Friday, January 27, 2017

It's the Year of the Rooster!

17 ways to discover new york city this lunar new year

—NYC & Company Highlights Lunar New Year Activities and City’s Three Chinatowns in Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens—

New York City (January 11, 2017) — With the Year of the Rooster kicking off Saturday, January 28, visitors and locals looking to celebrate Lunar New Year should look no further than New York City. From a multitude of celebratory events to exploring the City’s three Chinatowns (Sunset Park in Brooklyn, downtown Manhattan’s Chinatown and Flushing in Queens,) the destination has something to offer everyone.

“With the largest Chinese population in the United States, New York City offers no shortage of authentic and celebratory experiences in Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens,” said Fred Dixon, NYC & Company president and CEO. “From festive fireworks and parades, to some of the world’s best dim sum, to a multitude of cultural organizations, NYC is the ideal place to celebrate this Lunar New Year.”

17 Ways to Celebrate the 2017 Lunar New Year in NYC:

1. Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts at Brooklyn College presents Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company’s Lunar New Year Celebration, an all-new family-friendly celebration of Chinese culture commemorating the Year of the Rooster, on January 22 at 3pm.

2. Hornblower Cruises and Spirit Cruises both offer Dinner Cruises on January 26 with views of fireworks, dining and entertainment onboard.

3. The iconic Empire State Building celebrates Chinese Lunar New Year with a dynamic display of its world-famous tower lights on January 26–27.

4. From 11am-3:30pm on January 28, Chinese New Year Firecracker Ceremony and Cultural Festival takes place in Sara D. Roosevelt Park in Manhattan’s Chinatown.

5. The next day, the second annual Madison Street to Madison Avenue event will take place, including musical performances, a traditional Chinese marionette show and martial arts. Additionally, a Lion Dance troupe will make its way along Madison Avenue from East 42nd Street to East 86th Street on a decorated trolley, stopping at select luxury retailers offering Lunar New Year promotions.

6. The Flushing Lunar New Year Parade and Festival Celebration takes place at 11am on February 4. Festivities include a parade, music, fireworks, dancers and more.

7. The 18th Annual New York City Lunar New Year Parade & Festival takes place on February 5 in Manhattan’s Chinatown, with the parade kicking off at 1pm.

8. On February 8 at 6pm, the Greater Flushing Chamber of Commerce is hosting its first Lunar New Year Celebration at the historic Flushing Town Hall, complete with delicacies and an energetic lion dance performance.

9. Eat your way through Sunset Park with Fujianese cuisine at Mister Hotpot, dim sum at Pacificana and Vietnamese dishes at Ba Xuyên.

10. While in Sunset Park, enjoy the neighborhood’s namesake park. Sunset Park is known for a vista that overlooks the East River with views of Statue of Liberty and Manhattan’s skyline.

11. Also in Sunset Park, New Yorkers and visitors can tour Brooklyn Army Terminal, a complex used as a supply base from WWI to the Vietnam War, through Turnstile Tours. Industry City, a recently renovated manufacturing center, is home to a distillery, food hall and events throughout the year.

12. In Manhattan’s Chinatown, the Museum of Chinese in America tells the story of Chinese-Americans in the United States and presents Sour, Sweet, Bitter, Spicy: Stories of Chinese Food and Identity in America through March 26.

13. Experience why so many New Yorkers and visitors head to Chinatown. Jing Fong is a traditional Cantonese restaurant offering dim sum; Joe’s Shanghai’s extensive menu includes their famed soup dumplings; and Nom Wah Tea Parlor is NYC’s oldest dim sum parlor.

14. While in Chinatown, stock up on Chinese medicine at Kamwo Herbal Pharmacy, one of the oldest and largest herbal pharmacies in the country, or Chinese sweets and savories at Aji Ichiban.

15. There are several bakeries and restaurants serving authentic Asian cuisine in Flushing—from breakfast at Tai Pan Bakery to lunch at Ajisen Ramen to dinner at Mulan.

16. Golden Shopping Mall in Flushing is home to beloved Xi’An Famous Foods, the NYC-based restaurant chain serving specialty, spicy Chinese cuisine. Queens Crossing Mall offers a variety of shops and dining establishments, including 10 Below Ice Cream, New York’s first to serve Thai-inspired ice cream rolls.

17. Flushing’s cultural attractions include the kid-friendly New York Hall of Science; the Queens Museum; the Louis Armstrong House Museum, honoring the jazz legend’s legacy; and the Kingsland Homestead, home to the Queens Historical Society.

For more information, go to nycgo.com/articles/lunar-new-year-events-nyc.

