BLOG — Boots and Beer

Last month, I had the opportunity to visit New York City with my brother and attend a personal transformation workshop hosted by authors Ariel and Shya Kane. The topic of the workshop was “The Freedom to Breathe and the Art of Being a Healer.” I found it to be a very interesting and positive experience with a lot of good takeaways, however, for me, there was an element of weird, almost cult-like sub-tones (sorry guys, ha). My brother has been attending Ariel and Shya Kane’s workshops for a couple of years now, and has recently recruited my other brother into the ‘following’. They both have made massive personal changes for the better and I commend them for that. To each his own, I suppose. Maybe it’s something I’ll be interested in doing again, maybe not. I haven’t fully made up my mind about that yet. The most important takeaway from this experience is to try to fully live in this moment. You can't affect anything else in your life other then how you are in this moment.

Besides attending the workshop, my brother and I went on a food rage during four days in Manhattan. Aaron refused to rage with me for real, so the food rage ended up being the shining shit storm of the weekend. I mean how could you pass up The Continental? A bar that proudly and loudly boasts about its 5 shots of anything for $10, all day, every day is a must-attend in my book. That's just an amazing disaster waiting to happen.

With that said, the rest of this post showcases how to eat as much as possible during a four day stint in Manhattan. NYC has so much amazing food, and we took advantage of as much of that as we possibly could. I love food and my brother loves food, so this is how a perfect and horrendous combination of foodies experienced New York City.

Day 1

Friday involved hot dogs for breakfast at Papaya King, a supposedly well-known hot dog shop in the lower east village. I didn't manage to capture a shot of these, but they did manage to hit the spot quite nicely. We walked to the Christmas Market in Union Square and couldn't pass up the various stuffed arancini balls that a vendor was selling. After that, on our walk to our Airbnb, we, of course, ended up sharing a slice of chicken parmesan pizza.

For dinner, we got Indian food in Hell's Kitchen, since that was near the area where the workshop was being held. After the three-hour intro portion of the workshop, we obviously had not eaten enough. We pressed onward to Taqueria Diana's to get some amazing carne asada nachos and some cold Modelos to wash it all down. Deciding that we still had some space left in our stomachs, we walked around for far too long to try to find our last target, and ended up settling for a couple more slices of zza.

My brother is a personal trainer, so eating this much food doesn't phase him (when done on occasion). I, on the other hand, have no excuse. Our saving grace was that we were walking at least 8 miles a day.

Huevos Antonio—Baked pasta—Schwarma + Falafel

Day 2

Condensed version. Huevos Antonio for lunch (chorizo, crispy tortillas, cojita cheese, salsa, and a couple fried eggs served with a side salad). For dinner, we went to Inotecca, an Italian restaurant, for pasta in Brooklyn (though we made the mistake of not ordering the pizza). A midnight “snack” consisted of delightful schwarma and falafel pitas.

Everything bagel with cream cheese—Cheesy breakfast ramen

Day 3

Hanging in Koreatown, since we obviously are seoul Korean. Also, blue steele. Duh.

Condensed version. An “everything bagel” with jalapeno cream cheese for breakfast (so fire). Cheesy breakfast ramen for lunch. Korean fried chicken, bulgogi, and a healthy dose of soju from Bon Chon for dinner. Best. Fried. Chicken. Ever. Macaroons, ice cream, and whiskey as a night cap.

Banh Mi—dumplings, sesame pancake, pork buns, and miso soup

Day 4.

This dopey side of my bro that most people don't get to see, ha.

Monday's eats consisted of just a half-day before my brother and I flew back to our respective homes. We split another “everything bagel” with jalapeno cream cheese as we left our Airbnb. Next, we had a delicious banh mi sandwich from a Vietnamese restaurant in Chinatown. And then, we proceeded to make our way to Vanessa's Dumplings, and got fried dumplings, steamed dumplings, pork buns, miso soup, and a sesame pancake for all under $9! To top off our foodventure, we went to Empanada Mama and split a few different types of empanadas. Damn, what a morning.

The majority of the weekend was spent attending the workshop, leaving little time for exploration or other touristy endeavors. Besides the fun foodventure, I got to meet a lot of interesting people, and hopefully will see them again someday, maybe in a workshop, maybe not. Until we meet again, I wish you all the best of luck.

Life has been throwing me curveballs and kicking my ass since I got back to Kansas City. Been trying and testing my will and strength to persevere despite it all, and I gotta admit, I've let it get the best of me. But, sometimes that's okay.

Enough food to feed a fuck ton more than the four people my mother made it for, although none of it will go to waste!

This last weekend was Thanksgiving, traditionally celebrated as a harvest festival, though it's rooted in a much darker place. There is a lot of negativity associated with this holiday, although Thanksgiving has its good merits as well. It has a funny way of invoking these thankful and gracious vibes, but at the same time being one of the most consumer driven cash draws of the year. Sometimes, we really need to take a giant step back and really reflect and be thankful for how fortunate we really are.

The chapel my grandfather taught in and where his memorial was held.

My normally adventurous spirit has been quite stifled as of late, but I did get to go back to my birthplace a few weekends ago to attend my grandfather's memorial. Grigg Fountain was an exemplary man and professor, a former head choir professor at Northwestern University, and that's where his memorial was held. There was a nice choral and organ performance, and though it being of a religious nature, it was not something I am normally interested in, but it was a beautiful service, nonetheless. RIP Grigg.

Al's Beef, the Bean, and the bros looking dapper.

This year has been a really interesting reflection and journey. Readjusting to life back in America, the struggle to find work, the struggle to find myself back in a place I no longer consider home, and the dreaded new elected president. Much of my time was spent trying to just make it through, not fully trying to take steps forward. However, I am very happy to say that I have recently begun a new journey as an associate art director for a fantastic company here in Kansas City.

Visiting the good old Char, and my chalk lettering of the beer list. With every ending, comes a fantastic new beginning.

I'm back and I'm ready to face the world and its fears head on. I'm ready to take a stand not only for myself, but for others who cannot do so for themselves.

I am thankful for my new friends, and the old ones I don't get to see but once a year.

I challenge anyone and everyone who reads this post to take time out of their day to improve someone else’s day, whether that's checking in on an old friend, calling a relative, or doing a random act of kindness. The world can only get better one action at a time, no matter how small.

BE A GOOD HUMAN. Shirts sold by my bro's friend here.

I can now only do my best stay positive, be kind to one another, and put good vibes out into the world. Join me! Be kind, love each other, and never give up hope!

WORKSHOPS & FOODVENTURES IN NEW YORK CITY

LIFE HAS A FUNNY WAY OF KICKING YOUR ASS