Tag Archives: New Year’s

Welcome to 2018 at City Tech!

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Welcome back to City Tech, everyone! I hope your winter break was relaxing and pleasurable as  we now muster the strength to return and finish the school year. I normally share historical and/or current stories about pieces of architecture and art in New York City. But, before I delve into my more informational posts, I would like to share a few things that I did and places I explored over the winter break.

happy new year written on condensated window

For Christmas, my family and I ventured to Lancaster, Pennsylvania to see a Nativity play at the Sight & Sound Theatre. The facility was built like a Disney Castle; I found it hard to believe that this experience was real or some type of fantasy dreaming. The arches by the entrance were exaggerated and hollow; giving the patrons a clue as to what lied forth the fantastical facade. Past the threshold was a sweet aroma of caramelized almonds; it was the type of smell that made you want to bite the air to see if you could taste it. The auditorium, itself, was a well-thought design; as if the theatre was built around the audience instead of the ordinary spectator viewing. The show was great and I enjoyed it thoroughly; it’s not typical to see horses, goats, pyrotechnics, or choreographed acrobatics inside a closed auditorium. The entire experience was very different from other plays I have seen and I found every aspect intriguing.

a statue at Sight and Sound Theatre

the Sight and Sound Theatre seating arrangement

Sight & Sound Theatre auditorium

Ceiling at Sight and sound theatre

Ceiling motif at the Sight & Sound Theatre

For New Year’s Day, we went out to Coney Island beach like thousands of others to celebrate 2018 with the annual Polar Plunge. This would be my third year attending the winter festivity and it was one of the coldest. Reportedly, the temperature of the brackish Atlantic Ocean was 37 degrees Fahrenheit and the outside temperature was in the lower teens; this would be the coldest New Year’s Day in about 50 years. Bravely, we marched past the ice breaking at the shore and stepped into the slushy waters, dunking ourselves into winter’s freezing abyss. My body was thoroughly shocked by the water; I lost my breath and almost all the feeling in my limbs before gathering all the will I had to run out of the frigid water.

the sun at coney island beach

Coney Island Beach on New Year’s Day

These are just a few of the things I did over my winter break; I still spent plenty of days resting from the long and grueling fall semester. As I chart through the spring semester I will bring you more stories of my adventures and information that I learn along the way.

 

 

Virtues from Motherhood: New Years Reflections

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As the weather turns colder and the days get shorter we may find ourselves curled up with our thoughts more frequently. We might look back on the year thus far or reminisce about where we were a year ago. It’s easy though, to get lost in these thoughts and feel a sense of loss and longing and mourn the memories instead of celebrate them.
I too have fallen into the trap of missing what was and letting a heavy heart get the best of me but recently I’ve tried to think about the positives and celebrate the fact that at that point in time happiness had illuminated my life. In a perfect world every day and every season would be filled with nothing but happiness and precious memories, but the world is not perfect.

We all lose at some point, relationships end and friends move away and we find ourselves with a void where happiness once lived and it’s easy to let loneliness move in. I challenge you however to evict loneliness and invite celebration and rejoice in and be optimistic that something or someone equally as meaningful will grace your life in due time.

Every moment can’t be happy as much as we’d like it to but instead of mourning memories of moments passed celebrate them and bask in the warmth from that time in your life. The beauty about a memory is that it’s yours, nobody can alter or take it away from you and nobody can change how it made you feel. Memories are our own personal photo album for us to resort back to on chilly fall days when we miss a loved one or a place, they’re the moon in our darkness and the sunlight peaking through on a cloudy day. It’s easy to let sadness get the best of you but it’s even easier to look back into your memories and feel your heart be warm again. People may come and go from our lives but the footprint that they left behind remains forever.

Embracing the Upcoming Year

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new york skyline landscape

“Here’s to New Horizons (Brooklyn Heights Promenade)” by Brianna Vasquez

As another semester comes to a close and our stress levels began to decrease, just in time for the holidays. We begin to be sentimental as the year also reaches its end. We began to ponder about the resolutions we will allow ourselves to commit to in the New Year. Yet, we may not completely finish our resolutions; we still write some that we would like to do especially those that consist of a physical change in ourselves such as losing weight or going out in public more. Instead, challenge yourself to resolutions that are more personal such as being a better baker, being more spontaneous, or being brave in unforeseen circumstances. These may be even harder to achieve but in the end, they help us to not only be better for others but for ourselves as we navigate through this journey called life.

So as you prepare for the holidays, remember to be excited for what 2016 may hold or bring to your life and as always I hope to add a new recipe to include in your recipe box to make for the holidays.

Peppermint Meringues

Active time: 30 minutes

Start to Finish: 2 1/2 hours

Makes about 5 dozen

Ingredients

3 large egg whites

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon pure peppermint extract

Red gel-paste food coloring

Directions

Preheat oven to 175 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper; secure corners with masking tape. Fit a pastry bag with a small open-star tip (such as Ateco #22). Set aside.

Put egg whites and sugar in the heatproof bowl of an electric mixer. Set bowl over a pan of simmering water, and stir gently until sugar has dissolved and mixture is warm to the touch, 2 to 3 minutes.

Transfer bowl to an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Mix on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form. Mix in peppermint extract.

Using a new small paintbrush, paint 2 or 3 stripes of red food coloring inside the pastry bag. Fill bag with 1 to 2 cups meringue. Pipe small (3/4-inch-high) star shapes onto prepared baking sheets. Refill bag as necessary, adding food coloring each time.

Bake cookies until crisp but not brown, about 1 hour 40 minutes. Let cool completely on sheets on wire racks.

You can make the meringues a week ahead and store in an airtight container in a cool, dry place (though not in the freezer or refrigerator). Any humidity or moisture will soften the meringues.

Recipe courtesy of Culinary Serendipity and Martha Stewart

happy new year in tie-dye

Image by: sarbjit singh

Honestly, I love working for “The Buzz” but I want to become a better writer in the New Year by challenging myself as a writer, in terms of creativity. Personally, I view New Years as a time to evaluate ourselves in order to prosper by way of self-improvement.

Comment on what resolutions you hope to achieve in the New Year? What does New Year’s mean to you? What are some of your traditions? I hope that you achieve the goals that you set for yourself and wish you luck in all your future endeavors. And Cheers to new horizons and opportunities.