Amen for Ramen!

Featured Reader: LISA outNabout at Wailua Falls on the Hana side of Maui Hawaii!

One time…. In NYC, I found myself addicted to Ramen noodles. ADDICTED. I craved it. Ever since eating at Sategaya (see my earlier blog on Sategaya), I have been on a Ramen Binge. I’ve been eating Ramen outNabout as well as at home almost constantly. I discovered that the East Village of NYC seems to be the war zone for the battle of the Ramen restaurants. On almost every block you can find a Ramen shop. So how do I know which one to choose? I ask my soul mate who took me to Sategaya in the first place (he is somewhat of an expert). This time, he recommended Ippudo, another Ramen house that is famous amongst Japanese locals, as well as in Japan.

Most of you still think of Ramen as the freeze dried sponge of noodles that you make at home. But really good Ramen starts off with the soup.
There are several types of soup bases, but really good ramen doesn’t take 3 minutes to make in your microwave, but rather days of boiling meats and vegetables to make luscious and sometimes creamy and flavorful soup bases. Ippudo is known for their amazing soups. Then there are the noodles. Ippudo makes their noodles fresh in their basement. You can even watch the noodles being made on a machine through a glass window while you wait your turn to use the restrooms.

This Ramen adventure to Ippudo began with a phone call to Robert who works at the Little Hair shop in the East Village, just blocks from Ippodu. I knew that Robert, being both Japanese and from Hawaii, would appreciate a good bowl of SAIMIN (what we call Ramen in Hawaii). “I get off of work at 6:30” said Robert. “Meet me at the salon, and I think maybe some of my co-workers will join us if you don’t mind”.


“Sure!” I say. Herbelicious and I love Robert’s co-workers-- a Hodge-podge of hair artists who are just great people with great energy to be around. We get to the salon just as it is closing and the last customers leaving. After a quick clean up, Petra the owner counsels and supports her staff on the rough diamonds they encountered that day. I think Petra is an amazing boss. She then gets one of her staff to pour us all a shot of Don Julio! And then it was off to Ippudo.


On our way to Ippudo who did we run right into but Ms. Top Model herself TYRA BANKS! She was being assisted by to people and appeared to be limping. She was even more beautiful in person. Herbelicous called out his favorite stalker line that he says to all the celebs he meets on the streets of NYC: “OMG I LOVE YOUR SHOW!”

“Thanks” she replied with a smile as she limped away.


Ippudo is located at 65 Fourth Ave at 10th street (just across the street from the Astor Place Train stop. Upon walking in, you will immediately notice the trendy atmosphere. Almost like a nightclub.
Who knew that you could build such a trendy place based on noodles and soup? Our table wasn’t quite ready so we all sauntered up to the bar where FREEZE DRIED RAMEN NOODLES with glass over the top as the bar itself.
Behind the bar the wall was lined with bowls! We all ordered a Japanese beer and settled in the corner and talked about our day, and how Petra should have us over sometime and make us some kicking Caribbean food (hint hint). Petra is Asian, but was born and raised in Trinidad.



When our table was ready, the host led us into a large dining room where immediately the whole staff stopped what they were doing and all yelled Irrashaimase! (Welcome in Japanese). In the center of the room was another trendy piece of art, what appeared to be a giant tree or umbrella made of bamboo.

Our host led us to our table complete with tatami mat seats, ropes, and Japanese writing engraved into the wall behind us. Though I could read (pronounce) the characters on the wall, I did not know what they meant. To the right of our table was the glass enclosed kitchen where you could watch the noodle chefs make our meals.
We decided to share an appetizer platter complete with Octopus salad, fried fish cakes, and the most luscious piece of pork with fat that just melted in your mouth. The pork was like eating Kalua Pig (pig cooked in the underground oven) from Hawaii. We also ordered edamame.



Upon looking at the menu, we realized that unlike Setagaya which only has Shoyu (so sauce) based ramen soups, Ippudo had several different kinds:
Tonkotsu which is a meat based soup, Miso Ramen which has a Miso based soup, and the regular shoyu based ramen.



Petra and Victor (her Husband), Dane, and Me ordered the Akamaru Ramen: “The original tonkotsu soup noodles with Ippudo’s special sauce, miso paste, and fragrant garlic oil; slices of simmered Berkshire pork, cabbage, onions, kikurage & scallions".


Herbert ordered the Miso Ramen: “Soy bean paste ramen noodles soup, tonkotsu based soup with slice of Berkshire pork, minced pork, cabbage & scallions”.


Robert ordered the Shiromaru Hakata Classic: "The original tonkotsu soup noodles with slices of simmered Berkshire pork, kikurage, red pickled giner, menma, hard boiled egg, sesame & scallions".


And Dustin ordered the Spicy Tonkotsu Ramen because he likes it spicy: “The original tonkotsu soup noodles with hot sauce, ground pork, cabbage, onions & scallions. Your choice of spiciness, mild, spicy or extra spicy". Dustin ordered it Extra Spicy.


When the food came it was sheer bliss. Nothing could be heard except the moans, grunts, and slurps of the ramen being eaten.
In Japan, it is actually proper to slurp ramen so that you get the noodles and the soup at the same time and experience the sophistication of the flavors on your palate.


