January 2013 - Dartmouth Class of 1981
Transcription
January 2013 - Dartmouth Class of 1981
DARTMOUTH COLLEGE CLASS OF 1981 JANUARY 2013 NEWSLETTER The class of ‘81: Always ringing in the New Year! The Top 25 Restaurant Meals of 2012 by John “DocSconz” Sconzo As many of you know, John Sconzo is a “foodie” of the highest caliber--at least by Class of ‘81 terms--and he has willingly shared his Top 25 from 2012, taken from his personal website, www.docsconz. com. We encourage you to visit the site for more details of each meal, including photos. Please do not visit the site on an empty stomach! --Editors. For the past few years, at the end of each year, I have composed a list of my favorite restaurant meals of of that year. Obviously, this is a totally subjective list based upon my experience at the time and my memory. The rankings are entirely relative and based upon very difficult to define criteria, but they reflect the overall experience of the meal and not just one or two aspects of it. The food and its overall deliciousness is the single most important element, but ambiance, service, mood and circumstance all play significant roles. All of the meals listed here were outstanding as were many that didn’t make it this far up the list. I ate very, very well in 2012. Click the links to read my posts on each meal. I did not rank any meals not in restaurants or that were special onetime multi-chef extravaganzas. Pergola” may be the finest pasta dish I’ve ever had (outside of my mother’s crab sauce). The restaurant is elegant without being stuffy and the food matches that sensibility. 4 - The Catbird Seat – 5/5/12 – Nashville, TN – Bold, balanced flavors, creative cooking, a novel beverage program and a relaxed vibe make a great restaurant. I wish it were closer. 5 - Fiola – 10/13/12 – Washington, D.C. – Not for the faint of wallet, but Chef Fabio Trabocchi makes food that is just outright delicious and worth every cent. 6 - Atera – 5/8/12 – NYC – Delicious creative cookery, fine wine and a fabulous ambience made for a wonderful meal. I look forward to what the future holds for Chef Lightner and crew. 7 - Pillar & Plough 1/14/12 – Williamsburg, Brooklyn – It was wonderful to see that fine dining and creative coking remains alive and well in the USA. The mole with tripe will stir my memory for some time! 8 - Elements – 2/19/12 – Princeton, N.J. Incredible ingredients expertly and creatively prepared eaten in great company makes for a wonderful meal. It was worth making the drive from Montreal to New Jersey. 9 - Antica Corte Pallavicina – 4/12/12 – Polesine Parmense, Emiglia Romagna, Italy – The Spigarolis make what are probably the finest hams in Italy and some of the finest hams in the world. Their Culatelli di Zibello made from the black pigs and aged for 37 months are ethereally good. The restaurant served this at its best, but their pastas were heavenly as well. 10 - La Poblanita – 7/24/12 – Puebla, Mexico – A tiny stall just off the main Zocalo of Puebla, these two women make what perhaps is the most delicious sandwich that I have ever had. The pelona, a sandwich with bread deep-fried in canola oil and stuffed with a bevy of compatible delights, was as close to perfect as a sandwich could be. The molote with tinga was equally incredible. Thanks to Rebecca Smith of www.Allaboutpuebla.com for her delicious tour of Poblano street food. 11 - Amaranta – 7/27/12 – Toluca, Mexico – Chef Pablo Salas prepares exquisite Mexican food in a lovely, comfortable 1 - Osteria Francescana - 4/11/12 – Modena, Italy – Massimo Bottura is one of the most creative and generous chefs I know. He never ceases to amaze me. This dinner with my son was perfect. The food was fun, creative and delicious with stories about the dishes woven by Massimo, an incredible storyteller. Neither my son, nor I, will ever forget this wonderful dinner. 2 - Pujol – 7/21 &25/12 – Mexico City, Mexico – Enrique Olvera has simplified his cooking, in the process making it even more elegant and delicious than it already was. Two dinners within a week helped show his incredible breadth and depth. His cooking assures Mexican cuisine has its place on the world stage that it so richly deserves. 