My Fourth Protest and My Creative Boom

You might be wondering what happened durring last week when I did not post this eairlier. I was there a week but not many people showed up and the protest did not happen that night. Luckly this week, the protest did happen and we rocked out there. People were complimenting us with and joining our circle with pride to support our cause to protect workers rights.

I have been also spreding the good word of the R.O.C though out my college for any of my culinary freinds to join the orginazation. They have been very supportive and I think that this organization can truly change the resturant world for the better.

I have also been assigned some very creative projects, not only in the R.O.C but with the college. For the past few days, I felt as though I was Mozart in the movie "Amadeus" with creativity floating in my head like bees in a bee hive. Im working on 2 power point presentations, a song and essays for the website. I have bee working durring this afternoon trying to come up with ideas and grabbing inspiration anyway I can.

Which brings me to my "postal" question for this week. What creative projects you like to do in your spare time? It could be a painting, a song or anything that you think is original. If you want to answer, leave a comment below.

I also want to share a peice of my travle writing with you, known as "A Chicagoan in New York." Its a piece I worked on for one of my speech class and I think it could be an inspiration for anyone who wants to be a writer. For now, enjoy the peice and read to your hearts content.

 

A Chicagoan in New York

By Chef Kyro




New York is a city of opportunity, dreams, and for the culinary world; it is a chance to be the best. From December 26-31st in 2011, I was there not only for vacation and sight seeing, but I was there to take an alternative approach to seeing a city. Instead of seeing the usual tourist attractions, I would see my own "attractions." You might say, that I would explore, eat, and write my way through the Big Apple.




The hotel I stayed at was called "On the Avenue" on the corner of 77th and Broadway in the upper west side of the city. It is a hip and square like hotel with the basic amenities in a stainless steel, modern sanctuary for the creative mind. Every morning, during my trip, I would sit by the lobby with my Starbucks coffee, a copy of the New York Times and a small notebook to write this piece for all of my readers to enjoy. After waiting for my family to get ready for the day, I was always ready to go with my pen and notebook in my hand to record and intemperate my surroundings for the day.



On the first night of my adventure of the city, me and my family went to Le Halles Bistro in midtown. At first, we were lost by the Grand Central Station with no idea were anything was. We try searching on GPS with my sisters iPhone, but we just ended up getting more lost. Then, after winding around the night, I located a bar called "Desmond's," were Les Halle was just a few doors down.



As we entered the crowded, dark bistro ,illuminated only by the glowing orbs on the front of the restaurant, I felt so star stuck to be in the same restaurant were the book Kitchen Confidential was written and were a few special episodes of No Reservations were shot at. As the night progressed, we ate some of the best french cuisine in New York with steak tar tar, baked brie with honey and walnuts, and the best boeuf Bourguignon that would transport your senses to the beautiful country side of France. At the end of the night, I felt so fulfilled to eat at the restaurant of my hero and to eat the food that inspire the great writer to write the book of the joys of cooking professionally.

The next day, I went through central park to meet up with another Chicagoan who was visiting her relatives in Brooklyn. After the day of walking, talking, and eating; I traverse back to my hotel in the damp, rainy night. I tried to hail a taxi to get back to my hotel, but the taxi pass by me like a shadow of the night. As I walked to my direction to the hotel, I ended up at the entrance of central park.

There had been stories of murders, cults, and madmen who kidnap people in Central Park in the middle of the night to never been seen or heard from again. So as I stand out in the rain, I had two choices: I could stand by the gate, trying to get a taxi cab in the rain and catch pneumonia or I could go through central park and possibly never be heard from again. I chose to go through the park. It was a desperate move but it was the only move I had left. As I walked through the dark, urban forest, I constantly look behind me for anybody who wanted me gone. I felt the cold rain drip on my neck as I reached to the other side and the unsettling feeling of seeing nobody else around. I finally made it back to my hotel where I collapsed on the soft bed. Five minutes later, my cell phone was ringing but I was so exhausted from my walk of soaked terror that I muffled from my pillow "Im too tired!"



The last full day was a culinary tour of Manhattan with my brother and sister. We took the subway from the upper westside to the lower east side, were the famous Katz Delicatessen reside in its aged glory. We waited in line for nearly an hour, but our wait was well worth it, like waiting in line of the best roller coaster in a big theme park. Inside of the eatery, the history of the new york deli came alive with pictures of famous celebrities on the wall and the table were the famous line "I'll have what she is having," was filmed for When Harry Met Sally. When we made it to the counter, we ordered sandwiches of pastrami and corn beef as the staff hand cuts the meat into thick, juicy slabs. When we got our mile high sandwiches, we find a seat in the crowded hoards of tourists and foodies to enjoy the meal of meat, rhy bread, mustard and sour pickles. The meat was so juicy, you might be asking yourself if this a meal or a carnivores dream.

After Katz, we headed back to the upper west side to make one more stop before returning to chicago. Big Nicks was just across the street from our hotel and as you walk in you might think that this place was a regular pizza parlor in the middle of the city. Although it is famous for its gourmet burgers, the most significant part of Big Nicks was not the funky decor or the casual night crowd or the friendly staff. It was the pizza.