Personally, I liked the noodles at Setagaya better, but there was no arguing that the broth here at Ippudo was nothing short of amazing.
We ate everything in our bowls and drank all of the soup.


After dinner, we all shared some Green Tea Creme Brule which was just the perfect amount of sweet along with hot tea or Ocha. In Japan, it is known that all the good restaurants serve you ocha for free.


One quick stop to the bathroom where the giant face watched you pee, and it was goodbye to everyone. It was a wonderful night of good food, with good friends, and good conversation. I got my Ramen fix for the night! I only wished that my soul mate, who recommended this place to me, was there to go home with. I miss him a lot, some days worse than others, but I know that he is doing great things on the other side of the world. I’m doing great things on this side of the world.

For Real! Seriously!

One of my Passions: Flagging.

Featured Readers: Tim and Emilio- New York Residents outNabout in Vermont

One time…. I saw a really hot shirtless circuit boy on the dance floor of the now infamous but defunct 24-hour Gay club Backstreet Atlanta. He was flagging. I was mesmorized. What is flagging? It’s form of spellbinding dance using pure silk. There are no rods or poles, just tiny weights. The motion of the cloth is that of the infinity symbol: a figure eight winding and unwinding itself…forever! It‘s a very spiritual and uplifting activity for me and I have made it one of my passions. The day my soul mate left to the Middle East, I cried. And then I picked up a set of flags and I spent the afternoon flagging. It helped me work through the emotions of my loss. I think about him every day.

I have flagged everywhere. I have flagged in clubs, parks, private parties, and company parties. I have flagged on the Savannah’s of Africa, the beaches of Hawaii, and Victoria Falls. Not only does it lift my soul, but it lifts everyone who watches. It is such a beautiful experience that I love sharing it. Until recently it was only seen in gay clubs or at circuit parties. I want to change that. Something so positive and uplifting should be shared with the mainstream. Myself, Mykel, Lefty, and Tigger, all artists, all friends, decided to take over the leadership of New York City Flaggers: The Community of Artists. Together, we want to spread a positive message.


How did this all start for me? Let me explain….



When I was in second grade, my neighbor Evelyn came home with a set of poi balls. She said it was for the May Day festival. May Day is celebrated on May 1st (my Birthday!) and in elementary school each class would learn and perform a Hula dance for our parents in a school wide show. Poi Balls are used for a hula dance from New Zealand. It consists of 2 balls on strings that are twirled around and used to do tricks. According to the Maori People of New Zealand (the warrior people of Polynesia), it teaches hand eye coordination. Evelyn said they learned to make them in her 4th grade class and were learning the hula and tricks for May Day. Over the course of the next few days, she taught me and Charmaine (our other neighbor) how to make our own set and she taught us the tricks. We became quite good at it.



Fast Forward. I am a club kid on the Dance floor of Backstreet watching this flagger. I can’t help but notice that he is controlling the flags much like a set of poi balls. I approached him. I asked him about the flags. He hands them to me and says “go for it”. I realized that they are weighted and if I twirled them like I twirled the poi balls, that I could do what he was doing… well not quite, but pretty close. “Have you flagged before?” he asked.

“No” I replied, “but I have spun poi”.

“Oh yeah? You spin fire? It’s almost the same as flagging” he said.


I had no idea what he was talking about-- spinning fire. I asked him where he got those flags and he said that he made them. “Its part of the initiation into the tribe, you have to make your own flags at some point” he said. He gave me a website. I ran home and checked it out. The tribe was community of artists, performers, flag spinners, poi spinners, and fire twirlers (poi balls set on fire!). They had directions on how to make flags. I had a sewing machine so I immediately went to the fabric store and bought all I needed. About 4 hours later, I had two sets of flags—A bright orange sparkly la-me set for me, and a bright sparkly purple la-me set for my friend Sam. I was never great at flagging, just good.



A brief history lesson. Flagging or Fanning may have started in the gay disco scene in the late 70’s and early 80’s when clubbers danced with large fans which eventually gave way to a form of fans that had no spines, but rather a flexible weight. In the late 90’s, with the introduction of the rave and circuit scene flaggers once again found their place in the nightclub dance culture—Where I found it. If you ask me how it started, I would say that it came out of drill teams and color guards and evolved. That in the past gay boys wanted to twirl the flags for the marching band but only the girls were allowed to. I think they are allowed to today. I really don’t know.


2004. I am now living in NYC and find a class called FLOW. It is a flagging class. On my first day, George the teacher introduces me to a bunch of great friends “the tribe” and tells me to reverse the direction that I’m spinning the flags. All of a sudden I can easily do all the tricks!

Life in NYC consumes me. I’m struggling to survive. Little did I know that maybe flagging was the grounding that I needed to balance me. At the same time, the tribe slowly dwindles.

2009. Mykel a talented singer/dancer/artists/flagger calls me. He asks me and Lefty to meet him in a restaurant. “I want to bring back this wonderful community that we had. I think that under our leadership along with Tigger, we can do it.” We talk. I realized that this is what’s been missing: the friends- the tribe, dancing, expressing myself, creating, and the sharing—lifting myself up as well as the others around me. We re-created together NEW YORK CITY FLAGGERS!

