two bites from my weekend that altered my brain chemistry
back in april at coachella I did something I’d never done before: in the middle of watching a set I went on my phone and purchased tickets to the same artist’s new york concert, which in april was six months away. I was enchanted by parcels’ performance and needed to see more. I crossed paths again with them a few months later at primavera sound in barcelona, but I had to leave that set early to see someone else play…
reconnecting with singing, adult hobbying, and always saying yes
I’ve found that one of the most difficult transitions out of college into adulthood is the loss of inordinate amounts of time I used to pour into hobbies. I know I’m not the first person to say this. I still read a ton; I joined a book club last year to recreate some semblance of an academic environment in which to discuss books and build community through a shared hobby. hobbies like writing and filmmaking naturally transitioned into my post-grad professional life, but others, namely singing, have been left behind…
feasting around the world at the queens night market
since moving to new york, journeying to the queens night market has been at the top of my bucket list. it took me far longer than I anticipated to actually get it on the calendar with two foodie friends I knew would love exploring this mecca of local food vendors. in anticipation of our visit, I tried to research our best plan of attack, but I was shocked to find very few articles, reviews, and even social media posts covering the market. hopefully this week’s zest can be that resource for others who visit the market in the future!…
a dining pop-up passion project that grows with its founders
in 2022, three members of the varsity men’s crew team at uchicago took their love for cooking each other elaborate after-school meals to the next level. they founded the crescent, a weekly pop-up restaurant. every wednesday night they offered a five-course dinner to three lucky tables of two. word spread quickly around campus, and soon their waitlist grew to 200+ students who were eager to snag a seat at the chef’s table.
the founders were inspired by the opportunity to explore new recipes and expose fellow college students to unfamiliar dining experiences and flavors—all at an accessible price point of $45 per person. they never intended to make a profit. at times they lost money, when they refused to compromise the quality of their ingredients or charge their friends more for the experience…
a belated introduction and pause for reflection
a few months and 100 subscribers later, now feels like the right moment to make a proper introduction to you all. thank you for reading and sharing the zest with others! I hope you continue to do so. It’s not a competition, but if it was… my grandmother would win first prize for number of subscribers recruited.
noni may not know this, but she is also the inspiration behind the name “the zest.” a couple of years ago she told me that she always describes me to her friends as having a zest for life that she admires. life is much more fun when I’m experiencing new art, new cultures, new restaurants, and new perspectives…
why is NYC a warm weather dessert desert?
as summer breezes turn crisper and temperatures begin to drop, it feels appropriate to lodge a complaint about summer sweets in the city. one qualm I’ve had with new york during warmer months is how lackluster the ice cream scene is, specifically with regard to accessibility. in new york you’re supposed to have everything at your fingertips at any time of day, but if you’re craving decent froyo or gelato on a weeknight past 10 pm, you’re kind of shit out of luck…
my top 100 restaurants since moving here
I’ve officially lived in new york for one year! more importantly, I’ve eaten here for one year. I’ve gotten to know the landscape of the city from the geography of its restaurants. I know which express train gets me to my favorite meals in fort greene and which restaurant owners are taking over the vacant storefront on my block. when I find myself in astoria or harlem, I pull up my beli bookmarks on a map to orient myself and select a place I’ve already shown interest in trying. restaurants are how I acquaint myself not just with the city as a whole, but also with the culture and flavor of each individual neighborhood…
shows I’m watching, giving up on, and hoping to start
the emmys are coming! technically, they are already underway… daytime emmys have already been awarded. the creative arts emmys took place in LA yesterday and the day before. but the primetime emmy awards, the big one, will take place on september 14, and I probably won’t even watch. it’s the lamest awards show of them all, but it provides a good excuse to check in about the highs and lows of 2024/25 television…
what going back to camp for a weekend taught me about being an adult
on the second to last weekend of summer I commuted eight hours each way to central new hampshire for my all-girls sleepaway camp’s 105th reunion. I’ve never been a “camp girl” in the traditional sense of living and breathing it; it’s not my entire personality, it didn’t make me want to join a sorority in college, and I keep in touch with fewer than five friends I met there. the five summers I spent in new hampshire were special and formative, though not in the way most people’s camp experiences tend to be…
a guide to my hometown for daisy <3
my friend daisy is leaving brooklyn for LA—absolutely devastating—and asked me for recommendations, which of course spiraled into this project. I hope she loves LA but not enough to stay!
I don’t like comparing LA and new york. they’re great for different things. people constantly ask me when (not if) I’m moving back… and while I firmly believe that new york is for now—my early 20s—it may not be for forever (but it might!). LA, on the other hand, is firmly for settling down and taking things slow. LA vs. new york is a false choice comparison. they are so completely different from each other on pretty much every level…
the perfect escape from the city without actually leaving
if your instagram/tik tok algorithm feeds you nyc recommendations at the frequency mine does, you’re bound to come across a mini-itinerary for how to spend a day in red hook, a neighborhood on a peninsula in western brooklyn just southwest of carroll gardens. the area was originally a waterfront shipping yard and a thriving port through the 1920s. it was later ridden with crime and violence, as warring italian and irish mobs competed and the neighborhood helped fuel the rise of the mafia in new york. today, its quaint cobblestone streets connect piers that have transformed into outdoor breweries to a stretch of vintage and home goods stores. red hook is also famously home to the only ikea store in all of the five boroughs…
an homage to my mom’s weekly book column
most people don’t know that on top of working full time, parenting full time (more than full time these days), serving as co-president of our temple, and doing a host of other things I don’t understand how she finds time in the day for, my mom writes a weekly column for the groton long point news during the summer. it’s a print-only paper in the summer town of around 6,000 people where my mom grew up spending summers with her family. she now gets a week or two there each summer if she’s lucky, but she’s pen pals with the community from the west coast via her “beach reads” column, where she recommends a list of new books each week…
lydia riess’s “rocks and geodes”
I was incredibly honored when my friend lydia riess offered to comp a ticket to her new play in exchange for me writing about it on my substack. writers supporting writers—a dream!
I’ve known lydia since early on in college, when we co-led a team of passionate yet often recalcitrant fellow students in a chaotic exercise that entailed sifting through 50+ screenplays in one weekend and selecting ten to pitch to the brown motion pictures executive board. I can’t say I miss those days, but I’ve loved watching lydia’s creative pursuits blossom since then…
the ultimate guide to my favorite city
the four months I lived in barcelona were constant chaos: weekend trips to elsewhere in europe and weekday adventures around the city to check every tapas bar, museum, and gaudí house off my to-do list, all while figuring out how to pass the classes I was taking in spanish.
I was ecstatic to return to barcelona for a week in june with my friend taylor, who also studied abroad there, but a year and a half before I did. we took a more relaxed approach this time around…
happy tony day to all who celebrate!
I’ve gotten some wild ooo email responses from frantic assistants across manhattan as they prep for the 78th annual awards show.
people are always shocked when I tell them I wasn’t a theatre kid in high school. the closest I got was playing gabriella in a bare bones production of high school musical at my all-girls summer camp in new hampshire…
lady gaga’s recession pop reprise at coachella 2025
one of the first concerts I ever attended was lady gaga’s born this way ball in 2012. I was eleven years old, and my friend’s dad brought the two of us to staples center for her birthday. he imminently regretted this decision, when towards the end of her show, gaga lifted a fully nude fan out of the general admission floor area and onto the stage. “you’re over 18, right?” she asked the woman, before parading her naked body under bright lights in front of thousands of people…
