MY FAVES - MURRAY'S BAGELS - BAKED SALMON SALAD ON A BAGEL

I love baked salmon salad! But not every place can get it right. One place that always makes it great is Murray's Bagels in New York, on 8th Avenue between 22nd and 23rd Street. The salmon is delicious, chunky, and flaky with the right amount of seasonings. I put it on an onion bagel or everything bagel. They fill it to the brim with all that scrumptious salmon goodness.

 I also have them give me a schmeer of olive cream cheese on the top part of the bagel. The olive flavor co-mingles nicely with the salmon salad. It's hard to resist not getting a second one when I am done. It's worth the wait in line on the weekend. The best time to go is in the early evening when there is less people traffic. There are also specials in the evening on different bagel sandwiches. TRY IT!!!

HENRI VIBSKOV ON THE STREET

I met a cool graphic designer, Oatakatao, who was wearing a supercool coat from designer HENRI VIBSKOV. She said she got it from his SOHO store on Broome Street.

I know what I am going to do!  Try it!

MY FAVES - MAGNOLIA ' S TRUFFLE CUPCAKES

FOR THE MONTH OF FEBRUARY (ENDS ON FRIDAY) THE TRUFFLE CUPCAKE IS THE CUPCAKE OF THE MONTH.  IT IS A CHOCOLATE CUPCAKE WITH CHOCOLATE FROSTING AND A VANILLA OR CHOCOLATE FILLING.  SO FANTASTIC!  TRY IT!

TIME SENSITIVE INFORMATION - WANGECHI MUTU!!!

ARTIST AND WORK



STOP THE PRESSES!  ONLY 2 MORE WEEKS FOR YOU TO CATCH THE ART WORK OF

WANGECHI MUTU AT THE BROOKLYN MUSEUM.

SHE WAS BORN IN NAIROBI, KENYA AND HAS AN MFA FROM YALE UNIVERSITY.

WANGECHI IS AN ARTIST WITH A DEFINITIVE POINT OF VIEW!  AS I DESCRIBE IT: 

 HER VIBE IS OF STRONG, FUTURISTIC, GALACTIC WOMEN WHO DRESS LIKE THEY ARE A PART OF THE MUSIC GROUP PARLIAMENT FUNKADELIC.  HER SHOW WAS FRESH AND VIBRANT!   I FOUND MYSELF SEARCHING ALL PARTS OF THE CANVAS.  IT WILL MESMERIZE YOU!

TAKE A LOOK HERE:

GO CHECK IT OUT!  TRY IT!!!

How do you feel about Wangechi's work?  Write a comment!

Brooklyn Museum address

200 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn, New York 11238

 (TAKE THE 2 OR 3 TRAIN TO EASTERN PARKWAY)

FEELING VINTAGE - PALOMA PICASSO

I am feeling so vintage lately in terms of scents and accessories.  This week I was focused on designer Paloma Picasso.  I used to wear her scent when I was very young.  I think back and think that my tastes were very sophisticated as a young girl.  I also went to a vintage site and purchased a Paloma Picasso bag.  It really called to me.  I am very happy with my purchase and I have received so many compliments already! I think I am going to buy her scent and see if it fits me in this decade.    What vintage designer or product have you been thinking about?  Maybe your mind is trying to tell you to .....Try it!

OUR FIRST "AT THE TOP" INTERVIEW - DR. JACQUELYN CALBERT - AT THE TOP - MEDICINE

AT THE TOP

MEDICINE

Dr. Jacquelyn Calbert

Neuro-Developmental Pediatrician

By

Lori A. Calbert,  M.S.Ed 

Dr. Jacquelyn Calbert is a Neurodevelopmental Pediatrician who works for Children's National Medical Center in Washington, D.C. She has traveled around the world lending her expertise in this very specific subspecialty. As per the American Board of Pediatrics, only 255 certificates have been granted in this field (as per statistics through December 2012).

She attended the University of Virginia and received High Honors for her pre-med studies and then graduated from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine with her medical degree. She also did a fellowship at Hopkins in which she was able to work under the guidance of medical greats such as Dr. Ben Carson.

Dr. Calbert worked in a variety of roles, which included head of the Neurodevelopmental Department during her 20 year stint in the Navy from which she retired as Commander Calbert.

