Walters food

2 weeks ago me and some friends tried to have a dinner at Walters Foods in Brooklyn, Williamsburg to be more precise. It did not happen because the place was filled up with inconsiderate gluttons who made their worst to have me go somewhere else to get my filling. Or just plain people out eat at a quite appreciated restaurant.
We ended up in the Tearoom that I mentioned here. Yesterday we tried again for Walters and this time there was a table for us.
We had Steak, Lobster and some pasta as well as a banana chocolate bread pudding. It was all good, although the pasta was probably the least interesting thing. Thus far it was the best restaurant I have visited in NY. I am sure that I will come back to Walters. Only one thing to complain about and that was the manager swooping around the tables asking how everything was. The problem with this was not that he did it but rather how. The question felt constructed to be answered with a yes rather than anything else and the way he asked without actually stopping to hear the answer made me feel like he actually was afraid to hear it. Luckily he had no reason for that. But I would not mind having a short discussion with someone from the restaurant about their food, but I don't think you should ask questions if you don't want to hear the answer. So next time manager: take your time! You have all the reason to!
A few observations is in place: Being a foreigner I was surprised when persons from the staff took a drink in the bar after their shift, but still in their working clothes as well as the bartender drank a quick shoot with one of the guests. I do not think it is negative I'm just no used to seeing that happen.
And again the discussion on how a steak is cooked: it is interesting that all the chefs of the world have one opinion and the rest of us including the people who writes cookbooks have a slightly different view. On the one hand I feel that the chefs are the experts, but in the other more democratic view on how language works it is the larger population who owns the interpretational rights to the words. So who is right? We will probably never get to the bottom with this.

Premium Cutlery

When it comes to cutlery I do not think semi utilitarian descriptions and labelling such as "industrial strength" and "military grade" has any bearing. Cutlery being a civic notion or custom I think what is important in conjunction with cutlery are practises related to our modern world and it's value system. For example the practise of viewing some metals as more precious than others, even taking out the "metal dream team" through name a few of them "precious metals". Oh yes there is a definition to this in chemistry relating to the number of electrons in the outer shells but most people would not be able to recite that, they just think that gold is better than silver.

So when it come to cutlery I would oblige to the common notion of our value system and say that gold cutlery is more premium than silver, next would be well designed and good looking and feeling cutlery followed by well designed but ugly looking counterparts. There after normal cutlery and further down the list eastern state punched utensils made from metals that bend easily and then plastic handle forks and spoons from Ikea that breaks when you use them in a dish washer. The list could end with those. But then we would have overlooked the number one utensil of the US. The plastic utensil. You find them everywhere. In fast food restaurants, in take away restaurants but also in peoples homes and in their kitchens. This is strange to anyone with the slightest environmental awareness. But then again we are talking about the nation that would not sign the Kyoto-agreement there by blocking any effective appliance of it.

So what is this rant about? Well I found this in my kitchen...

This plastic bag is the source of many questions. The most prominent one being: Can anyone really rank blue plastic spoons as "Premium Cutlery"? How is that possible? Compared to almost any other cutlery made of wood or metal I can't think of a worse material for cutlery actually being used. Another question is what are these spoons doing in the kitchen? I am far from convinced that I will never know the answer to this. I mean the real answer. Not the stupid one: "to eat liquid food with" said in a high pitched dorky voice... Over and out from Premium land.

The way to say hello

Americans have a way to make the simple procedure of acknowledging that you are to something unbearable and wrong for me. Usually when you meet someone at work for example you say hi to show that this person is important and that you see him or her. Sometimes you might add a "how are you today?" Where I come from we then stop to hear the answer to such a question since we actually asked. Failing to do so would be considered shallow and cold. It is not in any way unheard of but I guess it was along time ago that I choose not to keep those persons as friends. A natural selection of friends if you will. But in this country nothing is strange with a conversation sounding like this:
Person A walking briskly through the corridor noticing person B who might or might not be named Marcus, but probably has a name that starts with an M.
Person A, opens his mouth without stopping or even lowering his pace and says: -"Marcus, what up man?"
Person B looks towards the passing Person A and answers: -"Yeah and you?"
At this point Person A has moved far enough away in the corridor that he no longer can or need to answer the question posed by the person presumably named something beginning with the letter M.