About NYC & Company:

NYC & Company is the official marketing, tourism and partnership organization for the City of New York, dedicated to maximizing travel and tourism opportunities throughout the five boroughs, building economic prosperity and spreading the positive image of New York City worldwide. For more information, visit nycgo.com.

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Contact: NYC & Company / Chris Heywood 212-484-1270
Britt Hijkoop 212-484-5404

Thursday, January 26, 2017

BLACKENED PORTOBELLO MUSHROOM PITA POCKETS

These portobello mushroom pita pockets are so good that they’ll get you out of bed early for breakfast: blackened portobello mushroom caps stuffed into pita pockets with fresh baby spinach, shredded cheese, garlic, and sriracha hot sauce! I like to eat these for breakfast but this tasty vegetarian recipe can be made for any meal of the day.

The portobello mushroom caps are the star of this dish. They are marinated in olive oil and blackening seasoning prior to cooking, and then finished off on the stovetop or the grill. I’ve been wanting to develop a recipe for portobello mushrooms for a while, and when I saw some fresh pita bread at the market yesterday, I knew I had to make a portobello mushroom pita pocket! Speaking of pita bread, they are great to use as a pita sandwich of sorts. This is what you do: take 1 pita round, cut in half, and you’ll end up with 2 pita pockets. The pita round is hollow on the inside, so they serve as great vessels for any kind of delicious sandwich filling that you can think of. For this recipe, I kept it simple and just had portobello mushrooms plus cheese, fresh baby spinach greens, some garlic, and sriracha hot sauce.

Here are my favorite things about this recipe:

healthy and vegetarian: This recipe is simply just a bunch of delicious veggies stuffed into pita bread with some seasoning. It’s also low on calories and makes for a nice, light dinner.
fast and easy: The cooking time is less than 30 minutes and except for the marinade there is very little prep involved! There are just a few main ingredients involved and it’s easy to improvise depending on your vegetable preferences.
spicy: I’ve been craving some spicy food so this dish definitely fits the bill! The blackening seasoning packs some heat and so does the sriracha. If spiciness isn’t your thing, just leave out the hot sauce.

Blackened portobello mushroom pita pockets

Yield: 2 servings

Serving Size: 1 pita pocket sandwich

Ingredients

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For marinating the portobello mushrooms:

2 portobello mushroom caps (3-4 inches in diameter)
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons blackening seasoning

For putting together the pita pockets:

1 pita round (7-8 inches in diameter), cut in half resulting in 2 pockets
1 cup baby spinach leaves, loosely packed
1/2 cup shredded cheese (mozzarella, jack, and cheddar all work well here)
2 garlic cloves, minced
drizzle of sriracha, to taste

Instructions

Combine all marinade ingredients in a ziplock bag and mix well so that the portobello mushrooms are well coated in olive oil and blackening seasoning. Let sit in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.
Heat a pan over medium heat. Add portobello mushrooms. Cook until they are oozing liquid and blackened to your liking, at least 20 minutes. Flip them every 5 minutes. When done, turn off the heat. Alternatively, you can grill these instead.
Take the 2 pita pockets and slather minced garlic inside each pocket. Then heat the pita pockets on a pan over medium-low heat, about a few minutes per side.
Assemble the pita sandwiches: add portobello mushrooms, spinach, and shredded cheese to the pita pockets. Drizzle with sriracha, if desired. Serve immediately.

The Man Purse Has Arrived

Fashion designers are pushing tiny bags for guys in 2017.

Over the summer we wondered if the small man purses we were seeing on stylish guys like A$AP Rocky and Virgil Abloh were going to take off for real. While those guys certainly made the smallcross-body bags look cool—like gun holsters for cell phones instead of, you know, guns—the idea of non-famous dudes rolling into offices and bars wearing what is essentially a utilitarian purse strapped across their bodies seemed farfetched. Six months later though, the trend is still alive and kicking. At least on shelves it is. Practically every stylish, trend-aware menswear brand has one of the bags up for grabs. They market them a million different ways, depending on the exact shape of the thing. They’re “camera bags”, “flight bags”, “small cross-body bags”, and “small messengers”. Anything but a purse.

Much like the portfolio bag or leather pouch trend that took the leather goods world by storm a few years back, we suspect this look is destined to be embraced by only the most fashion-forward men on the planet. (And, in the case of the small cross-body bag, streetwear diehards, exceptionally cool musicians, and type-A dads on vacation.) Everyone from Louis Vuitton and Hermes to Dior Homme put one in their Fall 2017 runway show, so we know they won’t be going anywhere anytime soon.

If you’re looking to cement your status as the most fashionable person in your friend group, well, you’ll have plenty of styles to choose from. You also won’t have to sit on your cell phone, wallet, water bottle, and keys anymore. Hey, we never said the look didn’t have its pluses.