We hold a bi-weekly very fun, social, non-threatening work-out of a dance class in Chelsea. If you have ever had the desire to learn to dance but thought you just weren’t really a dancer then NYC Flaggers is for you. If you ever had the desire to perform in a show or parade but never thought you would be given the opportunity, then NYC Flaggers is for you. If you’ve ever had the desire to be an artists and paint, or choreograph, then NYC Flaggers is for you. If you feel out of shape but want to have fun working out then NYC Flaggers is for you. If you want to meet a cool group of people who have no judgments about anyone then NYC Flaggers is definitely for you! Check out our website for more pictures, videos, and our schedule of classes at:

http://www.myspace.com/nycflaggers or check us out on FaceBook under New York City Flaggers!

Mykel who is our artistic director is also a talented singer/songwriter who is also about to release a new dance single. NYC Flaggers will be there to back him when the single hits the charts! We will be there performing for his live performances. Believe me, the new song is HOT! We have been waiting for a hit song with such a great message for a long time. Congrats Mykel!

http://www.mykel.info/

We have also booked several of the parades in NYC-- the Dance Parade, Gay Pride Parades, and even the Puerto Rican Day parade. We are in talks now with some community groups to help use flags as a positive way to spin their positive messages to the community.

If you have nothing to do on a Thursday or Saturday, come out and flow with NYC Flaggers! You’ll help change the world!

And guess what? Life in NYC doesn't consume me anymore. I consume it. My feet are now firmly planted and only my hands are in the air... Holding a set of flags!

For Real! Seriously!

Little Life Lessons

One time…. I met a boy and fell madly in love with him. But the universe said to me that the time just wasn’t right for us. The universe is pulling us apart even though we don’t want to be. I have been in a mopey kind of mood ever since. I am lovesick. All of those plays and sonnets of Shakespeare that I read in high school completely make sense to me now. I am physically drained, mentally drained, and emotionally drained. I cannot eat or sleep. Every song on the radio now holds new meaning for me.

I am still going to work every day, still going to the gym, and still going to dance class. I do this to try to maintain a sense of normalcy in my life. My body feels worked out! Maybe I will have abs by the end of this ordeal. Herbelicious keeps bitching at me that if I do get abs (from being love sick and not eating) that he will never speak to me again! NAILS!

As much as I will miss this amazing boy after he leaves on Saturday, I have learned so much from him and this experience: little life lessons. For that I am eternally grateful to have met him. I know that I am extremely lucky. I  Always have been lucky, and feel that I always will be lucky.

I know that this blog is supposed to be about me being outNabout in New York. I just haven’t really been in an outNabout type of mood lately. Instead, I want to share some of the life lessons that I have learned from this amazing person. I think we can all use them to make ourselves better people. Some of them make me laugh and some of them make me cry. Take them as you wish. Use them.

1. Make everyone you meet feel as if they are the only one in the world that matters. Make it seem like the whole world has gone away when they are with you. Even when you are with a group of people. Make everyone in the group feel this way.

2. When asked to do something, always say “why not?”. When you say why not, you are not saying no, but rather opening up yourself to try new experiences.

3. Always speak the truth.

4. Do not be afraid to explore—ALONE. Don’t limit yourself from experiencing things and visiting places simply because you have no one to go there with. Besides, you just might make a new friend-- maybe even meet the nicest person you have met in the last 20 years of your life!

5. Make sure to always save your quarters (so that you can do your laundry).

6. Be like “Moving Rubber”—Strong enough to hold things, but flexible enough to be open minded to new things.

7. If you are not going to cook, or can’t cook, then make sure you really enjoy eating out! Eat good food.  Take pictures!

8. Know your priorities and obligations. Make appointments. Make sure you keep them. Even if it seems like your obligations might hurt someone, just tell them. They will understand, and respect you more in the end.

9. Always share your million-dollar smile! It will get people to smile their million dollar smiles back.

10. Listen to the music of Jason Mraz. His music is deep but very uplifting. Even his sad songs sound happy.

11. Don’t scare your friends while they are in the shower. Think about it, they are naked--they feel most vulnerable.

12. If you wake up late and find that you are still on time for work, know that you can now sleep in every day and still be on time!

13. Don’t be afraid to drink wine out of a plastic kiddie cup.

14. Drink Matcha Green tea. It will give you energy!

15. Don't be afraid to tell someone that you have been thinking about them. It will make their day.

16.  Hickey's on your neck are not necessarily trashy... they show the rest of the world that someone loves you.

17. Don’t be afraid to fall in love, let yourself go, and emotionally connect with someone, even if you know it will only be for a short time. The highest vibration in the universe is love; don’t deny it. Just enjoy yourself even if it’s only for a moment.

18.  Laugh A lot.  At everything!

Goodbye doesn't mean anything.  It's the time that we spent together that matters most, NOT how we left it.

I'm going to miss you.  And when you feel alone, just remember that someone in the world loves you--ME!



For Real! Seriously!