Whatever, It’s Quarantine
I received a partially dry-aged duck the first week of shutdown here in New York City from a non-profit where I volunteered. This organization does great work, making meals from donated restaurant food. When all the restaurants suddenly closed in March they were flooded with perishable donations to organize, distribute, cook and put up. One restaurant, one of the very best restaurants in the world, donated ducks they were dry-aging, a mainstay on their menu. Presently this fine-dining restaurant has pivoted to make meals for people in need.
When I break down a chicken I put the…
When We Hit Pause in New York City
I received it as a thank you for volunteering the first Wednesday of the shutdown, a raw, dry-aged duck from one of the best restaurants not only in New York City, but in the world. I took it, we needed protein at home. I am still working at the soup kitchen and food pantry, my exposure to COVID-19 is up, I don’t want to have to go to the grocery store too. But also, I’m a cook, of course I want a free duck that is a signature dish for a fine-dining restaurant. It’s so damn absurd. …
Yesterday I got a paycheck and bottle of hand sanitizer. A pretty stellar day in these times, this pause, this not-quarantine social distancing in New York City. I am an essential employee; I work at a soup kitchen and food pantry in Brooklyn. A friend told me I was a hero, I told him I was a worker, like the other people who go to work right now. I’m an essential worker like all the other blue collar people who go to work and don’t think about not going to work because we might get sick because at least we…
New York City’s shelter system presents problems no one can control during this pandemic.
Homelessness in New York is on the rise, a pretty sad statistic for a city full of so many damn rich people. 14% of all people without homes in this country live in this city. An utter lack of affordable housing is the culprit. Great work DiBlasio. Stellar work Mike Bloomberg. There are almost 63,000 people in New York City without homes. The last time this number was this high was during the Great Depression in 1929. The number of homeless single adults is 143% higher…
Even after it changed hands
“If you loved Uncle Bobby you’ll drink out of his shoe.”
My cousin Kelli was holding up one of my father’s duck boots, luckily brand new. She opened the Busch tap and filled it, then her sister, Erin, presented the shoe to each person in the bar.
My father’s lawyer was also behind the bar, collecting payment for services rendered with a case of mixed liquor of his choosing. I was 18 and drunk and sad and I think there was a point where I held my arms up and exclaimed, “This is my bar.”
But it wasn’t.
The night…
New York’s Drive Change and new culinary director Kurt Evans are putting their hearts and resources into teaching
A recent New York transplant from Philadelphia, Kurt Evans is an activist — so it makes sense that he’s the new culinary director for Brooklyn-based nonprofit Drive Change, a Bed-Stuy job training program for 18- to 25-year-old returning citizens.
Evans joins Jordyn Lexton, who, in 2014, created Drive Change. The organization came about when the former English teacher at Rikers Island saw firsthand high recidivism rates for young people — students come back into Rikers after release because they lacked the training they needed to succeed. Back then, New York was one of two states in the nation to automatically…
The Chesapeake Bay’s Smith Island is fighting for survival
Smith Island in Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay is a secret — of history and time, and lives lived on the water. My whole family was born and raised in Maryland, grandparents included, yet we had never heard of Smith Island until my mother went with friends five years ago.
The drive is three hours south from Baltimore — without traffic, no odd feat in the summer months — to Crisfield, Maryland. Park your car on a strip of grass on the side of the hardware store for overnight visits. Put an envelope with $2 and your license plate scribbled on the…
Millicent Souris
Millicent Souris is a cook and writer in New York.
