An Abundant Life - The Flavors Of Health And A Family History

For the past few years I have been walking by a building on Franklin Street and the corner of Palisade Avenue in Jersey City Heights, and wondering who it was who I occasionally saw going in and out of the ground floor space. The windows were usually dark or partly covered over so the light was only dimly visible from the outside, and often it just seemed like there was no one there at all. But then I would walk by at an odd hour and I'd see someone inside or going in or coming out, and sometimes I'd see them putting boxes in a car or van or unloading boxes and bringing them inside. And then one day I started to see work being done on the front part of the building, and it seemed like whoever was working there was making some kind of restaurant space. Over time I saw that there was an awning put up and signs on the windows and finally I discovered that the new space was named Ichiban To Go. I still wasn't sure what was happening in the back or if the two spaces were related, but somehow I had a feeling they were. And then one day when I was walking by I saw someone in the window taking care of and rooting many avocado plants, and as I'd been wanting to stop in and find out more about the restaurant and because I have a personal history with and love of avocado plants, I decided to walk in and say hello.

When I stopped by that day, I found out that Ichiban To Go is owned by the family who owns the catering company that I'd seen glimpses of in the once seemingly mysterious back area. I also found out that the avocado plants are being rooted and lovingly cared for by Chris who works there, and that she started to do it because they use so many avocados in the restaurant and catering company that she just thought it was something important to do so as not to waste them. I grew up with avocado plants always rooting in windows because my mother loved avocados and loved to root them, and we always had the plants growing around our house, but I'd never seen so many as those that Chris has happily growing in the windows of Ichiban To Go.

I took some photographs and left my business card, and set a day to return and try some of the wonderful things I saw on the menu. When I stopped by again I met Jessica Chuang, the daughter of the owner James Chuang, and the Vice President of the business, Chuang Wen Inc., and Lucy who also works there, and I thought to myself how wonderful it was that each person I meet at this lovely place is always so friendly and helpful. After I asked Jess what she would recommend I try, she put together such a beautiful selection of sushi rolls that I truly felt like I'd been given a treasure. When I arrived home, one delightful box opening after another revealed an Ichiban Roll, a Kobe Beef Roll, a Truffle Scallop Roll and a Salmon Belly Roll, along with a delightful family creation called a Sushi Pizza. Jess followed up with me by email, and told me a bit about her father, and said that if I wanted to hear more of the story she'd be happy to tell me over lunch. That was an offer that I could not refuse because the sushi rolls and sushi pizza I'd tried were so delicious and fresh and beautifully made and I love a good story, especially about a family that from everything I'd seen was a wonderful one.

We sat outside to talk the next time I stopped by, and I tried the Pork Belly Bao Buns and the Peking Duck Wrap while Jess shared her story about their family business. Though I didn't want to take too much of her time, our conversation lasted quite a while because I kept interrupting her to say how deliciously layered and savory the two items were. She told me that the recipes they use are a combination of old family recipes and new things they develop in response to their own always wanting to create new delicious things and requests and suggestions of customers. Her father had come to New Jersey from Taiwan, and when he was working as the Manager of a Carvel store in Princeton, he asked the owner if he could make Sushi in the back. His business grew and after three or four years he was able to open his own place in what once was an auto-shop he found with a business partner. He tore out and removed what had been there and renovated carefully by hand. Six year old Jessica watched him patiently build it, wiring for electricity and cleaning and building it out into a catering kitchen and restaurant from what had been a completely different space. She grew up in the restaurant and worked there in high school as a cashier after school, and after graduating from college with a business marketing degree, she went back to work with her family to help bring the business from the paper world to the digital world. She was soon hired by The Plaza Hotel as an Event Coordinator, but even while doing that job and the jobs she was hired for after, she continued to work with her family and had two jobs at all times in those years. Now her focus is on her family's restaurant and catering company. Though she loves marketing and business and has great skill for it and excelled in the jobs she had after college, her love for her family and their business decided her on the path to help support and focus on what her father and family had built and help it to thrive. 