3 - La Pergola – 4/17/12 – Rome, Italy – German chef, Heinz Beck, cooks amazSconzo likes to cook almost as much as he ing, creative Italian food. His Fagotelli “La John likes to eat! www.alum.dartmouth.org/classes/81 Top 25 Meals continued on page 5 musicline10.gif 466×38 pixels ‘81s Are Listening... By Wendy Harris Greetings, classmates! There I was, sitting in our power-free house shortly after Hurricane Sandy, when I got an email from Abner asking me to put together my musical selections for the newsletter’s music column. I was so excited about this great diversion. With so much great music out there and so much access to all of it, the hardest part of this task was to decide how to limit my choices to a manageable group. I considered the list of what I’m “allowed” to listen to with my 11-year-old. Or the list of “desert island” must haves. Do I show my age and list albums, or, as a child of the iPod era, do I pick songs? In the end, I decided that my list would reflect my post-Dartmouth years on the road touring with whomever I was working for at the time. When I would pack my bags for a several month tour, I carried my CD player and had just enough room to bring about 20 CDs with me (clearly the Age Before Dawn or iPods). Each of these albums have at least four to five songs that I really like. Call it my Desert Island List. 1. The Who’s Tommy: Four sides of classic rock with a theme. The first “rock opera.” 2. Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon: Very nice for relaxing in your hammock after a hard day of breaking open coconuts with a rock 3. Elton John’s Captain Fantastic and the 8/29/11 3:38 PM Brown Dirt Cowboy: Includes the slightly overplayed “Philadelphia Freedom” and “Someone Saved My Life Tonight,” but has many great pop songs from start to finish. 4. Peter Gabriel’s So: Who can forget John Cusack holding up his boombox to his exgirlfriend’s bedroom window, playing “In Your Eyes”? 5. Matchbox Twenty’s Yourself or Someone Like You: This was their debut album in ‘96 and had all the elements of a good listen including catchy melodies, uptempo energy, and great vocals from lead singer Rob Thomas. 6. Adele’s 21: One fantastic song after another. And what a voice! 7. Roxy Music’s Avalon: This is one of those albums that needs to be listened to from start to finish. And, since you have nothing else to do on the desert island, there should be time.. 8. Paul Simon’s Concert in the Park: Recorded in Central Park in 1991 (ten years after the free concert he played there with Art Garfunkel). Much of the concert was from Graceland and The Rhythm of the Saints, and the rest was a combo of his earlier solo songs and several of the classic S & G songs done completely true to the originals. 9. Blue Man Group’s The Complex: I know: You’re thinking this is a Broadway show, not an album. This album, as well as the show that went with it, is a combination of standard issue guitar plus rhythms created with various non-musical devices like tubes and pipes. There are a couple of songs with actual lyrics (one with Dave Matthews and another a remake of Donna Summers’ disco classic “I Feel Love”). This should get your island rocking. And you can probably find some bamboo and shells to play along. 10. Chris Isaak’s Heart-Shaped World: Another good selection for your desert island quiet time, particularly if you’re not alone there! The most notable song from this Orbison/Presley disciple is “Wicked Games,” heard several times as background in some pretty moody films. This guy has an amazing voice. 11. Avril Lavigne’s Let Go: I remember seeing her on Saturday Night Live (before I could no longer stand watching SNL) and thinking she must’ve been about 12-yearsold. But, holy cow, could she belt it out! This album has great lyrics and really upbeat melodies. 12. U2’s Joshua Tree: Say no more. 13. INXS’s Kick and X: Last but definitely not least, I never left home without these two. Having been only peripherally aware of INXS, I had the good fortune to see one of their very limited engagement theater shows in Los Angeles in the early 1990s. I was so completely taken by Michael Hutchence as the band’s illustrious front man, that I had to buy these CDs immediately. I love these albums to this day. Well, my friends, while I hope you’re never irretrievably stranded on a desert island, at least I hope you have these CDs and a solar-powered CD player with you! musicline10.gif 466×38 pixels Rock on! How many ‘81s does it take... To make a “minireunion?” Certainly, if you are with 3 or 4 other ‘81s, you’re close, so send your pictures and any comments. And have