EXTRA The Wanderlust Edition
Italy What is Dolce Far Niente? Rome & Sorrento Food Porn
England Artists to Know London Gem: Borough Market
France
La Campagne a Paris
Vol. XII March 2018
Editors’ Note Wow, so here we are, lookin’ like a married couple when half of us are a college dropout and we are constantly arguing over what is better: a flat white or a cappuccino. You can answer that yourself after you read our Coffee Corner article this month: the Beans Needs, courtesy of one of our very special guest writers this month. (We know, we know. What a wonder it is to actually not be writing our own content, right? That has certainly been the best and work part about starting up our own magazine, but you take the punches and deal ‘em right back in strides, right?) So what are we ranting about this month? What we specialize in: living your damn life the way you want to be living it - putting the ‘dream’ into the synonymous category of ‘career’ and riding the caffeine buzz all the way there. Our specific specialty is travel. You asked. We are answering, so here it is: a wanderlusty edition of our favorite locations. Damon, of course, covers Paris and his latest find, La Campagne, while yours truly covers the best moments in Italy. Whether it is making friends with a kitty, capturing life with an old school disposable camera, or getting lost in a medieval city before finding the best damn bruschetta of your life, we are here to dish all the details and inspire you to live a lil’ bit EXTRA.
2
Editor’s Note | Damon Dominique & Joanne Franco
Table of Contents Lifestyle | Dolce Far Niente (5) • 05 Ways to Keep Your Sanity (8) Top 10 Air Purifying Houseplants (13)
| Housekeeping
Traveling England | 5 Emerging London Artists You Need to Know (17) • Welcome to Borough Market | Traveling England (22)
Finding La Campagne a Paris (38)
| Traveling France
Traveling Italy | Rome & Sorrento (42) 10 Tweaks to Make You a Happier Person (48)
| Motivational
Why You Should Buy a Disposable Camera (54)
Coffee Corner | It’s the Beans Needs (52) Table of Contents
3
Make your business an artform.
# 4
prismacolor.com
Dolce Far
Niente
The sweetness of doing nothing.
5
In America, you go your whole life shaming yourself when you’re “lazy,” then you go to Italy where dolce far niente is an accepted, practiced, and perfected art form. Italians sit with friends and family slowly sipping on tiny porcelain cups filled with espresso in between chain smoking their cigarettes. They look around at what is happening around them, and if you are seated at a terrasse, you are most likely looking out onto a cobblestoned courtyard with an old ass statue, a beautiful stone water fountain, and little ragazzi italiani kicking around a soccer ball. And they are content. They are taking a moment for themselves. They are not on their phones 24/7. This is not boring to them. They are not doing anything, but they also are not not
6
doing anything. Promise that makes some sense…in some way. The most dolce far niente (the art of doing nothing) of all dolce far nientes happen on Sunday, where everyone and their mom close their shops to the public. What this means to an American is that you 1) will have one shop open that sells everything at three times the price (I bought a small water bottle for three euros once), 2) sucks to be you if you didn’t do your grocery shopping on Saturday, and 3) must commit to dolce far niente, whether you want to or not.
My evening of dolce far niente began at 7pm, when, after drinking
my cappuccino that tasted like cold milk, I decided to see just how difficult it would be to find another coffee somewhere else. My first mistake: drinking a cappuccino at 7pm (a cultural faux pas in Italy). My second mistake: drinking a cappuccino from a hostel café. Next door was Bar da Monica, and further down on the island of Giudecca, Venice was another bar named Bar da Lele and Neke – that looked like a typical pub you would find older men playing at a machine casino games, or smoking cigars outside. Clearly I fit in (not at all). I settle on a nice restaurant named Majer Venezia where I also did not fit in with the clientele. I awkwardly asked if they spoke English, or another romance language, then I awkwardly asked if I could order a cappuccino, then I awkwardly asked if I could have some bread. After a few weird looks all around (I forgot you can not just customize orders like you can in the USA), and paying €2.10 instead of €1.70 because I was eating inside and taking up prime real estate in the restaurant, I started to officially feel like I was traveling. Or rather, I became sensative to how not Italian I was... which is a disadvantage of birth but also not how I like to travel. Because I strive to live wherever I am.
My first mistake: drinking a cappuccino at 7pm (a cultural faux pas in Italy). My second mistake: drinking a cappuccino from a hostel café.
My cappuccino and bakery bread arrived, and I began writing this brief glimpse of a lifestyle so far from many of our own. These little adventures in Italy, I want to experience them more. Maybe it all starts with a little bit more dolce far niente.
Dolce Far Niente · Damon Dominique | Lifestyle
7
05 Ways to 8
It has been a pretty stressful year, amiright? Between Donald Trump’s ridiculous tweets, Apples new update, the Equifax Breach, North Korea, men in the limelight being scumbags in the limelight, and whatever else you have going on in your life, it is easy to lose sanity. As the year comes to an end, you might be feeling a bit used, and ragged, or as my friend Spoz used to call it, “you feel like a dirty hooker,” from all of the services you’ve provided all year round. Do not worry, we are here with you, we feel like hookers too. Unless of course, you are a hooker, then you do you boo boo. Being a human being can make one crazy. No, seriously, think about it. Between the things we have to do, should be doing, and want to do, the ability to maintain self-balance grows slim to none. As soon as the end of the year crept around, I began remembering the anxiety that the time inadvertently brings. As this is not my first rodeo in the end-of-the-year-craze games, I went into my book of tricks to remember how I kept my sanity back then, to apply that technique now.
Here is the trick: Think about five things you can be in control of to perform at your absolute highest level, while maintaining your ground, and still finding time to be happy. It is a tricky task if you think about it. We do a million things every day, which one of those million things actually help keep all of our marbles intact? Do we even have any marbles left?
