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A to Zagat: A is for Aldo Sohm Wine Bar by Zack Smith

“Aldo Sohm, brings ‘vaunted wine expertise’ to his nearby Midtown namesake, where ‘wonderful’ vintages complement light lunches and ‘original’, French-informed small plates at dinner.” -Zagat

When considering a French restaurant, we decided good wine was of the utmost importance. This lead us to Aldo Sohm Wine Bar [nice marker for the location], a wine bar from master sommelier Aldo Sohm.

The decor is perfect for an after work meetup, sophisticated but still approachable.

Wine calls for some charcuterie, perfect for sharing. Pictured is Porchetta, Wild Boar Sausage, and Duck Rillettes

Also good for sharing? Some dip. And baked camembert is the best kind of dip.

If you ever have the chance to order something with truffle, do so. Like this truffle pasta, it was the spotlight dish of the night.

[Editor’s note: Would eat that pasta again. Also not pictured was the ample wine selection and imported bottle of water we enjoyed that night.]

This was the maiden of voyage of A to Zagat, and it made something evident very quickly. Food is better when you share it with others. It certainly set the tone for the project to have as many family style meals as possible, because as with most things in life, it’s better if you’re all in it together.

About Zack Smith

Zack Smith conceived @AtoZagat out of a sense of curiosity and adventure. Residing in NYC, the A to Zagat group dine at a different Zagat rated restaurant every two weeks, trying different cuisines and experiencing different cultures all within one of the most diverse cities in the world. To check out more of his personal food adventures, follow him on Twitter or Instagram at @ZackMS

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What's black and white and red all over? ...salt and pepper on a bed of tomatoes and spinach.

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Art of Attraction by Carissa Wright

You like art you say Swishing your hair against my face Painting my cheeks red when your fingers trace my thigh

You are like art you say Splashing your colours into my grey mind Making everything seem more blended in when you embrace me with your inviting affection

Ill paint you Starting from your head Twirling the brush of my tongue Down your stomach

Ill paint you brighter Than you have ever felt before You quickly tried to erase the water colours out But you didn't know they were already soaking my skin

You say you are an artist Drawing a line When you felt the pen go over the edge of the page

You say you are an artist Colouring peoples black and white worlds I didn't know your ink was poisonous

I say you are an artist But I dont like the way you paint yourself over people Trying to recreate the messiness of them With your perfect imperfections

You are like art Colourful in the light But when water pours down on you You start to fade away

You were a work of art The way you left your paint all over my body I have been washing you out for days

About Carissa Wright

My name is Carissa Wright. I am a Lived Experience Speaker and Mental Health Advocate from Perth, Western Australia. I started to write poetry about my mental illness, my past heart break and grief. I like to write as an outlet to release some suppressed agony and pain. I hope people can seek comfort in my mind's meddles and mess. You can find all my words at 1ncemorewfeeling.blogspot.com

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Looking for poetry, fiction, essays, art and everything in between both print & web. @freshpresstx

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A to Zagat: M is for Moti Mahal Delux by Zack Smith

"Simple pick for Indian tandoor cooking." -Zagat

Moti Mahal Delux, an international chain, located on 1st Ave is not unique to NYC and we wouldn’t care if it were. Famous for its Butter Chicken we convened over it’s delicious food courtesy of @chef.anand and a lot of wine. Who doesn’t like wine?

Good for pairing with Indian food they said. They were correct.

Peaking behind the curtain.

The Holy Grail.

Palak Patta Chaat

"I would like something spicy." "The house special is a little spicy" "Eh." "We can make vindaloo." "Sold."

Vindaloo was not on the menu.

[Editor’s Note: Only the A to Zagat crowd gets special treatment in my world too.]

To be clear, the house special was also spicy, just not vindaloo spicy

Gosht Biryani took the award for most exciting meal of the night.

Gosht Biryani again. Because it wasn’t as gamey as you’d think. And it’s photogenic. Super great on all accounts.

I'm not saying the house special wasn't good though. Butter chicken is life.

Not photographed Samosas and a variety of Naan bread. And the incredulous ride home on the train smelling like Indian food for miles on end.

About Zack Smith

Zack Smith conceived @AtoZagat out of a sense of curiosity and adventure. Residing in NYC, the A to Zagat group dine at a different Zagat rated restaurant every two weeks, trying different cuisines and experiencing different cultures all within one of the most diverse cities in the world. To check out more of his personal food adventures, follow him on Twitter or Instagram at @ZackMS

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Undoing Scrap By Poornima Laxmeshwar

Mixed media and words cut from calendars and newspapers.