fun! http://www.musicgraphicsgalore.net/graphics/musicline10.gif Tyler Zabriskie, Molly Sundberg Van Metre, Kevin Carptenter and Dennis Ryan at a Dartmouth Club of the Midwest luncheon. JANUARY 2013 NEWSLETTER Lon Povich, Rick Silverman, Will Hill, Ty Po, Page and 1 of 1 George Alexakos showing ‘81 enthusiasm at a holiday Aires event in Boston Page 2 1981 Class Officers Co-President Julie Koeninger jkoeninger@comcast.net Co-President Molly Sundberg Van Metre mvanmetre81@hotmail.com Vice President Andrew Lewin lewina@msn.com Secretary Robert Goldbloom rgoldbloom@optonline.net Secretary Brian Cusack briancusack13@gmail.com Treasurer George Alexakos gaee@comcast.net Newsletter Editor Pat Berry pberry81@aol.com Newsletter Editor Lynne Gaudet lynne.a.gaudet@dartmouth.edu Newsletter Editor Abner Oakes aoakes4@gmail.com Newsletter Editor Rick Silverman litlriki@aol.com Webmaster Will Blanchard willbbma@yahoo.com Webmaster Jim Jankowski jimj@dartex.com Tis the season to be busy, juggling shopping, holiday parties and year-end deadlines. Here’s hoping that all of you are able to relax and enjoy some time with family and friends during this busy season! Looking forward to 2013, Molly and I want to share some news about some exciting class of ’81 projects and initiatives. First of all, our class has been selected as a “beta test” class for the new imodules website platform, which will make our website easier to update and more connected to all College on-line resources. Molly and webmaster Jim Jankowski have been involved in the initial training and report that we should be able to use the new platform by spring. The move will allow us to easily leverage work the college (and other classes) are doing on their websites (such as direct Dartmouth News / The Dartmouth feeds), while at the same making it easier for us to keep our class content up to date. We are also exploring a couple of new class project initiatives, as we consider becoming involved in Dartmouth Undergraduate Veterans Association (DUVA) and/or Dartmouth Partners in Community Service (DPCS http://www.dartmouth.edu/~dpcs/). Please let us know if you’d be willing to volunteer to work on these initiatives. In this issue of the 1981 newsletter, we’d also like to highlight the unique role of one of your class officers: Andrew Lewin, our Vice President and class steward, a position you may not even be aware of. Unless you’ve received one of Andy’s personal communications, which are typically hand-written personal notes on behalf of the class, you might not be aware that Andy writes to classmates who receive job promotions and awards, or publish books, or attain other notable achievements. He acknowledges classmates whose children are accepted to Dartmouth. He also shares condolences on behalf of the class when a classmate dies or loses a close family member. Over the past year, Andy has corresponded with dozens of classmates, providing a personalized touch to class communications. Some of his conversations have provided information for newsletter articles and Alumni Magazine columns and brought classmates back in touch with each other. The hardest part is finding out about our fellow classmates’ milestones so that they can be acknowledged! We wanted to make you aware of Andy’s role and send along a request that you contact him with any discoveries about our classmates at lewina@msn.com. Finally, Molly and I hope that you will take the time to respond to a very short survey you should have recently received via email (or via this link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ YVKCTCV) asking for your thoughts on how we should begin to think about our class’s legacy to the College. We’ll share the results as well as additional information on the legacy discussion in early 2013. Once again, happy holidays! --Julie and Molly Greenways: Coming Home Alumni Council Rep David Edelson dbedelson@yahoo.com Mark your calendar now for April 5 - 7, 2013 for a celebration of coeducation. Co-Head Agent Martin Weinstein mweinstein@willkie.com The College is planning an exciting weekend filled with meaningful conversations and lively gatherings for alumnae, alumni, faculty and students to recognize the historic change that occurred in the fall of 1972. Co-Head Agent Lon Povich lpovich@bjs.com Page 3 ’Presidents’ Message: Seasoned Greetings! Registration opens in mid-January. Watch for your invitation soon and visit http://www. dartmouth.org/greenways/index.html