As caterers, they work regularly at The Plaza Hotel in New York City as well as for other high end venues and clients including Cipriani and Mandarin Oriental, and in 2019 they were awarded as one of Harriette Rose Katz's "Chosen Few" in recognition of the excellence of their luxury sushi catering. Their displays are gorgeous and the food is of the highest quality. The name Ichiban means "number one" or "first place" and they are devoted to providing only the best with the highest quality ingredients. They believe in a a very natural aesthetic for design in their restaurants and in the serving items they use for events, and the food they create is based on their own family traditional recipes which gives it flavor that has many layers and depth. Jessica speaks Mandarin and English fluently, and her parents speak English, Mandarin, Taiwanese, and many other dialects, and she told me that there is a word in Mandarin that is hard to translate into English but that means something along the lines of "healthy taste" and that word is what describes the quality of excellent food. It made me want to learn more about Mandarin so that I could understand the meaning of that word because it is more than can be sensed in translation. The food I was experiencing at Ichiban To Go has the flavor of the health of the freshness of the ingredients and the flavor of the layers of spices and sauces and textures, and it is the way the food is made that gives the person eating it the feeling of wellness and satisfaction. It made me think of the idea of holistic health, and how the food we eat can touch all of our senses, from the beauty of the preparation through to the enjoyment of the taste and texture and scent and the nourishment it gives.

Ichiban To Go is one of those places that seems like a dream to have found it. Knowing that I can walk by any time and walk in for the freshest and most lovely and delicious sushi, a Bao Bun or wrap, or any other of the traditional family recipes that grace the menu is a beautiful blessing. The family does have another restaurant that was planned to be opened in Manhattan but that has been closed due to short staffing during this time. So for now, the location in Jersey City Heights is a must visit adventure, and if you're having a party or event, call or stop by to talk about having it catered with one of their loveliest and most deliciously inventive displays.

Ichiban To Go

365 Palisade Avenue

Jersey City Heights, New Jersey

  http://www.chuangweninc.com

A Banquet At Home

Sushi Pizza

Truffle Scallop Roll

Kobe Beef Roll

Salmon Belly Roll

Ichiban Roll

A Sidewalk Feast

Pork Belly Bao Buns

Peking Duck Wrap

Avocado Plants

Happily Growing In The Window

Blessings,

Jannie Susan

An Abundant Life - Heritage

When I was thinking about what to write this week, I remembered that it is Labor Day on Monday, and that means it is the anniversary of sorts for this blog. I started writing this section subtitled "An Abundant Life" on Labor Day in 2015, and there have been so many beautiful adventures ever since. As I thought about what or who to write about this week, I began to think about my mother, and somehow that seems like the right person to write about because so much of who I am is because of her.

My mother came to Sarah Lawrence College from Briarcliff High School. A teacher who recognized her as a star student in a description that would follow her all her life recommended her for one of the scholarships available to top students from Westchester County, and the trajectory of her life was changed. The daughter of parents who, though they had a love of the arts and education, had not had the opportunity to attend college, she had a love of learning and reading, and a yearning for something greater than the small though beloved community she grew up in. She met my father’s brother at a mixer between Sarah Lawrence and Yale, and met my father at a party at their family home in Harrison. My mother, a mixture of Grace Kelly, Ingrid Bergman and Greta Garbo, and my father with the looks of a young Paul Newman and a touch of F. Scott Fitzgerald and Hemingway added in fell in love immediately and were a romantic and enviable couple, and young as they were, they wanted to set up house immediately and start their life together. But in another life-changing moment, my mother’s advisors at Sarah Lawrence encouraged her to finish her degree, though in those days it wasn’t seen by many people as a necessity for a woman to have a college education. It was because of those far-seeing and caring people that my mother was able to stay on campus to finish her degree and also marry my father and begin a family with him while he worked toward his own degree at Yale and then, when they were able to move into an apartment in New York City, he went on to Columbia University.

