The Yuca Bar

Whether you're craving brunch, Thai cuisine, B.B.Q., or Mexican food at a trendy spot, New York City, with some of the most fun and diverse restaurants probably in the world, is sure to have a spot to satisfy your every craving. Living in one of the best cities in the world can sure have its perks. With over 20,000 restaurants alone, New York City is definitely the place to be at. Going out to eat and trying different restaurants is like a religion for me. It is something fun, tasty, and adventurous that I can do alone or with friends. I have frequented a wide range of restaurants in New York City, mostly in Manhattan, and I thought it would be fun to start writing a little about my yummy adventures as well. Since I was just there again today, I found it fitting to start off with one of my favorite restaurants: the Yuca Bar.

The Yuca Bar is a funky spot serving an eclectic pan-Latin cuisine and probably some of the best mojitos and sangrias around! Located in the heart of the East Village, it offers tasty tapas, delicious drinks and a fun atmosphere. It is a bit small, loud and bursting with energy. I find the service to be friendly and accommodating. However, be prepared for a wait time as the place can get quite packed, specially on weekends and tuesdays. In case you're wondering, happy hour and half-priced tapas are offered on tuesday nights...definitely one of the best happy hour deals I've tried so far! Dining al fresco at the Yuca Bar is great in warm weather as well, because they offer outside seating. I just love to sit outside with a few friends while sipping on their delicious mimosas accompanied with a side order of coconut shrimp...they're soooo good by the way! I've had both the tuna ceviche (right) and shrimp ceviche (left) from the Yuca Bar and let me tell you, they both tasted amazing! I just love the fact that this place is also vegetarian-friendly for those of you who don't eat meat like me. Their menu is quite diverse, which is something I always look out for as well.

In case you didn't know, NYC Restaurant Week is taking place right now until February 10th offering awesome deals in a wide range of New York City restaurants. So, if a fun East Village experience is what you're looking for...the Yuca Bar is definitely the place to go to!

One Awesome Duo

As you can already tell, I am an animal rights activist and an environmentalist with an extreme love for the arts and literature. But, aside from those things, the world of fashion is, without a doubt, another big passion of mine and is definitely something that I plan to touch upon as I go along as well. I thought it would be really cool to start off my first fashion related piece by telling you guys a little bit about an interesting duo that I personally can't live without: Marc Jacob's fragrance Lola and Dior's Diorshow mascara.

Lola by Marc Jacobs’ warm floral bouquet conveys the free spirit of today’s sexy, modern girl - she is playful, cool, and flirtatious…just like me! Hehehe. Now, for the ladies out there looking to have sultry, sky-high lashes like mines (no falsies required). I definitely recommend Dior’s Diorshow mascara. Diorshow is Dior’s original, must-have mascara that delivers ultra-glam, catwalk-length lashes. Makeup artists all over the world use this product to create the longest, thickest, curviest lashes ever! [I personally couldn’t live without these two!]

Vivian the Great

The play"Wit", also a film, by Margaret Edson is amazing!! In the play, the protagonist, Vivian Bearing, manages to attain deep personal awareness and consciousness after being diagnosed with stage IV of metastatic ovarian cancer and enduring an extremely strong and experimental chemotherapeutic treatment regimen for it.

Vivian is a professor of seventeenth-century poetry, with a particular interest in the metaphysical poetry of John Donne. She is an academic, who is aware that her abundant knowledge and intellect can be quite intimidating to others. However, knowledge and the search for knowledge itself, seem to be the only two things that provide security and comfort to her lonesome life. Throughout the course of the play, Vivian recites John Donne's poetry as a way of dealing with the very unpleasant and painful side effects of her cancer treatment. Donne's complex ideas, in this case, are representative of Vivian's intricate outlook and perspective on her own existence.

Aside from knowledge, Vivian relies on certain uses of wit throughout the progression of the play in an attempt to maintain herself afloat in the midst of such a trying situation. Wit is connected to intelligence and knowledge, which is a prominent trait that Vivian possesses. Ultimately, her harsh cancer treatment and loneliness help her realize that knowledge and wit, in this case, have no importance whatsoever in her current situation; for they do nothing to alleviate and diminish her pain and agony. Death, very much like a person, slowly makes its way to Vivian, and its smell seems to permeate her every thought, her every action, and her every being. It is a force that eventually catches up to her in the end.

