I love travel in almost every form ... but don't you find that there's something extra satisfying about a quick getaway? Whether it's a day of hiking, a weekend escape to wine country, or a long weekend at a serene beach, being able to experience something extraordinary in such close proximity to my ordinary life brings me an added dose of pleasure.

Here to bring those experiences ever closer to your fingertips: Discoverue—a website dedicated to helping you find the quick getaway you're looking for this weekend. These mini vacations are meant to last 72 hours or less—just enough to help you decompress from your regular life without disrupting your flow drastically. Being a fervent weekend warrior myself, I penned a few articles for my friends at Discoverue, which you'll find peppered throughout the site. For a quick glimpse of what Discoverue has to offer, watch the video below and visit their website at discoverue.com

Some days are for quinoa salads, kale smoothies and juice cleansing ... and some glorious days are for feasting at Amy Ruth's.

Amy Ruth's is a popular Harlem restaurant, flocked to by those in search of good old, down-home Southern cooking. Chef and owner Carl Redding named the joint after his grandmother in Alabama, who gave him his first lessons in the kitchen before he went on to cook at former Harlem soul food institution Wilson's and under the employ of Reverend Al Sharpton.

Thus, the signature dish here carries the reverend's moniker: juicy deep fried chicken perched atop a perfectly-crisp-on-the-outside and fluffy-on-the-inside waffle. You can ask for a tender chicken leg so large it practically covers the entire waffle or choose chicken wings piled so high you wouldn't be surprised to see your brunch take flight. This dish is more than enough to sate your appetite ... so make sure you come with friends to be able to sample Amy Ruth's other delights. We also tried the fried catfish, covered in just enough batter to start your bite off on an enticingly crisp note before breaking apart to reveal the succulent flakes within. I did not have the fortitude to try the deep fried porkchop smothered in gravy, but the rapt enjoyment of our friend who ordered it made it clear that it was a dish worth coming back for. Even if my caloric conscience somehow got the better of me, I would easily find bliss in having more of that addictive fried okra. That's kind of like having a kale smoothie, sort of ... right?

Walking into the Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine this past Saturday afternoon was a surreal experience. Underneath the historic cathedral's soaring Gothic nave, Chinese artist Xu Bing's stunning Phoenix sculptures hung poised for flight while the sound of live kirtan filled the air, in preparation for the evening's Interfaith Kirtan for World Peace. It was quite a spectacular moment highlighting both the Episcopalian church's progressive views and the sheer diversity of experiences one can have in New York.

On its own, the cathedral nicknamed "Saint John the Unfinished" for its perpetual state as work-in-progress is a sight to behold. Its stylistic influences are manifold—French, Spanish and English Gothic, as well as Romanesque and Byzantine—but come together to striking effect. With the cathedral as foil to Xu's monumental art, the resulting picture is rather awe-inspiring.

A closer look at the phoenixes, dubbed Feng and Huang, makes the artwork all the more enthralling. Each soaring figure is composed of materials salvaged from a construction site in China, where Xu was struck by the poor conditions migrant workers labored under. Xu designed the phoenixes using drawings, models and software then had them constructed, assembly-line style, in a factory outside Beijing, mimicking today's methods of construction. These majestic forms created out of intricately layered pipes, shovels, pliers, saws and assorted construction detritus reflect on the inextricable connection and inherent tension between rapid commercial development and migrant labor rights.  

Walker's installation is called A Subtlety or the Marvelous Sugar Baby—after the elaborate sugar sculptures called "subtleties" served on affluent dinner tables during medieval times. Aside from the gargantuan white sugar sphinx, the warehouse was studded with sculptures of cherubic boys crafted out of molasses and resin. Modeled after archaic tchotchkes the artist discovered in her research, at first glance these sculptures seemed concocted in the medieval spirit, with the intent to delight. But each piece is a meditation on the 19th century slave trade and those it visited its horrors upon, all in service of the wealthier world's insatiable appetite. It's a message that resonates in today's relentlessly avaricious world which, in spite of all its technological advancements, has yet to free all of humanity from slavery's persistent hold.

A Subtlety or the Marvelous Sugar Baby is on view through July 6, 2014 at the Domino Sugar Factory, South 1st Street at Kent Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn. For more information, click here.