January Favorites

Mako 𝘅 Share the Cool

The last creative assignment I produced was at Sophomore year in college titled “If Jean-Jacques Rousseau had Facebook.” I’m gonna let you imagine just how well that went. Suffice to say that my writing is rusty, so this time around Sabrine’s dear readers, try to pay more attention to tips and less to the quality of the writing.

From my end, I promise to be concise and unpretentious. And hopefully somewhere along the lines you will read about something new that will inspire you to share your favorites with us too.

If you know me, you know that food always and forever comes first (even before family and friends.) So its only fitting that I kick off January favorites with places to eat.

🇲🇽 Tacos Gardenias, Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

Image by Tim S.

The countless hours I’ve spent with New York Times’ 36 hours (my go to book for anything travel related) have finally paid off. I found a place adored by locals and foreigners who value authentic Mexican food.

Located in breathtaking Baja California Sur of Mexico, this family run business of over 30 years is a total gem that is not to be missed. Tacos Gardenias offers a variety of Mexican food prepared by local chefs using local produce.

As a resident of San Francisco, I’m exposed to some of the best Mexican food in the world, all I need is to take a stroll down Valencia street. But Gardenias and their cactus taco turned my culinary world upside down.

If you are looking for a fancy candlelit dinner, don’t bother going there. But if you don’t mind trading comforts of fine dining for some of the best tacos in the world, then Les Gardenias is your place.

Pro Tip: Every single server will try to photobomb your picture, make sure you let them :)

👨🏼‍🍳 Providence, Los Angeles, USA

I don’t normally agree with the general consensus of ‘review’ websites, which is ironic given I work for Yelp. I always try to make up my own mind when it comes to product or service with an exception of one recommendation guide that I wait for year after year. The Michelin Guide has never once disappointed and has led me to some of the most cherished culinary adventures of my life.

Chef Michael Cimarusti’s Providence is not an exception. Located in the heart of LA, Providence will elevate your standard for modern seafood experience. It is the type of food that makes you wish your stomach spoke, so that it could describe what your mouth is incapable of conveying.

The ingredients are impeccable, obtained through a network of foragers, farmers, fisherman and ranchers. Among the courses are A5 Wagu with salt-roasted celery root, Sea Urchin with kabocha squash and Vermilion Rockfishwith cauliflower, crosnes, pancetta.

To end the evening on a good note, take a Satsuma-Imo, Yuzu a famed Japanese desert consisting of 90% sweet potato and 10% fairy dust.

Pro Tip: Before dinner, grab a cocktail called “CLEVERHIPPIE” at the bar. The drink is named after the Instagram handle of the farmer that provides providence with passion fruit.

📖 How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

Full disclosure, I’m still in the process of reading this book, but so far it has definitely deserved a spot in my January favorites.

In Authors own words, there are 12 things that this book will do for you:

1. Get you out of a mental rut, give you new thoughts, new visions, new ambitions.

2. Enable you to make friends quickly and easily.

3. Increase your popularity.

4. Help you to win people to your way of thinking.

5. Increase your influence, your prestige, your ability to get things done.

6. Enable you to win new clients, new customers.

7. Increase your earning power.

8. Make you a better salesman, a better executive.

9. Help you to handle complaints, avoid arguments, keep your human contacts smooth and pleasant.

10. Make you a better speaker, a more entertaining conversationalist.

11. Make the principles of psychology easy for you to apply in your daily contacts.

12. Help you to arouse enthusiasm among your associates.

The book is a smooth sailing, reads almost like Harry Potter. However, if you really want to apply the teachings to your everyday life, prepare to spend time re-reading, highlighting and making notes of the book. Recommended for improving attitude and reducing stress.

🎭 Chagall: Fantasies for the Stage, LACMA

A favorite early modernist of mine, Marc Chagall, had a lifetime (almost 100 years) to create pure magic. You can see Chagall’s work in virtually every artistic format like painting, print, ceramic, glass and so on.

What I didn’t know before my trip to LACMA was just how significant performing arts were to him and his craft. This particular exhibition I came across concentrates on Chagall’s four ballet productions for the stage — Aleko, set to music by Pyotr Tchaikovsky (1942), The Firebird by Igor Stravinsky (1945), Daphnis and Chloé by Maurice Ravel (1958), and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s opera The Magic Flute (1967).

The set designs and costumes hand made by Chagall forever changed my understanding of what it means to be an artist. I always thought, maybe foolishly so, that if artist wasn’t an innovator, creating something new with every brushstroke, she/he had very little to offer. Looking at Chagall’s work, however, made me realize just how much inspiration he took from Tchaikovsky and Stravinsky to use in his costumes. I’ve learned about his move to San Petersburg and the numerous hours he spent with Ballet Russes, trying to understand how dancers moved. Chagall read and re-read Pushkin until he was basically fluent in his verses.

Chagall’s costumes for Aleko/The Firebird made me realize that while it takes a great artist to create something new, it takes a truly exceptional one to maintain the most difficult balance of innovating while simultaneously paying homage to the genius that came before.

📺 The Handmaid’s Tale

This January I’ve binged watch The Handmaid’s Tale. What a treat. If you don’t believe me, believe the Grammy award they just bagged.

Based on the best-selling novel by Margaret Atwood, this series is set in Gilead, a totalitarian society formerly known as United-States. While the world is faced with environmental disasters and a plummeting birth rate, the few remaining fertile women are forced into sexual servitude.

This TV show is scary, thought provoking and uncomfortably relevant to our society. But it’s never boring. Not even for a second.

January is a big month, so I had couple of favorites more. In no particular order and without a comment, here they go. I hope you enjoy xx

Bonus 😉 A Home In Tuscany Undergoes A Magnificent Makeover

Bonus 😉😉 Yo-Yo Ma and Kathryn Stott ‘s Commentary on Valse Sentimentale (tip: listen to Valse Sentimentale first)