About Poornima Laxmeshwar

Poornima Laxmeshwar resides in the garden city Bangalore and works as a content editor for a living. Her poems have appeared in ColdNoon, Vayavya, MuseIndia, Writers Asylum, The Aerogram, Stockholm Literary Review, Northeast Review, Brown Critique, Cafe Dissensus amongst many others. Her haiku have found space in several magazines.

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We Are Listening By Nora Cornelio

For many, abortion is just another one of those topics that you keep under the table. One of those which you won’t bring up at family gatherings, such as Trump, religion and war. It’s a word that you will avoid speaking, thinking and writing.

Just another pariah in a world of casts.

Sadly, this translates into the women who go through it–they also become pariahs, rejected from a society very much oriented towards keeping a “safe face”, the appearance of dignity that is needed in order to seem “solid.” “Convincing.” “Fair.”

But our society is based in principles which promote superficiality; we are pushed into making ourselves distanced from other people’s pain. Empathy becomes just another old-fashioned product, which starts to be discontinued by more and more companies every day.   We see a homeless man in a street with a sign saying, “I need help;” we say, “I wish I could,” turn around and walk away. We feel uncomfortable. We take out our phone and start making plans for next week’s lunch with our best friend. Because that makes us feel comfortable, and we like it.

We are spoon-fed weak truths which keep us dormant to realities unlike our own.

And this is how we lose sight of what it means to be human; to be aware, and alive.

Individuality is a wonderful thing; don’t get me wrong. But it is also a passageway to a bigger characteristic of our species: diversity. As much as embracing our differences is promoted nowadays, we tend to merely expand our spectrum in terms of the quantity of groups existent around us. But we don’t try to relate to them. We just classify them: democrats with democrats, girls with girls, older citizens with older citizens, pierced people with pierced people; the genderless with the genderless, the foreigners with the foreigners, and the different with the different.

And that way, we don’t have to break our bubble. Because… we each are comfortable in our own. Why do we have to go out there to try and find something we haven’t lost? We’re fine where we are. Why should we break our barriers? They are meant to be there for a reason. Right?

Right. Perhaps this is the reason why we experience midlife crisis and existential moments which lead us to a state of utter confusion, in which we know nothing about why we are here, or what we’re here for.

Today, I want to invite you to join me in a hunt for a different perspective.

Growing up in a traditional home, my views on abortion were no different than the ones I spoke about at the beginning. I tried to stay away from it; it bothered me and confused me. I was told it was wrong; I felt differently. Was it, or wasn’t it? Shades of gray danced in front of my eyes when I thought about the possibility of ever having to face it from a closer point of view.

What if I was ever confronting the decision of aborting? It is never the same contemplating an issue such as this one from the privilege of the distance. But, like Mohsin Hamid puts it, “Empathy is about finding echoes of another person in yourself.” It’s about letting go of your barriers and acquiring somebody else’s; if anything, just for the sake of compassion and knowledge, which one can never have too much of.

So, in hope of finding something which would clear my mind and shed some light on this issue, I went to the New York Times online edition, and found a most interesting article. It was a compilation of letters to the editor; letters written in response to Lori Szala’s article “The Problem with Linking Abortion and Economics”, published on May 9th, 2017. Many women felt differently about the way in which Szala (national director of client services at Human Coalition, and an active worker for several different anti-abortion organizations) presented her views. But what Szala argues, in my opinion, is very right. She writes “We should all agree, whether anti-abortion or pro-choice, that abortion is not a solution to the host of systemic injustices driving poverty. Progressives cannot continue to claim every effort to reduce abortion is anti-woman and will lead to ruin and disaster. And conservatives must do more than tell abortion-seeking women to “go in peace and keep warm and well fed”; they must sacrifice their time and treasure to serve women in need.” This is very true: abortion is not the only option. However, Mallory McMaster, member of the board of directors for NARAL Pro-Choice America and NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio, wrote in her letter to editor: “While it is wonderful that Lori Szala found support as a young, single parent who quit school and worked her way up the ladder at an investment firm, her experience is far from the reality for other women. Racism and sexism still play a huge part in many of our lives, barring opportunity, especially as a young parent.” This is also true.

And this is where I want to bring all of you.

There is not a single rule that applies to everyone. No matter what ethnic group, religious belief system, motor-bike squad or Brad Pitt’s fan club you belong to: the universal rules which apply to your fellow members might not necessary apply for you. Diversity is the meaning of difference. We keep forgetting that we might not know what it truly is like… until it happens to us. In the words of Daniel H. Pink, “Empathy is about standing in someone else's shoes, feeling with his or her heart, seeing with his or her eyes. Not only is empathy hard to outsource and automate, but it makes the world a better place.”

