I have to say, this one is the best I've seen in a while haha. Spotted in New Hyde Park.
Sunday, August 5, 2012
Sunday, July 29, 2012
Manhattan License Plates Vol. 2
I stopped doing these for the most part- but this one I had to post because it must be a sign.
Seen last night parked on the corner of 27th and 3rd Avenue, 2AM.
Seen last night parked on the corner of 27th and 3rd Avenue, 2AM.
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Georgetown Soho
Bakery: Georgetown Cupcakes
Location: Soho, New York and various
Rating: 10/10
Website: http://www.georgetowncupcakes.com
I first tried Georgetown in...Georgetown, two years ago during my first trip to D.C. I realized I never wrote a review! I ran into the bakery again by chance while wandering in Soho on a day off. I was meeting my mentee for dinner, but I managed to convince her to come out with me after for dessert.
The cupcakes were just as awesome as I remembered. THE lightest, fluffiest cake ever, and yet it's not spongy. It's hard to describe, but it definitely warrants a 10.
The Key Lime is my favorite- you can see it below with the cute lime slice candy in the middle. If you're not into citrus, the classic birthday flavors (vanilla/chocolate combinations) are a safe bet.
I'll definitely return post-Ramadan...I feel guilty eating cupcakes with my little sisters in Bangladesh for the summer!
Location: Soho, New York and various
Rating: 10/10
Website: http://www.georgetowncupcakes.com
I first tried Georgetown in...Georgetown, two years ago during my first trip to D.C. I realized I never wrote a review! I ran into the bakery again by chance while wandering in Soho on a day off. I was meeting my mentee for dinner, but I managed to convince her to come out with me after for dessert.
The cupcakes were just as awesome as I remembered. THE lightest, fluffiest cake ever, and yet it's not spongy. It's hard to describe, but it definitely warrants a 10.
The Key Lime is my favorite- you can see it below with the cute lime slice candy in the middle. If you're not into citrus, the classic birthday flavors (vanilla/chocolate combinations) are a safe bet.
I'll definitely return post-Ramadan...I feel guilty eating cupcakes with my little sisters in Bangladesh for the summer!
Saturday, May 12, 2012
All things cupcake part two.
The above are presents from my very wonderful friend Enas who visited from Boston last weekend. Apart from a new British cupcake recipe book, she threw in all sorts of fun (and strange!) stuff including but not limited to: cupcake flavored dental floss, cupcake mints, cupcake flavored lip balm, cupcake hanging air freshener, cupcake plates, cupcake apron, cupcake oven mitts and a cupcake "piggy" bank. I'd say that 80% of the cupcake stuff I own comes from her.
P.S. If you are wondering how British cupcakes are different from their American counterparts- they are softer, more buttery and less flashy (not piled high with frosting/decorations). I'm excited to make them!
All things cupcake part one is here.
Saturday, April 28, 2012
From the Brooklyn Bridge to the Bronx Zoo
eclectic nyc, a set on Flickr.
My friend from Minnesota visited me last week and we had two days of nonstop walking! Our itinerary covered everything from the Upper East Side to Battery Park City, a walk across the Brooklyn Bridge to try Grimaldi's, Little Italy in the Bronx and of course the Bronx Zoo. You can see some of the pictures on my flickr uploads. Enjoy!Sunday, February 26, 2012
An Asian Alumna's Perspective on "Black at Stuyvesant High"
The Times' "Black at Stuyvesant High" article was all over my Facebook newsfeed today so I thought I'd share my two cents.
As an Asian American alumna of Stuyvesant High School, I strongly believe that the specialized science high schools admissions test should not be eliminated. As we like to say, the exam makes Stuyvesant one of the only places in the world where you can have the daughter of a cab driver attending high school with the daughter of a Senator (the daughter of US Senator Chuck Schumer was a senior during my freshman year). While it is unfortunate that black students feel isolated, the attendance problem is beyond color and has more to do with socioeconomic background, parenting and drive on behalf of the students themselves.
Socioeconomic Background & Isolation:
Comment from the Times: Steve1946 - NYC
"I taught Biology, AP Psychology, and mentored many Science Talent Search students for twenty two years prior to my retirement. When I first transferred to Stuyvesant the student body, as pointed out in the article, was more diverse, but so was the socio-economic pool of entering students. Over the years, middle and upper middle class African American parents opted to send their children to private schools or move to affluent suburbs. Furthermore, working class families can't afford to live in the city anymore, which diminishes the economic diversity of the student cohort. Given these realities, the Stuyvesant entrance exam is fair, colorblind, and screens for the academic attributes that students need have in order to master Stuy's rigorous curriculum."
