Written and published March 13th, 2018
Today we flew to Hong Kong! It was Alex’s birthday as well so we sang and had a cake for her in the airport. When we got to Hong Kong we checked in at our hotel, toured the city, went shopping at Temple Street, and saw a laser show on the river. The photos were taken on my phone and there aren’t that many since it was a travel day.
Enjoy!
-Anna
Monday March 12, 2018 10:33 P.M. EST
Friday began quite early again due to us getting home early from a restaurant opening that I talked about in the previous blog. So the plan was to get up and work out early after dropping chef’s daughter off at school. The only real reason that I went was to swim at the gym that I thought we were going to. Instead we went and made some desserts for the restaurant. Yiheng made a flour-less chocolate cake that is matched with a round piece of chocolate Ganache. Once that was done we had a quick breakfast across the street, and went on a shopping trip. We went to visit the local Cutlery store called Ambrosi Bothers. They service almost all of the chef’s knives in the entire city of Kansas City. It was amazing to see all of the different gadgets, and knives to use in the kitchen. I already have a few chef’s knives but I did purchase a new slicing knife. This will aid me when I need to cut prepared meats and other cooked objects. After this fun, we began running our errands for the day. This included dropping off catering supplies to the company that we made lunch for that past Wednesday, and making a run to the apple store. Once that Happened we went back to the restaurant to start our prep for service. It was quite busy that evening due to the large college basketball tournament taking place down the street. At one point during the night we had hit a rush where we sold 20 burgers in about 15 minutes. There was also an group that came into the restaurant for a special dinner where nothing was ordered off the menu. One of the starters that we made was salmon tartar. This was a lot of fun to make because it allowed me to learn the proper way to filet a fish. Chef Tio made it look so easy. Once we filet the salmon she took a small piece of the fish and chopped it up very fine and adding all of these amazing ingredients to it, like an artist adding layers upon layers of color to their work. She also knew that I had never ate raw fish before. So pictured below was the first raw fish I have ever ate before in my entire life.
Below is one of the other menu items that we made for the group which was pan seared scallops with blanched potatoes that were then pan fried, with homemade chorizo, and pickled red onions.
Shortly after this dinner was done we made our dinner, and headed home for some well needed rest. The next day would also be my last day at the restaurant. Unlike most days we slept in pretty late and enjoyed it very much. This was a major day for getting prep work done for the next week of the three month catering contract that Chef had just received. Once all of the shopping was done Chef took us to a really cook place for lunch in which she called ” fun Chinese food.” This place was called Blue Koi and it had some great dumplings, and roasted duck. We all got hit with all of the dreaded food coma and we all went back to the house and took naps. We all got up and rushed over to the restaurant to begin prep work. I chopped lots of squash, and eggplant for Monday’s vegetable dish for the catering event. Since we had all of these vegetables around Yiheng wanted to make what is really called vegetable byaldi, but is better know from a famous Disney movie which is called Ratatouille. Here is one of the ones that we made before it went into the oven compared to the one from the movie
So with that we also made a few other dishes for fun with some of the salmon and potatoes from the night before. It was great to see all of our minds come together to see make some amazing food. For dinner that night I made a pan roasted salmon with a maple bourbon glaze and the same potatoes as the scallop dish the night before. It was such a hit that I didn’t get a picture of it. So to wrap up my time at the restaurant I took pictures with some of the people I worked with. In the first picture is Keith who ran the grill in the kitchen. In the second picture are Daniel, and Jake, who are probably the funniest and most enjoyable bartenders I’ve ever met.
Finally here are some of the pictures of the restaurant and kitchen.
– The Dish Room
The Kitchen: Small but Mighty
– A map Showing Westtown township including Westtown’s Campus.
The restaurant from the view of a comfy couch as I rest my feet briefly.
Sunday was a nice day to end my adventure out in Kansas City. After Sleeping in and packing we went to a donut shop for breakfast and then went around town on a street car, and took a few final pictures before I got to the airport.
The First picture below is me standing exactly in both Kansas and Missouri at the same time.
And the final picture taken of course was with Chef herself at the belfry before she took me to the airport so I could catch my flight home.
Thank you for reading the blog, and I will be writing a shorter blog in a few days with a reflection of my time out with Chef Tio. Until next time!