There was one more article which changed my entire view on this issue. It was written by Renee B. Sherman, (senior public affairs manager at the National Network of Abortion Funds). Her moving piece is titled “Who Should You Listen to on Abortion? People Who’ve Had Them”. She begins telling her story: she was young, she was pregnant, and she chose abortion. But she goes further, and details what she felt afterwards, once the procedure was over and the nurse in charge reassured her and brought her something to eat. She said that in that moment, she was scared, but that woman showed her love. Her life, since then, was changed. Sherman has done the same for other women, while working at an abortion clinic. She says “I’ve hugged, cried with and held the hands of hundreds of people who’ve had abortions, many of whom never thought they would. All were thankful that someone was there to provide care, sit with them, when they were alone and hold their hair as the nausea took over. All felt the stigma and shame society thrusts on them. The abortion debate rages on, but the voices of those who’ve actually had abortions are ignored. Few people try to understand our lives. (…) It’s easier to strip us of our rights, when we’re not treated as humans, when political candidates say we deserve ‘some form of punishment’, when elected officials vote to define abortion as ‘murder’, when people call us killers. Language matters and it leads to violence.”

And separation. And lack of compassion.

Sherman ends her article with a simple sentence. “The question is, will you listen?”

I am doing that now, and I invite you to do it as well. We are not here to condemn or shame, but to change things for the better. It does not matter what part of the world you come from, your gender, your preferences, your hair color. What matters is that you can look past the surface, past a choice you might not understand, and see a human being. Just another one, like you: with fears, dreams, hopes and hunger for love. Someone who needs a little bit of what you can bring into this world: a change, a positive one.

I hope today, a new perspective has been installed in your mind, and that you can see the world as a different place: a place where your differences merge with others’. A place where you are understood, instead of rejected. A place where humanity’s true essence is shown.

   A place where we are listening.

About Nora Cornelio

My name is Nora Cornelio Martínez, and I have spent my entire life hopping from one place to the next. My father is from the Dominican Republic, and I was born in his natal city: La Vega. My mother is Puerto Rican, born and raised in Vega Baja (which makes me think that there is something about the “vegas” that is kind of suspicious). When I was 7 months old, my parents decided to move to Spain. The first city that we lived in was Valencia. We spent 3 years there, and then, we went far up north, to León. Over there it’s freezing (literally), all year long and my tropical parents decided that enough was enough after two years, so we went a little further south. We ended up in a very historical town called Medina del Campo, where it was only freezing half of the year, and we lived there for about ten years. Then, my mother decided that half of the year wrapped up in sweaters, coats, hats and gloves was too much, and we moved back to Puerto Rico. I was homeschooled and graduated from high school when I was 15. That was 4 years ago. I started college when I was 16, and went from Mayagüez, to Tennessee to San Germán. I am currently enrolled in the UIPR and this is the last semester of my junior year, which means that (hopefully) I will be graduating in May! I’m an English major who loves reading, writing funny and dramatic poetry, and whose main goal is to become a digital nomad who can keep hopping from one place to the next her entire life.

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Cooking Mom Project: Easy Bean Salad

We are very proud to introduce to you this Easy Bean Salad courtesy of Barbara Camuy at Cooking Mom Project. Hope this recipe will brighten the last days of summer in the Western Hemisphere as well as bring in the spring for others. Enjoy.

Easy Bean Salad

Ingredients

3 different canned beans of your preference. (You can always use organic ones but do keep in mind that they will require a lengthy softening process before they are ready to be consumed.)

1 chopped bell peppers

1 chopped onions

1/4 cup of shredded carrots

1/2 teaspoon of olive oil

A pinch of salt

Cilantro as desired

Directions

Rinse the canned beans well with water.

Mix all ingredients gently in a large mixing bowl.

Serve and enjoy!

Editor's note: choice of onions can be as desired. While red onions add a bit of a different potency, white or yellow onions can be sweeter. Chill the salad in the fridge no more than one hour before serving for a fresh and cool addition to your meal.

Benefits of this recipe

This recipe is an easy but incredibly nutritious one. Beans are rich in phytonutrients and antioxidants, potassium, essential minerals that help protect against strokes, and is a very rich source of Protein. You would love its flavor and will benefit from all the good nutrients that they can offer.

Bean consumption appears to play a role in the following:

Decrease circulating insulin levels.