A top commenter makes an excellent point- that Rudi, the student in the article has "lived in the suburbs, has lived a mostly privileged life and attended some of the better schools, with parents who seem to care deeply about her."
I can't particularly sympathize with her complaints of isolation. One could argue that a white, gay student felt isolated at Stuyvesant because straight students would not attend educational events put on by the LGBT organization. Or one could argue that I felt isolated from the numerous affluent Asians at Stuyvesant. I woke up at 6AM Monday-Friday like the rest of my classmates, but I woke up even earlier on Saturdays and Sundays to head down to Park and 23rd for my shift at Dunkin Donuts.
I rarely met students who could be grouped in the same "income" class as my family's. But the thing was, in the classroom, that didn't matter. I may have felt different the minute I left the grandness of Tribeca and headed back to my difficult family situation. But at Stuyvesant, I felt just as smart and just as entitled to the education there. Although the school had areas where Asians, South Asians or Blacks hung out- I had friends of all races and we did not view each other as different.
If we are concerned about diversity and social mobility, I would be happy to see more low-income kids excel on the test and make it at Stuyvesant regardless of their race. I say this because I truly believe that the school's reputation allowed me to improve my family's living situation down the line.
Parenting & Student Motivation
Comment from the Times: Sitruc - New York, NY
"A meritocracy is fair; it doesn't discriminate by race, gender, or income. You may point to low percentage of blacks and say that it is discriminating against them, but how are they disadvantaged anymore than Asians are? How is it that students of low-income immigrants who often do not speak English (like mine) excel despite these barriers? Meanwhile, how is it that blacks, whose parents often have been in this country longer and actually speak English, not excelling? It's because Asians make education a priority--parents make significant investments in education. It is a cultural thing. As an Asian Stuyvesant alumnus, I deplored the lack of diversity at times during my time there, but I would not advocate changing the admissions process. Changing admissions to let more minority students in is not the solution. It ultimately doesn't address a problem plaguing our nation--not prioritizing education. What we need is a discussion about culture and stereotypes. Why aren't some groups prioritizing education? How can we make education a priority for our youth? How can we create an environment where learning is preferable to hanging out? How can we teach parents to value education? How do we overcome stereotypes like the one in the article that blacks aren't good at math? There are an increasing number of black engineers, doctors, lawyers, professionals; we even have a black president. How do we make them (and not rappers and ballplayers) role models for the youth?"
It's definitely true that most Asian parents make education a priority. Throughout my entire education, my parents did not help me with a single school assignment because of their poor English (thankfully I had great teachers as advocates). You are just expected to succeed and do well, and Stuyvesant is so ingrained in NYC's Asian communities that it's a measure of family pride. There's even an annual feature in New York based Bangladeshi newspapers on the incoming students admitted to the specialized schools (although I think this is quite extreme and a whole different problem altogether, but I won't go into Asian family dynamics here).
When it comes to the education system's role, the only fair thing the Department can do is increase awareness of the exam and provide access to adequate preparation in all boroughs. When I was in middle school, the Department hosted a free summer preparation course for the exam, but I'm certain that this is not available in all NYC school districts.
Ultimately, the student's motivation would be the deciding factor. As Sitruc's last sentence suggests, real change may be achieved by reinforcing a student's aspirations. Despite having the same parents, my siblings and I have had different paths when it came to the test. I studied all summer to get into Stuyvesant, begging my father to invest in a preparation course which I would repay with a summer job. Despite coming from a failing middle school, my brother scored high enough for Bronx Science (the school ranked second after Stuyvesant) without any preparation. My older sister was not motivated by education in general at the time, opting for a GED later.
I'm sure we all realize that the issue is obviously much larger than Stuyvesant High School if we use something as subjective as "success" as a measure. There are plenty of non-Stuyvesant graduates who are viewed as "more successful" than some alumni. Our first day of high school, we were told of a janitor at Yankee Stadium in a Stuyvesant t-shirt- as a reminder that you get out what you put in. Perhaps some students could use access to mentorship on career paths and how they can be attained, regardless of the situation at home and regardless of the high school they attend. There are many mentorship non-profits in the city, but a concrete collaboration between the Department of Education and young professionals may help bring more role models into the classroom.
