If anyone out there other than family actually reads this blog, they would find that I refer to my wife in my postings as “wifey.” Now I thought that I borrowed the term from hip hop, but recently I discovered that the term had be used by my late grandpa in a post card he had sent to my bubby and my mom for Rosh Hashana while he was in basic training in Fort Shelby.
Observe the evidence, circa 1943:
Though he spelled it “wifie,” the sentiment remains the same. Proof that even after death, Grandpa will always inspire me, even when it is coincidental.
Rest in Peace Grandpa.
Manhattan was really buzzing on April 12-13, 2008 as consumers and area retailers gathered in the beautiful Metropolitan Pavilion to learn about, and sample, some of the best coffees and teas from around the world. “Attendance at this year’s show was the highest to date. We expect the 2009 show to continue the upward trend”, said Lynda Calimano, event producer at Starfish Junction.
The recent 2-day event presented a great lineup of international coffee and tea exhibitors and guest speakers. Attendees were thrilled to meet Tea Master Yoshikazu Tafu who journeyed from…
…wait a minute… let me take a closer look at the photo in the SW corner above-
OH MY GOD! That’s the wifey and and I! How the hell did we get in this newsletter? I mean, my left bicep looks totally ripped and all, but it looks I’m sleeping or in deep, mediative thought. At least wifey looks engaged in coversation.
As most commuters will tell you, it usually takes something special to make them come into the city on a day where they don’t have to. I couldn’t agree more, which is why the something special that brought me into the city this weekend was the 3rd Annual Coffee and Tea Festival NYC, which took place at the Metropolitan Pavilion in Chelsea. (Editor’s note- Before Scott got married, he wouldn’t have been caught dead at this event. But times and tastes do change.) The cool thing was that there were many companies from the tri-state area reprezenting, including several tea/coffee places from Long Island, but we’ll get to that later.
So with further delay, the logo for the festival-
Thank you ladies!
First, here are some of the companies and products the wifey and I discovered at the festival that we liked.
Straight outta of Arlington, MA comes Best Friends Cocoa, a company that specializes in, you guessed it, cocoa mix. The wifey and I tried some samples they had at the the show and we were hooked.
Pictured here at the Best Friends booth is Linda Guttman, one of the founders of the company holding a bag of her fine product. Besides the taste, the thing that drew wifey and I to the booth was the marshmallow flavored mix. I love marshmallow in my cocoa, but there is no point buying it cause’ the wifey is a vegetarian and I think they make the stuff with hooves or something. Linda’s product solves this problem because the marshy flavored mix does not have real ones in them and is also fat free. Plus for those who follow kashrut, the product is kosher. UPDATED- Best Friends is available in Long Island at the Fairway in Plainview, NY.
A Long Island company! Real Coffee Corp is based out Farmingdale. As for the coffee, honestly, we didn’t try any because we were immediately drawn to samples they were giving out of this sipping chocolate that they sell:
It’s called Bellagio Sipping Chocolate and it was awesome. Thicker than chocolate milk, but not so thick that it can be used as engine lubricant. So tasty that we ended up buying some to use for fondue purposes. But don’t take my word for it…SEE THE VIDEO!
And the chocolate did turn. Kudos to Stewart Cooper and the Real Coffee guys for bringing this machine out. It was a big draw.
Yes, we did actually drink tea at the show. One of the ones we enjoyed the most was the English tea from Harrisons & Crosfield. UK company with their US office (from Chatham, NJ) at the show.
That’s Meg Schaefer, the Sales Account Manager chatting up some serious tea convo with the wifey. I wasn’t too involved in this conversation, but after trying their tea, I didn’t have to be. It was good quality, nice aroma and tasted like a fine British tea should. As for where you can get it in LI, according to H&C, this site sells the stuff, but according to Meg, she was trying to make inroads with some of the merchants in Huntington. We love Main street, so good luck Meg!
Not a tea or coffee company, but instead, a non-for profit organization that has a very unique mission.
When wifey and I got educated about Cup of Education, we found out that they work to help the people of rural coffee growing communities in Central and Latin America to build schools and to give the kids of these lands the supplies needed- pencils, books and even teachers. As you can see from the picture, this organization is about helping the real people behind the coffee, and not about played out stereotypes.
I’ve heard of these guys before and had seen their tea bar on 14th street, but was never really interested. Plus, I have a finely tuned radar for hyperbole, so I am wary about any tea company that refers to itself as “the future of tea.” Nevertheless, I strolled over to their booth and was pleasantly surprised. They ended up having some nice, exotic tea mixes and the sample tea tasted like Hawaiian Punch, which I thoroughly enjoyed.
Plus they were the only tea company to bring their own DJ to the event. I give them a 10 for style points on that one.