My childhood home was full of books, art, music and design. It was also full of conversation, and it was a place where children were encouraged to be seen and heard. I learned from an early age how to read, creating difficulty for my teachers when I started first grade a year early and they asked my parents to stop teaching me so much at home. Later, after I, as the youngest, was old enough to be left alone after school, my mother returned to college to gain her Masters Degree and then her Doctorate, and went on to work as a sociologist and researcher first at Boston Children’s Hospital and then Harvard University’s School of Public Health. She worked until she was in her 70’s, and was a respected and well loved colleague and professional whose contributions were described as always being insightful, well thought out and researched, and precise. If there is one thing that I can pinpoint that I have learned from her and from my own education at Sarah Lawrence that has continued to benefit me, it is the art of critical thinking, of being open-minded enough to embrace and welcome the ideas of all people and to engage in encouraging discussion rather than aggressive debate.

My mother's father, my grandfather, was an immigrant who came through Ellis Island, and my grandmother was the first generation of her family that was born in America. Because of the opportunity given to their daughter to attend Sarah Lawrence College and to be treated, not as an outsider, but treasured because of her potential, her hard work and her brilliant mind, she was able to bring up a family of humanitarian thinkers, professionals in human services, and contributors to their communities.

As a young girl, my mother was a promising Artist in many disciplines. I didn't realize it until much later that she was an Artist because it was just a part of who she was. She didn't describe herself as being one, she just was. She decorated out home beautifully, cooked wonderful meals and refinished furniture, and she sketched and painted, sang and played our baby grand piano with a lovely touch. She encouraged all of us to pursue every kind of art imaginable, and it is because of that I started writing at a very young age and putting on plays in our barn. I encourage anyone reading this to never underestimate the good work you do when you reach a hand to help a promising young mind to explore, to be nurtured and to grow. It will always bear fruit.

When she was a teenager, my mother became a mother's helper for a family that spent summers in Rhode Island. As a family we started going there the year that I was born, and it is in my view the most beautiful place there is. The vision and plan I have to start a sustainability and health and wellness learning center, arts retreat, and farm to table Chef's table restaurant there is in many ways an ode to her and the memory of all of the beautiful times we shared there together. In so many ways everything that I do has reflections of her in one way or another, and though at times our tastes differ, her quiet presence adds a touch of something special, even if it is just a soft scent of her favorite Chanel No. 5.

With My Mother

In Rhode Island

Blessings,

Jannie Susan

An Abundant Life - A Life Lived Beautifully

When I met him the first time, he told me his name was Shaq. Later, much later, after he had become someone who  among other generous and kind things had supported two art events by donating five cases of award winning wine each time, when I was unpacking the boxes for the second event I found a shipping label with his name on it. I had asked him each time when he had donated wine for his full name so I could put it on the invitation with a special thank you, and each time he had said, "Just Shaq is fine." His name is actually spelled differently, and when I told him that I'd found the shipping label and asked him if it was pronounced differently, he said that Shaq was close enough. To keep his privacy I'll keep his name as Shaq here too, because part of what makes him so special is that he does the kind and generous things he does without expecting anything in return. Some people want public praise for the littlest thing, but Shaq just does wonderful things and doesn't want to be in the spotlight at all.

I'd been speaking with him about writing a blog post about him for a while, but because he is so humble and modest, he had never followed up with me about it, so when I started thinking about who to write about this week, God put it on my heart to write about Shaq. Over the years since I've known him, I've gotten to find out a few things. One is that all of his friends I've met are very nice and good people. I always feel safe with them and when we go out anywhere we always have the most lovely time and Shaq always makes sure I get home safely. That's not always the case with some people, but with Shaq it's guaranteed.

He came to New York from the Ivory Coast a number of years ago, and he worked several different jobs until he met someone who told him about the cable business. He worked hard and built his own business, and now he is very well respected and trusted in the industry and has teams of people working for him, and every time I am out with him and we talk about an area of the Eastern Seaboard or a specific part of a city or section of a state, he will say that he did the cabling there. He knows every major building from the inside and underground and overhead, and whenever there is major construction or a large project, chances are Shaq is a part of it.

