Escape from NYC 2010

In my defense, my 3 measly postings from this month make a lot more sense when you consider that this month I spent:
 *9 days in Italy
 *4 days hosting a fabulous house guest & co-hosting a party in my apt.
 *3 days traveling to/from & participating in the fall NLNI conference

That's 16 days total of craziness in just one month.
Plus of course the days spent getting ready for the trips and recovering from jet-lag etc.
Oh, and my family visited over one of those weekends, and I took little S to see Wicked!
So really, it's been an exceptionally busy month.

Next up, deciding if I want to participate in this year's Nanowrimo (don't know what that is? check it out online here), figuring out a little more job stuff, and spending T-giving in STL with B's family.

Oh, and I think we still need to send out a few save the dates.
I'm exhausted just thinking about it all!

Writing sample resquest: a.k.a. my first tiny kernal of hope in the job hunt process

A little bit of progress!

I received this email over the weekend:

Dear Saskia,

We recently received your resume for the (title removed by me!) and would like to see some of your writing samples before offering you an interview. While this may sound like an odd request, we’ve received several excellent applications and are hoping to get a better idea of each candidate’s writing abilities before offering interviews.

Ideally, we’re looking for one advocacy/policy brief and one annotated bibliography/literature review. The most related to family planning/reproductive health the better.

We are planning on holding interviews during the week of April 26^th. Please let me know if you would be able to provide these samples by COB next Wednesday and we will be in touch as soon as possible afterwards.

The only thing is, this is actually for an internship and not a full time job.

I applied for the position anyway because:

1. It's a full-time position for the summer

2. They are offering a great hourly rate

3. It's in the family planning unit of the organization (hellloo using my P.H. degree!)

4. The organization is great, and I would love to work there for real.

I figure that an internship might be a great way to get a foot in the door.

And even if they don't have full-time positions avaialbe at the end of the summer, it will give me 3 more months of employment and experience.

I can keep job hunting during that time, and I'll get paid every week. 

In all honesty, I'm a little freaked out--it seems crazy that there is this much competition for an internship but really hopeful that this or something else will work out.
And if nothing else, it's a much better email than the other one I received last week!

Fingers crossed..

Making Rejection Sting a Little Less

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I recently sent out a resume and cover letter indicating my interest in an open position at a foundation located in NYC.


I sent out the email at 11:32 am and received the following message at 11:46 am:



Dear Saskia,






Thank you very much for your interest in the role of ___(position) at the ___(organization). Although you do have an impressive background, we have decided to focus on applicants who are more closely aligned with our ideal profile as outlined in the position description.






I'm sorry that we won't be able to consider you for this role, but I will keep your resume in our active file in case I come across other opportunities that might be of interest to you.






Sincerely,


X



Based on the job description, I thought I was rather closely aligned with the ideal profile.

I’m more interested, however, in figuring out how the recruiter (X) came to their conclusion.

How exactly do you read a cover letter, examine a resume and craft a response in a little less than 15 minutes?
It’s possible that their ideal profile was simply not clearly explained in the job posting and I was missing an important skill that immediately removed me from consideration. Although there was no length of work experience listed, maybe they immediately nixed anyone will less than 5 years in the field.

Or maybe they sent rejection letters to anyone whose name started with the letter ‘S.’

No way to know really.

Luckily, the quick turnaround actually made me feel less upset about the rejection.

Since the recruiter clearly didn’t take the time to learn anything about me, I’m going to assume that I do indeed have an ‘impressive background’ and that the refusal is their loss.

Another thought on the job hunt..

Lately I've been wondering if I should have done things differently.

Perhaps I should have worked longer before starting a graduate program?
Perhaps I should have tried to do a dual degree program?
Perhaps I should still try to add a clinical degree to my (almost) masters?

I'm trying not to second guess my self, because I think ultimately this will all work out. If I had remained in STL, Ben and I might have been forced to endure at least 2 years of long distance. Considering how much we hated just 1 year/4 hours apart I'm not sure either of us would have remained sane during 2 years and 16 hours apart.