for more details. DARTMOUTH COLLEGE CLASS OF 1981 www.alum.dartmouth.org/classes/81 Peter Sullivan: Art In The Blink Of An Eye Your trusted and hard-working newsletter editors caught up with classmate and Brooklyn-based painter Peter Sullivan and asked Peter to say a few things about his work, particularly his 2012 paintings that you see here in the newsletter. And so take it away, Peter. The 2012 paintings (both oil on canvas and gouache on paper) are based on photographs I take of my Brooklyn neighborhood. I’m after an immediacy and freshness, an accumulation of strokes of Sidewalk at Night (2012), Oil on Canvas paint applied and left alone. I like there to be an incompleteness or openness to my paintings. Chinese landscape painters, with their images of mountains dissolving in the mist, are certainly masters of this, and also Cezanne, in both his late watercolors and oils, especially of Mont SainteVictoire. I’m not a believer of neat and tidy formats in movies, books, and paintings, although maybe Vermeer was occasionally perfect. Each of my paintings is started with a variety of random brushstrokes of different colors. These strokes and colors eventually play an unpredictable and accidental part in the final composition, where they are either incorporated or buried in various degrees. JANUARY 2013 NEWSLETTER I naturally gravitate toward a certain amount of agitation in how I interpret a scene in paint. That’s a direct reflection of the speed in which I like to work, painting quickly in order to maintain a focus on my materials and composition, but it’s also the way the visual world ultimately feels to me. There’s a buzz to it (especially in Brooklyn). It’s always moving and overwhelmingly complex. Charles Burchfield painted this buzz as well. In his work, it’s like a life-force animating everything. I find paintings that retain or embody the level of their creation exciting, almost as if they are still forming right there in front you, not static but dynamic, alive and jumping, never totally settling down or letting the viewer’s eye do the same. Gerhard Richter’s abstractions are great, and no one is more exhilarating than Willem De Kooning. Standing in front of a Chaim Soutine landscape you can really feel him painting them. Hurricane Sandy gave us Soutine paintings everywhere. Painting is a wonderful means to explore the visual world on a very personal level. My pictures are of ordinary stuff that’s everywhere, and that’s what I like about it. It is what it is. It’s very familiar, I’ve been walking by it my whole life, it’s part of me, it’s part of us. It’s mundane, but it’s also mysterious and even magical. You can Peter and Elizabeth Viscott Sullivan walk to the corner to get a cup of coffee a thousand times and every single trip will be different. You step out the door, and depending how you turn your head... boom...there’s at least a zillion paintings. Recently I was talking to a friend about why I make the paintings I do. I told him that I thought I had finally gotten to a place in my life as a painter (about 30 years) that is like that feeling you used to have when you were sitting around with a bunch of friends and having a good time and listening to music and someone asked you to put on the next album and you thought...well...all right...what is it I really want to hear right now, you know, I mean, what do I...REALLY...WANT...TO...HEAR? And that’s the type of work I’m making these days, paintings that I really want to paint. It took me a while to figure that out, and I suppose I’d be a fool to actually believe that it’s a done deal. Razorwire (2011), Gouache on Paper Page 4 Top 25 Meals continued from page 1 restaurant that deserves to be much more well known than it is. 12 - Le Cirque – 10/3/12 – NYC – Delicious, classic food with top quality, luxe ingredients all while doted on in the kitchen table – what’s not to love? The sweetbreads were absolutely sensational. Cannelini and Cotiche Cannolo at La Pergolo in Rome 13 - City Zen – 10/17/12 – Washington, DC – Great food at the kitchen table with great company of college classmates made this a total winner. 14 - Semitas “Beto” – 7/24/12 – Puebla, Mexico – Another stop on Rebecca Smith’s Poblano street food tour, located in the Mercado de la Acocota, their Semita Milanesa may be the second best sandwich that I’ve ever had. Unlike some other semitas, the amount of papalo, a very strong herb, was just right. One can taste it, but it didn’t overpower the rest of the sandwich. 