At the beginning of the play, Vivian proclaims to the audience "I think I die in the end", making it quite clear from the very beginning that death, without a doubt, will be a very important and prevalent theme throughout the play. Vivian, as it was previously established, has no family or friends that are able to provide her with ample support and care in order to help her get through her current state of suffering. Death, as it lurks around her, seems to be the only company that Vivian has. She uses such company as a way to channel her inner self, particularly when she recites John Donne's "Holy Sonnet X", which directly addresses death in a personified form. Interestingly enough, this poem seems to provide Vivian with encouragement simply because it presents death as an entirely different entity, one that isn't really the mighty and dreadful one that it is always made out to be. She grabs on to this poem so adamantly simply because it is the one thing that is still within her comfort zone and, at the same time, seems to shed light on the mysteries and obscurity related to death itself.

Over the course of the play, Vivian's very demanding and difficult character clearly changes into a more gentle and compassion-seeking one as a result of her illness and treatment. Once again, Vivian realizes that she really is quite lonely, and the one thing she desires most is to have kindness and love and someone by her side who would keep her company when death does come for her. At the end of her ordeal, Vivian comes out a champion, proving that she is a resilient and unwavering human being.

The Secret Behind Holbein's Ambassadors

I just finished reading Hagi Kenaan's article "The Unusual Character of Holbein's Ambassadors", and I must say, it was quite interesting. In the article, Kenaan seeks to analyze, in a more in depth manner, Hans Holbein's portrait "The Ambassadors" (1533). According to Kenaan, this portrait contains a secret which is only discovered through the "embrace of the visuality of the painting rather than by attempting to transcend it." Kenaan asserts that the various questions that emerge from looking at the painting increases even more as one tries to relate the objects to the overall composition of the painting. Hagi takes on a more philosophical approach when analyzing Holbein's portrait. One important aspect of the painting, according to Kenaan, is its lack of an actual literal understanding or meaning, which as he puts it, has become one of the painting's trademarks. Secondly, the painting itself possesses a very "intriguing and fascinating appearance" that seems to evoke all sorts of questions to its viewers.

Hagi Kenaan goes on to emphasize a few of the painting's many striking characteristics, the first one being its anamorphic composition, which greatly highlights the use of this technique in the sixteenth century. Another important characteristic of the portrait is Holbein's use of the drapery in the background. Kenaan's theory on the drapery is that, not only is it meant to draw attention, but it is also "what divides the original space of the ambassadors into the visible and the invisible." According to Kenaan, the curtains suggest the presence of a depth beyond itself. Through the use of anamorphosis, Kenaan asserts that, not only does the portrait declare the existence of a secret, but also a sort of instructional manual on how to decipher the secret itself. Furthermore, the use of double portraiture intensifies the viewers' curiosity by failing to clarify the relationship between the two men at first glance. Kenaan uses the marriage portrait in order to figure out the true nature of the relationship between the two men in the painting. He focuses on distinct characteristics that are, most of the time, different, such as gestures and body language.

Without a doubt, Holbein's painting has been beautifully executed in my opinion. I greatly believe this is due in part to the inclusion of meticulously rendered objects in the background, such as the globe and the skewed skull. These objects appear to be separate entities within themselves, very much like still lifes. These still lifes seem to add an air of mystery to the overall composition of the painting, which begs the question: what is the secret?

Veronika Taught Me To Live...To Live Intensely!

I am very thankful. Thankful for being alive. Every night before I go to sleep, I give thanks because I made it through another day. The same goes for my mornings. What a wonderful feeling it is for me to wake up to the beautiful sound of birds singing, and the warm sun kissing my skin. For me, it's just an overall feeling of gratitude because I have been given the best possible gift ever: the gift of life.