Or, if I had moved back East without an acceptance letter to a program, I might still be unemployed.

Or I might have been laid off in the last round of financial meltdowns in the non-profit and gov't sectors and facing the same predicament (needing a job) without the benefit of health insurance cushion due to school and an additional degree.

Right now though, it's all a little uncertain and it seems like I'm either under or overqualified for every single position in NYC.

As of now my goal is to send out a resume/cover letter per week and see what happens. I'm also trying to attend more work events for the networking possibilities and volunteer at a community event in April.

If that doesn't work, I'm going to move on to informational interviews and see what happens.
I know, however, that I'm still in a really good position. I've only been applying to positions that really spark my interest, which is really a luxury of sorts. If I don't feel like that's working, I'll start to broaden my search.

In the interim, I'm shamelessly self-promoting every chance I get @ work and trying really hard to remain upbeat.

Next step for blogging might be to create a 'places I would LOVE' to work @ list and see who has connections/wants to help!!

Engagement dinner celebration..a trip back to Craft!!

Holy cow (pun intended) is the food @ Craft delicious.
B took me here for a surprise engagement celebration dinner last week and we had a wonderful evening despite the snowy conditions and overall depressingly gross weather.
I know that Tom C. lost his Michelin star a few years ago, but thanks to a neat article in the New Yorker about their system, I’m going to assume that this has more to do with their stuffy emphasis on classic French cooking than the food at Craft.

B and I ate at Craft a year or so ago. During dinner we tried to remember the occasion. I thought perhaps it was for Valentine’s Day, he says it was for our anniversary. Either way, the last time we visited the restaurant we tried the tasting menu and left very happy, very full, and feeling a tiny bit poor.

This time around we had a gift certificate (thanks to B’s mom & dad!) and felt like it was the perfect occasion to go hog wild (yep, pun intended yet again).
We shared the field greens and an octopus appetizer. The field greens were very tasty, but the octopus was outstanding. Perfectly cooked—not chewy or gummy—but firm and tasty, with a great, slightly spicy sauce on the side that made dipping each piece fun. We fought over the last few bites it was so tasty!

Then on to the steak (B) and the veal cheeks (me). Normally I try to avoid veal because it seems kind of cruel, but Craft has information on their menus about getting all of their meat from local purveyors and farms. Since their meat is thus all locally produced, free-range, etc. I’m (hoping/assuming) that this extends to the treatment of the slightly younger cows that may have eventually ended up as part of my meal.

Humane treatment aside/assumed, the veal cheeks were amaaaazing. Tender and delicious and very filling despite a seemingly small portion. We also shared garlic risotto on the side and a dish of sautéed kale (or perhaps another green? can’t remember). Both the sides were very tasty, although I almost enjoyed the greens more than the risotto.

For dessert I tried a new tactic and ordered the brioche with crème fresh ice cream instead of something super sweet as per my usual tactic. B ordered his usual sorbet and some blood orange segments on the side. I think he almost enjoyed his little bowl of blood orange segments more than anything else—he’s funny like that. My brioche dish, which was similar to French toast but without an egg-y tasting batter was delicious. I slathered it with the slightly tangy ice cream and polished it all off very happily.

Overall, seemed like the perfect way to celebrate our engagement!

NYTimes Reports: New York Senate Expels Monserrate Over Assault

Although I'm still technically registred to vote in Baltimore (and have a license from MO), I've started to feel very invested in New York politics.

I'm sure that a lot of that has to do with the fact that I'm doing a lot of policy work @ one of my current internships..but no matter how it's happened, I'm invested!

Anyway, I saw an article this morning and felt like sharing.
Seems that NY State Senate (finally) decided to expel Senator Monserrate, a Queens Democrat from his seat.

