Archive for food
March 25, 2008 at 2:36 pm · Filed under dance, tour, new york city ballet, food, london, JUSTIN
“Cheers, mate.” Such a great phase. I wish we could use it here in America, but we just don’t have the accent or the state of mind to pull it off without sounding silly and out-of-place.
It turns out that I have just returned from a 2 week tour with New York City Ballet to London—the land of sticky toffee pudding, pints ‘o’ lager, charming accents, mediocre food, a heavy-duty currency exchange rate (the pound putting our flimsy dollar to shame), ‘trousers’ instead of ‘pants,’ icy rainfall, bright red phone booths, and an overall high quality of living.
This was my first experience traveling overseas, so it will be one to remember. It was a nice way to become introduced to the notion of international touring, being as they speak the same language in London and there are more similarities we share with London than we share with, say, China.
My first impression of London was epic. As we drove into the heart of the city from the airport, there seemed to be a never-ending amount of gorgeous townhouses that appeared to just sprawl on for miles. In New York, we definitely have an equivalent quality of architecture, but the abundance of it present in London feels 10-fold to the quantity of that in New York. I found it wholly captivating to find a city with such a profusion of historic structural design. In addition, interspersed throughout the city was a plethora of statues, monuments, and detailed artistic aesthetics that added a great deal of distinction to the city. Even in the [spotless] tube system (equivalent to our subway system), they seem to even turn their advertisements into magnificent works of art amply displayed on the tube walls.
Ads in a tube station
When it came to food in London, I found that I had to be careful and choosy with where I chose to dine. There are many mediocre places to eat in London. And due to the currency exchange rate, some of us couldn’t help but feeling a bit ripped off when we paid the equivalent of $50 US dollars for a weak meal. But some of us did find some very interesting places to eat in the UK. We found a great local fish and chips joint just a few blocks from the Coliseum Theatre (where we performed) called Rock & Soul. Even better, we found a unique restaurant that specialized in savory Japanese pancakes filled with goodies like lotus roots, Asian mushrooms, and seafood. And of course, there was great Indian food in London, mostly located in the Brick Lane neighborhood.
Japanese Pancake
Dancers enjoying some new tastes
Beyond the food, the pub scene of London is great. Many of us found that it lacked the pretentiousness present in the bar scene of New York. The pubs were simply just comfortable (and again, historic) settings where one could get a local pint and enjoy the company of friends. There were no elements of snoody bartenders, loud obnoxious music, or feelings of entitlement radiating from the others in the pub.
The company had class and rehearsed at the Royal Ballet facilities. The facilities were as beautiful as the royal ballet dancers are. Proportional, vivid, impressive, sleek, and well-maintained. It was a refreshing experience to take class in the habitat of another ballet company.
In the Royal Ballet studios (I’m the one in the orange shirt)
As fun as London was, by the second week I was missing home like whoa. Its good to finally be back in my natural setting, enjoying the splendors New York has to offer.
Recent Posts by justin
October 19, 2007 at 2:44 am · Filed under SLOAN, dance, injuries, food, iphone
Doug and I had dinner at The Elephant and I ordered a drink called the Wounded Elephant…
I currently have a two centimeter mass in my hip which is giving me problems, and my drink has a two centimeter lychee surrounded by a cloud of red cassis. Seems sadly appropriate.
Recent Posts by kristin sloan
October 17, 2007 at 1:27 am · Filed under dance, new york city ballet, food, new york, JUSTIN, justin peck, teresa reichlin, fairway
To those of you who aren’t familiar with New York, Fairway Market is as much an NYC staple as Tompkins Square Park, STEPS on broadway, the Chelsea Piers, and Time Square (Okay fine, definitely not as well-known as time square—but that’s probably a good thing, as Time Square is simply one giant cesspool that is tourism). For those of you who are familiar with New York, you might know how frantic, chaotic, and jam-packed Fairway Market on 74th street of the Upper West Side can be (we all know not to even bother with going on a Sunday, as Fairway then feels very much like Time Square during its rush hour—and what true New Yorker would have any interest in experiencing that?).
