Dinner in NY

What does your dinner look like?

Miho Aikawa recently debuted a project titled Dinner in NY, which shows the images of people eating dinner in the metropolitan melting pot of New York City. The portraits are wildly different: the people, the surroundings, the food, and especially the time.

One of the portraits shows a monk from Myanmar eating a full array of delicious foods. At 11:17 AM, since he doesn't eat after noon. (I shamefully admit that 11:17 is sometimes my breakfast time, not my dinner time.) Another shows a drummer eating take-out late at night (or, rather, early in the morning) after a long rehearsal. It might not be "my" definition of dinner, but it's his. I think there is something really personal and intimate about our meals and the food we eat, and that's what so cool about this project.

U Pa Mok Kha is a monk from Myanmar who cannot eat after 12 noon. Local people bring him food and after he is done, he shares the rest of the food with them. 

Age: 55 Time: 11:17 AM  Location: Jackson Heights, Queens

In beginning this project, Aikawa aimed to answer the question, "What is a quality dinner?" Is it the quality of the food, the people you eat with, or the circumstances that define the dinner?

Robert and Vivian DeRosa share Sunday family dinner, 

a long-standing tradition as Robert grew up in the same home. 

Age: Robert 60, Vivian 55  Time: 5:59 PM Location: Fresh Meadows, Queens

Of course, in today's fast-paced world, the ritual of eating a meal has really gone by the wayside. It seems more people "eat to live" rather than "live to eat." Certainly there's nothing wrong with that, but as a food lover, I really cherish my meals (I only get three a day, after all).

Matthew Vogel relaxes with a sandwich and a beer during the evening commute to Pleasantville, NY. 

Age: 30 Time: 6:59 PM  Location: White Plains, Harlem Line

According to a study in Public Health Nutrition, eating as a primary activity has declined in the past 30 years, but eating as a secondary activity has risen substantially. And half of our eating is done while doing something else: watching TV, surfing the Internet, playing Words with Friends.... (I think I see a trend here).

When I eat dinner, I am also usually doing something else. Most often I'm reading blogs, which is a great way for me to wind down after a long day. Other times I'm watching TV. Sometimes I even eat in bed, which is my favorite place to eat dinner. Especially if Friends or a really good/bad reality show is on (i.e., anything with a Kardashian or Real Housewife).

Jai Yoon Lee, a student from South Korea, has dinner in her dorm room watching her favorite Japanese TV shows. 

Age: 20  Time: 7:51 PM  Location: Greenwich Village, New York

 [Full disclosure: this is pretty much what my dinner looks like, except 

a) I wish I lived in Greenwich Village and b) it's approximately three hours later]

But for me, there's no comparison to a long, leisurely meal enjoyed in good company. Whenever my sister and my mom and I go out to eat, it's wonderful. We order a bunch of things to share, and the conversation and food are always stellar. It's a simple thing, but, as Aikawa says, it really brings the pleasure back to the table.

[Photos and Captions from Miho Aikawa Photography]

One Simple Change

This has not been a good week.

Sorry to be semi-depressing, but it really hasn't.

I was feeling the stress come on in full force Monday night as I made my way back to my apartment after a long, exhausting day. I had just been through a less-than-stellar Chemistry recitation. The culmination of lab reports, crazy homework coding assignments (made only slightly better by the references to Harry Potter, but still), tests, and quizzes combined to make me feel as though I might be sick. To be clear, this never ever happens to me. While I am absolutely the type of person who totally zones in during times of stress, only coming up for food and water, I rarely feel the physical ramifications of too much stress and anxiety.

But Monday was different. Do you ever have your feelings hurt or your ego bruised and then that's all you can think about for the rest of the day? That's me. It stays with me like a permanent lump in my throat. I'm a people pleaser, through and through. And my feelings were hurt. And then I got frustrated. And then I got angry.

And then I read this.

One simple change: let it go. Easier said than done, I must admit, but at the time, it really struck me. Just let it go, Sara. 

And wouldn't you know, once I committed to letting it go, I no longer felt so angry or frustrated or stressed. I suddenly felt determined, like I could overcome this week.

It was a simple change, but it made a big difference.

"Somebody That I Used to Know" by Gotye

It started with a perceived typo.

“Have you heard of gotye?”

Um, what?

“Just listen to somebody that I used to know,” my sister typed via G-mail chat. Oh, it’s an artist. My sister has never led me astray when it comes to music, so  I made a mental note to do some exploring.

It took me a few days to get to it, but I finally did, and all I’ve been listening to recently is this song. I haven’t put a song on repeat since I owned a CD player and listened to N*Sync’s “Pop” over and over again, until I knew all the lyrics by heart.

Wait, what?