His family is an important part of his life, and sometimes when I check in with him I find out that he is helping them with something or taking the time to support a milestone, such as his daughter going to college. He is always working or traveling for work, but he takes time to spend time with friends and family that is quality time. I never feel rushed when I'm with Shaq, even though I know he has so much to do always and his time is limited because of his work and schedule. Somehow he has managed to discover a key of life that so many of us wish that we had, how to live in a way that is beautiful and to celebrate the good things while we can.

With Shaq

In Ft. Lauderdale

Blessings,

Jannie Susan 

An Abundant Life - A Picnic In New York

Years ago a friend of mine and I went to Central Park for a picnic. We brought a vintage picnic basket that had all of the careful fittings I've collected to make an afternoon eating outdoors feel comfortable and elegant. I've always loved picnics, ever since I was a little girl, and I learned from my mother that on a warm summer day or evening, sometimes a picnic can make an ordinary day feel special. When I was visiting with a beautiful Artist friend the other day, we went to a restaurant in his neighborhood, and because we wanted to sit outside he asked if we could sit at one of their picnic tables in their covered outdoor seating area. The restaurant was a lovely one and the early evening turned to dusk and twilight and night while we sat and enjoyed the delicious and inventive food and cocktails and wine. I think I would have enjoyed myself wherever we sat because the restaurant really is an excellent one, but somehow the picnic table was the perfect place to turn a wonderful afternoon into an extra special one.

Lilly's Craft and Kitchen has the kind of menu that makes me happy when I see it. There are so many things to choose from that all sound like what I could eat any day and feel like I was having a treat that was exactly what I wanted. They also have craft cocktails and a long and carefully curated list of of craft beers along with excellent wine selections. My friend and I decided to share a few small plates, a salad and an entree, and though I wanted to order so  many things on the menu, I listened to his wise suggestion  of what would be plenty and it was more than enough. Everything was so good! And the service was excellent. We sat for a while savoring our meal and talking, and we never felt rushed or as if we had to wait to see a server. During these times we're living in I've been feeling that it must be so difficult for wait staff to be inside and outside and running here and there and all over the place, and my hat is off to our servers because our whole experience was so enjoyable. The food looked lovely when it arrived, too, with all the colors of vegetables and rainbows and added unexpected flavors like the poutine with short rib gravy. 

I'll definitely be wanting to visit Lilly's again, and when I do I hope there's a picnic table waiting for me. Somehow in that space we were transported back in time to some kind of childhood where the food is even better than you remembered it and you're made to feel right at home.

Lilly's Craft and Kitchen

675 9th Avenue

New York, New York

https://lillyscraftandkitchennyc.com

Blessings,

Jannie Susan

An Abundant Life - Jersey Art Matters!

Andre Russell has a new project he's working on, and though I always think his projects are wonderful, this one for some reason really strikes a chord in me. I first saw a post about the project on Instagram which is mostly where I find out about what Andre is doing unless I happen to see him at Mana Contemporary which has been much rarer these days and hasn't been for a long while because of the way all of our lives have changed since the world changed so drastically in March of 2020. But through all of the changes and challenges of this past year and a half, Andre kept working away, helping Gary Lichtenstein Editions to set up an off site screen printing machine in their pop up shop in DUMBO and continuing to work on his own screen printing design projects and those of others.

When I first met Andre, he was printing images on t-shirts and clothing for Only The Arts, his own company that he started to celebrate the arts in the area. He has also designed logos and images and postcards and announcements and programs for ESKFF and other arts organizations and Artists. This new project is celebrating New Jersey as a whole through a series of portraits Andre is taking with people wearing hats he designed with the simple yet powerful logo he created that says "Jersey" with the lettering and word written in a way that is a statement of fact and one that has presence. His skills as a photographer and videographer are excellent, and so his videos and photographs that go along with the project are works of art in themselves. When I first saw the posts about the project and that he was having a pop up art show and shop, I wanted to go see because I knew he was up to something special as he always is.

