It’s Local Restaurant Week in Western NY and based on my dozens of trips to Buffalo, it feels to me that no other city offers up more local cuisine than here. The City of Good Neighbors is indeed good for mom and pop venues like Salvatore’s on the outskirts of town on Transit road in Depew, NY. In celebration of the year 2010, select dishes are prix fixed at $20.10 until March 14.
Salvatore’s is riddled with kitchy window displays, loud carpets, twinkling crystal chandeliers and overworked holiday decorations but the food is pure joy.
After a visit through the classic car collection you’ll be escorted past a busy mahogany bar and seated in an old world dining room with crisp white linen, plush seats and a bevy of wait staff. Much too highbrow to offer ‘beef on weck’ (a standard Buffalo sandwich) I was treated to a plate of cheesy spinach ravioli and salad.
Hey, you can’t go wrong with a little cheese, not when the country’s largest cheese manufacturer – Sorrento, has been making cheese here since 1947. All was perfect.
It’s hard to believe a city exists without TGI’s, Cracker Barrel, Applebees, Outback or Olive Garden. I’m sure these chains exist somewhere on the suburban landscape but so far it’s been one homegrown experience after another and I like it.
Yesterday was International Women’s Day and as a result PilotGirl has taken a female intern under her wing for the month. Her name is Jennifer and she’s from the New School of Radio and Television on Colvin Ave in Albany. She’s a hardworking small town girl from Gloversville, NY, who wants nothing more than to be a full-time editor in a wedding post house.
Yes, weddings…. that is, until I get through with her.
Weddings are the next best thing to flipping burgers and scrubbing porcelain I told her. And, there’s absolutely no way any intern of mine should want to edit miles of mundane marriage vows after a month of traveling with PilotGirl.
And, so, while driving out to Buffalo yesterday, our first big trip, for just a couple of low key industrial shoots, Jennifer got a dose of pursuing higher endeavors. I told her about my years at CBS news, my trips around the world, the exclusives that landed on 60 minutes and in international newspapers and of course, writing with GoNomad.
Today, I introduced her to companies supplying our U.S. military with secret equipment to fight terrorism in Afghanistan and Iraq, inventors who have built parts to help fight building fires and salesfolk who speak 4 languages. And this is just the beginning. Everyday I hope to open her blinders a crack further on the bigger world that waits her outside of Gloversville. Thursday it’s back to politics in downtown Albany but maybe next week it’s onto New York for network adventures. Everyday is different.
Tonight we wrap over plates of Italian, good humor and political sarcasm from my right-leaning clients. As a die-hard liberal it’s hard to keep a straight face in the company of mockery but Jennifer understands that even at my ripe age lessons are learned – never bite the hand that feeds.
The Douz Sahara Festival attracts more than 50,000 people every year. It celebrates the culture of the Sahara Desert in the heart of a small Tunisian oasis town called Douz. Originally the festival began as a bedouin marriage celebration. It has since mushroomed into a four day affair filled with singing, dancing, feasting, dog and rabbit chasing, parades and camel fighting. People from all over North African converge on the dusty town to cheer on their favorite sports.
This is a short montage I shot while on location this past December. An article is soon to follow.
My buddy Paul likes to instigate. He’s a still photographer and a damn good one but the other day he boasted that his small Canon shot all of Slumdog Millionaire. “I don’t believe it,” I argued. Nothing against Canon but there is no way that a still camera can shoot a 2008 blockbuster directed by Danny Boyle, especially with veteran cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle choreographing it.
Sure enough, it was the crowd scenes, like the chase through the Juhu slum at the beginning of the film, where the Canon was needed. But the technique was only used to sustain reality in an area that would otherwise stop dead in its tracks if big rigs were used. After that it was the moderately priced SI-2K MINI that took over.
SI stands for Silicon Imaging and the company is known for creating the world’s first 30 frames per second digital camera to fit in the palm of your hand. The rig was outfitted with a number of very expensive prime lenses and made use of old 16mm lenses for Slumdog. Remarkably it shoots at 2048×1152 resolution which is why the film looks so fantastic.
I use the Panasonic HDX900 and it too has shot several films. Filmmaker Robert Kenner used it to build 2009’s Food Inc. -an unsparing look in the nation’s food industry as told through investigative authors Eric Schlosser and Michael Pollan. And before that, R.J Cutler used the 900 to shoot a documentary called The September Issue about Vogue magazine. The latter won an Excellence in Cinematography award at Sundance last year.
You don’t need to be Catholic to enjoy the new EWTN show that my friend Diana von Glahn produces, edits and appears in. It’s called ‘The Faithful Traveler’and it debuted on Channel 61 tonight with some short behind-the-scenes video with PilotGirl Productions. The show is a beginner effort by a woman who has expunged her life’s savings, weekends and vacation time to develop 24 episodes that air every Tuesday at 4:40pm.
Diana appeared live tonight on a hokey little interview show for youths called “Life on the Rock.” The show tries to emulate reality television by using devices like ‘The Friar Cam’ and OTS (over the shoulder) vantage points. A small studio audience claps anxiously before commercial breaks and when returning from b-roll. Calls are also fielded from a national viewing audience asking, in this case, to Diana, about pilgrimages and tourism. Diana did wonderfully answering with honesty and clarity.
She also reminded everyone that ‘The Faithful Traveler’ isn’t just about architectural design and pretty buildings but an effort to rewrite and even correct history. Saint Rosalia, also called La Santuzza or “The Little Saint” is a patron saint with a dubious past but Diana helps solve the controversy by delving into research and expert interviews. She does the same with several saints – uncovering truths that even published works might have gotten wrong.
