What’s the first thing you do when you open your eyes in the morning?
Though this is kind of sad, the first thing I do is reach for my cell phone (which sits, charging, next to my pillow) and check my email inbox with blurry eyes. It’s probably not the best thing to do the moment I wake up, but it’s an ingrained habit and I find myself unable to fully awake without first browsing through the emails.
But. Sometimes it pays off…because this morning, I woke up to the best news ever.
I got accepted to World Journalism Institute’s NYC Summer Convergence!!!
It’s an 8-week intensive journalism training program that would teach me how to utilize all sorts of nifty multimedia tools, including how to navigate an overwhelmingly secular (and liberal) field as a Christian journalist. I’ll be spending three weeks in NYC—right in the Empire State Building, actually—which means I’m not so sad that this NYC series is going to be over anymore, because in just a month, I’ll be visiting again.
From the look of the curriculum, the first two months of my summer is going to be crazy, but I’ll stress out about it later head in the road. Right now, I’m celebrating with a jiggly dance and a bow-wow song. Well, I’m in school now so I’ll refrain myself, but I’m totally doing it in my head!
Since I’ll be having classes Monday to Saturday, I doubt I’ll ever make it back to Brooklyn, but I want to try because I really liked Brooklyn a lot a lot a lot. Maybe even a tiny bit more so than Manhattan. It might have a little to do with the fact that I spotted tons of cute hipsters that day in Brooklyn.
After our banana cream pie at Pies ‘N’ Thighs, my travelmates and I trekked up to DUMBO from Williamsburg. And that meant we had to walk through a giant stretch of residence that is populated by the Hasidic Jews.
I didn’t know this before, but the northern region of Williamsburg is has one of the largest Satmar Hasidic communities in the world. The transformation from the hipster southern
Williamsburg to Hasidic Williamsburg is abrupt. You swing by a corner and start passing families dressed head to toe in black and white. Men wear either black Borsalino hats or kippahs and grow their sideburns out into long, chin-brushing curls. Even the little boys have them!
Women all wear demure dress that goes down to their ankles and scarves over their heads. Tracy, being half-Jewish, told me the women shave their heads, which is why the hair of the bare-headed young women are so strangely black and straight.
It’s always a little intimidating when you step into such a foreign territory, because you don’t know how to act; I’m unfamiliar with the Hasidic culture so I wasn’t sure what would be considered impolite or offensive. But I wasn’t just going to walk through this neighborhood; I knew I wanted to find a bakery because my friend Joanna is obsessed with hamantaschen and I wanted to bring her some. Where better to get a Jewish baked good than here?
Eventually we found a Jewish bakery (it wasn’t so hard!) and walked in. I wasn’t planning to take pictures at first, but the owner of Korn’s bakery was so friendly, helpful and warm. Marilyn asked if we can take pictures, and he said he didn’t mind at all. In fact, he let us take all the pictures we want.
He even gave us a little tour around his bakery, explaining each pastry to us. He told us that he separates pastries with dairy from the ones without, because some sects don’t allow certain combinations of dairy.
(clockwise, from top left): American-Jewish-style Hungarian Seven-Layer cake called dobostorte, bagels, rugelach, and some kind of bell-shaped, frosted pastry whose name I forgot. Anybody know what that is, let me know!
(top to bottom): puff pastry filled with jam and cross-hatched with icing, Passover choux pastry filled with custard.
As we were conversing with the owner (who we found out is a Russian-Jew and spent most of his years in London), a customer walked in to get a cup of coffee and some rugelach. “Why are you taking pictures of the food?” he asked. “You should just take a picture of my beard!”
So given full permission, I took a picture of his impressive beard.
After saying our goodbyes, we walked out of the bakery with heavier bags (remember, I had a dozen bagels on my arm already!). We bought a pack of chocolate rugelach:
And of course I got Joanna two huge-ass hamantaschen (which is unpictured).
It was a tight, chocolate-studded roll of buttery, rich dough. The chocolate inside was, I think, bittersweet or semi-sweet chocolate. It wasn’t very sweet at all—I kind of wanted coffee with this!
After about 15 minutes walk, we finally reached our second most anticipated destination of the day (first was The Bagel Store, of course).
Dough. It’s a fabulous donut factory in Bedford Stuyvesant/Clinton Hill. Alda warned us that it’s kind of in the middle of nowhere, and she was right. It wasn’t in the middle of the most exciting commercial region, but dang, New Yorkers really know how to sniff out good food no matter where it is!
The store from outside is obscure, but we knew what we were looking for, so we immediately spotted the lone sign outside that signaled the land of glorious fried carbs.
Dough is…amazing. I know that’s not the most helpful adjective, so let’s allow the pictures to speak for themselves.
It’s freaking hard to choose a donut in this store, because every option looks and sounds tempting.