As an Asian American alumna of Stuyvesant High School, I strongly believe that the specialized science high schools admissions test should not be eliminated. As we like to say, the exam makes Stuyvesant one of the only places in the world where you can have the daughter of a cab driver attending high school with the daughter of a Senator (the daughter of US Senator Chuck Schumer was a senior during my freshman year). While it is unfortunate that black students feel isolated, the attendance problem is beyond color and has more to do with socioeconomic background, parenting and drive on behalf of the students themselves.
Socioeconomic Background & Isolation:
Comment from the Times: Steve1946 - NYC
"I taught Biology, AP Psychology, and mentored many Science Talent Search students for twenty two years prior to my retirement. When I first transferred to Stuyvesant the student body, as pointed out in the article, was more diverse, but so was the socio-economic pool of entering students. Over the years, middle and upper middle class African American parents opted to send their children to private schools or move to affluent suburbs. Furthermore, working class families can't afford to live in the city anymore, which diminishes the economic diversity of the student cohort. Given these realities, the Stuyvesant entrance exam is fair, colorblind, and screens for the academic attributes that students need have in order to master Stuy's rigorous curriculum."
A top commenter makes an excellent point- that Rudi, the student in the article has "lived in the suburbs, has lived a mostly privileged life and attended some of the better schools, with parents who seem to care deeply about her."
I can't particularly sympathize with her complaints of isolation. One could argue that a white, gay student felt isolated at Stuyvesant because straight students would not attend educational events put on by the LGBT organization. Or one could argue that I felt isolated from the numerous affluent Asians at Stuyvesant. I woke up at 6AM Monday-Friday like the rest of my classmates, but I woke up even earlier on Saturdays and Sundays to head down to Park and 23rd for my shift at Dunkin Donuts.
I rarely met students who could be grouped in the same "income" class as my family's. But the thing was, in the classroom, that didn't matter. I may have felt different the minute I left the grandness of Tribeca and headed back to my difficult family situation. But at Stuyvesant, I felt just as smart and just as entitled to the education there. Although the school had areas where Asians, South Asians or Blacks hung out- I had friends of all races and we did not view each other as different.
If we are concerned about diversity and social mobility, I would be happy to see more low-income kids excel on the test and make it at Stuyvesant regardless of their race. I say this because I truly believe that the school's reputation allowed me to improve my family's living situation down the line.
Parenting & Student Motivation
Comment from the Times: Sitruc - New York, NY
"A meritocracy is fair; it doesn't discriminate by race, gender, or income. You may point to low percentage of blacks and say that it is discriminating against them, but how are they disadvantaged anymore than Asians are? How is it that students of low-income immigrants who often do not speak English (like mine) excel despite these barriers? Meanwhile, how is it that blacks, whose parents often have been in this country longer and actually speak English, not excelling? It's because Asians make education a priority--parents make significant investments in education. It is a cultural thing. As an Asian Stuyvesant alumnus, I deplored the lack of diversity at times during my time there, but I would not advocate changing the admissions process. Changing admissions to let more minority students in is not the solution. It ultimately doesn't address a problem plaguing our nation--not prioritizing education. What we need is a discussion about culture and stereotypes. Why aren't some groups prioritizing education? How can we make education a priority for our youth? How can we create an environment where learning is preferable to hanging out? How can we teach parents to value education? How do we overcome stereotypes like the one in the article that blacks aren't good at math? There are an increasing number of black engineers, doctors, lawyers, professionals; we even have a black president. How do we make them (and not rappers and ballplayers) role models for the youth?"
It's definitely true that most Asian parents make education a priority. Throughout my entire education, my parents did not help me with a single school assignment because of their poor English (thankfully I had great teachers as advocates). You are just expected to succeed and do well, and Stuyvesant is so ingrained in NYC's Asian communities that it's a measure of family pride. There's even an annual feature in New York based Bangladeshi newspapers on the incoming students admitted to the specialized schools (although I think this is quite extreme and a whole different problem altogether, but I won't go into Asian family dynamics here).
When it comes to the education system's role, the only fair thing the Department can do is increase awareness of the exam and provide access to adequate preparation in all boroughs. When I was in middle school, the Department hosted a free summer preparation course for the exam, but I'm certain that this is not available in all NYC school districts.