Decrease oxidative stress from exercise

Decreases the risk of metabolic conditions and pre-diabetes

Lowers cholesterol, and cadmium

Reduces blood pressure

Reduces inflammation

Reduces the risk of benign prostate hyperplasia

Slow skin aging and wrinkling

Aids to stabilize blood sugar levels.

About Barbara Camuy

Barbara Camuy is a Pre-School teacher that has chosen to be a stay at home mom since the birth of her beautiful son. She is a very artistic and creative person and has chosen to bring that aspect of her life into the kitchen. Facing the same desire every parent experiences to give their child the best nutrition possible, she decided to embark on a nutritional journey full of interesting choices. She began the “CookingMomProject” with the clear mission to share her passion for nutrition, expressing her creativity and to show others great recipes that everyone can cook and share with their loved ones. Follow her on Instagram @CookingmomProject

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Review: Chameleon by Charles Joseph

Review: Chameleon by Charles Joseph

By Barbara Gonzalez

Joseph’s Chameleon is a poetry and story collection that guides us through a journey of intricate day to day emotions we experience in the most relatable way possible. While reading his poetry, readers will often find themselves smiling in understanding. It is his title piece Chameleon that sets the pace for the rest of the adventure:

In his poetry, Joseph touches on topics of Being Vs. Societal Expectations, Depression, Childhood, Family Love, World Events, Loss and the struggles we sometimes endure to manage strong and often incoherent emotions. He navigates us through these events by way of a voice that reminds you of late night conversations with a trusted lifetime friend or a close family member. His use of both formal and colloquial language heightens the level of appeal it holds for the reader. Each poem has a unique voice particular to the character speaking, whether it is his 12 yr old self in a recollection of memories or his adult-self asking us the questions that need to be answered. He delivers a kind of reassurance that challenges us to think outside our comfort zone, while many times voicing thoughts most individuals would never admit they ponder. The short stories are a treat to read, creating complex characters in the most simple ways while delivering your typical “lesson” in the most unexpected ways. Chameleon takes us on a stimulating excursion through life as seen by the eyes of Charles Joseph. It is an absolute delight to read his works. Charles Joseph is the voice this generation has long been waiting for.

For more Information visit: www.charlesjosephlit.com Or Follow Charles in Instagram @charlesjosephlit

Paperback Available June 21st, 2017 Format: 5.25” x 8” Pages: 144 pages ISBN: 0-692-89589-2 Pricing: $10.99 Available at amazon.com

eBOOK Available June 21, 2017 Format: Kindle, Nook, & ePUB Pricing: $4.99 Available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, & Kobo.

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Introducing Fresh Press

Fresh Press: an offbeat literary, art, and everything in between magazine.

But why? How? Who's the editor who broke off a relationship with publishing?

Early that morning I woke up earlier than I wanted to. I did a couple of dishes, even though I didn't want to. Ate some granola. I covered my hair in my hat and left the apartment slowly proceeded down the stairs. Then down the road. To the bus stop.

Thoughts. What if I had gotten on the wrong bus? Was it the right decision? I should have eaten more. I should have the guts to make decisions for myself, my health… my happiness.

I transferred to a train after getting off the bus. Quietly riding across town. Purposefully, I got off at my stop. Following my intuition, navigated through the downtown area toward a corner store.

Early that morning I had nothing but routine on my mind. One step, two step. One foot in front of the other until I reached my destination. First the corner store where a woman sat barefoot eating. Opened the door, walked in. Quietly, carefully inspected the prepackaged sandwiches until one seemed necessary. Cash register. Money.

“Hello, do you live around here?” The cashier looked into my eyes. Any words would do. A handshake, I just needed to eat. And walk to my destination. Why am I stopping here. “Have a good day.”

The look. A bite of the sandwich. Destination reached. I pressed the button on the intercom. Busy signal.

That look. But why doesn’t stop? Can anyone else hear it? Am I alone? Is this real life?

The look is an empty stare that neither sees you nor reflects anything from the inside. I must have woken up in a bad mood because it must have looked like I was going to die to that cashier.

Yet, no one can say whether the closing of Enhance or my role in FIVE:2:ONE was the right or wrong decision. But it's really real. And if only there was a place that would allow me--everyone--to be real. A platform for dialogue and narrative. A...magazine for you and me.

That's why Fresh Press is here. It’s fresh because it doesn't follow all the rules. And if you press it, it won't return a busy signal. Just people. Realism. You and me. Fresh Press is that cloudy mirror aiming to reflect reality.

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