New York in Full Bloom

Every spring, there are a few magical weeks when New York is in full bloom. The most mundane tasks, from walking to the subway to taking a coffee break outside, take on a dreamlike quality, with delicate canopies of pink and white blossoms hovering overhead, curving over streets and lining pathways. Whenever this time of the year comes around, I make an effort to spend more time outdoors, knowing how fleeting it all is.

The highlight of the season is the full blossoming of Brooklyn Botanic Garden's Cherry Esplanade. It's an event that I always look forward to—but not without a feeling of wistfulness. Not too long after the cherry blossom trees turn into fluffy clouds of rosy blooms, the petals begin to fall, leaving only a carpet of pink flowers. With that, that magical season ends, ushering in the dog days of summer. But for one afternoon last weekend, we took some time to sit underneath those canopies of cherry blossoms, taking it all in.

As the cherry blossom season comes to an end, I find myself wishing, as I do every year, that it could last forever. But as with everything else in life, we just have to accept that nature will take its course. We have to let go of some things in order to make room for everything else that life has in store. 

Lucky Rice Grand Feast

In a fantastic opening salvo to a weekend of gluttony, I ate, I drank—but mostly, I got lucky. Thanks to my friend Mitch, I ended up with a highly coveted ticket to the Lucky Rice Grand Feast: a hedonistic spread with Asian-inflected food from over 20 high profile restaurants, as well as an array of beer, wine, sake and cocktail selections—all to be savored 36 storeys above Central Park from the Mandarin Oriental ballroom.

Lucky Rice is a festival that brings Asian flavors to a global, food-savvy audience. Now on its 4th year in New York, Lucky Rice has spread to Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami and San Francisco, as well. This year's New York festival featured 11 culinary events over seven days, including a Filipino Feast at the James Beard House sponsored by the Philippine Department of Tourism, and featuring chef Lea Cohen of Pig & Khao and chef King Phojanakong of Umi Nom and Kuma Inn.

With a Culinary Council of heavy-hitters including chefs José Andrés, David Chang, Eric Ripert and Anthony Bourdain, Lucky Rice doesn't fall short of star power. At the event on Friday, chefs Masaharu Morimoto and Susur Lee were milling about the crowd, while Top Chef Season 3 winner Hung Huynh served up spicy chicken tacos for The General. 

With a ticket to Lucky Rice's Grand Feast comes unlimited access to every bite and every sip that you can fit into your stomach—or at least, until supplies run out (I was stuffed to the gills long before that happened). There were a lot of inventive and yummy bites, although for some the "Asian influence" may have been a stretch. Public whipped up one of my favorites: pig's blood popsicles with tomato chili jam and toasted peanuts. I also enjoyed Ngam's Thai pomelo papaya salad, authentically prepared using a mortar and pestle. I loved how Miss Korea came in full Korean costumes to serve up clay pot galbi strips wrapped in shiso and topped with a strawberry sliver. Steamed buns have become so ubiquitous in the food scene that I almost skipped the stands that had them—but I didn't, and ended up enjoying some cool twists on the Asian hipster staple: Morimoto's were filled with eel and foie gras terrine, while Sakamai loaded theirs with roasted duck, lardo Iberico DeBellota and foie gras mayonnaise. Kittichai's lovely hot and sour broth laden with Manila clams and flavored with turmeric and dill was a perfect counterpoint after all the rich bites (and, to me at least, worth struggling with prying clams off the shell while grappling with a glass of rosé). To cap it all off, Spot Dessert Bar served up the cutest little matcha azuki: green tea mousse with red bean filling and a tiny scoop of green tea ice cream.

The stand we returned to the most, however, did not serve food but one delicious libation: D'ussé VSOP Cognac's Yoshino Blossom Fizz, made with D'ussé VSOP Cognac, St. Germain liquor, lemon juice, lychee juice, grapefruit bitters, soda and egg white, and topped with a beautiful orchid blossom. Despite the fact that there were multiple tables giving away sake, wine, champagne, and gin cocktails, we came back to this table time and again, patiently waiting as the bartender continuously shook up magic. 

Eat, drink, get lucky—Lucky Rice's mantra that pretty much spelled out our Friday night. Thanks, Mitch, for one heck of an epic girl's night out! 

Red, Yellow and Blue

There is something magical going on in Madison Square Park—1.4 million feet of magic, to be specific. New York artist Orly Genger has wrapped three large lawns with 50 tons of vividly painted, hand-crocheted lobster fishing rope, turning the park into a surreal and whimsical wonderland. 