Dough’s donuts are yeast-risen and baked fresh every day. Their kitchen, where bakers string together rolls of dough into circles and wait for them to rise, is open-to-view for customers.
We decided to share two donuts. Marilyn chose the Blood Orange donut:
And I went with the hibiscus donut.
No words. SO good! I have to say, these donuts are HUGE! Not your average Krispy Kreme size. They are bigger than the palm of my hands.
Blood Orange or Hibiscus? It’s hard to decide which is the better donut. They both share the same tight-crumbed, cakey, non-greasy, incredibly light chew; the difference is in the frosting and topping.
The hibiscus donut is topped with a sticky icing that tastes (if you haven’t tried hibiscus tea yet) sort of like blackcurrant.
The blood orange, on the other hand, has a bright, zesty citrus sparkle that rejuvenates your taste buds. It’s not at all puckery, but it does have a distinct sour-sweetness.
It’s really worth checking this place out, even if the neighborhood it’s located in is a quiet residential place.
More walking after that. This time we were definitely headed towards DUMBO.
But we got distracted by a thrift store.
I got this hat there for $5!
Every dollar went to charity so I was feeling good about myself. Plus, it definitely went along with our “hipster” theme of the day.
We got as far as downtown Brooklyn before being distracted again. This time by Shake Shack.
We’ve already tried its famous burger. But this time we were here for the ice-cold dessert.
The Concrete!!
What’s a concrete in frozen custard terms? It’s a cup of blended custard churned so thick that it’s just basically like frozen cream. We got the Urban LumberShack: vanilla base topped with fresh sliced bananas, bacon peanut brittle and fried Belgian waffles.
Hoo! It’s seriously GOOD. I think I’ve had better frozen custard before (to be revealed in future post), but the toppings were a never-boring contrast of salty bacon-infused buttery roasted peanuts and crunchy, sugar-topped Belgian waffles.
This combination is only available in the Brooklyn Shake Shack. You see, each branch has its own special blend of Concretes.
By the way, I did some research on the Hasidic community when I got back home. It’s really fascinating; the Hasidic people have a very tight-knit community and their lifestyle follows a rigid set of rules, beliefs and traditions. Every Jew I’ve befriended is non-observant (like Tracy and her family), so the only interaction I’ve had with Jewish ancient customs is by reading the bible. Walking in Williamsburg was the first time I actually got to observe it with my own eyes. It was like walking through a live museum.
Oprah did a two-part series on visiting the Hasidic community in Brooklyn. I thought it was interesting enough to share, especially since it’s relevant to this post. The YouTube clip below is about the Hasidic customs…including wig-shopping.
Question of the Day: What is one culture which you really wish you could better understand and learn?
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This post is very homey to me. You see I live in Sullivan county, NY, aka “The Jewish Alps”; We probably have the second largest population of full- and part-time (summer vacation) Hasidic Jews outside of Brooklyn/Queens in NY state. Thousands upon thousands of them have come to the mountains where I live for decades. My mom tells me more used to come back in the 60s but I guess it’s not that exciting around here anymore, though you’d never know based on how many still come to their summer bungalows!
We have several Jewish stores and bakeries and pizza parlors in my area, but I don’t visit them often as most only open in the summertime when the crowds come. The best part about the large population in our area is that local stores cater to traditional kosher foods. Damn, now I want some fresh challah bread from the bakery!!!
CONGRATULATIONS SOPHIA!! What a wonderful accomplishment!! OF COURSE you would get accepted to such an amazing program, you deserve it!
And, why didn’t you put a WARNING on this post? As I sit here eating my boring breakfast, I am looking at all of these wonderful donuts, wishing I TOO had a blood orange or hibiscus donut (and now I eat my breakfast in disgust….haha). Where do they come up with these flavors?! It’s amazing!
Those Oprah videos are fascinating, I couldn’t stop watching them. What an interesting culture. I dunno, though, my boyfriend isn’t very good at ‘talking’ to me, so without being able to do something as simple as holding his hand, I think I’d come to feel quite ignored. I guess Hasidic children are trained to converse, though. Very interesting!
That’s hilarious about the man instructing you to photograph his beard. Haha:)
Congrats on the training program!!
That “mystery pastry” looks a lot like a Krembo… but I’ve never seen one in a bakery before, so I have no idea whether that’s actually what it is.
<3 <3
Congratulations on the journalism program!
I’ve always been very intrigued by the Jewish religion but don’t know much about Hasidic sect.
Congrats to you!!! Wow – what an impressive beard indeed!
I wake up in the morning and grab my cell phone too – but it’s mostly so I have something to do while I feed the baby.
THE First paragraph is what I agree! C’mon , our generation does this. haha!
At the resort I used to work at, there were a lot of Hasidic Jews that visited. It was frustrating to most of the staff because the men didn’t seem to want to interact with women staff members and we were treated much differently by them than we all were used to be treated in our own cultures. I know that it is a cultural thing, but it’s still occasionally tough to swallow how different cultures can be.