Video by PilotGirl appears on episodes of the old and new Saint Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City, the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in Baltimore and the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark. It didn’t take long to befriend Diana and her hubby and realize that even if work wasn’t needed I would love to hang out with them while in Philadelphia. And I do.
Spring skiing in France is unlike anything you’ve ever experienced! Here is some video I shot while skiing Chamonix and Val d’Isere two years ago. Ahhh, the memories!
Be it rain, snow, sleet or ice the New York Times Travel Show was still a hit with thousands of brave and bold adventures. At the back of the exhibit floor was a Busch Gardens booth showing off dozens of endangered animals.
This black and white ruffed lemur is from the eastern rain forests of Madagascar. It eats fruit and fauna but no meat. Unfortunately the lemur is having a difficult time surviving because people keep cutting down the trees that they live in. This lemur is arboreal, which means it lives in trees and bushes and not on the ground. Their long tails make it easy to swing from branch to branch, communicate and make noise.
The Bearded Dragon and the blue-tongued Skink were two reptiles from Australia. They both flew first class and were handled with the utmost care. Other primates and interesting birds included the spider monkey, a Burmese python, a Magellanic Penguin, a baby kangaroo, a Harris hawk and Roseate Spoonbill.
Yes, this is THE Arthur Frommer in the flesh at the New York Times Travel Show today. He and his daughter Pauline happily signed books and photos for their endless legion of fans following a discussion on the trends and conditions of the travel industry. If you’ve never heard of Arthur Frommer…hello, stop reading this blog and Wikipedia his name now!
This former Yale Graduate and Army Corporal is the world’s first author of budget-conscious guidebooks. He began self-publishing his work in 1957 and his empire quickly grew into a household name. Today, there are more than 340 travel guides including a magazine, newspaper columns, a radio show and a blog.
On Sundays from noon to 2pm, Frommer hosts a travel show on WOR-AM, 710 in NYC. If you can’t get the signal there are podcasts you can download from the WOR website.
At 81 years old America’s travel guru still loves to vacation on a dime. He’d rather surround himself with creature comforts than fancy high-end luxuries at inflated prices. Check out his blog to keep track of discounts, travel advice and a special GoNomad.com mention this week with a certain Pilotgirl…
It took, what felt like hours, to decide if I should drive or take the train to NYC today for the NY Times Travel Show this weekend. The big winter storm discouraged my buddy Chick from driving south but not me. Regardless of the warnings and accidents, I was on my way by 2pm and made Beacon for a connecting Metro-North train ride by 4 pm.
Beacon got pummeled in several feet of snow with cop cars and emergency crews doing their best to help dig out the city. Tree limbs hanged dead down on live electric wires and cars were buried so deep it was hard to tell if they were vehicles or snowdrifts.
The train proved the wisest form of transportation. It wasn’t a second late and I sat next to a friendly woman from Manila who told me her life’s story. She also gave me a fabulous description of her favorite Filipino restaurant in Queens and what I should order if I go.
Once at Grand Central Terminal I was told that the monthly record for snowfall that had stood for 114 years had been broken in the last 2 days. Manhattan had received 36.9 inches, the most ever for a single month.
I hurled my 20 pound backpack over my shoulder and trekked northward. I was determined to walk 40 blocks to get my exercise in in lieu of my nightly run.
I almost always stay with the same friends while in the city, my favorites being a Doctor/Anesthesiologist couple on the Upper East Side with two young kids that love card tricks and Italian food.
Walking from Grand Central 40 blocks proved treacherous. Stupidly, I wore thin canvas sneakers but dodged deep puddles and jumped snowbanks until the last five blocks when I slipped and got soaked. I felt so smug avoiding the worst of it until that happened. Nobody should venture to NYC in February without Mukluks.
During my trek, I remembered why this city survives as well as it does. It has a wonderful sense of humor. Even in the worst of snow storms someone found the energy and good nature to build a little snowman and seat him at a bus stop. Restaurant owners did the same by turning Frosty into an advertisement for a fine dining establishment.
Finally, after a 4 hour journey and several layers of wet clothes, I met up with my friends at my scheduled arrival. Not a minute shy but a few seconds early. The small dryer in their beautiful apartment was a blessing in disguise.
Now, onto the New York Times Travel Show in the morning. Check back soon.
Anytime I’ve videotaped a wedding I’ve begged for this to happen – the cake to be smooshed between the faces of both parties. Sometimes newlyweds need to break the formality of the moment and just have fun. Of course, none of the couples I worked with ever did.
Nor I have been to a wedding where the maid of honor is 8 months pregnant, the parish priest gets drunk, a strip girl is invited as a guest to the father of the groom or lines of cocaine are sucked up by the cousins.
Since opening on February 14th, 1988 in New York City, Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding has performed in over 100 cities worldwide including Japan, Australia and many European cities. With the help of local actors the off-Broadway show is now playing in Schenectady at the Proctors Theater.
This performance is the ultimate experience in audience role-playing. Not knowing this in advance was detrimental. I mistakenly wore jeans and sneakers, went alone and ate a full meal before I left home. But Mrs. Vitale, Tina’s mom did not reprimand me for my dress and I made friends by sneaking a smoke out back with the groom’s best man. The flaming videographer loved my hair and necklace and Sister Albert Maria made us chime in with “Jesus is Just Alright With Me.”
This show is definitely over-the-top, middle fingers are flying, the MC tells dirty jokes, the best man drops his drawers while his date ducks under the table, the groomsmen peel off their shirts to dance the YMCA and Tina’s ex-boyfriend crashes the party. This is an absolutely crazy, out-of-control, hilarious good time for mature audiences only.
Name: Sonja Stark Bio: "The only thing domestic about me is that I was born in this country." Now, lets TRAVEL! Location: New York City and Albany, New York