15 - Franceschetta 58 – 4/12/12 – Modena, Italy – Massimo Bottura’s casual, traditional Italian restaurant is set in a well designed, funky space and each wonderful dish prepared by the lovely, veteran chef, Marta Pulini is only 7 Euros. 16 - MeroToro – 7/25 &27/12 – Mexico City, Mexico – Chef Jair Tellez cooks mostly seafood in this Baja-Med gem. The seafood is pristine and delicious. Perhaps surprisingly, so are the non-seafood dishes. 17 - Acme – 5/9/12 – NYC – Mads Refslund brought his Danish sensibility to marry East Coast product and made a wonderful child. The food is creative and tasty. A brief chat with Meryl Streep didn’t hurt either. 18 - Il Chiasso – 4/13-15/12 – Capoliveri, Elba, Italy – Luciano Casini is a character of the highest (and best) order. His kitchen, run by the most capable Dido, put out wonderful dish after wonderful dish. Amongst the most memorable were Riso nero, gnocchi with pigeon sauce, stuffed anchovies and a fava stew. 19 - Ristorante Grigolo – 4/14/12 – Rio Marina, Elba, Italy – Flavio Deni takes wonderful fresh seafood and pastas and allows their magic to shine in full glory. His fresh, marinated anchovies, octopus stew and pasta with fish and tomatoes were simple perfection. 20 - Cucharamama – 7/20/12 – Hoboken, NJ – JBF Award winner Maricel Presilla gets as much flavor out of these South American inspired dishes as possible, and that is plenty. 21 - Little Serow – 10/16/12 – Washington, DC – No pics and no real post, but this was a thoroughly enjoyable meal of exquisitely balanced and delicious Kirk Eveleth Arnold pictured along with sisters of the KKG sorority after participating in an alumni panel this past October. Lynne Gaudet, who is the KKG faculty advisor, is also seen in the photo. Page 5 northern Thai flavors prepared by Chef Johnny Monis. 22 - Antica Macelleria Cecchini – 4/10/12 – Panzano in Chianti, Tuscany, Italy – This was a pure celebration of meat with particular attention paid to beef. Dario Cecchini’s lunch is a downright bargain. 23 - Blanca – 12/15/12 – Brooklyn, NY – Chef Carlo Mirarchi is the consummate culinary craftsman. He takes great raw ingredients and works to bring out the very best from them. Only some theatrics surrounding the meal kept it from a higher ranking. A plate of “fine salumi” at La Frannceschetta 58 in Modena, Italy 24 - City House – 5/6/12 – Nashville, TN – Is this Italian food with a southern flair or Southern food with an Italian personality? Does it matter? It’s just great, flavorful food. The Buffalo pig’s ear is particularly memorable. 25 - Arthur on Smith – 6/29/12 – Brooklyn, NY – Chef Joe Isidori does a masterful job walking a fine line between traditional Italian-American cooking and adding his own flair. The place is comfortable and the food is full of great flavor and texture – very, very satisfying. My family and I had another wonderful meal here to celebrate what would have been my father’s 100th birthday with a special menu. 26 - Empellón Cocina - 5/4/12 – NYC – Chef Alex Stupak is creating bold, inventive dishes with the real flavors of Mexico. He is breaking new ground. Though numbered at 26, I consider this a tie with Arthur on Smith, which is posted alphabetically. DARTMOUTH COLLEGE CLASS OF 1981 www.alum.dartmouth.org/classes/81 It’s not Boston or Hanover, but it’s home (and the wine’s pretty great) A 16-year stopover in Portland, OR, has worked out by Kevin Lynch The wood products industry has been replaced by Intel as the State’s largest private-sector employer. The Ducks and Beavers play meaningful (such as it is) football games, sometimes even in warm, dry places in January. Portland, Oregon is a long way from Hanover and from the eastern seaboard where I lived the first 36 years of my life. Except for a second cousin or two, nobody from either side of my family had every strayed far from the cities on Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor. When I first visited Oregon in February, 1985, a 10-day business trip included nine days of rain and snow. “What on earth did I get myself into?” was the dominant thought on my flight back home, since I had signed up for a job that would take me to the Beaver State on a quarterly basis. Twice a year, Olivia Lynch wears out her Dad on day hikes in the scenic Columbia River Gorge. Security at the Oregon Capitol