February 2008 Archives

Cultural events can be quite pricey, but I've always had a bargain outlet wherever I've lived - Manhattan, Boston, and now in Ft Lauderdale. They're all are must-buy deals if you live in the local areas. To do the cities justice I'm devoting one blog to each of the three. Tip # 1 is for Boston -- simply because it is finish first!

Museum of Fine Arts (MFA). I had just moved to Boston and was starving for cultural pleasures. It's Boston -- they had to be there. But where?

I finally got my butt to the MFA. "Fashion Photography" was on special exhibit. At $25 it was a bit excessive but turned out to be worth it. The energy. The imagination. The curation.

The love fest continued after the show when I made the pilgrimage to the museum store - my temple. I was sure to spend more money than justifiable on books, jewelry, and creative gifts for people for no reason.


When I went to pay they asked me if I was a member. Apparently I would get 20% off (a special promotion that week) my pile of goods. Savings added up to about $18. So I ask the requisite question - how much?

Membership was $70. For that I would get:

• Free museum entry ($15)
• Free special exhibits for two ($25 each)
• 40% discount on music and film
• 10% off store and restaurant
• VIP lounge with wireless (possibly the most valuable benefit)

Hmmm...I had already spent $43 of it. One more special exhibition will more than pay for membership. Then a light bulb went off -- there may be another perk. Maaaaaybe my guest at special exhibits would buy me a meal or drink at the restaurant. Tacky, entitled, and wishful thinking - I know. But the food was delectable, the menu was innovative, and the execution artistic. (By the way, I have very generous friends). It was a treat -- dutch  or not.

Membership? It was a no-brainer.

Forgetting museum admission, membership paid off. I was a regular at the film fests and alternative music concerts, which were usually intellectually accessible to us common folk. The films were true independents - you know, the kind that cost 5k, which took the director a year to raise.


Here's an example: I saw a film about an African young man who, after his father's death, finds out that he has 49 brothers and sisters. Well, he sets out to meet them all. It wasn't clear whether he did, but cultural disparity between how he was received by the siblings and their mothers there verses how he might have been here was riveting.

Now let's get real. When you see these things your ego inflates. Wow, aren't I cool? But it was an authentic glimpse into a world that, sadly few would see -- I am truly privileged.

This membership was a meaningful gift to me from me.

More friends visited from Boston. Since they were only in town for one night I picked a place to eat and took the quick tour of Ft Lauderdale there. We did one big loop, passing all the icons that define the city. Hitting the road at 6pm, I returned them satiated to their hotel by 8:30 pm.

We started downtown on Avenue of the Arts, first passing the Broward Center for the Performing Arts and then the Museum of Discovery and Science. The former is a towering building that oozes culture. The latter is a modern that pays tribute to its art deco roots. Across the street is the red brick Riverwalk. The promenade runs along the New River for the length of downtown. Continuing on we saw some busy local spots; the library, another nod to colorful South Florida history; and a health club appropriately named Sweat.


We continued straight to Las Olas Blvd, (translation: the waves) a sweet 10-ish retail blocks reminiscent of old Spanish Florida. Not a William Sonoma or GAP in sight - or at least my sight. Las Olas was congested that night - always a fair mixture of locals and tourists.

Next we moved on to beautiful homes and yachts on stunning waterways. We veered off the path and tooled through a series of cul de sacs. The homes alternated between authentic old and new copies of them. Most modest ones had been knocked down to make way for the new oversized ones.

We landed on AIA, smack in the middle of the Beach Blanket Bingo Ft Lauderdale. This time I could tell that tourists dominated. We mosied up the seashore a few miles, observing personality changes on the way.

The scenic portion of the trip came to a halt once the traffic lights kicked in at Commercial Blvd. So we took the drawbridge across the Intracoastal to South Florida-strip-mall and found our restaurant. It was Flanigans, inexpensive American fair in ticky-tacky South Florida style  -- another must-experience.
 

Did we miss stuff? Hell yeah! Did they get the flavor of Ft. Lauderdale? Very tasty.


Broward Center for the Performing Arts www.browardcenter.org

I lost $40 in 15 minutes in a poker game in 1988, which really hurt. I was a moonlighting as a Chinese food delivery person at the time. You see, at the end of the night the staff bore the essence of egg roles, so going out in public was a no-no. Instead we'd come to my house or to the owner's, Yim and Peter, for an impromptu night of gambling. I don't just mean a game -- I mean a casino of poker, mah jong, dominos, and blackjack. The stakes were a little high for me, but that was their culture, and I, the gringo, wanted to fit in. So that's when it happened. Since then my official response is the contrite, "no thank you, I don't gamble".