Monserrate was "convicted last fall of a misdemeanor for dragging his companion down the hallway of his apartment building. "

Despite the somewhat bland langauge used in the article, most New Yorkers are aware that Monserrate was arrested after he dragged his (then?) girlfriend out of the apartment and down the hall by the hair and proceeded to generally abuse her in full view of secuirty cameras .

While I'm not sure that the Senate's vote is means much in terms of advancing the rights of women, or highlighting the plight of domestic violence survivors I'm glad that they are at least publicy decrying Monserrate's actions.

Sadly, it seems that Monserrate is still an arrogant, abusive jerk.
His reaction to the vote:

The actions that I’ve committed,” he said, “do not rise to the level of expulsion.”

Brooklyn's 81st Precinct probed by NYPD for fudging stats

Very disheartening, but maybe not that surprising.

A police officer in Bed-Stuy (a Brooklyn neighborhood not too far from ours) recently reported his OWN PRECINCT to internal affairs for fudging crime reports.

Seems like the police officers in the 81st precinct are not that interested in taking reports for serious crimes--including robbery, rape and felony assault.

According to the officer who reported to internal affairs, there has always been some amount of report mishandling in the precinct but it became markedly worse when a new commanding officer, Mauriello, took charge in 2008.

Looking at the numbers provided by the precinct, you do have to wonder about the marked decreases in reported crimes.

There is always the possibility that the area has simply become safer..but I somehow doubt that's the case when during the same period the city was forced to cut funding and the NYPD lost several thousand officers to retirement, low recruiting etc. It just doesn't seem that fewer officers+ less money should = less crime.

This allegation seems to have some anecdotal support (the newspaper found several sources), as well as a general feeling from city residents that police officers definitely try to avoid taking reports for certain types of crimes (including rape).

Although I find this beyond frustrating, it does tie in slightly to my thesis.
So at least I can feel annoyed/slightly productive at the same time.

I feel like a parent..with no children in sight!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As I was sitting in the exam room of an office on Monday I realized I kind of felt like a parent.

I had sad little monkey with a sniffly nose and a fever sitting on my lap , and I could hear a little kid crying in the waiting room.

Of course the sad little monkey was our almost 3 year old cat, Layla, and not a baby..but I sure felt like a harried parent!


First Bibi (the new kitten) got sick------------>











She then ever-so-sweetly sneezed on Layla for two days, so of course Layla caught the cold.

I took Bibi to the vet on Friday, and then had to drag poor Layla to the same clinic the following Monday.

I spent most of the weekend wiping gross..stuff..off of their poor little noses and trying to avoid being sprayed in the face every time one of them sneezed.
I was not particularly successful and overall it was a rather yucky weekend!

Bibi seemed to bounce back almost immediately once she was on medication, but poor Layla stopped eating and became so placid it was creepy. She usually spends most of her time trying to scare me to death by popping out from under the bed, or randomly nosing her way into anything and everything (tv screen, laptop, any dish or cup left out).

She seems to be on the mend after a fluid injection, 2 shots, and twice daily meds..but goodness it's been nutty.

Hopefully she'll be in better spirits soon..and up to her usual tricks:

The Apartment Improvement Project Continues..

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I really love our apartment. It’s nice sized (even by NYC standards), is in a great neighborhood, and is really close to several subway lines.

The only thing I do not like is the lack of decoration! We opted not to paint when we moved in, and the walls are all very white. We’re lucky that we have a really nice fireplace and mantel, but other than that portion of the living room the space is pretty sparse.

We’ve hung a few pictures and curtains on most windows, but it still seems too sterile. It’s great that we have so much wall space, but it makes me feel like we need to fill it with color etc.

We also somehow ended up with a lot of wood and leather—which I love—but it contributes to a kind of rigid decorating sense.

So for the past few weekends I have been creating projects for myself to add spice/pizzazz/color/fun to our house!

2 (or maybe 3?) weekends ago I tackled the 1st project: our prep carts.
A previous tenant left these black prep carts in the apartment when they moved. The landlord offered to remove them for us, or gave us the option of using/keeping them. Since we do not have an abundance of counter space, we opted to keep them.
They ended up, however, sitting right in plain site in the nook in between our living room and kitchen. They’re visible from most of the apartment, and I really hated the black color.