Sure, sounds great Jo, but I have no idea what I actually need to do to be happy. Here’s how I did it: I thought about five things that if I don’t have or do, I’ll be in a terrible mood throughout the day, or throughout the week. I took to twitter to see if you had five things you consider crucial to your sanity, and I was surprised to see more than 67 responses, with five different things each time. Some might call it selfish to think about what YOU need, but those people are probably going through internal turmoil so big, the only way to get through to their actual desires is with a bulldozer to demolish their wall of emotional shit. Here are the five things that keep me (somewhat) sane:
Music I first realized music was important to me in the womb. Literally, this is not a joke. My dad was a percussionist in a jazz band, and he had his band mate play his saxophone by my mom’s belly when I was chillin’ in there. I would jiggle around almost as if I were dancing. Later, when I was bigger than a fetus, I had this obsession with learning how to play the violin, and of course, the saxophone. I would stay in on Friday nights looking at blogs about new music, browsing through things I liked and downloading them illegally on Limewire, and dragging them into my iTunes library. Oh, how the struggle was real before Spotify premium. Now, in my current life, Spotify let me know I have listened to almost 70,000 minutes of music in my year. But even before this ridiculous data surfaced, I noticed that days where we film all day, and I have no time for music, I feel a little droopy. But because I have identified music as a non-negotiable in my life, I’ll pop in my headphones to recharge even if only in transit. And if you guessed that
Keep Your Sanity 9
I was listening to music right this minute, you are 100% correct.
Writing I picked up the habit of writing as soon as I learned how to do so. In the first grade I wrote short stories, like “The Magical Sled,” about this sled that had… well, magical powers. Another hit I wrote was called “Freddy’s life,” which chronicled the life of my pet caterpillar, Freddy. By the fourth grade I became a full-blown journaler. I learned from a young age that it might be better to keep my thoughts, complaints, and crushes to myself, because I could always trust that. Later, my writing progressed from basic diary entries, to more of a memoir that I’m fully aware the world might one day read. The minute I realize I haven’t picked up a pen and my journal in over a week, something is going on with me that can only be shaken with a good writing session. Even writing blogs helps me declutter my mind. And clearly, it’s been a minute, so I’m ironically writing about how I love writing, when I haven’t done it in a while. I write because it helps me understand myself. It’s basically like having a judgement free dialogue with myself, and that always helps me get to the core of what’s really going on. Plus, when I’m old and crusty, I can look back and giggle at how silly my problems seemed to be, how in love I was, or how many places I’ve been. Carinho is a Brazilian word that doesn’t quite translate with the simple “affection.” Carinho is like an extension of love that can only be felt with intimate conversations, a good hug, and overall care towards another human being. I need that. Like most Latin people, warmth in human beings reminds me why it’s all worth it. I can’t go on like a productive robot without having an emotional conversation, a great romantic experience, or a heart-toheart with a friend. Living far from family, friends, and even my significant other definitely takes a toll on this part of what 10
I need to be happy. I’ve had to make a conscious effort to get a true carinho fix, otherwise I will go into a dark place of loneliness, no matter how happy I may look on the outside. It has taken years for me to realize this though, because it’s not an obvious one, and it’s dependent on other people.
Progress In order for me to feel good, I need to feel like I am progressing in more ways than one. This applies to my need to go to the gym regularly, to strengthen my muscles and work my body out, but it also pertains to my constant need to learn, and grow my brain. Feeling stagnant frustrates me, and I become a cranky demon at the thought that I’m even stumbling into a still period in my life. Once again, a difficult one to realize, but because it’s up to me, and only me. This one is a little harder to honor because it is geographically dependent, but it is something I have been spoiled with after living in LA. I am a watery creature. When I lived in Manhattan, I would run by the Hudson just to feel the energy of a body of water. But nothing beats the ocean. In the most hectic of times, the tides always seem to clear things up in my mind, reminding me how small we all are, and how it’ll all flow in and out as time goes on. Everything about the ocean puts life into perspective for me. The birds, breeze, sand, waves, the sun hanging low, and then rising high. It’s thrilling, always changing, and unstoppable. I try to spend some quality time with the ocean alone, at least once a week. When it’s been over a week, I feel it like a crimp in my neck. How do you keep your sanity? The beautiful thing is that these five things are completely in your control. Quiet all of the buzzing caused by outside factors and look within to see what you really need to maintain your sanity, and I guarantee you will be able to navigate through the rough times like a champion. Cheers to taking care of you, boo boo.
5 Ways to Keep Your Sanity · Joanna Franco | Motivational
11
Make your process an artform.
# 12
prismacolor.com
This Month’s Feng Shu: Top 10 Air Purifying House Plants for the New Year
We all learned in science class that plants take in carbon dioxide and output oxygen, but as adults we rarely put two and two together to realize how house plants are built to be natural air filters. The concept is simple: plants take in benzene, trichloroethylene and formaldehyde - the 3 most harmful indoor toxins - and in turn produces clean air for us to breath. We’ve stressed before how important indoor air quality is, and adding the right house plants to your home is an easy way to help keep your air clean. Bamboo removes benzene, trichloroethylene and formaldehyde while also adding moisture to the air to act as a natural humidifier. Plus, some say keeping bamboo shoots in your home will bring you good luck. Thats a win-win-win in our book.
Aloe Vera is a big formaldehyde filter and it’s another win-win plant since it can be used to treat sunburns.
The Spider Plant is rated by NASA’s Clean Air Study as one of the top 3 plants for removing formaldehyde and other toxins. It grows very quickly and sprouts tons of baby spider plants year-round, making this a great choice for filling your home without spending a lot.
14
Photographs by Samuel Zeller
A Peace Lily is most noted for its talents of removing airborne chemicals from cleaning products. Perhaps it would be a good idea to keep this plant in your kitchen, bathroom and other rooms that are heavily cleaned or subject to perfumed sprays.
The Dracaena plant is best at removing trichloroethylene. If you use any heavy-duty cleaning products in your workshop or garage, consider placing this plant there to help filter the air.
A Boston Fern removes formaldehyde better than any other plant, so make sure to keep at least one of these in your home. They also act as great natural humidifiers like the bamboo and many edible herbs.
10 Purifying Houseplants ¡ AWAIR | Housekeeping
15
Golden Pothos process general air toxins well and are very easy to grow. Like crazy easy to keep alive. If you don’t have a green thumb, start with this plant to ensure success.