Last night I finally got back up on the horse and played in a funny money game at a Learner's Poker meetup at Boca Muse a mellow local bar in Boca Raton FL. Sounds like a pretty safe environment to learn, no? No, I lost it all there too. Usually the impulsive one in the crowd, I cowered and kept giving up pretty good hands for fear that I would lose it all - and in the end I did. No thank you. I don't gamble anymore.

Learner's poker http://coffee.meetup.com/300/calendar/7210481/?gj=&a=cr1p_grp

Boca Muse  http://www.sun-sentinel.com/features/lifestyle/sfl-sh25clublpbjan25,0,4981162.story

I've always heard about high tea but never attended one. It sounded part hokey, part lovely. Now that I've been to one I can tell you that it is both. It was at Carriage Light Tea Parlor & Gifts in Parkland, FL.
 We were seated at a table with fabulous authentic hats on the seats - each different (that's the hokey part). But I gotta say it was really fun searching for THE ONE. Some of us looked for the least embarrassing while others embodied the glamour. I was a convert who started as the former but then moved sheepishly to the ladder.

We ordered 2 kinds of tea for the 7 of us. Going with the flow I accepted the 2 desserty types - caramel crème brulee and mocha kiss - not exactly my cup of tea. Later someone ordered a South African one with depth - kind of musky, kind of spicy. I preferred it. My friend Mary thought it tasted like medicine though. Each to her own.

Carriage Light Tea Parlor & Gifts www.thecarriagelight.com

I never understand when people, like my sister, could care less about their birthday. A birthday is a once-a-year celebration for just being.


Plans for a Saturday birthday gained momentum when my friend Kerry from Boston, decided to visit. Of course like all great birthdays they start before the date and if you're really lucky end about a week later. Thursday was a massage, then Friday was kayaking on the Gulf of Mexico.We rented our kayaks from Salt Water Sports on the Isle of Capri near Naples, FL. They had a few obscurely nudged up against a tiki restaurant, The Capri Fish House.
 

Unfortunately that day did not have the dreamy blue waters ideal for small-island-hopping. So after fighting an unrelenting tide we relented and made way to the local mangroves, passing a few dolphins along the way. (The mangroves were so trippy that I'll have to save them for another time). Afterward we lucked out with a $12 early bird special at the tiki restaurant on the water. The flounder and grouper were yum yum.

Saturday was the Delray Beach Garlic Festival. It was more like your everyday street festival with tasty, yet uninnovative food and a $10 cover charge. I expected something like garlic balls in a garlic sauce with a side of garlic salad washed down with garlic soda. It sounds icky, but I would have been impressed. I did glean a gem though: There is always a Starbucks around when you gotta pee, which beats the unsavory porta-potty experience. For the first time I was happy for a Starbucks on every corner.
 
Nighttime. I picked a little-known 18-person restaurant outside of Wilton Manors (a neighborhood in Ft. Lauderdale), called Café Sharaku. It's French-Asian fusion with a small and delectable menu.

Café Sharakaru was beer and wine only, so I looked for a happy hour close by that stocked the real stuff. All I could find was Red's Bar and Package Store where the review said something about "free jello shots for the ladies". Am I crazy to suspect it was a dive fraternity bar? UGH.
 

Don't get me wrong -- there is nothing better than a good dive, but truth be told I was a little nervous as to what I was getting my well-dressed birthday clan in to. In fact it was a real bar's bar -big u-shaped and wooden without any small tables or restaurant in sight. By the way, I highly recommend their jello shots.




The Capri Fish House www.caprifishhouse.com
Garlic Festival www.dbgarlicfest.com
Café Shakaru, Ft Lauderdale FL www.cafesharaku.com
Red's Bar and Packaging Store: Ft. Lauderdale, FL 954-564-0233  http://www.yelp.com/biz/reds-bar-and-package-store-wilton-manors#hrid:fSkzOkaI_ZYASnBBb_Ui-Q/query:red's

I've spent a lot of time living experientially and not knowing it. Friends and family have had to convince me! Dictionaries have lame definitions of "experiential". But when I tried to define it I began to believe it -- deriving pleasure, pain and/or wisdom from your immediate surroundings. If this is experiential, I have lived it. Thankfully I've rarely taken it for granted. I have gawked at life in 40 US states and 20 countries on 3 continents (having lived in 7 states and 2 countries).

To start this blog I have articulated 5 experiential necessities: Pursuit; Moment; Humanity; Reality; Resourcefulness. I plan to explore them as they happen (mostly in Florida these days) to me and other fascinating "regular" people around.