Here is the before picture:














And here is the after:






A little bit of primer, some teal paint and a few hours of work= a bright splash of color in our apartment!

Just a few short months away from getting a few extra letters

I can't wait to graduate in May!
I'll have my masters degree and will (hopefully?!) have something figured out in terms of a job.

Before that happens, however, I need to write my thesis and present to the department.

As of now I have figured out my essay topic and have started to create the outline.
Since the department approved my petition to remain in NYC, I'm going to use some of the work I've been doing as the basis for my paper.

I'm going to do some sort of policy paper/legislative statement about the need for better sexual violence data, and the ways in which current collection methods could be improved.

More to come as I think this through and move forward..

Foodie outing @ Brasserie Les Halles

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After reading Kitchen Confidential a few years ago--Anthony Bourdain's cooking memoir of sorts--I always wondered if the food at Les Halles was as good as it sounded.

Thanks to some good news on the job front (B had a great review @ work) we decided it was time to try it out.

I'm so glad we had the chance to try the food.. but seems that Les Halles was kind of the "Goldilocks" of dining experiences.

Everything was 'almost'...
As in, the wait was almost so long that we were annoyed that we bothered to make a reservation.
And our waiter was almost attentive enough.
And the food was almost good enough to warrant 5 stars.

Boyfriend ordered the hanger steak and I tried the mussels (Portuguese style).
The hanger steak was tasty, as were the fries.
The mussels were very good--but they had not been mixed well into the broth. The top layer were really lacking in flavor, which was a shame since the broth was delicious.

Dessert was also very good, although the rum poured on top of my rum cake was almost a little too strong! B's creme brule was tasty but nothing unusual.

Overall, it's kind of a sad that they were so overwhelmed and the waitstaff was was less than attentive. I think it might have been a 5 star night otherwise!

Field Trip Report: QUEENS

Last weekend B and I decided to explore a new part of the city.

After several days of staying inside (and out of the cold) we decided to brave the elements and take a field trip out to Long Island City.

Not to be confused with Long Island, Long Island City is in the part of Queens that is almost due north of where we live in Brooklyn.

B poked around online and found a few fun places to try in the area, and off we went on the G.

After 40 or so minutes, we arrived @ our destination and found..that EVERYTHING in the area was closed!

Or almost everything.

We walked around in the freezing cold for at least ½ an hour before deciding that the Thai Express place looked the best place to get food/warm up.

After a quick lunch we then headed over to the only other thing in the area that was open (and I think, most of the reason why B chose that part of Queens to explore): PS 1.

PS 1 is the Queens outpost of MOMA, and has lots of very modern art work.

Although it was a bit of a schlep, PS 1 is definitely worth a visit.

I loved the ‘pool’ installation and the photographs by Robert Bergman. (See B "swimming" !?)

I wasn’t a huge fan of the top floor though—it was filled with video installations, which I find kind of overwhelming/nausea inducing in such large numbers.

Overall, a great field trip..and we’ll definitely be back to check out the area again to see if it’s a little more lively at another time!

Passion vs. Prudence : Job Hunting in 2009

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As most of you know, I am currently interning at two very different organizations while I complete my masters degree. Both of my supervisors have offered each position until May, and I accepted their offers. One job is with a large government agency, and the other is with a small non-profit.

Although I have really enjoyed the networking and the experience of working in such a large agency over the past 8 months, I am not sure that I would want to remain in this type of position indefinitely. The level of bureaucracy can be totally overwhelming, and I have found it difficult to maintain my composure when I see so much money being wasted when there is so much need in this city.

I feel like I can be more creative at my non-profit position, and that I am able to contribute in a more tangible manner to both the organization and the cause. Although I have been there less time, I feel equally or perhaps even more comfortable with the staff and office space.