The English Ivy is a hazard for the exterior of buildings but makes a very helpful house plant. It excels at removing benzene from the air so it’s a great choice if anyone in your family suffers from asthma.
The Gerbera Daisy is pretty and a hard worker! It removes benzene and absorbs tons of carbon dioxide so you are guaranteed get a lot of clean air from this flower.
Garden Mums remove all 3 major toxins very well. Rid your house of benzene, trichloroethylene and formaldehyde, and the bonus of ammonia with this colorful plant.
Herb Corner Basil Basil removes 90% VOC’s from the air alongside various indoor pollutants (that bougie l’eau de parfume you cannot part with), plus, what is that smell? Ah yes, homemade Italian food any time you want. Fragrant, healthy, and oh so very delicious
Rosemary Similar to basil, rosemary gobbles up nearly everything you do not want in your lungs. And that overly strong pine smell you mop floors with? Grow it naturally and much less abusively on your nostrils. Rosemary is also good for a refreshing sprinkle on meals
Mint Are you catching on yet? Yes, mint freshens your breath, but not just what you exhale. Whether you keep it on hand to garnish those splendid midnight desserts or a midday nibble, it will work all day for you.
Coffee Coffee?! Oh yes. Ever thought about grinding your own beans? Whether you take the hipster route for your morning joe, or you simply enjoy the springy leaves doing your lungs a favor, this is a great plant to have for more humid homes or a conservatory.
16 10 Purifying Houseplants · AWAIR | Housekeeping
5 EMERGING LONDON ARTISTS YOU NEED TO KNOW
The Whitechapel Gallery is welcoming visitors once again to its triennial open submission exhibition, The London Open. The East End Academy began in 1932 as a metaphorical “two fingers� to typical gallery shows. Today the show continues to introduce works created by artists aged 26 or over who live and work in London, with 48 artists showcasing their art at the Whitechapel Gallery after a thorough process of applications and studio visits over three months. Story by Laura Rukowski 17
Connection, Lothar Götz, Forest Gate/Bethnal Green Götz’s Connection is the eye-catching pattern of colourful zigzags that sets the scene for the rest of The London Open before we enter Gallery One. It is similar to
Previous photographed by Eddy Klaus | Photographed by Tim Stoner
The Whitechapel Gallery is welcoming visitors once again to its triennial open submission exhibition, The London Open. The East End Academy began in 1932 as a metaphorical “two fingers” to typical gallery shows. Today the show continues to introduce works created by artists aged 26 or over who live and work in London, with 48 artists showcasing their art at the Whitechapel Gallery after a thorough process of applications and studio visits over three months.
Double-take, which we see above with the title of this article, but Götz designed the temporary Connection especially for the aesthetics of the Whitechapel Gallery and its foyer. As viewers, we are asked to disconnect from the outside world to adopt the correct headspace needed to connect and immerse ourselves in the art world. “I think London has a tremendous energy, buzz and open mindedness. In an atmosphere of constant change you can see a great diversity of artworks, from ancient to contemporary. In my eyes, a great bonus for London is that it has so many different art schools that compete with each other and make it impossible for one to dominate. There are also great parks and contrasting architecture.”
The London Open is representative of London art today because the exhibition does not set out to limit artists and their artwork to themes. Here’s a selection of the best work and artists exhibiting at The London Open.
Photographed by Scheublein + Bak
Laura Rutkowski earned a MA in Magazine Journalism and writes for GQ London, Cosmopolitan
18
UK, and the Evening Standard. Her interests lie in art, theatre, and she is a fashion enthusiast.
All in a day Brian, Brian and Demelza Watts, Southeast London Demelza enlisted the skills of her father Brian, a bricklayer, to formulate this unique piece. When GQ attended The London Open, Brian was hard at work laying down the initial bricks, which will eventually be stacked into a wall as high as possible for the labour of an eighthour working day. The sound of Brian’s tinkering comfortably filled the space and offered a rare glimpse into an artist at work. “I have distinct memories of coming up to London for the day as a child. Driving in from a small village in the West Country, the experience is mind blowing. You’re confronted with massive advertisements on the Hammersmith flyover, buildings of style and scale that I had never seen before, such as St Paul’s Studios, the artists’ homes built in the 1890’s on Talgarth Road, then the Natural History Museum and the V&A. I had to move to London as it seemed like another world and at that time artists seemed to have a good position in it.”
Did anyone ever tell you that you’re beautiful when you’re following orders? Sam Curtis, Lewisham Speaking of a trade becoming art, Curtis scoured YouTube to find clips of individuals enjoying themselves at work to compile an upbeat sequence of images. From fast food workers creatively clearing tables to TFL employees dancing, we are reminded that we can interject individuality into our workplace, regardless of where it might be. From the 30 July onwards, Curtis will be joining in on the action as he recreates an ice sculpture of an independent East End fishmonger each morning. Curtis previously worked as a fishmonger at Harrods, where a specialist mould was used to produce the same fish sculpture daily. “London both inspires and horrifies me. The social cleansing and displacement of people is devastating and horrific. What remains inspiring to me is the chaotic urban sprawl where people from all around the world mix to work and play.” Photographed by Brian and Demelza Watts
It’s All Good Fun, Ben Woodeson, Hackney Perhaps the most precarious of the pieces at The London Open, It’s All Good Fun is manned by a guard and sways with each passerby’s movement. It’s comprised of two giant glass sheets hanging from a rope, and although they are stable, Woodeson’s goal is to make us uncomfortable. He confesses about his pieces: “If I’m not nervous, they’re not ready.” “I feel like quoting American rock dinosaur Ted Nugent: ‘Anyone wants to get mellow, they can turn around and get the fuck out of here’. It’s the beast: inspiring, swarming with galleries, great for networks. You want something, it’ll be here somewhere, apart, that is, from cheap studio space. It’s trade off, but to me it’s very worth it. It’s always been said that London is a collection of villages, well, yes, but villages where everyone is hopped up on caffeine and adrenaline.”
