Couch Surfed with a woman in Salt Lake City who was on her way to leave for Burning Man in the desert of Nevada the next morning. (I am sure we passed at least 50 vans that were BurningMan-bound on our trek from California to Salt Lake City, characterized by the 20 gallons of water and hula hoops that they carried.) It was wonderful to sit on the porch with her and find out her story and how she has come to love living in Salt Lake City.  It was my brother's first time couch surfing, and he was in awe of how great it is. Think about it: when else would you be able to park your car in a stranger's driveway in an unknown city and get to find out their favorite aspects of living in that city while sharing a glass of wine on their front porch? We traded travel stories for a while, stayed the night, wished her well at Burning Man and headed over to her recommended brunch spot the next morning. 

We then found out that no one in Salt Lake City knew how to get to the Great Salt Lake. Seriously. Chances are that I genuinely asked all of the wrong people and everyone else in SLC does in fact know how to get to the lake of their city's name-- nonetheless we asked five different people and not one knew where to direct us. So we got a little lost but eventually found it, snapped some photos, blasted the Band of Horses song from the car, and checked it off the list before we hit the road again to drive to Moab. Sincerely, driving through Utah is a treat.

Band of Horses The Great Salt Lake:

Sunset over the Salt Flats

Upon crossing into Utah from Nevada on I-80, we entered the beautiful and mysterious land of the Bonneville Salt Flats. Having no previous knowledge of this area, it was astonishing to stumble upon the flat road surrounded by a sea of white on both sides. Known as one of the "most unique natural features of Utah," the Salt Flats stretch over 30,000 acres and are most famous for the speed racing records that are set on the natural speedway (the 600mph land speed record was broken here). 

It was a wonderful surprise to see at the end of our long travel day from San Francisco to Salt Lake City, and was quite the welcome to Utah. Arriving at the opportune time, we caught the sun setting over the Silver Island Mountains in the distance. The breathtaking beauty of the setting sun against the clouds looks almost unreal, as if it was the work of a painter who had put a brush to the sky. 

Something Nice.

This video made my day (especially at 2:14, simply amazing).

A Toast to San Fran

While in San Francisco, Erin took us to one of grab one of her favorite cocktails before we headed to dinner. Known as "the Recoil", this delicious cocktail is served in a Mason Jar (love) and is likened to a twist on a whisky sour, perfect for those who enjoy the taste of bourbon or whisky and something sweet but not too sweet. Of course I had to get the recipe as I cannot wait until the next time I am in San Francisco for this perfect concoction:

The Recoil:

1.5 oz quality bourbon

.5 oz St. Germain Elderflower liqueur

.5 oz Fresh Squeezed Lime Juice

Ginger Beer

Fill a cocktail shaker with ice and shake the bourbon, St. Germain & lime juice. Strain into a pint Mason jar filled with ice and top with the ginger beer. Garnish with a lime, give a toast and enjoy!

P.S. For those of you who were wondering, this community art scene was spotted on the corner of Valencia & 19th in the Mission. Hope you enjoyed a wonderful long weekend!

Fashion Through the Years

Created for the grand opening of the Westfield Stratford City shopping centre in London next week, this gem of a video documents 100 years of changing fashions in 100 seconds- love it! Hope you have a fun holiday weekend!

Community Art in San Francisco

My brother, Mike, & Erin.

One of the unfortunate truths about meeting great friends through travel is that they often inevitably live miles and miles away from where you do, thus making frequent visits quite difficult. I have often wished it possible to gather all of the people I love to live on the same street so we could have dinner gatherings and be able to meet for coffee all the time. However, until that becomes a reality, it is a wonderful thing to be driving across the country for the chance to try to see as many of those cherished people as possible.

The first stop on our journey East was San Francisco, California to visit with my friend Erin, whom I had met studying abroad in Ireland in 2009. Erin just started a job with Google and it was so wonderful to be able to catch up on that front, see her new place, and explore the city together. One of the highlights of the day was stumbling across a simple community art installation along the walk to the park for lunch. Someone had posted up a sign asking "What do you love?" and had attached a variety of airport baggage tags to the fence. Many of those who had strolled by the fence noticed the question and took the opportunity to write down their answer on the tag. What resulted is a collection of answers--some funny, some meaningful--that stands as a beautiful & random statement of connection and community. Honestly, initiatives like this completely make my day.

It was so wonderful to read through all of the tags and be able to contribute my own, as well (the last photo is my contribution!). I think I may have to find a fence in New York City and attempt a similar idea--it is such a simple thing that can so profoundly brighten someone's day.

While only being able to visit for a short time, I truly loved the city of San Fransico and would love to spend more time there on a future visit. It was so great to see Erin and to share memories of past times while being excited about all the new things (and new places) that we have been getting ourselves into since spending a semester together in Dublin. The ability to reconnect through visits like this is definitely a positive element for the whole friends in far places business. However, I am still wishing for the day we all live on the same street... :)

That Childlike Wonder

How beautiful is this video by director Nabil Elderkin for Bon Iver's single "Holocene"? It premeired on the website of National Geographic last week, and I have been replaying it over and over. The scenes of Iceland are breathtaking, and I think making a trip there has now creeped to the top of my list. The little boy slightly reminds me of Max from Where the Wild Things Are, while the rock formations at the end look distinctly similar to those of the Giant's Causeway on the northeast coast of Ireland, which has remained a favorite spot of mine ever since visiting there in 2009. So lovely.

Bon Iver’s “Holocene” references our current geological period, and Bon Iver, Bon Iver, as an album, references the cycles of birth, living and death. The landscape of Iceland, with its mountains, glaciers, and waterfalls, recalls the past where volcanoes once shaped the earth and where ice caps currently melt. It looks like the most marvelous place on Earth. -Jagjaguwar