I have been really transparent with both of my supervisors throughout this internship process about my desire to transition into a full time job either before or around May (when I graduate). Both have indicated that they will help me identify and pursue positions, although nothing concrete has appeared.
The small non-profit, however, just posted that they are hiring a new full-time staff member.

I knew that this was likely to happen in the next few days, and I had already indicated potential interest to the executive director.

After reading the job description I am torn.

I think I would really enjoy the responsibilities of this position. It is a training and outreach position, and would require a good bit of organizational skills and interaction with community stakeholders in various projects. Although I would likely have to learn more about some of these programs, I think I could do a good job.

If I were to transition into this position, however, I would probably have to put aside all of my current projects. I am sure that someone could take over my responsibilities, but I have become really invested in my work. I know that the organization with like to eventually create a position that might encompass some of these projects, but it’s likely to take months to figure out—and will probably only be ½ or ¾ time.

I also do not want the non-profit staff/director to think that I am applying for this job simply because it’s available and I want something full-time. Although I have been very transparent about my desire for something permanent in New York, I would not submit an application if I did not think I could do a good job or if I were uninterested in the work.

I also do not want to lose out on the opportunity to (potentially) continue with my current work and finish all of my projects.

Is it smarter to try something new and appreciate the security?

Or better to hold out and see what happens?

Patience is not one of my (many!) virtues, but presenting myself as a candidate for this position while already an intern is not without risks. If they decide to hire someone else for the training job, I wonder if they will even consider me as a good candidate for other jobs. If I chose not to pursue this opportunity, am I kind of shooting myself in the foot due to some potentially unfounded concerns?

Is it worse to look overeager for any full-time work or to seem inflexible about open positions?

Lots to think about!

Thanksgiving Menu Overview

Overall I was pretty pleased with the Thanksgiving Menu.

I think that next year I will add a soup and remove the generic salad (since no one touched a single bite!).

Otherwise, I think it was pretty successful.

Our dinner included:

Appetizers:

Butternut squash and roasted onion phyllo tartlets

Dinner:

Turkey

Cranberry Challah Stuffing

Cranberry & Apple Chutney

Cranberry Sauce

Apple Butter

Green Beans with roasted shallots & fennel

Mustard & Cumin Roasted Potatoes

Sweet Potato Casserole

Green salad with walnuts and cranberries

Cranberry Rolls

Butternut squash ravioli w/ sage ‘butter’ sauce

Teriyaki Salmon

Dessert:

Pareve Pumpkin Pie

Mexican Apple Pie

If it sounds like a lot of food..well that’s because it was!

I also apparently went on a huge cranberry kick! Gotta love those antioxidants!

We had a ton of leftovers, which I turned into 2 pot pies.

I used the same pie crust recipe that I had used for the pumpkin pie, and it tastes great with either savory or sweet fillings.

Pictures and a few recipes to come!

Thanksgiving: Menu Highlights to Come!

Wow, what an action packed few days!
After several weeks of planning and a marathon of cooking, B and I successfully hosted our first Thanksgiving for both of our families in our NYC apartment.

Despite the sweltering temperature (oven+no heat control+ 9 people in an apartment=hot), I think it went really well!

Thanks Mom and Dad for coming in a day early to help! And thanks to B's parents for the lovely gift baskets!! Since someone (ahem, B) ate all of the cookies, crackers and cheese bites out of the first one I'm considering a plan to hide the items from the second one so that I can try something.

Since I'm pretty excited that everyone survived the evening and seemed to enjoy the food, I'm going to post some pictures and recipes from the meal (in the days to come).

This was one of the first times I did not go home to Harrisburg for Thankgiving, and although I missed seeing a few old friends and family members, it was really exciting starting a new tradition. Although I'm still in recovery mode (so tired!), I think that I'll be excited to this again next year.

Cooking Club Month 2: Pasta

Last month we made mozzarella cheese..and this month it was pasta!

Since I had made mozzarella a few times before, I hosted/taught last month.
This month Jacob took over and hosted everyone at his apt.
We made pasta with two kinds of wheat flour (semolina and durum).