This brings me to a novel that I jut finished reading a few minutes ago, truly deserving of this entry on yours truly's blog. Paulo Coelho's thought-provoking novel "Veronika Decides To Die" explores, with great sensitivity, what it's like to suddenly find out that you have only days to live. This novel had a profound effect on me because it clearly showed how big of an impact "an awareness of life" can have on you, in Veronika's case, through "an awareness of death". As a result of having her days numbered, Veronika was ultimately encouraged to live "more intensely". Her imminent death frightened her, but it was this very fear that forced her to reevaluate her life.

I was, honestly, blown away by how Coelho was able to put this idea or philosophy into perspective in such a beautiful and poetic way, as seen through the eyes of Veronika. This novel is truly magical, in my opinion. It is full of vigor and life in the midst of a young girl who's sentenced to death. Veronika reinforced my gratitude and love for each waking day...for life in general. She took me on a roller coaster ride of emotions and discoveries that are simply unforgettable! Her story intensified my desire to live life, or in the words of Coelho: to live life more intensely.

I now view life as one gigantic well of water and, I must say, I am very thirsty. I plan on drinking from it, exhausting it to the last drop. For this well of water is really the "well of life". Remember: "each day is a miracle, when you consider the number of unexpected things that could happen in each second of our fragile existences". Don't just live...LIVE!

When Compassion Hurts

I have the most wonderful cats in the world. They go crazy when they see me, specially if I have food in hand, hehehe. It's just wonderful I tell you. They love me and I love them. I try my best to provide them with everything they need...food, water and affection. However, there is one obvious thing I haven't been able to provide for them, and that is shelter. The thing is, these cats are homeless. They roam the cold and merciless streets of the Bronx. Their home is my neighborhood.

You see, my cats were born from the rough and sinewy dephs of the Earth. Actually, the Earth IS their mother. But, she abandoned them. Heartless and oblivious to their needs. She lashes out against them every single day! Making them cold and bitter in the winter and hot and thirsty during the dry and sweltering summer. Most of us humans wouldn't even lend them a helping hand either. We're selfish beings, I tell you. My furry friends struggle every single day to stay alive. It's an amazing feat of survival, if you'd ask me. I don't know how they do it. They've become expert scavengers, roaming garbage cans for ways to calm their insatiable hunger. They manage to find a few dried-up bones here and there. The remnants of someone's meal for the most part.

It breaks my heart not being able to help them! Everything is all wrong and I just don't know how to make it right for them. I feel powerless! Powerless because I have searched high and low for help to no avail. I have emailed countless shelters begging them to take them in with no luck. I wish I could take all nine of them in with me. But, I honestly can't. It's just not that easy. This feeling of powerlessness is definitely nerve-wrecking. One thing is for sure though. The fact that I've exhausted my resources does not mean that I am ready to give up. Not now. Not never. I just pray that they don't give up on me...

Right now as I write this, the temperature outside my window is 34 degrees and dropping. I feel horrible knowing that as I lay here in my warm, cozy bed, my furry little friends are out there in the cold. It's not fair. It really isn't! They should be inside too, but they're not. My love and compassion for them is never-ending. This, in turn, makes their suffering, my suffering. For, their pain haunts my mind every single day and every single night. Indeed, compassion hurts...a lot.

Below is a collage of a few shots I managed to get of some of them. They really are beautiful, aren't they!

Ethereal Beauty in the Mérode Altarpiece

Robert Campin’s “Mérode Altarpiece” triptych is considered to be one of the finest Early Netherlandish works in my opinion. Seeing it in person at the Cloisters, a branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, was just breathtaking. For, it is truly a magnificent piece of art. According to the MET, the “Mérode Altarpiece” is believed to have been made by Campin and one of his assistants. I, particularly, love the figures and components that stand to symbolize various ideas and metaphors significant in a religious picture. Besides Mary as a crucial element in the depiction of Campin’s annunciation scene, Joseph’s role in the painting becomes equally important from a theological perspective. The inclusion of Joseph, for instance, is a vital element because it signals the start in which strong attention is given to Joseph. Furthermore, Joseph’s trade, as well as the tools with which he works, further expand his theological significance in the painting as a whole. For, they too, become religious entities within their context. I honestly believe that the particular space so well depicted by Campin, along with the elements in it, harmoniously work to create an environment that is reflective of its holy nature.