Noah
March 10th, 11th, 12th
“Not all those who wander are lost”– J. R. R. Tolkien
I would admit at the beginning that I’m not really good at traveling. I’m not good at planning my day ahead of time and I’m even worse at following my plan throughout the day. Also, I never have the best luck when I’m traveling: I would arrive at the bus stop to find that my bus has just left; if I decide to turn left at a crossroad, I would soon discover that Comédie Francaise (the place I’m looking for) is in the opposite direction; if I decide to not bring an umbrella today, it would definitely rain, but if I did bring one, it never rains; in the worst case scenario, I’ll finally arrive at a place I longed to visit to find it closed for the day or even the season. When I travel, there’s simply too many unexpected “accidents” and too little time to plan ahead for all of them. I will admit that many of these accidents happened because of my own fault: because I’m really bad at navigating, or because I forgot to check the museum website for open hours. Yet, there are times when nature plays tricks on me, like today when a heavy shower hit while I was enjoying the sun and the statues at Jardin Tuileries. 
Yet, I would say, despite my lack of skill and general misfortune as a traveler, I do possess one important gift: making the best out of my situation. For example, when the sudden rain forced me to alter my plan to enjoy the Jardin Tuileries, I found myself not distressed, but glad that I could take some time to myself and enjoy a pot of tea at the small café in the garden. When I found that I have run out of time to visit another private museum today, I found myself happily wandering into churches that are not even on my original list of places to visit. To be honest, these impromptu visits often bring me the most joy and excitement.
I believe these accidents and wandering is the best part of traveling alone. Because I’m not afraid to be lost and to wander, I can travel to a broader horizon without getting afraid. I wonder and discover, knowing that I’ll find my way at the end. And perhaps, I will find a new part of me on the way.
I’m grateful to be in Paris, a city where I can wander aimlessly and still be awed. I’m even more thankful for having enough time to “waste” in such a breathtaking city!
Summer
The museum’s One Basquiat exhibition is amazing. It is only one painting in a mostly empty room, but somehow that connects you to Basquiat even more deeply than if there were a whole collection of his work. There is something amazing about a painting that allows you to time travel into the exact setting of the artist. It was a deeply emotional experience for me to view the painting as I’ve always loved Basquiat.
The work was donated by Yusuku Maezawa, a Japanese billionaire and art collector who bought the it for $110 million dollars.The purchase made history as the most expensive American painting ever auctioned, so it was a huge deal in the art world when he bought it. Since I keep up with art news, I remember hearing it about it on one of my favorite podcasts! The purchase was a huge deal not only because of the price tag, but because Basquiat was a black artist in a largely white art world. On Friday, Mr. Maezawa came to talk to teen staff about how the education department was using the artwork!
It’s been a great first week and I’m feeling extremely grateful and inspired by the art around me.
Love,
Jay
March 12, 2018 (Week One Complete!)
Hello again!
I’m sorry that it’s been so long since my last post! I flew into Seattle at around 9PM on the 2nd, which was somewhat of a miracle, actually. I had a 101.8° fever less than 24 hours before my flight! On top of that, less than an hour after I flew out of PHL, there was a blizzard that canceled most other flights. Finally, I had a 2.5-hour delay in Vegas because of poor wind conditions. In the end, however, I did make it to the house.
Anyway, what have I done since?
I supported my aunt, who was a panelist at Emerald City Comic-Con. On a panel with four other voice over artists, she answered questions in relation to her work on games, such as Dota 2 and Halo among others. It was very inspiring to see the line that had formed waiting to hear her. In fact, many people weren’t able to as the room had reached its maximum capacity!
I went to two days of the TPS Unified General Auditions at Center Theatre. The first day was Equity day. By that, I mean that only Equity actors were present. You may be wondering: “What does ‘Equity’ mean?”
“Equity” is actually short for Actors Equity Association, an actor union that deals mainly with stage acting. On the other hand, “SAG-AFTRA,” or the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, deals with screen acting. An actor union is essentially a third-party that assures that the relationship between the actor and the producer is mutually beneficial. Before their existence, actors found themselves mistreated by their producers, having to work ridiculous hours and missing job security. For a more comprehensive explanation, follow this link!
The second day I went was Non-Union day, which was a contrast because the Non-Union actors had less experience, usually both in training and in performance, and it was evident. I learned from both experiences and will now share my impression of what worked and what didn’t work in those auditions.
There are many small things within these tips that I didn’t mention, but that was a general idea of what I believed worked and didn’t work in the auditions. I hope you either found them interesting or informative!