When I think of instant coffee, there are two words that usually come to mind- Total Crap. Most instant coffee is not very good, which is why this awesome company from Mexico blew my mind with their instant grind.
All you have to do is add hot milk or water to this coffee, which is seasoned with brown sugar cane and cinnamon to make a delicious cup of cafe de olla style Mexican coffee. Don’t know where you can find it in Long Island, but it is available on eBay. We ended up buying the last bag they had left that day, so don’t even think about it…
…hate all you want, but the bag is OURS!!!
Speaking of hating, it’s time for me to address the things at the show that were disappointing.
1) Any and all of the food we tried at the show - Except for some olive oil and honey that we tried at Demeter’s Pantry, wifey and I were completely underwhelmed by the food that we sampled. Whether it be cookes, pastries or jams, it all sucked. Thankfully, Chelsea Market was nearby for lunch.
2) Tay Tea - I’ll be honest, I never even drank any of the tea they made available for sampling. Why? Because the tea leaves I smelled that they had on display all had the aroma of toothpaste. I enjoy Colgate as much as the next guy, but I don’t want to drink it. Next…
This machine (automatic tea making machine) is maybe the most innovative thing to come to the tea industry since hot water and they didn’t show up to this festival at all??? Wifey and I love the zarafina and we were shocked by it’s absence.
All in all, wifey and I had a great time and we discovered some new products at the festival that we would likely would not have found on our own back in Nassau. Speaking of which, wanted to give a shot out to another LI company at the show:
serendipiTea - Though we didn’t get the chance to spend much time at their booth, we discovered that they have recently moved to Manhasset, specifically to Northern Blvd near the train station. We promise to check it out sometime.
This past weekend, the wifey and I headed upstate to the Town of Kingston. When we first arrived to the jewel of Ulster County, when we drove down Broadway, it kind of had that run down, rustic, slightly depressing Upstate NY feel you get from towns like Elmira, Buffalo and Genesee. But then when got to another part of town with a long hill, we discovered the heart of a thriving art community, which was the reason we were there in the first place.
We came to The Arts Society of Kingston, for the opening night of great exhibit celebrating Israel’s 60th birthday and the Jewish experience in the US and Israel. Normally you can find something like this in the LES while noshing on Guss’ pickles, but this was different. Wifey and I went to this opening because of my sister-in-law. On this night, emerging photography artist Dina Hodara had her first art exhibit of her work. Great Success!
Here are some photos from ASK Center on Saturday Night.
The center itself.
Here is a shot of Dina’s photos, focusing on the U.S. Jewish experience celebrating the holiday Purim. These were mostly taken at festival in Williamsburg, where Dina was able to infiltrate the system and get some great, candid photos. Those krazy kidz! So cute, dressing up as sailors, rebbis and postal workers. At least they didn’t dress up like this guy…
The artist, Dina Hodara and one of her works of art.
The artist, Dina Hodara, leaving the building.
Reminder- Dina’ s work will be on display (and for sale) at ASK until April 26th. So go…NOW!
For another take on this event, you can visit the wifey’s blog here.
Okay, so my hiatus from blogging took a little longer than I expected, but with good reason…the wifey and I have moved!
Remember- the origin of this blog was to chronicle my transition from city life to the suburbs, but I left out a key detail when I started this thing back in December. Until about 3 weeks ago, the wifey and I were living in my in-laws’ house.
Now don’t get it twisted! My in-laws are fantastic, most likely better than yours and they were the most accommodating of hosts. We were newly married, the lease was up in the city and we had no place else to go. They let us stay there until we we got our act together and for that, I will be forever grateful.
So in that downtime, we were able to continue saving money and finally fulfill our true objective in moving to the burbs, which was to become homeowners. We were both sick of renting and for us to stay in the city and upgrade to a bigger place, it would have been lots of costs, but little return. We figured out that we had enough for a down payment to buy a place. Don’t get me wrong, I still miss the lifestyle accouterments of the city, but as much as I liked Luigi’s, it was time to move on.
For those of who read this blog regularly (lets see, I count one, two..), I won’t be blogging for about a week or so. Namely, big, exciting things are in the plan that are keeping me very busy lately so until I return, here is a little something to make you happy.
Part of the first dance wifey and I did at our wedding, courtesy of my brother-in-law’s cell phone.
In case you haven’t heard, New Jersey’s state deficit is in the shitter again.
Jersey’s crazy, no seat belt wearin’ guvernor has a solution - raise the Turnpike and Parkway tolls the likes of which ye have never seen!
