A Busy Weekend in New York

Apparently I wasn't the only one who decided to visit New York this weekend! Just a few things were happening this weekend in New York, including -- the US Open, September 11th Memorial, New York Fashion Week, Broadway on Broadway showing live musicals in the middle of Times Square, MTV's VMA Awards (which seemed to create the most havoc in the city), and just to wrap things up, Obama made an appearance on Wall Street on Monday and shut down JFK airport on his way out.

New York does seem to be in the middle of all the action and it's never more apparent until you're right in the middle of it! I met a friend in Times Square for the Broadway on Broadway event, which brought in all the season's Broadway productions for a free live concert for thousands of guests. As part of the finale, confetti was shot high into the air over Times Square. It looked like colorful snow raining down through the high rises. As we left the show, we continued to see confetti for blocks away from Times Square. I can now imagine what New Year's is like in the Square....and the post-celebration clean-up that ensues!

New York: The Food

As promised....I shall now blog about food. (Shannan, you asked for it)!
In New York, it's hard not to talk about the food. It's everywhere. On every street corner (literally, there is a street food vendor on almost every street corner). Then standing just behind the street food vendor stands rows and rows of restaurants....beautiful-fancy-cloth-napkin-type places with three times as many hole-in-the-wall-restaurants in between.

Tonight...I had the pleasure to eat at Bobby Flay's first restaurant, Mesa Grill located on 5th Avenue in the Flatiron District.

Having just come from the extremely busy graduate school fair, Idealist, I was a bit famished. Me and two of my friends, recruiters from other programs, decided to try a few appetizers. I chose the tuna and salmon tartare with spicy chili sauce and plantain chips. I also got a side of the Cornmeal Crusted Chile Relleno stuffed with white cheese and beans. The tuna and salmon was essentially a Mexican version of Hawaiian Poke (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poke), which was fine by me, because I happen to love Hawaiian Poke. This was all accompanied by a nice glass of Malbec from Argentina.

Between my dinner mates, one ordered the shrimp and roasted garlic stuffed tamale, and the other ordered a Blue Corn Pancake filled with with barbecued duck,
habanero chile-star anise sauce, along with a side of roasted corn with smoked chiles, cojita cheese, and lime. Everything I had was tasty, although I still think Mimi's chile relleno's can't be beat, but unfortunately she does not have a restaurant where I can recommend everyone go try them. You'll just have to hope to someday have the amazing opportunity to try Mimi's chile relleno's.

A Recipe: Barbecued Mexican Corn
The corn side was a lot like a recipe I learned from one of my dear friends and an amazing chef named Aaron. He starts by BBQ'ing the corn in husk. After it gets nice and hot, pull the husk down away from the corn but don't remove it fully. If you leave some of the husk hanging down off of the corn, it provides a nice handle for holding the hot corn!
Disclaimer: The real recipe is not for those watching their waistline, but it is the best tasting. Slather a thin layer of mayonnaise on the corn, just like you're buttering it. Then roll the corn in a pan of crumbled cotija cheese mixed with a bit of taco seasoning. You can also use butter instead of mayonnaise...not entirely sure either is that healthy, but like I said, the mayonnaise definitely tastes better.

So there you have it...a restaurant review and a recipe, all in one blog! Enjoy!
Oh...no pics yet, but I promise I'll include some soon!

The Adventure Begins Again...

Traveling for me always seems to be an adventure. I can't seem to go anywhere without some kind of a story. But I would have it no other way.

Today, for example, my little jaunt to New York was anything but boring. We were a little late getting out of the Portland airport, which made me a little nervous, because I only had a 50-minute layover in Chicago and didn't know whether my next flight would be all the way on the other side of the airport. I arrived 20 minutes before we were supposed to depart for LaGuardia, but luckily I found out my next flight was delayed because of a late aircraft. After finally boarding about an hour behind schedule, they then proceeded to tell us that we were going to have to wait another 40 minutes on the tarmac because inbound traffic to LaGuardia was so heavy, they had to hold planes back.

We were relieved to finally get under way an hour and a half later than scheduled. As if the flight wasn't eventful enough already, an attendant came over the loudspeaker asking if there was a nurse or doctor on board. We weren't entirely sure what was happening except that there was a sick passenger. The good news is that we got priority clearance to land at LaGuardia! The one nugget of goodness in all my travel woes...

I came to find out that the passenger was a bit dizzy and looked a bit flushed, but didn't seem extremely serious. It was around 11 PM by the time I got into a cab headed towards Manhattan and to my awaiting pillow, which my head was eager to get to.

But....that wasn't the end of the adventure. As the hotel bell man opened the door for me, I got out of the cab and as I looked down for two second to put away my receipt, the cabbie started to drive off down the road. I looked up just in time to shout -- "Hey, my suitcases!!" That the was the bell man's cue to go running off after the cab shouting at him to stop. Luckily, and I never thought I'd say this, there always seems to be traffic in NY, no matter what time of day or night. The cab didn't get very far before realizing he had driven off with my suitcases.

After all that, it was kind of a nice relief to check in and go to my hotel room uneventfully!