Loops of Relation, Nelmarie du Preez, Whitechapel Loops of Relation strikes a touchy chord in this age of increasingly advanced artificial intelligence. GQ was mesmerised by du Preez’s on-screen performances to stab, to hit, and to rely, accompanied by her computer performance partner, Gui. Most unnerving to watch was to stab, a variation on the knife game, where a programmed robotic arm stabbed a knife between du Preez’s outstretched fingers. With a robot in New York recently passing the self-awareness test, du Preez’s performances hold a lot more weight than just playing silly games with a mechanical opponent. “The diversity in terms of background and nationality of the people I am able to encounter in this city inspires me most of all.” The London Open 2015 runs until 6 September at the Whitechapel Gallery and is free to the public.
20
Welcome to Mar
A Trip though London’s bel
written by Cla
o Borough rket
loved Southbank borough.
ayton Moore
Photographs by Sevaynna Doss
I never thought I would be elbow to elbow with chefs like Jamie Oliver, the “Naked Chef,” while doing my weekend shopping, but here I am at Borough Market, and I see Oliver all the time. Sometimes he has got a camera crew in tow, but most of the time he is either packing boxes of vegetables into his BWM or carting around his towheaded young son. Regardless, we both gravitate to this open-air market, tucked away on a fouracre site on the south bank of the Thames River. The market was established in 1754 by an act of Parliament and has been serving up warm British fare and exotic delights ever since. While I am sure that Oliver schleps away obscure delights for his show, for me, these market visits are a part of survival. I live just two blocks away, and the Friday and Saturday market is a treat. The market might be a draw for chefs from London’s exclusive Savoy and Dorchester hotels, but the rest of Southwark is a little less cozy, and more than a few Londoners wouldn’t cross the river without a map and a bag of breadcrumbs. That said, it is well worth a savvy traveler’s time to cross London Bridge and wander through the stalls. On a rare sunny Saturday, the bells of nearby Southwark Cathedral ring off the concrete and blend seamlessly with the shouts of vendors and the roar of overhead trains. Borough
24
Clayton Moore writes for Go World Travel Magazine, which covers world travel in more than 90 countries.
Market is located underneath the elevated train tracks that lead into London Bridge Train Station. A nice first stop is “Maria’s Market Café,” a tiny greasy spoon run by the charming Maria Moruzzi, where the offerings include her legendary bubble & squeak (a fried mixture of potatoes and cabbage, so named either because of the sound it makes while cooking, or while digesting), steaming mugs of coffee and other means of post-pub recovery. Vegetarians will find several gardens of delight, including the vast selection at Turnips’ Fruits and Vegetables, where one of the staff periodically breaks out into thunderous but resonant bits of opera. In addition to potatoes, leeks and other roots, there are startling vibrant berries, apples and more alien fare like Chinese Dragon Fruit. Over at Tony Booth’s Mushroom Company, exotic mushrooms are selected with care by everyone from visiting tourists to hotel chefs from “The Ivy” and “Claridges.” Other sights include the wide range of pheasants, turkeys, geese and ostrich at Wyndam’s House Poultry, while several butchers like Wild Beef and the Ginger Pig cut beautiful slabs of lamb, beef and pork nearby. It is not uncommon to see whole boars and wild rabbits hanging out at the stands, waiting to be diced into dinner. Smoked streaky bacon from the market has a much richer taste, while Spanish Serrano and Joselito ham is sliced for you right off the bone. It all has an old era feeling.
Borough Market· Clayton Moore | Traveling England
25
Fresh fish, brought up from the English coast at Brighton, line the tables at Applebee’s Fish and The Hand-Made Fish Company. Eels peer out at visitors with dead eyes, tentacles from enormous squid hang over the side, and big blue lobsters slide over the ice in a futile attempt to escape. Nearby, a cup of scallops roasted with bacon goes for a handful of change. One of the more high profile shops is Neal’s Yard Dairy, located on quiet Park Street, which carries a staggering variety of British cheeses. Selected according to season as well as taste, the offerings at Neal’s Yard include soft Stilton and Gorwydd Caerpilly (an unpasteurized crumbly cheese with a slight citrus flavor), tangy Greek feta, and Daylesford Cheddar, proclaimed “The Best English Cheese in the World” at the World Cheese Awards annually held in London. The helpful and knowledgeable staff is always ready to offer a recommendation and a slice to taste of anything in the shop. My favorite is Keen’s Cheddar, aged up to 14 months bound in cloth, with a very oniony tang and a strong aftertaste.
27
By far one of the most popular items is the chorizo sandwich at the Brandisa Spanish Foods stall, which serves a tasty sandwich only available from Noon to 2 p,m. Regulars start lining up early for a taste of fresh Spanish sausage, grilled over charcoal and served on a toasted roll with grilled peppers, rocket (a leafy vegetable, similar to arugula) and olive oil. The stand is close enough to carry over a chorizo to share a pint among the gothic designs of the Globe Pub, built in 1872. Featured prominently in the film “Blue Ice” with Michael Caine, it was more recently immortalized in “Bridget Jones’s Diary.” In the film, Bridget’s apartment is located above the Globe Pub. In fact, locals found Renée Zellweger, Colin Firth and Jim Broadbent here filming the sequel just a few weeks ago. There is always a way to satisfy a sweet tooth, as well. An unusual hot chocolate comes from the Cool Chile Company, made from Latin American cocoa mixed with ground almonds, cinnamon, sugar and milk. Other drinks include spicy mulled wine and hot cider mixed with fresh citrus from the market. There is also traditional fudge, warm pain au chocolate and sweet berry tarts to be had. Whether you are a four-star chef or just a culinary adventurer, Borough Market is a delight, far from the madness of London’s tourist traps but accessible enough for a memorable morning out.
28
Our Highlighted Traders: Olivier’s Bakery With more than two decades of experience under his belt, pastry chef and baker Olivier Favrel is committed to providing products made using only the best ingredients. Based locally in south-east London, Olivier’s Bakery brings to Borough Market a variety of freshly baked breads, cakes and pastries, including a special selection of 100 per cent spelt breads and deliciously soft croissants.