How high you ask? This article from the NYTimes breaks it down like this -
“Mr. Corzine wants to increase tolls by 50 percent every four years, beginning in 2010 and ending in 2022. Tolls would also rise up to an additional 3 percent per year for 75 years to account for inflation. What’s more, the initial toll increase in 2010 would include four years of inflation adjustments, backdated to 2006″
So what does that means to the good people at Long Island Calling? Alot.
My fam still lives in South Jersey (exit 4 to be exact) and the wifey and I try to visit them at least once a month. We usually take the Belt parkway, then the Verrazzano bridge, cut through Shaolin and then we hit the turnpike at Exit 13. To figure out the potential cost of this trek, I found this toll calculator on NJ.com.
Final proposed damage, not including the $8 for the bridge and money for gas:
So by the time the Phillies win the World Series in 2022, it will cost me $25.04 to go one way down the turnpike to Exit 4.
And then people wonder why they make fun of my home state…
Before I met wifey, I would have never have known or heard of this charming restaurant over in Rockville Center, which is not to be confused with the famed REM song “Don’t Go Back to Rockville” which is about the town in Maryland. The specialty at International Delight Cafe is their delicious and large selection of gelato and sorbets, but this not merely a dessert joint. They also serve a variety of delicious sandwiches and dinner specials, including a tasty roast beef sandwich served on garlic bread…mmm…Heads up: if you hate kids, then I would not recommend this place because they are drawn to it like flies to shit. Also bring cash, since they do not accept credit cards, not even a Nieman Marcus card.
So the wifey and I ended up at the famed Knitting Factory last night to be a part of a special screening of the new, long awaited 11th episode of Yacht Rock. For the uninitiated, Yacht Rock is a series of hysterical fictional films that tell the stories behind the biggest hits of the “smooth” music of the 70’s and early 80’s. The films follow the lives and careers of soft rockers such as Toto, Steely Dan, Michael McDonald and of course, Kenny Loggins.
So when the wifey and I heard that Yacht Rock mastermind, comedian J.D. Ryznar was having a special screening of a brand new episode of Yacht Rock, we set sail to Tribeca for the event. Unfortunately we didn’t see it, due to what seemed like poor planning. The club itself is three floors and we knew a band was supposed to be playing “smooth” music that night, along with the showing of the new episode and the older ones. Problem was that no one at the club could tell us the order of the events or which floor it would take place. After about an hour or so (doors opened at 8 pm) the band School of Rock started into a nice session of old school Yachtesque cover songs. The neat thing was that the band was made up of grade schoolers, just like that movie. Nice job kids!
It was then I got lucky and discovered that the band was to play at set downstairs, repeat the same set at the upstairs stage and then at 11 pm, the club would show the episodes of Yacht Rock. To make matters worse, they would be shown on little TVs above various bars on various floors. Well call me a snob, but when I hear the word “screening,” I imagine some cinema set up with a screen, not a bunch of TVs. With all of the people at the event and the limited number of screens, I knew that it would have been impossible for wifey and I to see the episodes clearly, considering we’re shortys! With that, combined with the commute back to the Island, wifey and I said “Fuck it!” and set our sail back to the north shore.
To J.D. and co - We love Yacht Rock and the work you do, but next time, have an event with a real theater and party space. I recommend Tribeca Cinemas. That would have been perfect.
Seriously, this ain’t just a shout out to one of the best hip-hop songs EVER…I really do have to introduce myself. I realized with the first blog entry yesterday, I didn’t really say much about myself. I mentioned the various Manhattan hoods that I lived in, but that was about it.
My name is Scott Rosenblum. I recently turned 32 years old and a mere 2 1/2 months ago, I married the love of my life, Sue Hodara, a beautiful, wonderful playwright. You can find out more about her and her work at her Web site - www.suehodara.com and her blog Sue’s News. Everyday she does or says something that that blows my mind, which is really cool. Also, anyone who can put up with my shit on daily basis is worth a shout out on this blog. Love ya baby!
Career wise, I am public relations professional, which frankly makes writing this blog mildly ironic for the fact that part of my job these days is researching and reaching out to bloggers on daily basis. As for the firm I work with, for the moment it will remain nameless, only for the fact that 1) I don’t know how my boss will feel about me writing a blog, 2) I’m unsure if I am ready for them to know about my ramblings here and 3) and so far, this is not a blog about about PR or about work.
Other than that, I graduated from Syracuse University, and I am am huge college basketball fan, particularly SU and Big East B-Ball. As the season progresses, I will likely lapse into moments where this will blog will turn completely orange and blue. You’ve been warned!
I leave you with two things (seriously, who am I talking to? Does anyone know this blog exists yet?) . Today Sue and I ate brunch at delicious restaurant. If you are ever in Huntington, NY - check out Prime. This will be added to a new page I just created featured my Strong Island Picks. Whether it be restaurants, events, places to go, or just cool stuff, I will link to it there.