In any sense, give it a listen. It’s a beautiful song, beautifully written, and beautifully performed, with a wonderful build-up to the climactic duet at the end. It’s completely infectious and addicting.

Also, the music video is all kinds of awesome, telling a story better in a relatively static frame than some artists can in ten-plus minutes (ahem, Lady Gaga).

Are there any new songs you can’t get out of your head lately? What have you been listening to?

Breaking the Silence

Wow.

It’s been a while.

More than two months, which is kind of shameful. A semester has come and gone, and a new one has started. Sixteen credit hours again. I’m getting into the swing of it, establishing a routine that seems to work well. (Yet I, in an obvious state of deliriousness, decided it’d be fun to read 265 pages of a business novel (apparently this genre exists) in five days, on top of lab reports (torturous, in case you were wondering), exams, and other homework.)

The good news is that this semester is already a million times better than the last, and it’s only been four weeks. I think I prefer the more relaxed pace of spring semester over the rushed and, while completely exciting, rather hectic and stressful fall semester (football games and all).

While I’ve been away, there’s certainly not been a lack of delicious cooking. There was a divine gingerbread apple upside down cake, lots of Thanksgiving deliciousness, a really awesome cranberry wild rice, better-than-Starbucks cranberry bliss bars, and plenty of soup. And also my beginning-of-the-semester treat to myself: cheesecake for dinner, enjoyed while watching Friends in bed. Don’t judge.

But there’s also been lots of oatmeal. A lot. It’s almost too embarrassing to admit how much.

...

You’re probably noticing a few changes in this space, too. I’ve thought a lot about these changes. I think it was important for me to take a break from this blog for an extended period. It really made me miss it.

I’m the kind of person who loves the idea of keeping a journal but is awful at keeping one. For this reason I really admire my mom, who has had a blog for nearly five years (!) and a series of Moleskine journals documenting the last five-plus years of her life.

If I’ve learned anything over these last two months of hibernation, it’s that I really miss blogging. I miss the connections I get to make with other bloggers, the thrill of seeing a creation published, and, most of all, the writing process. Writing is my oldest passion; it’s something I’ve kept with me in one form or another for half of my life. I really missed it.

When I started this blog eighteen months ago I wanted it to be strictly food-driven. I’m not actually sure why I thought keeping a food blog would be so easy while starting college, but then again I had a lot of expectations of college life dashed when I was a freshman.

But, as an engineering student, I’ve found that I really need a creative outlet. There’s only so many computer science and stochastics problems I can do before I go totally crazy. I am a soulful college girl, after all.

I’m going to see how it goes, but for now I want to shift the focus from cooking and baking to my life—everything from the music I’ve been listening to, cool things I stumble upon (but not on StumbleUpon, a site I really loathe), and other random bits and pieces. And, I suspect, from time to time there will also be a few culinary creations, because I might be the only person who is completely inspired by the thought of a graham cracker “cookie” that is legitimately just a buttery graham cracker crust. (Can someone please make this happen? Am I totally crazy for having craved this for the last two weeks?!)

So welcome to the new soulful college girl. I hope you like what you find here.

Being Thankful

A few days ago I read a post by Jennifer Perillo, who writes In Jennie's Kitchen. If you read lots of food blogs, you've probably heard Jennie's story; this past August, her husband died unexpectedly from a heart attack, and she quickly became a single mother to her two young daughters. It's a heartbreaking story, and though I'd never read her blog before, I began to after that. I'm not sure why I did, but in the past three months I've grown to look forward to her posts. They're filled with raw emotion; she doesn't sugarcoat anything; to be honest, some of the posts can be downright difficult to get through. The compassion, the pain, and the emotion you feel for this distant stranger can be pretty startling.

Anyway, this past week Jennie posted about being thankful for everything she has in her life, and she encouraged her readers to do the same this Thanksgiving. "Take a moment and think about everything that you feel fortunate for in your life," writes Jennie. "Then, think about the millions of voids that will be on Thanksgiving tables around the country."

In our family, we like to go around the table and each say what we are thankful for. It's pretty cheesy, yes, but it does allow us to reflect on everything we have. Usually, I say something like "I'm so grateful for all the delicious food we're about to eat," which is the truth. But my response never really delves deeper than that.

I don't often reflect on all the blessings in my life. I have so many. My education. My family and friends. A warm bed to sleep in at night. It can be really easy to turn these wonderful things around, though.

Classes are too hard. 

Too much family time. 

Why do I have to get out of bed so early? 

I've thought all of these things before. Actually, I've probably thought all of them in the past week (especially the first and last).