30
Change Please Coffee Backed by The Big Issue, Change Please is a social enterprise that provides homeless people with the skills, equipment and support required to become fully fledged barristas, selling high quality coffee from distinctive mobile carts. After some intensive professional training, the stall’s vendors are paid the London living wage and offered six months of potentially life-changing experience. The coffees, which rotate depending on the season, are all carefully sourced—regular suppliers include Itende JKT in Tanzania, which helps at-risk young people gain employment. The roasting takes place at the Old Spike Roastery in Peckham.
Artisan du Chocolat At Artisan du Chocolat, exquisite chocolates and hot chocolate are made with love and care by Irish-born master chocolatier Gerard Coleman, who cut his teeth in Belgium under the stewardship of renowned pastry chef and chocolatier Pierre Marcolini. His creations include liquid sea salt caramels, chocolate pearls, truffles and a wide range of chocolate bars. Artisan du Chocolat processes chocolate from ground beans, before conching and refining it in Ashford, Kent.
Borough Market· Clayton Moore | Traveling England
31
Arabica Bar & Kitchen Housed in a brick-lined railway arch, this open plan restaurant specialises in Levantine-inspired food: a dazzling array of vegetable mezze, fish and rare-breed meat grilled over charcoal, stone baked breads and pastries. Owner James Walters notched up more than 14 years’ experience importing and producing Middle East specialities for his Borough Market stall before opening this convivial restaurant, designed to encourage the easy pleasures of shared food and conversation. A street cart continues to serve a range of mezze, pastries and ingredients outside on market days, as well as the stall’s famous falafel and chicken shawarma wraps. Open Monday to Saturday, 11am–11pm
32
McLauren’s Christmas Puddings Returning to the Market for the festive season, McLaren’s Pure & Natural Christmas Puddings are wrapped and presented as beautifully as they are made; making them wonderful gifts as well as wholly delicious to eat. These puddings are produced with love from a family recipe, without compromising on the quality or quantity of the premium natural ingredients used. The fruit is macerated for two days in brandy, Guinness and the zest and juice of fresh oranges and lemons before being cooked; the proportion of flour to fruit is exceptionally low, resulting in a beautifully light and fluffy texture that highlights the flavour of the fruit and alcohol. Available in a range of sizes, the puddings have been thoroughly steamed, so all you need do is follow the reheating instructions tucked inside each one to enjoy the perfect finale to your Christmas feast.
The Turkish Deli Traditional Turkish produce sourced via the family of husband and wife team Graham and Chimen, who comes from the Gemlik region of Turkey, famed for its olives. The stall sells more than 25 varieties of traditionally cured, unmarinated olives including Gemlik salt dried olives, known as kuru sele—which are rarely found anywhere outside of Turkey. Other specialities include black olive paste, homemade hummus, homemade meze, baklava and a vast range of traditionally made, gluten and gelatine-free Turkish delight. 34
Photographs by Sevaynna Doss
Tea2You The tea gardens of the north-east of India, situated in the foothills of the Himalayan Mountains, are widely regarded as the source of some of the finest tea in the world. The region’s name is Darjeeling, and the eponymous tea produced there comes in four forms—black, green, white and oolong. Ratan of Tea2You carefully selects each tea every season and brings it to Borough Market direct from the supplier.
Whirld Whirld is an artisan confectionery company set up by Justine Cather, founder of award-winning fudge company Burnt Sugar. Its range of delicious sweets are all handmade to traditional recipes, using unrefined golden Fairtrade sugar, cream and butter and other wholly natural ingredients. Choose from toffee, nougat, fudge and honeycomb, or some rather more adventurous flavours such as chilli chocolate. Incredibly moreish, Whirld’s sweets are perfect for an indulgent treat or a lovely gift for a very special person—if you can bear to share.
Borough Wines Borough Wines began as a small Borough Market stall in 2002, primarily as a platform to promote the wines of Chateau Ponchapt, a family-owned vineyard in Bergerac. Now there are shops London-wide. The wine is still mainly French, but the rest of the world is also represented, and there’s a selection of craft beers and carefully selected spirits alongside. Borough Wines operates a wallet-andenvironment-friendly wine and beer refill system.
Borough Market· Clayton Moore | Traveling England
35
Make your collaboration an artform.
36
#
prismacolor.com
Hello! Did you know a bidet is the most ergonomical thing you can have in your house? But we don’t have them in the U.S!
= 0% Alcohol, Parabens · Vegan & Biodegradable · Fragrance Free · Ph Balanced
Sensitive Skin & baby approved · You’re never too Old to be a baby. 37
FINDING LA CAM The 20th arrondissement isn’t known to be, ahem, spectacularly beautiful, but one day I decided to take a quick stroll around a neighborhood I kept seeing from my tramway stop at Porte de Bagnolet. What I would see everyday was a cluster of sometimes brick, sometimes stone buildings – charming, to say the least – that made me feel like I was both in the cobblestone streets of London and a small village somewhere in the French countryside.
But I was still in Paris. The thing with living in these hectic, yet exciting big cities is that sometimes all you want to do… is GTFO. We all know that leaving it all behind and moving to the countryside sounds great in theory, but let’s be real, we city people would be bored out of our minds after two days. So the next best solution is right in front of us: La Campagne à Paris. Tucked away in the Eastern corner of the 20th arrondissement are these two cobblestone streets perched up
38
MPAGNE À PARIS away from the rest of the neighborhood. What was first built as a village of about 100 houses for the working class in the early 1900s has now, as you can imagine, completely priced a typical working class family…like way out of this corner of the 20th, where now real estate is mainly sold by word-ofmouth. Just outside the entrance, this ram welcomes you. Prepare your glutes. I cam across this sign that made me think I was trespassing (Ahem, I would have gone anyway). And then
this one across on the opposite corner of the street made me think I was not trespassing (Again, I would have gone anyway). I will make the hardest decision you will have to make in your twenty minute promenade easy: go both ways. The next best part of La Campagne à Paris: I was completely alone. Okay completely alone for ten minutes, then things, magical things, let me add, started to happen. Picture this: I’m walking down the street at probably 1mph trying to notice every little detail on every windowsill, every doorstop, every
Finding La Campagne a Paris· Damon Dominique | Traveling France
39
rooftop, and then…is that a piano? I follow the sound until I reach one of the houses with their windows open, and behind their greenery, I see a couple chatting away with a cigarette. I turn around, thinking I’m probably being way too intrusive; I mean, I already felt like I was probably trespassing, so to be looking into to someone’s house, let alone with a camera hanging off my shoulder, probably wasn’t the best look for me.