A car ride, two planes and a taxi ride later...I am happy to be back in the Big Apple!

Blog-crastinating and My New Blog Topic

So I must be the worst blogger in the world....or Top 10 at least. I don't usually blog until I travel, which for the last few months has been fairly sporadic. I did go to Israel in July and that was amazing. I'm not sure why I didn't find time to blog about it. It was an amazing experience -- some of the best seafood I've ever had literally sitting on the beach of the Mediterranean. I got to go to the US Ambassador's 4th of July party in Tel Aviv...on the 1st of July. They pulled out all the stops...with a huge fireworks show, as well as a speech by the Prime Minister of Israel. Then I got invited to another 4th of July, on the actual holiday, which was a rooftop party with live music and everything. Great way to celebrate our US holiday in a foreign country!
I did have the opportunity to experience the Old City of Jerusalem, with a trip to the Wailing Wall, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the Via Dolorosa, the Tower of David and we even had lunch in the Armenian Quarter.

Speaking of food...the reason for my post tonight is to share about my other great love in life. Besides traveling, my other passion is food. I love to eat it, make it, talk about and learn how to make it! I just saw the movie Julie and Julia. It reminded me how much I love to cook. My mother instilled this passion in me. Growing up, I can remember my mom creating amazing things with food. My friends that would come over for dinner would remark about how gourmet my mom's food was. I was always proud of this, but didn't fully appreciate it until I had to live on my own and cook my own meals. I found that food that wasn't cooked from scratch just didn't have the same flavors as I knew growing up. I had a new appreciation for food that I had definitely taken advantage of growing up...I never understood that what my mom had was talent. To be able to take a number of ingredients from the fridge and cupboards and create something that was not only edible, but also incredibly tasty...is truly a gift. I've decided that even if I cannot live up to my mother's talent, maybe I can at least appreciate good food when I taste it. That is why I've decided to add an additional feature to my blog. Not only will I blog about my traveling adventures, but I will also blog about my food-ventures. Whether it's a small local cafe or a world-renowned dining experience, I plan to share about it in my blog. I'm sure there are a number of new blogs inspired by movies like Julie and Julia, but I'm sure that's because, I believe, food brings people together and creates memories. It's an important part of our culture and history and in my opinion, it brings a unique experience to every one of my trips. And I plan to share that with you!

Beyond the Expected: Ethics in Business Awards

I attended the Oregon Ethics in Business Awards dinner on Wednesday evening this week. I guess one would expect that the nominees and award winners would be impressive in their own right...with their commitment to ethics and to "doing the right thing." But I have to admit, I was much more than impressed by this group of humble do-gooders.

Among the award winners was one especially humble man from Corvallis, Oregon. His name is Mario Pastega. He is a 92-year-old man of Italian decent who owns the Pepsi-Cola bottling facility in Corvallis. At his age, you would think he was a feeble man; however, he actually moves quite quickly and in fact, he loves giving visitors tours of his facilities. In his acceptance speech for the Ethics in Business Award, it was apparent that Mario loves what he does...mostly because he is giving back to the community. Mario helped establish a guest house for relatives of hospital patients to stay in while their loved ones are treated. He visits the families on a regular basis and also commits his time to a number of other service projects. This is all outside of his work hours, which he still puts in regularly even at his age! Mario was a true example of "doing unto others as you would have done unto you." In every way, he exemplifies how people should do business. Not to serve themselves, but to go beyond the expected, even if it means sacrificing a bit of profit. You can read more online about Mario and other Ethics in Business Award Winners, which were researched and underwritten by our very own Willamette MBA students this last semester.

I suppose it's bad etiquette for a blogger to not post a new blog for over a month, but my excuse is that I've been globetrotting. I also suppose that is the best time to post a new blog, since there is a lot to share when one is traveling. Nonetheless, I've still got a lot of good things to share, even post-travel.

For the last three weeks or so, I've been traveling around Eastern Europe and Turkey. I was in Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary for recruitment travel and then Turkey for a bit of a holiday. In Romania, I stayed with a friend, who showed me around her beautiful country. We explored the city of Bucharest and towns in the countryside, like Sinaia, Brasov, and Rasov. Each were unique and had their own individual charm. For instance, we saw Bran castle in Brasov, which is sometimes linked to the legend of Dracula. It actually does not have a significant link to Dracula, but of course, the town has marketed on the reputation, with Dracula mugs and t-shirts lining the path up to the castle.

I was in Bulgaria for only a couple of days and so I was not able to see much of the city. I did get to walk around the and see the underground city, which has ruins that date back 7,000 years. Sofia is claimed to be the second oldest city in Europe, after Cadiz, Spain.

In Budapest, I had some time to explore the city. Budapest was definitely the most charming out of all the Eastern European cities I visited on this tour. With it's beautiful Parliament building, bridges, walking streets and indoor market where they sell paprikas, sausages and cheese, one could walk around Budapest all day without getting bored. After a long day walking around the city in the cold, though, it's a delight to return to the famous baths of Europe, where they sit for hours in the sauna and pools. It's no wonder the baths have been around for centuries.