The truth is, everyone simultaneously wants a bargain as well as quality. That’s exactly the idea behind the creation of Fairway, to provide quality food products for cheap. Unfortunately, this combination causes every New Yorker [and their mother] to aggressively flock to it like pigeons around a crazy homeless man with plenty of stale bread to spare. (In fact, I’ve even heard stories of little old ladies coming to Fairway on Sundays with brick in their purses to use as combat weapons against the vast seas of people. Truthful? Who knows…)
New Yorkers: have no fear, because I have found the solution—the market surreptitiously placed a few subway stops north that is FAIRWAY UPTOWN!! (cue the heroic music). I discovered it one glorious day while accompanying one of my fellow dancers of the New York City Ballet (Tess Reichlen) to do some down-home grocery shoppin’.
Now, contrary to popular belief, 1 in every 5 dancers do eat! I know, I know, comes as a shock to many, but its very much true. So therefore, grocery shopping for me, and Tess, and any other dancer out there is an obvious necessity. The beauty that is Fairway Uptown is that it maintains having all the great quality food for cheap, AND is about 3 times as big with about half the amount of people as the normal Fairway on the Upper West Side. Let me just put it this way: its big enough and empty enough to accommodate a perfect execution of coupé-jeté leaps down the cereal aisle. Which gave plenty of space for some crafty dancer photo-ops…
Headline: New York City Ballet dancer tour-jetés into a sea of bagels, inspiring a series of reworked full lengths: Bagel Lake, Romeo and Bagelette, and La Bageldere
The infamous Freezer Room—an entire room that is refrigerated. I loved how they provide coats for walking through it
Barefoot conTESSa??
A Fairway Tendu Derrière
Beauty. Grace. Line. Heal-click.
That’s about it for now. What I meant by this post was just to let y’all know that I’m currently enjoying all the little things in life, thanks to the long summer lay-off that comes with dancing for City Ballet. Also, these past 2 weeks I have participated in the New York Choreographic Institute, which I feel was very well received by its private audience. I had a lot of fun collaborating on a new ballet created by Stuttgart Ballet dancer Douglas Lee. The NYCB rehearsal period officially starts back tomorrow, thus resulting in the rate of my life to shift from horse-and-buggy pace to NASCAR pace. Deep breathes…
Recent Posts by justin
September 25, 2007 at 7:25 pm · Filed under dance, food, SANDI, pinkberry
Post crazy audition treat
Recent Posts by sandi degeorge
September 6, 2007 at 4:48 am · Filed under dance, tour, travel, food, DAVID, david hallberg, traveling, argentina
During a side trip through San Luis, on a three day break from performances, the dancers were treated to a very typical asado, which is a traditional grilled meat. Very Argentinian and VERY good. I haven’ t eaten this much meat in a whole year in the States then I have in two weeks with everyone here.
Amidst the meat!
Recent Posts by david hallberg
August 11, 2007 at 4:28 pm · Filed under dance, tour, food, books, architecture, CATHY, brazil, sao paulo
Mercado Municipal of São Paulo
Wingers might have noticed how much I like to do some sort of tourism in my own city. But that’s because São Paulo is big, interesting, and there’s so much to find out about. For example, at the end of my vacation, I decided to get to know the “Mercado Municipal” - they city market - and try out some of the food, that is quite famous. The “sanduíche de mortadela” or the “pastel de bacalhau'’ to mention a few.
On my way to downtown (which is where it is located), I got out of the subway and came across these ‘’book selling machines”. I found them rather interesting!
I also passed by the Cathedral - aka Catedral da Sé - which is gothic style. But I only got to see the back of it! And you may see, downtown is quite agitated. Traffic, people selling multiple things (everything you can imagine).
Anyway, I was expecting the market to be crowded, but to my surprise it wasn’t. And I got my “sanduíche de mortadela'’ - I honestly don’t know the translation of mortadela, but imagine some sort of ham, but it tastes a lot better. The sandwich is basically a LOT of slices of it, and when I say a lot, I really mean it! But I asked for a “baby” one because the original is way too big 
The market is old and beautiful. I had never been there before. So if you ever come to São Paulo, don’t forget to stop by there.
On my way back…I stopped by Paulista Avenue and checked out the sunset. Paulista Avenue is the most famous avenue in São Paulo.
Paulista Avenue sunset, São Paulo
I’ll come back with news from ballet. Many things have been happening!
Cathy
Recent Posts by cathy godeghesi
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