So I turned around. Not only do I see a father walking down the street with his two daughters, but twenty steps behind them is a gay couple looking for an address. They find it, and go in. Damn them! They live here! I walk down the street and out of one of the houses comes a cat:
Now I am definitely not a cat person, let alone an animal person, which I know is ironic for a vegetarian (and that is a story for another day), but when a lil’ creature starts rolling around meowing at your feet, you cannot help but put its lil’ belly. So in all, whether you are in the neighborhood because you’re visiting Père La Chaise or you are just looking for a reminder that there is life outside of smelly metros, noise pollution, and big city mentalities, venture out to Porte de Bagnolet for a sunset walk around La Campagne à Paris. Trust me, it is worth it.
40
Food
Ro 42
P
m
or n
e&S
to en
S
r r o
Food Porn: Rome and Sorrento¡ Joanne Franco | Traveling Italy
43
We all know the rule: pack your stretch pants before you even step foot on Italian soil.
The food is too good not to be indulged in. If you break this rule, be prepared to either rip your pants, or suffer from severe muffin tops that will put the muffin you just ate to shame. Or strut the ankle breaking streets and indulge some more. Let us not forget that you will be reminded of your mistake every time you look back at one of those “if you do not post this picture, it never really happened” Instagram posts. How to win versus all the food you will consume: I arrived in the land of great food and even better wine with a game plan; several yoga pants and loose fitting shirts would help me through three weeks of non-stop glorious gluttony. The conclusion was the following: I indulged in every crispy and warm bite of pizza, I enjoyed the chilly tingles of licking a dark chocolate gelato, I sunk my teeth into the crunchy bread underneath juicy tomatoes on bruschetta. It was all so pleasurable that it had to be considered sensual. Here are some of the best meals I had while in Rome and Sorrento:
44
Rome Flour Farina e Cucina Via Cremona, 29/37, 00161 Roma, Italy This is by far my favorite spot to eat by the hub of the Roman youth, Piazza Bologna. It was so good, I had to go back for seconds; literally ate there twice in one day because it was so damn good. Italian breakfast is tiny; small portions of food, and even tinier coffee. But clearly, size doesn’t matter here; the beauty and taste does not lack when it comes to hitting the spot. Expect to indulge in Nutella filled cornettos and sip on macchiatos, and also expect to be hungry before 11am. And exactly two hours after breakfast, I came right back to Flour Farina and Cucina for lunch, which isn’t your regular restaurant; they have an A La Cart menu, but the core of their service is like window shopping from over the counter. I finally had my first serving vegetables in almost a month abroad and ate a non-pasta or bread related carb: couscous. My stomach and I were both ecstatic. They have a fresh selection of prepared foods, pizzas, and pastries. Pro tip: order a calice di vino (pronounced caliché) to go with your veggies and white pizza.
La Prosciutteria Trastevere Via della Scala, 71, 00153 Roma, Italy laprosciutteria.com While they have another location by Fontana di Trevi, this one has to be my favorite; the space is great and it is in the heart of one of
the most interesting Roman neighborhoods for nightlife, Trastevere. La Prosciutteria isn’t a licensed restaurant, so don’t expect sit down service. Consider this your go-to spot for an aperitivo (drinks and small bites before dinner). You will have to order at the counter, and be given a number to take a seat in either their main floor, or downstairs in the basement. The price is amazing for the quality and presentation of what you eat and drink; come with good company to and enjoy the best things life has to offer.
081 Caffè Via Merulana, 83, 00185 Roma, Italy This café is by no means fancy; it’s simple and cheap, making it great for a snack break if you’re passing by the neighborhood. There’s outdoor seating, and they surprise with messages written on your cappuccinos. Try their sfogliatella salata, puffed pastry filled with ricotta cheese and spinach, or whatever other delicious filling they feel like cooking up.
Freddo Gelateria Artigianale Piazza Tuscolo, 7/8/9, 00183 Roma, Italy freddogelato.it When in Rome, do as Romans do and people watch while slurping some artisanal gelato. And just because artisanal is in the name doesn’t mean you’ll break the bank; it’s actually pretty affordable. Get the dark chocolate for me.
Coffee Stand, Villa Borghese On a random sunny day, as I walked through the lush Villa Borghese park with my Roman friend, I decided it was time to turn over to the dark side: to drink espresso with not a single drop of milk, or sugar added. It can’t get more Italian than a quick stop at a coffee stand where the whole process of ordering, paying, and drinking your coffee takes no more than 5 minutes.
Il Re Della Notte, Paninoteca Via Tiburtina, 190, 00185 Roma, Italy orfeo-ilredellanotte.it At around 6:30 AM, post drunken dance night at one of the best clubs I’ve ever entered in my entire life, Qube, I was taken to this glorious paninoteca. What is a paninoteca you ask? Think of it as a “discoteca” but for any kind of sandwich you can imagine; a panini party about to happen in your mouth. The name of this place translates to “The King of the Night,” because after a few drinks, and calories burnt on the dance floor, you’ll be dying to eat a customized burger in a place that stays open until the last customer finishes eating. All hail the panini king.
Food Porn: Rome and Sorrento· Joanne Franco | Traveling Italy
45
Sorrento La Cucina Del Gusto by Chef Carmen Corso Italia, 321, 80067 Sorrento NA, Italy amalficoastcookingvacations.com A part of my language learning courses included an after school lesson with Chef Carmen, owner of this Sorrento based cooking school. We spent the evening sipping wine while making homemade gnocchi, basil stuffed grilled chicken, and tiramisu. Chef Carmen had enough personality to fill any room, and her food had enough flavor to fulfill all of your tastebuds’ desires.