A few days ago I was in a real panic to decide what to make for dessert for Thanksgiving. I'd really wanted to make the brown butter tarts that I'd had as my birthday "cake," but I wasn't getting a response from the pastry chef at the restaurant where they're made. So I was frantically searching for an alternative. Will pie be too hard? Is crisp too boring? Are two springform pan desserts too similar? It was a whirlwind of self-inflicted stress.

And then I stopped searching for a while. Why was I making such a big deal about this Thanksgiving dessert? How was this in the spirit of Thanksgiving at all? How many people across America would gladly take any Thanksgiving dessert, be it pie, cake, fruit, or otherwise? How many people across America wouldn't even be partaking in a Thanksgiving feast? How many people around the world wouldn't be able to spend the day with their family? It was humbling to think about the embarrassment of riches I take for granted, to shift my perspective just a tad and realize how fortunate I am to consider my second dessert problem a problem at all.

This Thanksgiving will be a strange one at our home. For the first time, it will be only my parents and me, as my sister can't make the trip from Los Angeles to Atlanta. It will be a quiet day, for sure, but it won't make me love Thanksgiving any less.

Thanksgiving has long been my favorite holiday. I love the food, of course. The week-plus of leftovers that ensue. I love the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and learning how to make carrot ring alongside my mom. And watching all the Friends Thanksgiving episodes and casually viewing the football games and seeing Miracle on 34th Street for the first time this holiday season. And taking a walk in the crisp morning before hunkering down in the kitchen. Having a peaceful and conversation-filled meal with my family. Staying at home. These are only some of the things I'm thankful for this year. They may seem little, but together they make Thanksgiving what it is, small memories I'll take with me in a few years when I have my own Thanksgiving dinner and begin to form my own traditions.

Last Thanksgiving I invited my Chinese roommate Chen to our home for Thanksgiving. It was a wonderful experience for both of us: Chen got to experience "real American Thanksgiving food" and I got to show it to her. Undoubtedly it's a Thanksgiving I won't soon forget.

As next Thursday approaches, I want to know: what are you thankful for? 

Around Here

Today I thought I'd share a few things I've been into lately. Some food-related things, some not.

1. A few weeks ago I stumbled upon Autumn Reeser's blog. You're probably saying "Who?" right now, but for the clueless out there she played Taylor Townsend on The O.C. and as such was the inspiration behind this blog. So it all feels very karmic or fateful or whatever the correct term is that she, too, has a blog. And now she is both married and has a baby son, so I feel very old. She lives in Los Angeles and still acts, but I think it's so cool to hear about her daily life and thoughts. (This is probably why I like Twitter so much.) Give it a read if you can.

2. Something else that makes me feel old: Friends now comes on Nick at Nite. To me this means it's on the level of All in the Family and The Cosby Show, which were shown late on night when I was really young and therefore meant they were practically ancient. I still remember when Friends would come on every weekday on TBS at 7 o'clock (primetime), which meant that was when our family ate dinner. Heck, I still remember the fourth season finale in London at Ross' wedding when he says Rachel's name. That was 1997, so I wasn't even in elementary school then. The concept of a season finale was totally lost on me (What do you mean we have to wait four months to find out what happens next?). Friends was the first show I ever truly followed, and it will always have a special place in my heart. It's striking to me that almost ten years after the series finale (and twenty years since the series premiere) it's still hilarious to me. My parents sometimes watch reruns of MASH, and I'm always amazed at how unfunny it is. Was it always that way or has our humor evolved that much in the past thirty years? I could go on about my love for Friends, but I'll leave you with a few of my favorite videos instead: "PIVOT" / "PIVOT" bloopers / "Meat? Good" / "Misshapen claw" / "Phoebe's Christmas Song" / "A lot of information" / A hilarious but subtle opener

2. I'm loving anything by Bon Iver these days. Their songs are so beautiful it hurts. The perfect soundtrack for autumn. Check out "Michicant" (video) and "Fall Creek Boys Choir." So good.

3. I'm a big fan of Dana Velden's "Weekend Meditation" posts over at The Kitchn, and this week she also wrote a "Midweek Meditation." I love her writing - her prose is such an inspiration. 

4. Mindy Kaling's new book Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? is one I'm dying to read. God, I love her. Read an excerpt here.

5. Ditto the new Serious Eats book.

6. New blog obsession: Scarletta Bakes. It's like Joy the Baker moved to the Southwest. So witty, creative, and, most importantly, she makes delicious food.

7. I'm getting antsy and anxious about Thanksgiving. It's less than two weeks away! How did this happen? Our menu is pretty much set in stone from year to year, but I have free reign over desserts, and my indecisive self usually waits until the week before to decide what to make. There's always pumpkin cheesecake, and this year I'm hoping for brown butter tarts (crossing my fingers I can get the original recipe straight from the source). Otherwise, it may finally, after several years of "yes, this is the year I'll make it," be time for Cranberry, Almond, and Cinnamon Tart. Lately I've been in love with everything deep-dish. There's something so wonderful about baking a pie in a springform pan: more buttery crust (duh)!

