So today was a fun day. I spent the morning and part of the afternoon working on my research project. Sounds boring but now that I'm really getting into it, I'm actually really interested in what I'm writing about. I feel as though I also have a vested interest and that it is in part my responsibility to share history and information that people may not know about. I'm writing about South Africa and their economic history. However, there is also much history in the country itself and it is actually a "baby." The Republic of South Africa was actually only formed in 1961, so really it is only 50 years old and it is even younger if you are dating from the first democratic election in 1994 when Mandela became president. Crazy isn't it? We always think of history as dated and taking place a while ago and yet South Africa is literally growing up right now. People always say that the United States is a young nation and it is when compared with many European countries. But, if you put it next to South Africa and other African Nations, the U.S. is more like a teenager in comparison. It's a bit unreal to think of how much it has changed in such a short period of time and I love learning about it. Yes, I totally just nerded out there...but isn't that kind of cool to think about?
On a different note, my mom and I went to dinner tonight at this dinner called Vermillion NYC. It was so good. It's a really cool fusion of Latin American and Indian foods. The executive chef Maneet Chauhan has been on "Iron Chef" and "Chopped" and a 5-course tasting menu that featured 10 different dishes was what we ate. It was awesome! I found it through groupon as a way to try something new. It was a place I would probably never have tried after looking at the menu prices, however, the groupon made me decide to give it ago. It was amazing! I can't wait to go back. Everything was sooooo good and the staff was awesome! Our waiters name was Nathan, and he was so chill and did an awesome job. It was awesome because I'm pretty sure it would have been easy to dismiss us given that we were using the groupon so technically we were eating at a discount, but it was not like that at all! My mom and I were treated amazing and they really take care of you there. Nathan told us about everything we would be eating and then literally walked us through each course once we received it. He also helped us make choices when it came to choosing out options for the "chopped" portion of the meal. It was definitely some of the best treatment I've ever gotten at a restaurant and even if the food was just good and not awesome, I would probably still want to go back because of the way we were treated. If you want to splurge on a really great night out, I would totally suggest going to Vermillion.
Now that I turned my blog into a food review...it was a good day. I enjoyed myself and learned a lot, such as that people in some midwest cities expect you to stop and talk with them a lot when it comes to the relationship between a diner and their server. I found it interesting and would have expected that more so in New York. But in retrospect it does make sense for NY. Here, people want you to watch them and be aware of their presence and be ready when they need something and leave them alone otherwise. Although, I think I'm learning that I like it when people are willing to have a conversation with you and be willing to hang out and answer questions or just even bullshit with you for a bit. You never know, you might learn something interesting.....
Nothing would be more tiresome than eating and drinking if God had not made them a pleasure as well as a necessity. ~Voltaire
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