Da Emilia Via Marina Grande, 62, 80067 Sorrento NA, Italy daemilia.it Directly in front of the famous Marina Grande, you’ll stumble upon Da Emilia, a classically Italian spot to grab lunch and a 1/2 pitcher of wine to feel like you’ve arrived in one of Italy’s prettiest coastal towns. I shamelessly ordered all of this food and wine completely alone, and ended up sharing with the entire picnic table of both tourists and locals. Porta Marina Seafood
Via Marina Grande 25, 80067 Sorrento NA, Italy Lastly, you can’t come to a port city and not try their local seafood. In Sorrento, I had to learn how to de-spine a fish that I would’ve previously avoided ordering at all costs. Turns out, there’s a certain satisfaction that comes with eating a fish so fresh, their eyeballs are still attached; *so gross, but so good at the same time.*
46
10 Practical Tweaks to Make You a Happier Person
Most discussions on happiness give tips like “Surround yourself with positive people” and “Be yourself” – those are great and all, but also so-very predictable, not to mention pretty vague. Throughout my past few years of moving to multiple cities, traveling, dropping out of college, working crappy jobs, working great jobs, and all around just doin’ me, I have gathered some of, what I think, are the best tips, lifehacks, and tweaks to make you a happier person.
Change your passwords to a positive message. You type your password in ten times a day, which then becomes a subtle mantra you have to repeat to yourself every time. Instead of something meaningless like Password1 (don’t ever do that, by the way), this is your chance to make your passwords count! Use them as a reminders to reach goals, to memorize certain words in a foreign language, or simply to remind you to be happy. Wake up early, for something you actually want to do Seriously it sounds so basic and cliché to say this, but wake up earlier. Waking up early for work or school is different, but waking up early for a Zumba class will make you feel alive. Wake up early to grab coffee with a friend before work. Wake up early to go for a walk. Wake up early to write. But I’m with you on this one, that waking up early to just go to work is most likely not going to happen. Write down one thing a day that you laughed at I did this back in high school, and have slowly stopped doing it because my life got more “hectic” and I became more of an “adult.” Yeah, whatever, that’s what we all tell ourselves to act like we can’t do things that we used to. I recently picked up this habit and it’s amazing to see how much more I remember, not to mention how much better I feel that even on days when I feel like nothing happened, something actually did happen. Maybe it was a joke at the office water cooler, or a prank you played on someone, or an embarrassing double-chin selfie on Snapchat. That doesn’t matter, but what does matter is that your life will feel like less of a blur. It’s nice to have something like an agenda or journal because having physical proof is sometimes necessary to remind our amnesia-ridden selves that we are happy people who aren’t just letting life pass us by.
Say “no.” Should you go out with your friends on a Friday night because you want to have a social life? Yes. Do you really want to? No. And there’s your answer. You may deal with FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) at first, and guess what, you are missing out on socialization, but if you had gone out with
your friends, you’d be missing out on quality alone time that could be used for whatever you want (probably relaxation). You will always be missing out on something. Look at it this way: the more you say “no,” the more time you have to spend on doing things you want. If stuck in a situation where people need an immediate answer and you’re not sure, always say “no.” You will disappoint people if you say you’ll be somewhere and don’t show up, but if you say you won’t show up and then decide to go, people will be happy to see you.
Talk to strangers Going against everything your parents told you while growing up (like we tend to do a lot on our site), we think it’s great to talk to strangers. Ask them where they like to eat. Ask them what they do in life. Ask for their opinion. I was waiting for a public bus in Los Angeles, when a middle-aged woman approached me and asked how long I had been waiting. That one question turned into a 40-minute bus ride where we chatted about her sons in college and how she thinks they’re too far away (they were in Pasadena for god’s sakes). We chatted about where I should go and what I should do while exploring her neighborhood for the first time. Of course, this woman was very open and friendly and while not everyone will be such a Chatty Cathy, it doesn’t hurt to get some new energy in your life and a fresh outlook on anything you’re wondering about. Friends and family are great, but sometimes it’s nice to have a spontaneous conversation with a stranger to shine a new light onto a topic you may have thought you had all figured out.
Look up Look up. Damn! What is going on around you? Is there something you now notice that you had never noticed before? What you’re doing when looking up is forcing yourself to take a pause and reflect. Most times, when we’re not thinking of looking up, we’re stressed, worried, or anxious. Our mind is somewhere else and we’re in zombie mode. Snap out of it. Look up. The Earth is huge and your problems are only relative to how big you
10 Tweaks to be a Happier Person · Joanne Franco | Motivational
49
think your world is. If arriving at work ten minutes late is the end of the world for you, then it will be the end of the world for you, but when you put it into perspective, arriving late to work is seriously not a big deal. There are seven billion people on the planet and we all worry, cry, stress out, deal with heartbreak, etc. and you being ten minutes late for work isn’t going to change much.
The weather isn’t “bad”. Yeah it might rain. That’s what umbrellas are for. Yeah we might get a bit wet from the rain, but it’ll dry; it’s water. When we check the weather forecast before we go to bed or right when we wake up and see it’s going to storm all day, that shouldn’t automatically register as “ugh” in our minds, but it does. It should if something we were looking forward to do will now be affected, but most times, it’s just a normal day in our schedules and the simple idea of a storm already affects us. Weather, itself, isn’t something that is “bad” or “good.” It’s just weather. It all comes down to not letting things out your control affect your mood.
Pick up 10 things. Cleaning becomes ten times easier (and more fun) when you tell yourself you’ll just pick up ten things. That could mean, you move your envelopes from the counter to the cupboard, or you put your shoes by the door. Ten things. Your apartment will be cleaner, you will feel more productive, and when you feel like your life is in order, you are generally happier.
Do not plan your weekends If you are in school or at a full-time, or even part-time job, your schedule is already set for you the entire week. Why do you want to then plan your only two days off and commit yourself to something you may not want to do when the weekend is actually here? Then, you are stuck with having to cancel friends and being that flaky friend. Spontaneity is good, people. Is it because if we do not plan things, we think our weekends will go to waste? That’s probably what most people think, but I think just the opposite. I think what’s wasteful to our life is constant planning and less spur-of-the-moment fun. Leave some time to let life happen.
Invest in things that matter.