is tight Oregon’s wine industry was in its infancy, microbrewing was limited to the garages of a few eccentrics, “indie” music would have been confused with John Mellencamp’s “Indy” music, and Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein were (respectively) in college and middle school. Fifteen months before my first visit, the Oregon Ducks and Oregon State Beavers fought to a 0-0 tie in heavy rain in a game marked by four missed field goals, five interceptions, and eleven fumbles (six for turnovers). Neither team finished the season with a winning record, transforming that horrid Saturday from the “Civil War” game to one forever after known as the “Toilet Bowl.” Times change. Today, the Portland scene is marked by world-class pinot noir from vineyards within an easy commute of downtown, brewpubs that are outnumbered only by coffee shops, the Decemberists, the Thermals, and others form the foundation of a vibrant music scene, a restaurant culture regularly lauded without exception by the foodie-types, and, of course, “Portlandia.” JANUARY 2013 NEWSLETTER Despite the food-to-football aura of hip that frequently borders on the insufferable, Portland does not lack for infamy. Seemingly named for its heritage as a maritime center, “Portland” has the ignoble distinction of being named from a coin toss – trumping “Boston” by one flip of luck. Two early significant landowners along the lower Willamette River wanted to name the new settlement after their home towns. One got his way. A walk along the streets of the City’s Alphabet District evokes a strange sense of the familiar but you can’t put your finger on it until it dawns on you that the streets are named after characters from “The Simpsons.” Actually, it’s the other way around; Matt Groening A day of golf with my brother is more difficult to schedule than it used to be but the courses out here make it worth the effort. Page 6 drew on the names of streets he knew from growing up here. The one major professional sports championship brought to the City – the 1977 NBA title – remains the subject of endless media sentimentalization and inspired the name of a bar (“Spirit of ‘77”). The Columbia River Gorge takes one’s breath away every time but faces threats from pollution and development. No lobster, but salmon – sometimes not enough of them. The ocean is 75 minutes to the west, and skiing on Mt. Hood is 75 minutes to the east. Sure, there are tradeoffs. Mud season lasts five months. The sun skips town from Thanksgiving ‘til Presidents’ Day. You lose a day flying east (and don’t really seem to gain one coming home). It is too cold to swim in the ocean. But after nearly 16 years, calling it “home” comes about more naturally than I had ever expected. Joe Lynch has made several pilgrimages from his native Oregon to the east coast. Well, then. Nearly 16 years in to living in Portland (aka, the Rose City, Stumptown, Beervana), one adjusts. It is a marvelous place to live and raise a family, and perhaps not all that different from the joys and challenges of living back east. Schools are okay, always could be better. Kids play basketball, perform on stage in Shakespeare and 20th-century musicals, sing in the choir, avoid yard work, text too much and talk too little. Summer is resplendent, the bounty from the region’s vines and trees is without peer (except maybe the blueberries from Maine). Friends from back east sometimes drop in to visit the family Page 7 The Lynch family: Kevin, Olivia (16), Joe (12) and Stephanie 81s are everywhere...send us yours From a drive through South Dakota, at the intersection just north of Freeman, SD. You see 81s everywhere! DARTMOUTH COLLEGE CLASS OF 1981 www.alum.dartmouth.org/classes/81 Mailing Panel DARTMOUTH COLLEGE CLASS OF 1981 JANUARY 2013 NEWSLETTER The class of ‘81: Always ringing in the New Year! Just Plain Wild In spite of Super-storm Sandy, 81s made a strong showing at a mini-reunion organized around Sharon Washington’s hit performance in “Wild With Happy” at The Public Theater November 8. In attendance were (L to R) Robert Goldbloom, Peter Bogin, Pat Berry, Jane Chapman, Peter Corren, Sharon Washington, Jake and Pam Donovan Gehret, Andy Lewin and Jon Lenchner. The critical 81s gave Sharon’s performance multiple thumbs-up, and there have been calls for a reprise at our 35th reunion! www.alum.dartmouth.org/classes/81
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