Uptown Showdown and Homemade Pancakes

Symphony Space on the Upper West Side is a fantastic performing arts centers and, in my opinion, a very special place.  It's home to many unique cultural events including musical and dance performances, independent films, broadcasts of international theater productions, the popular short story performances Selected Shorts, and the fantastic debate-style comedy series Uptown Showdown. 

Uptown Showdown describes itself with the following: "Two teams of comedians, writers and performers square off in head-to-head debates that tackle some of the most important issues of our time, such as which decade was the coolest—the eighties or the nineties, is cake really better than pie and who would win in a showdown pirates or ninjas? Forget about school reform and health care, these issues, heatedly argued by some of the funniest, smartest, intensely wacky creative thinkers around, are the topics that keep us awake at night."

The topic for the showdown I attended was breakfast vs. dinner, and was it funny!  The show adheres to a familiar debate format: the audience hears arguments from 2 teams, with 3 members each, and then votes (by cheering) for the best team, and a winner is declared.  Debating for breakfast were writer/comedians Sheng Wang, Michelle Buteau, and Brooks Wheelan (recently of SNL); and for dinner Dave Hill, Jen Kirkman (author and comedian), and Joe DeRosa; the show was hosted by Kevin Townley.  Although the dinner team was a bit funnier, it seems breakfast may have won based on style and overall pizazz.  You can see videos from four of the best debaters below, or click on the links to see Sheng Wang's performance, Jen Kirkman's performance, Michelle Buteau's performance, and Joe DeRosa's performance.  

So, what does one do after such an entertaining evening out?  One discusses the highs and lows of the show and the merits of breakfast and dinner, while taking in the warm night air and enjoying a long walk home... where one promptly proceeds to make pancakes and bacon in honor of the winning team's victory -- of course!  I don't have the exact recipe we used for the pancakes that night, but leave it to Martha Stewart to offer one that is reasonably close and quite good, as adapted below.

Uptown Pancakes

Ingredients:

• 1 cup + 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt (optional)
• 1 cup milk (1% milk fat)
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted (or vegetable oil)
• 1 large egg
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• maple syrup

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees; have a baking sheet or heatproof platter ready to keep cooked pancakes warm in the oven.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together milk, butter (or oil), and egg. 
4. Add dry ingredients to milk mixture; whisk until just moistened (do not over-mix; a few small lumps are fine).
5. Heat a large skillet (nonstick or cast-iron) or griddle over medium.  Add butter or oil to the pan.  (I prefer butter.)  If using oil, fold a sheet of paper towel in half, and moisten with oil; carefully rub skillet with oiled paper towel.
6. For each pancake, spoon 2 to 3 tablespoons of batter onto skillet, using the back of the spoon to spread batter into a round (you should be able to fit 2 to 3 in a large skillet).
7. Cook until surface of pancakes have some bubbles and a few have burst. Flip carefully with a thin spatula, and cook until browned on the underside, a few minutes more. 
8. Transfer to a baking sheet or platter; cover loosely with aluminum foil, and keep warm in oven. 
9. Continue with more oil and remaining batter. (Martha's original recipe indicates that you'll have 12 to 15 pancakes, but I usually have about 7 or so.) Serve warm, with maple syrup, or (blueberry) jam, or both. 

the batter

in the skillet

in the plate

Happy 4th!

NYC puts on a number of fireworks displays, throughout the city every year, leading up to the big display on the 4th.  The shows start in late June and actually run through August.  Catching them is a spectacular event every year.

Happy 4th!

2013's display over the East River

Kara Walker's "A Subtlety"

There has been a lot of talk recently about Kara Walker's new exhibit in Brooklyn, called "A Subtlety."  Actually, the official title of the piece is, "A Subtlety, or the Marvelous Sugar Baby an Homage to the unpaid and overworked Artisans who have refined our Sweet tastes from the cane fields to the Kitchens of the New World on the Occasion of the demolition of the Domino Sugar Refining Plant." But in a word (or two), I'd call it simply astounding.  The work comments broadly on race (and specifically on African Americans' experiences in America/the Caribbean).  It speaks to history near and far, and plays with contrasts of color, scale, and thought.  It also intertwines olfactory experience with artistic concept in a way that I haven't seen before: the mesmerizingly sweet smell of molasses in the air somehow envelops, but also clashes against, the harsh acidity of the work's content matter.

As with all works of art, the viewer has the choice of interacting with its subject on a very superficial or meaningful level.  This is a very rich, multilayered piece of work that contains a great deal of symbolism, some of it subtle, some of it overt.  Not surprising, given the weight (and presentation) of the subject matter considered here, there has been some controversy surrounding people's responses to the exhibit (some Instagram photos, for example).  In a pointed critique, Dr. Nicholas Powers, Associate Professor of English at SUNY Westbury, suggested that, in their interactions with the piece, many visitors were (consciously or unconsciously), "...recreating the very racism this art is supposed to critique."

"questionable acts" were demonstrated by staff members as well.

It's really amazing living in a city in which we are all constantly coming together (on the subway, in the market, at the park, at art exhibits, etc.).  At the same time, it's disappointing to be reminded that we remain a divided community in many ways, and that these divisions are based in part on race, which often leads to very different experiences as we move throughout the city and life.  But this is not, nor should it be, the sole focus of this installation, which is truly monumental in scale and concept.  "A Subtlety" is a very complex piece of art that requires much thought and introspection.  With this work, Kara Walker has offered the viewer an opportunity to learn more about themselves, history, and society.  I've visited the installation twice; I was and continue to be very moved.

For more information about this piece, I recommend:

NPR interview
NY Times article
New Yorker article
a piece about the experience of African Americans who have visited the work
an interview with Kara Walker by ArtNet

... and a truly wonderful (and informative) video from a live broadcast interview with Kara Walker that is available from the NY Public Library.