Ultimately, the student's motivation would be the deciding factor. As Sitruc's last sentence suggests, real change may be achieved by reinforcing a student's aspirations. Despite having the same parents, my siblings and I have had different paths when it came to the test. I studied all summer to get into Stuyvesant, begging my father to invest in a preparation course which I would repay with a summer job. Despite coming from a failing middle school, my brother scored high enough for Bronx Science (the school ranked second after Stuyvesant) without any preparation. My older sister was not motivated by education in general at the time, opting for a GED later.
In her case, I think she needed to be shown two things: 1) what she could potentially achieve by investing in education and hard work, and 2) the real, lasting consequences of a present-fatalistic attitude (thank you Professor Meldrum!).
I'm sure we all realize that the issue is obviously much larger than Stuyvesant High School if we use something as subjective as "success" as a measure. There are plenty of non-Stuyvesant graduates who are viewed as "more successful" than some alumni. Our first day of high school, we were told of a janitor at Yankee Stadium in a Stuyvesant t-shirt- as a reminder that you get out what you put in. Perhaps some students could use access to mentorship on career paths and how they can be attained, regardless of the situation at home and regardless of the high school they attend. There are many mentorship non-profits in the city, but a concrete collaboration between the Department of Education and young professionals may help bring more role models into the classroom.
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
You are tired, (I think)
You are tired,
(I think)
Of the always puzzle of living and doing;
And so am I.
Come with me, then,
And we'll leave it far and far away—
(Only you and I, understand!)
You have played,
(I think)
And broke the toys you were fondest of,
And are a little tired now;
Tired of things that break, and—
Just tired.
So am I.
But I come with a dream in my eyes tonight,
And knock with a rose at the hopeless gate of your heart—
Open to me!
For I will show you the places Nobody knows,
And, if you like,
The perfect places of Sleep.
Ah, come with me!
I'll blow you that wonderful bubble, the moon,
That floats forever and a day;
I'll sing you the jacinth song
Of the probable stars;
I will attempt the unstartled steppes of dream,
Until I find the Only Flower,
Which shall keep (I think) your little heart
While the moon comes out of the sea.
e.e. cummings
(I think)
Of the always puzzle of living and doing;
And so am I.
Come with me, then,
And we'll leave it far and far away—
(Only you and I, understand!)
You have played,
(I think)
And broke the toys you were fondest of,
And are a little tired now;
Tired of things that break, and—
Just tired.
So am I.
But I come with a dream in my eyes tonight,
And knock with a rose at the hopeless gate of your heart—
Open to me!
For I will show you the places Nobody knows,
And, if you like,
The perfect places of Sleep.
Ah, come with me!
I'll blow you that wonderful bubble, the moon,
That floats forever and a day;
I'll sing you the jacinth song
Of the probable stars;
I will attempt the unstartled steppes of dream,
Until I find the Only Flower,
Which shall keep (I think) your little heart
While the moon comes out of the sea.
e.e. cummings
Friday, October 21, 2011
Halloween Mini Cupcakes at Crumbs
If you haven't already heard- there is a new Crumbs location open at Queens Center Mall. I picked up their Halloween mini cupcake assortment because I'm a sucker for candy corn. At first glance, I thought the cupcakes were simply vanilla/vanilla and chocolate/chocolate. I was pleasantly surprised to find that they each had a contrasting buttercream filling! Definitely drop into a Crumbs and try some while you can.
Crumbs Halloween Minis, $18 for a dozen
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Peanut Butter Blossoms
They're holiday cookies, but I had bags of Kisses laying around so I went ahead and made them anyway. I used this recipe. They came out pretty darn good-- a little on the soft side but I tasted one fresh out of the oven and they will become more firm in an hour or so. The recipe is quite simple and my little sisters had a lot of fun pressing the Kisses in, so it's definitely one to make with kids.
Friday, September 30, 2011
The Picture of Dorian Gray
You have killed my love. You used to stir my imagination. Now you don't even stir my curiosity. You simply produce no effect. I loved you because you were marvellous, because you had genius and intellect, because you realised the dreams of great poets and gave shape and substance to the shadows of art. You have thrown it all away. You are shallow and stupid.
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Dorian to Sibil Lane, Chapter 7
Funny how one would sympathize with Dorian until the quote is read in context.
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