I found the art and its juxtapositions fascinating: manmade against nature; the intricate made into something monumental; a traditional craft employed to create the avant-garde. It was a delight to see the art's interaction with the space. Red became a fanciful frame to the tableau of a cherry blossom tree at the peak of its bloom, its petals just starting to fall and carpet the grass underfoot. When I came upon Blue, a fluffy squirrel was perched on one of its cobalt walls, seemingly contemplating the handmade knots as intently as I was. Yellow, meanwhile, drew in people who found its undulating golden waves to be the perfect perch for a photograph.

Genger's monumental sculptures will grace Madison Square Park until September 8, 2013 but I highly recommend visiting now, while the weather is perfect and the park is simply bursting with the most beautiful spring blooms. For more information on this exhibition, as well as Madison Square Park's art initiatives, click here. To see more lovely pictures of the exhibit, including some cool panoramic shots, like The Happily Ever After Project on Facebook!

Boston Strong

With the rest of the world, I watched the news unfold out of Boston last Monday with a sickening feeling of impotence and helplessness. It was heartbreaking to see such devastation inflicted on an event that had always been a celebration of the human spirit. Marathons show people at their best: from the runners, who persevere and endure against all odds, to the wonderful supporters, who go to great lengths to spur on everyone on the road, whether it is a runner near and dear to them, or a complete stranger who seems to need an extra boost. Remembering the kindness of supporters during my own marathon experience, it broke my heart that it was people like them who were the main victims of this act of terror.  

In the face of such a horrific tragedy, what does one do? 

"Maybe we can only run. But that's something," said four-time Boston Marathon winner Bill Rodgers, when he announced that he would come out of retirement to run in the 2014 Boston Marathon. 

Confronted by terrorists who aim to destroy a way of life, the only way for most of us to fight back is to refuse to be cowed and keep on going. So, like many runners all over the country and the world this week, I laced up my running shoes and ran. NYRR dedicated today's 4-mile race to Boston, and in a show of support, runners turned up in Red Sox caps, Celtics jerseys, and "I run for Boston" bibs and t-shirts. About $30,000 was raised from the sale of t-shirts, which will be donated to One Fund Boston, to help those affected by the attack. There's no way of undoing the horrors of last week, but we can hope that every small gesture of support, every prayer and every donation will contribute to providing some measure of comfort to those who suffered through and continue to suffer from this tragedy.

Gravity and Grace

"If you leave your country, you develop a kind of nomadic mentality.
If I had lived in Ghana, my mind wouldn't have roamed.
I wouldn't have expanded my experiences,
or I would have been too comfortable."
- El Anatsui

It's not difficult to connect with El Atansui's art. Monumental in scale, dazzling in sight, and dense in subtance, his pieces are striking at first glance and utterly absorbing the closer you get. From afar, the glimmering, undulating forms have the appearance of extravagance; they fall and drape as the rich fabric of a medieval aristocratic woman's skirt might, displaying a sheen that might come from being threaded with gold and silver. Seen up close, however, you're startled to realize that each piece is, in fact, an intricate mosaic constructed out of the most humble of materials: salvaged bottle caps and labels from liquor bottles manufactured in Nigerian distilleries.

Delve into Anatsui's creative process and his art becomes even more enthralling. A Nigeria transplant born and raised in Ghana, Anatsui injects commentary on African history and culture into his work. His choice of materials is, on one hand, practical: the bottle caps are malleable and come in a wide variety of colors and textures, providing him seemingly infinite possibilities for his work. But it is also a cultural reference: to alcohol's ties to Africa's colonizers, who brought drink to the region and whose slave trade was fueled by the production of rum. The linking of each bottle cap to another also holds poetic significance: by interconnecting bottle caps that have been touched by different individuals, various personal histories are linked, as well.

Anatsui identifies as a nomad and reflects this identity in his art. His pieces do not have a specific orientation and is tailored to each space it occupies. He encourages those installing his piece to fashion his art in their way, so that each interaction leaves a mark on the piece. 

I loved this exhibit on many levels. Viscerally, there is just something about these pieces that delights, uplifts and inspires. Without over-thinking it, being around Anatsui's art simply made me happy. Intellectually, I appreciated his references to the effects of colonialism on a culture, coming from a country whose identity has been and continues to be shaped by its colonizers. And on a more personal level, I feel an affinity to Anatsui and how he identifies as a nomad. We belong to that third culture of those who choose to live in a society different from the one they were born into. I could identify with how the decision to live that kind of life inevitably changes you, making you malleable and expanding your horizons. It can be difficult and unsettling, but it's a way of life that allows some truly unexpected and breathtaking things to emerge.

Gravity and Grace: Monumental Works by El Anatsui 

is on display at the Brooklyn Museum until August 4, 2013.