CONGRATS on your acceptance into the journalism program! Sounds like an incredible learning experience.
The hipster central combined with Hassidic Jewish community reminds me of my sister’s neighbourhood in Montreal (Mile End)- rather interesting mix!
How weird~it feels like being back home! In Argentina, there’s a huge hassidic jewish community–but they live pretty much in most of Buenos Aires–not a pocket. And I don’t even like donuts but that hibiscus one sounds soooooo good!!!!!
My mother is watering over the pastries in this post. YUM!
Congrats on the journalism program acceptance!
I need to go to New York and have you come with me to show me where to eat.
Alright so you and I are DEFINITELY hanging out when you’re here for three weeks. NO EXCUSES!
I need to go to Dough. End of story.
I never really remember that the hasidic jewish population isn’t as prevalent in other places as it is here To me, it’s second nature to see them walking around. But I guess that’s just not true anywhere else.
Yes. Let’s hang!!! I’ll be there May 13 and then will stay for 3 weeks.
congrats on the program! it sounds incredibly amazing and New York just seems like the perfect place to study journalism in the summer!! you are sooo lucky
!
Blood orange and hibiscus donuts?! I’m in love with the pink frosting. And now I’m also craving for the Concrete…
Congratulations! Nice you will be in the city. Maybe we will be there at the same time!
this post brought back such nostalgia of my time in nyc. i worked at a jewish hospital on the lower east side of manhattan so a ton of my fellow nurses and patients were hasidic jews. growing up in a predominantly christian area (with 99% catholics) it was my first exposure to judaism. i am one of the insanely curious people, so i was fascinated by it. i learned so much in my time at beth israel – almost as much about my career as human diversity!
doh! i forgot to say congrats!!!
congratulations!!!!! so exciting.
and cute hat BTW.
There are so many cultures I want to learn more about … Korean would be one … Japanese another … and the list goes on and on and on. I love Brooklyn!! It is really nice there.
Aaaaaah! Congratulations!!! And we win too, because I was begging for more NYC tales and now I get ‘em
Love love love the bearded guy in the bakery!
CONGRATS Sophia!! Very well deserved indeed. I know you will have a very bright future as a journalist – your passion always really shows!
I’m so glad you posed this question – and how lovely of a coincidence, as it parallels a conversation I was just having with this sweet young Korean lady who works at Coldstone Creme near my house. It’s not as good as what you guys had!! But, its the best alternative when you want some yummy fro-yo or such.
Something I don’t understand is why Koreans have preserved Confucian ideals such as filial piety, in general respectful and mindful always of their elders – more so than the Chinese or Japanese. I don’t mean to speak for all, I am sure there are plenty of Chinese/Japanese youths who are also most respectful! But – I have observed Koreans seem to abide to their traditions and cultures better than most east Asian cultures…is there reason for this, could it be religious? I do see that most Koreans are strong with their relgious faith and that is a big contrast to China and Japan, who don’t seem to have as strong of a spiritually unified base.
Also, the lady I talked with was mentioning the history of Japan and how they had entered Korea, maybe this was before or after WWI…and didn’t treat them well, to say the very least…and then she started to cry and it made ME cry. She said Koreans have a hard time with identity…that is so interesting, I never really considered it but sandwiched between Japan and China, I can see why. I’m sorry if this makes YOU emotional too! you can email me of course and give me more information, I love to learn about history – it’s what gives our roots and shapes us in the here and now.
Love this discussion!
That’s strange to me that the lady said Koreans struggle with identity…personally, I’ve always thought they had one of the strongest identity among Asians, because we are a homogenous one-tribe nation. We have a sad history though, as you said, sandwiched between two domineering countries like Japan and China who always bullied our country. That’s why we have the word “han” to characterize that feeling of bitterness, which is indescribable in other languages. I see a shift in culture though; the Confucian ideals among the younger generation is changing a lot, what with k-pop and all that.
I think Koreans having a strong religious faith compared to China and Japan may have to do with the political history? China is getting more and more fervent religiously, but there was a period of spiritual muteness because of communism. I know for sure that is changing though!
i’m LOVING your new york posts! i want to go to all the places you went, you have such a great way of making them all seem so unique and special.
Congratulations on being accepted to the journalism summer program!
I grew up in an Orthodox Jewish home and have Chassidic cousins. Not all the women shave their heads, FYI.
When I was growing up, we had those mystery desserts which are really just a dry upsidedown cupcake with awesome icing. We called them Chocolate Bells. I’m sure they have a Yiddish name, but some Googling just led me back to Chocolate Bell.
The desserts are separated because once they eat a meat product, they can’t have dairy for 6 hours. So if they are buying dessert for a holiday or Sabbath meal, which traditionally has a meat course (or any other meal serving beef our poultry), the dessert needs to be dairy-free.
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