50
Say you are shopping in a store and see a nice toothbrush for $5. You are probably like, “whoa, no way, absolutely not! I can buy that for $1.” But then you keep walking and eventually purchase a tee-shirt for $20. Look at it this way: you are willing to pay $20 teeshirt that you wear once a week, but you are not willing to pay $5 for a toothbrush that you use every day. The tee-shirt will make you look good one day a week, whereas having clean, white teeth will make you look good seven days a week. And if you have never experienced the difference between a $1 toothbrush and a $5 toothbrush, today is the day you enlighten yourself! Invest in products that make sense. These can be books, luxury products, organic teas – anything that will bring you happiness every day instead of one timers here and there. Do you have any happiness life hacks you find to be pretty effective?
Hello! Do you have a bidet or bum sprayer? No problem! Wet wipes aren’t just for babies, you know!
= 0% Alcohol, Parabens · Vegan & Biodegradable · Fragrance Free · Ph Balanced
Sensitive Skin & baby approved · You’re never too Old to be a baby. 51
It’s the Beans Needs
Whether it is a flat white or a specially spiced holiday espresso, these are our caffeine recommendations for those visiting London. written by Lloyd at HandLuggageOnly
Left photographed by Nafinia Putra
One of London’s first crowd funded eateries and coffee houses. This cafe was set up to create relationships with each other regardless of race, sexuality, gender or nationality. There’s a small little room where couples can even talk in more privacy and even the opportunity to leave your thoughts posted on the wall. Definitely a one of a kind coffee experience in London where they make some delicious treats too.
Visit this underground coffee shop that sits in an old victorian public lavatory! Sounds Yucky right? Wrong! The original urinals and water tanks are still reside inside, but nowadays The Attendant is a plush little coffee house that every visitor and Londoner should try at least once. Head here around 11am on a weekday, where you can usually bag a seat. A uniquely London take on coffee culture that serves some of the best coffee from Caravan at Exmouth Market. Based in: Foley Street, W1. One of my favourite ideas I’ve seen in a long, long time time. If your looking to buy coffee, but want to make sure that your money is making a difference, grab a freshly ground coffee from one of the ‘Change Please’ Coffee carts that are stationed around our city. Each coffee cart is worked and run by homeless people who has been employed to make coffee buying a much more ethical experience – just like ‘Big Issue’ Magazine sellers, ‘Change Please’ not only invests their profits back into helping the homeless, but also allows people in need to learn a new trade as a barista. Truly a coffee with a heart! Based in: All around London.
Based on Bermondsey Street, the old watchhouse was originally used to keep an eye out for grave-robbers that would frequent the local cemetery in previous centuries. Nowadays, this cute little coffee shop is a perfect place to grab an espresso or lovingly made coffee. They also feature a range of locally produced artwork too. Based in: postcode, The Wren is perched within St Nicholas Cole Abbey, giving a spectacular setting to sit down, relax and take in the beauty of this building. All proceeds from The Wren go into helping St Nicholas Abbey and St Nick’s Talks that happen every week. Based in: Postcode, EC4V. This pop-up coffee experience happens every weekday between 10-3pm within the period building of the Elderfield Pub in East London. NANA was set up and is run by older generations within the community. Allowing some of the most isolated people in society to make friends and create a unique and special project for the whole community to enjoy, while making fabulous coffee (and tea ofcourse). A great location in the bustling centre of London, Kaffeine is an intimate coffee shop that embraces the coffee culture of cities like Melbourne in Australia. They make some epic desserts too! Based in: Thitchfield Street, W1W.
Self-proclaimed puppy defender. Foodie. Chocolate Fiend and Custard Lover.
53
Why You Should Buy a Disposable Camera Maybe you’ve heard us spiel on and on about how much we love disposable cameras. If not, here we go again. Let’s face it, if you’re around us long enough, chances are we will whip out an old-fashioned, wind-up, 27-shot disposable camera. Yes, from the 90s – except they still make them today, although a lot more expensive and a lot more inconvenient. Add in having to use a scanner or taking a photo of a photo to get those developed prints online and you’re left with an even more difficult situation. Leaving you sitting there like, “Why would I use something so outdated when you can now take 4,000 selfies with your iPhone?” Well, that’s exactly why.
54
Most disposable cameras come with 27 pictures, and only 27 pictures, which means what you capture really matters. You take time to plan each shot. You think about if this moment is something that you want to remember in a photo. You’re forced to reflect on the moment. Or maybe it’s the exact opposite. Maybe it’s a quick candid shot, that doesn’t take much thought, and that’s it. That’s the shot. What you take is what you get. That was the moment, and that’s how it should be – according to disposable cameras. Of course you’re at the mercy of the photographer, but that’s part of the fun.
What a disposable camera is not: This is not taking multiple group shots because one person “wasn’t ready.” This is not putting the picture through multiple filters so it finally looks good. This isn’t redoing the shot because it wasn’t in focus, or in frame. This isn’t clogging your iCloud with meaningless photos of things that don’t mean much to you. We use disposable cameras to capture friends and family in their most natural environment instead of staged smiling shots or re-dos. When I look through all of these pictures, I literally remember where we were, what we were doing, and why I wanted it to be a picture on my disposable. Ask me the same thing about the pictures on my iPhone, and psh, yeah right. Let me try scrolling through the thousands of random photos in my iCloud, that I still do not know how to configure. Now that it seems like Polaroids are coming back in style, it is like everyone who has a Polaroid or disposable has some sort of story about how it fell into their hands. For me, it was through my friend Mike, who lived in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, who got me hooked. I was at his apartment for the first time, walking out of his kitchen, when FLASH, he got me. “Oh my God, you still have one of those things” was my first reaction, much like everyone else that I “photograph” today. It was just before a party at his place and he took out his disposable to place around the house to capture random moments of silliness, laughter, and fun – without all the thought that goes into photography from the latest technology. The whole idea left me really intrigued. The next day I bought my first disposable camera. Because we are all perishable, and little things like a disposable memorykeeper remind us not to take advantage of life’s wild, crazy, awesome blessings.
Why You Should Buy a Disposable Camera · Damon Dominique | Motivational
55