I hadn't seen him in a while, and when I stopped by the pop up shop and saw how he had arranged the space and his work within it, I felt as if I was walking into another world and one that I wanted to stay in and visit often. He has art prints and limited editions and also the originals for sale of his "Pieces of Paradise" series along with the "Jersey" hats and t-shirts, and there are two large, striking "Jersey" diptychs. Everything in the space was meticulously designed and crafted, and when he walked me through sheer vinyl curtains printed with his "Pieces of Paradise" to the second room I felt like I was on a beautiful adventure. And I was. On the wall of that inner room were a series of prints on black foam board of the portraits he has been taking for the Jersey Matters project. His goal is to find a way to have them printed on the durable all weather vinyl cloth that he was using for curtains in the show and shown prominently in an area such as the Powerhouse Arts District in Jersey City on a chain link fence. He has taken photographic portraits of many local area people, Artists such as Mustart and local business owners. That day he took my portrait wearing a Jersey hat and it is a treasure and a favorite of mine of all of the portraits that have been done of me over the years.

There's something about this project that strikes to the heart of what we all need to hear because underneath the hats and t-shirts, it says that we matter. It's not just about Jersey, it's about the people. Andre is hoping that with publicity the idea can move throughout the country and the world, to help us all see that it's the people who make place and that those people and those places, wherever and whoever they are, matter. As we talked that day and over the days after, he started to develop the idea even further. In a reflection of his original identifying company name is Only The Arts, he began to add the word Art to Jersey Matters and to share the message that Jersey Art Matters. It's the people, it's the place, it's the Art, it's Jersey, it's Miami, it's Boston, it's Portland. It's you, it's me, it's what we do and who we are. Wherever we are and whatever we do, our business, our art and our own self expression matters and helps make the world a place where we all can thrive.

Jersey Matters

Pop Up Shop and Art Show

Created By Andre Russell

https://www.instagram.com/onlythearts_

Blessings,

Jannie Susan

An Abundant Life - Princess Dreams

The first time I went to Angelina Patisserie was when I was in Paris for Fashion Week almost 20 years ago. I was visiting with the Belgian Couture Designer Jean Paul Knott and staying in his Atelier, and one of the young women who was working there as an Assistant for the Fashion Week show asked me one day if I had ever been to Angelina's. I never had, and she said that the next time she could take some time away she'd take me there. Paris Fashion Week is busy and exhausting, and there isn't often a moment that we can find to relax, but one afternoon the Assistant who had told me about Angelina's found me and said if we were quick we could just make it there and back again before she would be needed again. We ran outside giggling like school girls skipping class, and made our way to Angelina's. I didn't know what to expect but I knew when I saw it that it would be lovely, and it was so more than that.

The hot chocolate at Angelina Paris is to my taste the finest and best anywhere. That afternoon we had it at a table, served in a hot chocolate pot with fresh whipped cream to add as much of as we wanted to. It was so delicious that I made a point of going back again, and of buying bags of it to bring home. In those days flying was so much easier, and a sealed bag of chocolate was not a problem to bring with you at all. Soon after that flying became more difficult, and carrying anything with you other than small personal items and clothing was no longer allowed. In recent years I checked online a few times to see if it was possible to order the bags of chocolate to be sent, but the shipping was so high that it seemed too much of an extravagance. And then one day I read in one of the newsletters I get that Angelina Paris was opening in New York City. If I remember rightly it was originally slated to open in the fall of 2019, but the date was pushed forward, and then of course the world as we know it changed and things were closing rather than opening, but I kept checking and I did see that there was still a plan for it to open. I walked by the location where it was listed that it would be opening a few times, and on one visit I saw a sign that said the name I remembered. Then at some point a little while after that, when I checked again online I saw they had opened. It was during a time when I still wasn't traveling much into Manhattan, but I was planning to go as soon as I could find the time. One afternoon when things had begun to open up a bit more and I was feeling much freer, I stopped by after another appointment and when I walked in I was so happy to see tins of the chocolate lining the shelves and desserts in the glass case with the signature writing on the labels that I remembered so well and had missed for so long. That day was a very hot one, and I didn't have enough time to go back to the salon and sit, so I bought a tin of chocolate to take home and when the very pleasant man who was serving behind the counter suggested that I could try iced hot chocolate I did and found a new favorite thing for hot summer months.

