The summer solstice occurs exactly when the axial tilt of a planet’s semi-axis in a given hemisphere is most inclined towards the star that it orbits…and if you haven’t brushed up on your astronomy recently, it’s also means it’s time to party. Midsummer is a celebration based on the summer solstice. In Sweden specifically, Midsummer is take place on the third weekend of June with the main festivities taking place on the Friday of that weekend (this year is looking like June 21st). Read More

Harlem Shake, Lenox Avenue’s highly anticipated burger and milkshake joint opens to the public THIS Thursday, May 16th. Although partially expecting to benefit from this year’s viral sensation of the same name, Harlem Shake was planned and designed long before the dance craze mutated and surfaced.

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Photo: WikiCommons

This past week, the Abba Museum opened in Stockholm, Sweden to hundreds of fans ready to relive the unique saga of the native pop group. (Too bad Marcus, a lifelong fan, wasn’t around for the unveiling.) The museum, in collaboration with the Music Hall of Fame, boasts unparalleled memorabilia, a full-service dance floor and the actual studio console with which Abba recorded their signature sound.

The group, who formed in 1972, released 8 chart-topping albums, won the Eurovision Song Contest and extensively toured the world until their break-up in late 1982; a legacy that would spawn countless tributes to the group. Read More

This year, Mother’s Day falls on Sunday, May 12th and like many people, this writer will be, at the very least, calling his mom to wish her a good one, especially if I can’t get one of America’s 16,000 florist or 103 greeting card establishments on the phone in time. My mother, like many, definitely deserves a day set aside; a small compensation for her tireless and impassioned dedication to my survival. Read More

Le Comptoir is the well-priced, neighborhood French Bistro of your dreams.  The menu is concise and petit for a bistro, but not for lack of expertise however, because there isn’t a bad item on it. From the fluffed and decadent Gnocchi and Cheese, to the fresh mixed green and fennel salad (a major and flavorful portion for $7) to a classic beef burger and steak tartar, Le Comptoir provides traditional and affordable (I can’t stress this enough) French food with a few twists to keep you on your toes. Read More

Food enthusiasts are rarely living in the present. Whether it’s modernist cuisine or nostalgia for days gone by, we are either looking forward or longing for the past, whether we were there or not. Read More

Happy birthday to Willie Mays, baseball hall-of-famer and old school Harlem resident, who turns 82 today. Mays spent the majority of his major league career with the New York and San Francisco Giants before finishing with the New York Mets. Read More

From Left: Vanilla Gelato, Acai Sorbet, Chocolate Banana, Vegan Blackberry.

I like eating ice cream in the springtime, before the heat of summer turns my favorite dessert into a cooling means of survival. I use the term loosely when more than a number of cold, sweet and refreshing confections satisfy my craving.  Dairy-free? Bring it on. Double-churned? Even better. Read More

Livestrong, the digital intersection of food and fitness, has produced a great list of America’s most eaten foods. The survey used the website’s built-in “MyPlate” tool to gather eating data on the some 4.5 million members of the online community. This is about 1.5% of the United States’ population and while it could be argued that these specific users are slightly more food conscious and nutrition-oriented than the average American, I think it stands as an accurate representation of how many of us eat.

Here are the top 5: Read More

Evident in the earliest known cave paintings and celebrated on blogs and in restaurants, humans have had a nearly 10,000-year relationship with beef. From the highly coveted wagyu of Japan, to Halal and Kosher dishes alike (and all those grass-fed burgers in between), beef is one of the most universal proteins around. Beef has a particularly interesting history in the United States and illustrates the cultural and economic draw that meat had on our country. According to a report on npr.org, in the 1840’s, cattle grazing lands were at a significant proximity to cities, often within them. The access and affordability of meat at the time was shocking to new Americans as we see from letters written from early Irish immigrants, astonished at how much meat they were able to consume. Read More