It was actually pretty easy, although I'm going to need more practice at the rolling part!

We used a ratio of 1 c. flour to 1 egg.
You crack the egg right into the center of a little flour mountain, and mix with a fork in the center.

I was really bad at keeping the egg from running out of the middle area, but it seemed to work out anyway.


Then you keep incorporating the flour from your now rather flattened mountain, and start kneading.

Then you roll it out really thin..and voila! Pasta!



Rolling out until it was nearly transparent was probably the most difficult part.

I guess that's why they have nice little pasta machines. You put the dough through and it presses it thin and flat for you.

Although mine wasn't as thin as it could have been, it was kind of fun getting to roll the pasta out by hand. Really rather satisfying.




We made pumpkin ravioli out of the durum, and fettuccine out of the semolina.

I forgot to take pictures of the ravioli, but it was very tasty.



To make the fettuccine, you roll up the entire piece of rolled out dough kind of an a diagonal.

Imagine making a napkin roll.

Then you slice the now-rolled dough and unwrap the pieces.


You end up with lovely strands of pasta. And fresh pasta cooks so quickly!
<--We went from this











<--to this in just a few minutes.

Throw on some homemade white wine cream sauce, and you have pasta perfection on a plate!

So excited to do this again now that I know how!!

Cake decorating class 1!

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Just returned from a weekend at the beach!

Guess I'll have to update my summer adventure list sometime soon..

Anyway, also just had my 1st cake decorating class!

I've been baking for ages but I've always wanted to really learn how to decorate!

The Brooklyn Kitchen offers these great 1 night classes, so I thought it might be fun to learn more about buttercream and all of the piping techniques.

I had a ton of fun, and wish that I could take a longer class.

We also did not get to fondant, which is another medium I'd like to learn more about.

I know the basic idea and have played with it once or twice..but I think I need at least a few class sessions or a really good tutorial.

Unfortunately most of the longer cake decorating classes are also REALLY expensive.

For some reason most of them also have weekday class hours only.

When am I ever going to be able to take a cake decorating class from 9-2 for a week??

Maybe when I'm retired??

In any case, I'm still trying to figure that part out..because I definitely enjoyed all the decorating!

We were kind of forced to go in the leaves/flower route for the top of the cake but I think it still turned out pretty nicely!

Adventure update & a foodie presentation of B's handiwork!

Part I:

I think I am going to add something else to my adventure to-do-list.

To be totally honest, I had never even heard about the High Line until very recently.

According to the website, the High Line:

"The High Line was originally constructed in the 1930s, to lift dangerous freight trains off Manhattan's streets. Section 1 of the High Line is open as a public park..[w]hen all sections are complete, the High Line will be a mile-and-a-half long elevated park..."

Neat, right?

An elevated park with views of NYC.

(And yes, I borrowed this picture from the official website)

Also, there's a neat/kooky lady who serenades high line park goers with songs from musicals and operas from her balcony.

I think it sounds like an awesome place for some meandering on a nice night!

Part II:

B made himself an awesome impromptu dinner last night!

Most nights I cook us both dinner after I get back from the gym.

But I was feeling lazy, and B was feeling creative.

So I lounged on the couch while he taught himself how to poach eggs!

I think they came out really nicely!

He completed his poached egg experiment with some bacon, toasted bagel, and a very cute green salad on the side.

Doesn't it look awesome??

I was so impressed by his cooking skills that I ended up feeling kitchen envy..so I made a huge batch of spicy eggplant and lentil stew.

I'll post pictures of that creation tomorrow.

I'm also thinking that it might make a really fabulous Thanksgiving side dish for my mom. High in protein & low in meat (ok, 0 meat actually..but low in meat sounded cooler).

It's also really good cold, as I discovered today during my lunch break.

Anyway, now that B has a new egg-related cooking skill I think he's going to have to figure out hollandaise sauce.

Then he can make us eggs benedict on the weekend!!