I returned a few weeks later to have lunch one afternoon, and to try their ice cream which I've not had before. When I looked at the menu there were so many wonderful things that I could have ordered anything and been delighted, and I chose a lobster roll which came unexpectedly with a small cup of Lobster Bisque, something I love and that reminded me instantly of visiting Rumpelmeyers on 57th Street years before with my Mother. I hadn't realized that there was a relationship between Angelina's and Rumpelmeyers until I started doing my research when I wanted to find a way to get that wonderful hot chocolate in New York, and Rumpelmeyers was closed at that point. To find myself at this new Angelina Paris in New York with a Lobster Bisque as lovely as my sweetest memories was a blessing I hadn't dreamed of. When the sundae came it was so special and the ice cream so fresh and creamy and flavorful that I posted a photograph describing it and saying it made me feel like a princess. Served with a small pitcher of hot chocolate to pour over it, this was delicious ice cream brought to another level, with rich flavors and textures and a hint of warmth bring out the softer side of the ice cream and making a moment of flavorfilled memory that was as special as the times with my mother all those years ago.

Angelia Paris is a special and delightful place to visit, and now that there is one in New York City I plan to visit as often as I can. Whether for lunch, dinner, brunch, or an afternoon hot or iced hot chocolate with a pastry, any time I can find myself at Angelina will be a lovely one.

Angelina Paris USA

1050 6th Avenue

New York City

  https://www.angelinaparisusa.com

Blessings,

Jannie Susan

An Abundant Life - Beautiful Soul

Pamela Lubell is an Artist of so many different types of art that it is hard to think of how to write about her. I could talk about her film making, her producing, her videos, her photographs, or her mixed media pieces and sculptures, her paintings, found object creations and work with sustainability. There's also the evenings she puts together with music and friends and musicians, singing and playing and food and art, events she calls PamJams that bring together so much joy that it's nearly impossible to leave even when you know it's getting later and later and you have a long way home.

I met Pamela in 2019 at a gallery opening a friend invited me to that he was a part of. He had introduced me to the owners of the gallery and as I was speaking with them Pamela and her boyfriend James arrived with another friend and we were introduced. As I took photographs later on and I asked if I could photograph them, we started talking a bit, and when Pamela asked me what I did and I began to tell her about my many hats, she said, "And you're a nice person." I think perhaps that was the moment the friendship began, because I could tell she was a nice person and it's such a good feeling to have someone who is nice think that you're nice too.

It's a strange thing to say, but it sometimes feels like it's rare to meet people who are genuinely interested in other people. It's not that people are not nice, but after the initial getting to know each other, something often happens that begins to open up the flow of how the relationship will go, and we might find ourselves feeling a bit swamped by the other person or pushed a bit to the side by their agenda. There's none of that with Pamela, just good intentions and good times, a positive outlook and a creative spirit that is open to sharing ideas and inspiration and making a place at the table for everyone.

Recently I went to an opening of a group show she was a part of, and as I walked across Broome Street which had been my familiar neighborhood for so long that it still feels like home I began to think of all of the people and parties and events I've been to in that area over the years. When I arrived at the space, there were people all around and a DJ playing music that flowed with the people out into the street. It was a beautiful event and a beautiful evening, and Pamela's artwork was the first work I saw as I walked in the door. It made the entrance and caught the eye as Pamela herself does wherever she goes, and brought inspiration and a creative integrity mixed with layers of visual and tactile surprises to the party. Pamela herself is a surprise like that, a beautiful Artist with a beautiful soul to match.

Pamela Lubell

At The Opening Of A Group Show

With Strada

At 329 Broome Street

New York City

https://www.strada.world

With James Hammond

Blessings,

Jannie Susan