I was so happy that she took some time out of her busy schedule to talk with me.

Lori (Me - LC): Thank you, Dr. Calbert for interviewing with me today. I am going to get straight to the point - Was it difficult being a female physician in the military?

Dr. Calbert (DC): Well, in the military, there are demands that are difficult for anyone, especially for a woman with a family. I was lucky to have a family that supported me. You have to take assignments that mean that you are away from home, especially when you have to go to a foreign country. I was fortunate to have a spouse that was willing to come with me. I had additional family that would also help with the children. Thankfully, overseas, the military had a childcare center with extended hours.

My spouse left his job multiple times for us to move, including outside of the United States. He had to make these decisions at a critical time in his career.

LC: Describe your specialty.

DC: Neurodevelopmental Pediatrics is a relatively new subspecialty that involves assessment of individuals between 0-21 years of age with neurodevelopmental difficulties, such as attention problems, cerebral palsy, and autism.

LC: What is the biggest challenge you have faced in your field?

DC: My profession often requires an interdisciplinary team and difficulties with medical payment systems makes it hard to work in this way, because it is hard to get compensated adequately. I would love to do multi-specialty evaluations more frequently and be able to create custom treatments. Another challenge I face is that I deal with chronic problems that do not have quick fixes. Some issues such as ADHD, can be helped with medicine, but cerebral palsy and autism obviously are not so easily treated. The biggest breakthrough has been treating ADHD and the increasing variety of medications to treat it.

LC: Why did you leave the military?

DC: I retired after 20 years because it was becoming increasingly difficult to move my family. We had done multiple moves, but the children were approaching high school and college age, so we needed to settle down.

LC: Have any of your children decided to follow in your footsteps?

DC: Well, my daughter is a doctor. She has just started her residency. And my son is enrolled in pre-med classes (biology/biochemistry major). My daughter attended the University of Virginia, my alma mater.

LC: Which occupational achievements are you most proud of?

DC: I am proud of the fact that I was able to establish developmental programs around and outside of the United States. I provided services to many places, such as Iceland, Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Okinawa.

I am also proud of forming teams and interdisciplinary service teams, which help to provide the best possible care to children and their families. There tends to be a high divorce rate in the types of scenarios I deal with, but the rates with families cared for by our teams, are quite low.

LC: Which medical achievement would you like to see come true in the next 10 years? Why?

DC: It would be truly amazing to see medicine fully interpret the genetic code in order to know which genes and variants are beneficial, harmful, or are inconsequential. We could customize treatment and become more proactive about the health of our patients. I also believe that there needs to be more studies of post-menopausal women and heart disease. From reading medical journals and talking to colleagues, I see there is very little information about a woman at this stage, when she is the least protected. They don't have the same hormonal support to battle heart disease or myocardial infarctions.

LC: Thank you, Dr. Calbert, for your insight into this new field and your exciting world.

GRATUITOUS BLURB - VU BAR

A PLACE TO CHILL!

I was feeling adventurous and had heard about this bar for a year and a half.  I was in Korea Town where this bar is located, but I really wanted a soju cocktail bar, but they were all super crowded.  So, I went to VU Bar which is not as upscale as I thought it would be.  But that's not a bad thing.  IT'S LOCATED AT 17 W. 32ND STREET.  It's at the top of this hotel, which again, I thought might be upscale, but it's a normal, moderate place as per the customers I spoke to.  They said the rooms run like $130 a night and are neatly arranged.

Anyway, back to the bar.  It has a daily special from 5-7 at the bar.  I went after these hours.  I had a Jim Beam Maple hot cider.  It was good and hit the spot for dessert.  The maple taste was quite intriguing to my palate.

There are nightly specials, most are about $10. They consist of a Manhattan, Cosmopolitan, and a Pickleback.  They have a stocked bar and a nice assortment of beer.  It's sort of a dive bar in a more elegant setting because it's on the 14th floor.  It had an interesting assortment of people from all ages to all walks of life.  Everyone seemed like a regular.  It was comfortable, but there was a little bit of pretension in the air because the drinks were not dive bar prices.  I guess the location made me expect a middle aged, affluent clientele, which was present, but it was not the whole story.

 It had a nice outside rooftop sitting area, which I am sure will be great in the spring through fall, although people were outside now with the snow!

Well, if your curiosity is peaked, try it!