I ended my trip with a week in Turkey, which was an entirely different experience all together and requires it's own blog, which will soon follow...

Barakhamba Street

So my hotel in Delhi is on Barakhamba Street. Sounds strangely familiar.... ?

I was in the elevator heading up to my room after checking in and two gentleman from the hotel asked me where I was from. I'm always a bit hesitant to say the US, mostly because I've had some bad experiences in the past where people responded with their opinions about US foreign policy. Not that I didn't always agree with them, but for some reason I always felt so guilty, as if somehow I was personally responsible for the way the US government handled foreign policy.

But this time, when I said I was from the US, they both looked at me with bright eyes and said in unison, "Barak Obama!" I thought this was quite entertaining and we went on for a few minutes talking about the future of the United States.

I thought it was so interesting how these two guys from India really cared about who is the President of the United States, but I ashamedly have to admit that I don't even know who is the Prime Minister of India.

Always an adventure

Traveling always proves to be an adventure for me...or at least gives me a story to tell when I get back home. Sometimes it involves funny and entertaining stories and at other times, a bit more harrowing or nerve-rattling stories. Take my latest trip back to India for example (the one that makes up for my last trip which was thwarted by terrorists).

It started out all well and good with my flight leaving Portland just a few minutes late. What I didn't count on was my flight from San Francisco to Munich departing 15 minutes early, being completely booked and worse yet, finding out at the gate that I wasn't actually checked in for that flight (thanks to United's ridiculous codeshare policy that does not allow them to check you in for flights operated by other carriers).

So I had to wait until the flight was completely boarded and lucky for me, two people didn't show up for the flight! So after an 11 1/2 hour flight to Munich and another 7 hour flight to Delhi, I arrived once again to a foggy capitol city of India (pictured).

The adventure continues, of course, after I got into my pre-paid taxi cab to the hotel. After driving no more than 5 miles outside of the airport, the cab driver pulls over to the side of the road (and as those who have been in a car ride in India know, is not the safest place on a road), he proceeds to tell me that we have to wait 5 minutes for someone else to come take over his shift. Ironically, this just happened to be in the middle of my route. Or, maybe it was his way of getting a ride halfway to his destination. But so it goes...in India.

The adventure always continues....

Spring Travel Schedule

I'm putting the final touches on my travel schedule for this spring. It's going to be a busy season with more international travel, but I am looking forward to it.

In February, I'll be returning to India to make up for lost recruiting opportunities due to the terrorist attacks in November. I will also be making a quick trip up to Montana at the end of February immediately upon my return from India.

In March, I will likely go to College Park, Maryland, which is near Washington DC for a non-profit conference. I'm excited to add some new international travel to my recruitment schedule in March, which includes Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary. Since I will already be in Europe, I've decided to stay an extra week and travel around. I'm still deciding whether to go to Turkey, Greece or maybe even Dubai.

In April, I have some regional travel here in Oregon and up to Washington for a conference for the Society of Women Engineers. This is always a fun conference full of hard-working women making their way in an industry that has traditionally been primarily male-driven.

To see our full recruitment schedule, including other locations where Willamette MBA will be represented, click here: http://www.willamette.edu/agsm/full-time/admission/meet.htm.

A Near Miss

It's just a little over a month ago that I was two days away from what could have been a life-changing or some might even say, a near-death experience. Here's the full story:

International recruiting and adventure often go hand in hand. But on a recent recruiting trip to India, Aimee Akimoff, Director of Recruitment for Willamette University's full-time MBA program, found herself in a situation she had never anticipated.

As her flight touched down in Delhi on Nov. 27, the crowded financial district of Mumbai was under siege by armed terrorists.

"I first heard of the events through a friend back in Oregon who text-messaged me asking if I was okay," Aimee said. "I didn't understand the severity of the situation until I turned on the news and saw the Taj Hotel in Mumbai under siege."

The historic and beautiful Taj Hotel is frequented by many of Mumbai's business elite, and it's often where Aimee represents the Willamette MBA program to meet prospective students. She was booked to stay at the hotel just two days after the terror attacks began to attend the World MBA Tour, which was scheduled to be held at the Taj Hotel.

On a similar recruiting trip in 2007, Aimee met current Willamette MBA student Robin Singhvi in the lobby of the Taj Hotel, as well as several Atkinson alumni who are now Mumbai residents.

Currently students from 18 different countries study in Willamette University's MBA program, and though the World MBA Fairs were postponed in India due to the terrorist attacks, Aimee is considering future recruiting efforts domestically and abroad.

"The tragic events in Mumbai will not prevent the Willamette MBA from recruiting top students – from India and from around the world," said Aimee (pictured on right). "We will continue to reach out to students in person and via electronic communications to discuss the positive impact the Willamette MBA program can have on their future."

Introducing...

My life is less than ordinary. In fact, there is very little that is ordinary about my life. At times, it makes for some challenges, but I would not have it any other way. Throughout this blog, I hope to share some stories from my travels as a recruiter for an MBA program and a few tidbits from my past, which never seemed to lack in excitement.