I was also able to sit in on a recording session with Harebrained Schemes in their upcoming game: Battletech. My aunt will be the main character, and while I would love to share more details, I have sworn to a non-disclosure agreement (NDA).
I visited Endeavor One, a group of very skilled game developers who create Virtual Reality (VR) games. I interviewed Sherry Bain, who was very helpful in sharing her knowledge around the growing industry that is VR. After that, I had my first VR experience with the Halo: Recruit Demo that was recently released and can be found in Microsoft stores. While it was only about five minutes of content, it was very fun and left me wondering when the game would come out!
Finally, I’ve also watched a couple shows since I arrived. I will be posting separate theater reviews for those, so be on the lookout!
Thank you for reading! I hope you’ve enjoyed!
Tray
Written and posted March 12th, 2018
Today was our first full day in Shanghai! We took what was supposed to be an hour bus ride, turned out to be three because of traffic, to the city of Suzhou. Suzhou, the Venice of China, is where T. Bei used to live and grew up so it was really special to see her home. We also were able to meet her parents for lunch and they traveled along with us the rest of the day. T. Bei’s parents bought us yummy Chinese snacks like rice cakes and a type of Jello. Continue reading “Goodbye Sunny Days – China Day 10”
Hello everyone! This is just a reminder that due to a lack of wifi and poor cell reception I have been unable to update my blog and that the date these posts were written will be listed first and followed by the day they were posted in parentheses. Thank you!
March 7th, 2018 || (March 11th, 2018)
Today my father and I traveled to Ardara to meet my Uncle Allen Given and his wife, Silva. I say Uncle Allen, but in fact, he is my first cousin twice removed, since my great-grandmother Rebecca was his aunt. Anyway, Uncle Allen is the only living member of the Given family who knows where our family homestead, Hill House, is located. After a short five-minute car ride from the quaint town of Ardara, we drove out to the center of a peninsula on an extremely steep one-way road called Loughros Point road. However, the view of the cliffs that lined the south side of the peninsula was beautiful and the pale blue waters of the “wild Atlantic” were rolling up against white sandy beaches. Likewise, the coast of the north side peninsula was nearly a perfect semicircle, which showcased the raw beauty of the sea. It was in this moment of observation that I finally understood why my grandfather had visited Ireland so many times and why my father had come back here so many times. It was the most beautiful sight I had ever witnessed. More beautiful than the Giant’s Causeway. Continue reading “Hill House”
Overview:
We left Farmington this morning for Chinle, where we would take photos for the Johns Hopkins’ unit there. After driving back through the Red Valley to Chinle, we met with employees of the unit and Ed photographed a shoot for their motherhood-planning program. Soon afterwards, we returned to Canyon de Chelly, this time at its floor, to photograph a mother and newborn for the same program. We were then given the opportunity to read to elementary school students at the local elementary school. We stopped for lunch, and departed for another shoot, this time in the home of a Navajo family. The mother began to dress her two daughters in traditional Navajo outfits, and the two girls then made traditional food for us as well. We then travelled to the base of a local mesa to shoot them, where another family met us. After the sun set and the shoot ended, we went to a Pow Wow being held in a convention center in Chinle, and then drove 3.5 hours back to Albuquerque.
After over thirty hours of traveling, we finally arrived in Beijing, the capital of China. I will be breaking this blog up by city and then by day. With Bei as our tour leader, we do over five things everyday so it is going to be hard to talk about everything, but I will try my best! Please enjoy!
Day 1:
After arriving at the airport, we met with our tour director, Sunny. Sunny is absolutely amazing and Bei has been working with her for the past couple of years so Sunny is super excited to be working with us! We immediately board our coach bus and our itinerary begins at full speed. Our first stop was lunch in the center of Beijing. Lunch was traditional Chinese food, which wasn’t too shocking, however, I didn’t get out of the restaurant without some culture shock! Apparently in China, there is something called a squatting toilet, I’m sure you can figure out why this was shocking! Continue reading “Beijing, a World of Difference”
Written and posted March 11th, 2018
Today we went to the Jade Buddha Temple and Yu Yuan Garden, toured a silk factory, explored Shanghai, walked around the Bund waterfront and Nanjing road, visited the world’s largest Starbucks, and saw an acrobatic show that was incredible.
Enjoy the photos!
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