For me this tears a hole in my soul. I usually only say hi, but if someone ask me something I always think about the question long enough to give it an answer. The answer I feel it deserves since another person, a human being asked me the question. This upsets every American. I can't start striking up conversations with people whose names I hardly know the first letter in. But still I both answer questions to my health and well being and pose other questions back to which I seem to be expecting answers. This is out of protocol. Just a trivial thing like answering truthfully about your problems and feelings can be severely chocking. This is the same in Sweden but to a lesser extent.

I'm just saying: if you do not want the answer: do not pose the question.

The American Culturett

There has been many wise men and women to quote about the absence of an American culture. Still there are many utterings of culture in this nation. To mention all of them they have Hollywood, Hamburgers and Hip Hop. The latter being when old people dress like babies, Hamburgers when you do not want to eat the boring stuff and add cheese to the good and the first is a well oiled machine that make a streamlined and well produced product of entertainment and pacification of the masses. It is not all bad even thought I can't help myself from flaming it. There are many parts of American life that is culture bearing and therefore we must acknowledge the American Culturett. I have constructed that word, using the diminutive of culture since there is a lack here of in the American States of United Ignorance. Other things that has been said and proven to be American are being nice and open to people without meaning it, being overly religious for their tech level (actually reversing evolution) and being loud without reason. Not very flattering traits. There is also a very strong willingness to identify your heritage and therefore ascribing yourself to another culture in this country. Which of course has to do with the history of this young nation. But all things taken together there is not much left to do than acknowledge the American Culturett. 

Football tickets

I have been planning to get myself a ticket to go see live football at the Giants stadium. The first time I looked for it I could not order tickets, but I was told by a colleague that the tickets where very expensive.
Since the seasons is soon to start I went looking for tickets again. It turns out that the page was faulty, still is actually and that tickets can be bought. And they are expensive: the cheapest ones are $96.
I have asked the other Hypers if they are interested in experiencing some real part of the American culturett. I guess the price will scare them away but Rodrigo tries to get me to go to Baseball instead. The instead part seems as probable as me taking a trip to the moon, but I just might see a baseball game as well, they are much cheaper, go figure? They play about a hundred games during a season and the sport is much more uninteresting and hard to both understand and appreciate. When I have said that I might be interested Rodrigo acts like any good merchant or drug dealer and tries to push it some more: He introduces the idea of going to a tennis match... to watch?! That is among the worst suggestions I have ever gotten. I understand that he probably likes tennis and therefore does not understand how stupid his suggestion sounds to me. But come on...
Anyway I still have this feeling that if I actually go to that Baseball game for $15 I will still be wasting some good 5 hours of my life... it remains to be seen. But I will be buying my tickets within a week to a Giants game, that is a promise.

Appelbutter

The other day I noticed that I had started to stagnate, already after 6 weeks!? I was going the same ways, buying the same things and eating the same food, over and over. Part of this trip is the idea of experiencing the American Culturett in as many forms as possible while staying somewhat safe and within reason. So I know that this sounds small but instead of buying another jar of pineapple preserve I got myself a jar of Apple Butter. I had never heard of it before and could not really discern what it was just from the looks of it and the ingredients although they are apples and cider. It looks like a brown goo and now after tasting it I must say I like it, it tastes like apples, it could get even better with cinnamon (!) which they usually over use in this country, but not in the Apple Butter. There is no reason to warrant the word butter in the name. It is really just "äppelmos" without antioxidants so it has turned brown.
I give it 4 out of 5 as a bread spread. And my search for new experiences moves on...

Homesick

First day today feeling a bit homesick. Or at least first day I verbalise it for myself. I guess it is a feeling that has been building over time. But the thing that really triggers it at this point is that I do not feel that my work is appreciated. That could probably be taken apart in a number of reasons:
- I am of Scandinavian culture and very much so: minimalism is in my blood stream.
- I have not managed to break the code yet: I do not know what the expectations are and I do not know the style preferred.
- I get corrections all the time on things I did not even want to do in the first place. My work so far on my big project is not mine even so I feel I must take the criticism for what others have instructed me to do. Which is both frustrating and deteriorates my reputation with the other creatives.
- I do not feel connected to anyone of the senior designers really.
- I hardly get to do any idea work and that was what I thought they got me for. Mismatch in communication maybe or just a mismatch.

I guess I would like some kind of feedback session, Hyperstyle would probably help show where we stand. But I do not know how to ask for it. Feedback does not seem to a thing that is used here so much. When the first this internal portfolio is done this Friday I will ask my CD for some kind of feedback. That must be done.