8. Today Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 comes out on DVD. I'm dying to see it again. Sometimes I kick myself for having waited so long to read the Harry Potter books. So, to close, one of my favorite HP-related links: J.K. Rowling's Harvard Commencement Speech. If you only actually click over to one of the (many) links in this post, make it be this one. You'll be left in awe and inspired.

Pumpkin Granola

I think I can measure how busy I am on any given day by the number of unread posts in my Google Reader. It seems unfathomable that I used to get my unread blog posts down to zero (yes, zero!), but now any number less than 400 is fine. Even though I read blogs every day, often more than once, the blog posts just never seem to dwindle.

All of this is meant to excuse this long, silent absence over here for the past three weeks. (Three weeks, yikes!) I’ll justify that by saying that I’ve had many tests and, as a result, many three-bowls-of-oatmeal days. I think the hardest thing about Georgia Tech is that it just sort of sneaks up on you. Four weeks until a test seems like an eternity (especially after the most recent one), but then I find myself studying a few days before and wondering to myself, When did we ever learn this? How in the world did they come up with this answer? As an Industrial Engineering major, when why do I need to take Physics II? When will the magnetic field of a curved disc ever be relevant to my life? Can you imagine being a Physics major?! (Turns out they have to take Honors Physics, so no: I cannot imagine doing this to myself.) A lot of these questions I ask myself revolve around physics, because I can’t exactly say I’ll never need to know accounting or probability.

As I said, there have been plenty of oatmeal three-a-days around here. Not that I mind, but it’s not exactly inspiring, and it really doesn’t do much for this space.

Luckily I have this pumpkin granola pushing me back into the kitchen. I’ve wanted to make granola for a long time. I used to buy those expensive (especially on a college student budget) Kashi granola bars that were so good. There was a pumpkin spice flavor that, lo and behold, actually didn’t contain any pumpkin in it at all. It’s like when you read the ingredients on the back of the blueberry muffin mix box (Why is there red dye in this? What is a blueberry-flavored nugget?). Anyway, I forced myself to quit the granola bar habit because at the end of the day, even though they were oh so good, I knew I could make a homemade version that was better for me and my taste buds (and my wallet, although ironically I made this at home over fall break using my parents' pantry).

What I love about this pumpkin granola is how deliciously crunchy it is. I was worried at first it would be too soft but after a day or so it crunched up deliciously. The smell is also incredible. A blend of spices and warm autumn flavors like pumpkin, maple syrup, and apples all get mixed up before being tossed with chewy dried fruit and some toasty nuts. It’s also not nearly as sweet as other granola, but I think that really lets the pumpkin and spices shine.

Now that I’ve tried pumpkin granola I can’t wait to experiment with other flavors. I’m thinking a coconut version or one with other fruits like pears would also be delicious. I also think this would be fabulous as a topping for fruit crisps. Can you imagine topping cinnamon-scented roasted apples with this? I think I may have just found a new Thanksgiving  dessert.

Pumpkin Granola
Adapted from Serious Eats

I halved the sweetener in this recipe, but if you like a sweeter granola go ahead and add another ¼ cup of maple syrup. Use whatever nuts and dried fruits you like. I used almonds and walnuts and dried cherries and cranberries but pecans, pumpkin seeds, raisins, and even dried apples would also be delicious. The measurements here are pretty loose – I just grabbed handfuls of the nuts and dried fruit, but I have pretty small hands, so adjust accordingly. (I’d say my handful is somewhere between a ¼ and 1/3 of a cup.)

Yield:  8 to 12 servings

3 cups rolled oats
1½ teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon allspice
½ teaspoon nutmeg (preferably freshly grated)
½ teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon salt
Handful dried cranberries
Handful dried cherries, roughly chopped
Handful raw almonds, roughly chopped
Handful raw walnuts, roughly chopped
¼ cup maple syrup
1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
½ cup pumpkin puree
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

Adjust an oven rack to the center position and preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line a half-sheet pan with foil or parchment paper.

In a large bowl combine oats, spices, dried fruit, and nuts. Stir to combine.

In a medium bowl, whisk the maple syrup, vanilla, pumpkin, and applesauce. Add to the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly to combine.

Spread out in an even layer on the baking sheet. Bake for 40 minutes, stirring halfway through baking, until the granola is golden and smells heavenly.

Allow the granola to cool slightly before digging in. Stored well in an airtight container at room temperature, the granola will keep for at least a few weeks.