As a true chicagoan, I was taught that New York pizza was somewhat inferior to Chicago style; but from that night, I discovered that new york pizza could be a good thing. Its not really a question of quality when some on ask's "Who has the best pizza: Chicago or New York?", it is more of a question of different attributes between the two. New York style pizza is more of a travelers pie. It is more handheld that chicago pizza and it has a certain crunch from the water used to make the dough. There was also a different way to eat a slice of this pizza. Known as the "brooklyn fold", it was a style were you fold the slice for more balance and control to eat the slice. All you have to do is fold it in half and insert slice into the mouth to enjoy its cheesy wonders.

As I folded and prepare take a couple of bites of the delicious and comforting pie the feeling of eating through New York was somewhat accomplished, like I could possibly live there now if I wanted to. It is a place were food can become more than just fuel for our everyday lives. It can inspire us to travel and discover what life true pleasures can be. As I watched the high skyline of city behind me from my planes window, I only envision when I would return to the city of culinary brilliance.




 

Equal Pay Day

As of yesterday, I have attended the annual Equal Pay Day rally at the Daily Plaza in downtown Chicago. The Equal Pay Day is when women and men gather to rally against unequal pay and gender discrimination.

It is peaceful rally to demand a more equal playing feild for women who do the same work as men. Even though the Equal Pay Act was passed in 1963, the gap between equal pay is still at an unfair balance. For every dollar a man makes a women makes 77 cents. It is really sad to hear that after years for fighting equal rights, inequality still resides.

Although, improvments have been made. About 50% of the workforce is run by women and the gap is starting to close. Yet if we want to close the gap completely, we must first understand what work is about.

In the resturant bussiness, I have seen women who work just the same as men. They are tough, resiliant and respectable in culinary standards. In the culinary world, it dosent really matter what gender, race or background you come from. If you caan buture a chicken in five minutes, then you can be part of the crew. It may not be like that in every resturant, but for some it is the right way to run a bussiness. If other industries have that same mind set of work place fairness as those resturants, then it could be a better world.

It really does show that issues such as pay realy does affect everyone. One of the big worries that resturants go though is the fear of unequal pay and finances. For servers especially because they only receive $2.13 per hour with tips. It is a sad truth but, that is why orginizations such as the R.O.C exist because we want to change the world for the better. We want future generations to learn about equal pay, it may not happen right away but it will happen over time. If you want more information about womens equal rights and fair pay practices, visit the AAUW website (link is below).

For now, I bid all of you a-do and support equal pay. Thank You.

www.aauw.org

My Third Protest

Sorry for not posting earlier. I had some things going on with college, my job and other things that could be an obstacle.

The protest went as well as expected for the third time around. I was the leader again since I came up with a few new chants. Although during the middle of the protest, I lost my voice (more like stained it) and could not shout as loud. Thankfully, another member took the lead to let me recover. We chanted so loud that the hotel next door took attention and I saw more people approaching us and joining our little circle to participate.

For those who pass our protest and reading this, I want to say thank you for participating and getting our message across. Even though it was only about ten seconds, it really did show that citizens of Chicago are paying attention to our cause and for that I want to say thank you. I also like it when people join our circle and do a conga line pretending its a dance. That made my night.

Other then that, I'm also working on a new article for this web sight known as "Working for Peanuts". (Its a working title.) Its an article about minimum wage and why we need to increase it. Too many people are living on the edge of poverty because the minimum wage is not enough to help struggling families in this economy. Its still in the working stages but I also want some feed back on this issue. Do you think the minimum wage is enough or do you think that we need to increase minimum wage? Please leave comments below and tell me what you think.

I also want to tell you that I will be participating in a rally to support women in the workforce. In America today a women makes about 77 cents to a mans dollar and the R.O.C is holding a rally for equal pay. It would be held at Daily Plaza at around noon. I will be reporting on it and give you details of the affair. With that in mind, I bid you all an a-do.

My Second Protest

The protests against Capital Grill is still in progress in Chicago. My second protest is when I finally get a chance to lead to protesting circle in front of the restaurant.

It was a last minute request, but I decided to lead anyway. I started off with the usual chants that we do, but I was struggling since it was my first time leading the group. I keep blanking out from the chants we usually do. Then from the bottom of my deep booming voice, I lead a new chant that grabbed the attention of everyone around me. It was "pay your workers" sung in the same fashion as singing "hey hey, goodbye." There was a little laughter but soon others join in and I was praised for my improvisation. Although i'm not really gloating to myself, because the chants are more then sing catchy phrases to songs from the 70's. It is about getting the message across and fighting for whats right. If you have any ideas for new chants, please commit below.

As for everything else, i'm just finishing up my semester and enjoying the weather. I started a new job, but i don't really want to write about it online. Although I do enjoy it so far and i'm excited to practice my profession in the real world.

That is all I have to report so far. If you have any opinions or suggestions to improve the blog, please comment. I really like comments and it gives me good feedback.

For now, I bid all of my readers a-do.