Tag: coronavirus

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Chefs Featured News NYC

Chef Raffaele Ronca is feeding frontline workers in New York

chef raffaele ronca feeding frontline workers

During this difficult time, many restaurants have stepped up to feed our heroes the frontline workers. One of Downtown’s team favorite Chefs, Raffaele Ronca, is providing food 2-3 times a week to healthcare workers as well as local first responders. He has been donating meals to White Plains Hospital and also to Rye Fire Department and Rye Police Department.

At the beginning, Raffaele and his team weren’t receiving any donations, so every meal would come from their own pocket. But as word spread around the community, some people started to help with monetary donations to fund the effort.  Several of their vendors also offered to provide assistance.

“Providing food for the frontline workers makes us feel that we are doing something good for the heroes who are risking their lives to save lives.  We are giving them a warm meal in hopes they can keep doing what they do”, says the Chef.

chef raffaele ronca donates meals

Raffaele owns two restaurants that deliver authentic Neapolitan flavors to New York: Rafele, in West Village and Rafele Rye, in Westchester County. The second one has been open for delivery and takeout since the beginning of the pandemic and the West Village unit will be open tomorrow, June 2nd. 

Everyone in the restaurant business has been struggling with limited availability of ingredients, so Chef Raffaele has been trying to adjust the menus of the two restaurants to serve their loyal clients, making sure they follow all COVID guidelines.

See More:

Three NYC Restaurants Helping to Feed Essential Workers In The Wake of COVID-19

Serving Up a Dish of Heart and Sole

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Chefs Dining Museums News Nutrition NYC Restaurants

Serving Up a Dish of Heart and Sole

Serving Up a Dish of Heart and Sole

Holocaust survivors are considered some of the most vulnerable New Yorkers amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

Serving Up a Dish of Heart and Sole
David Teyf – Executive Chef

One Manhattan restaurateur is making sure they get a dose of comfort – and good food – while staying indoors to remain safe.

Madison and Park Hospitality Group’s David Teyf, the executive chef who operates Lox at Cafe Bergson at the Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust, is preparing pre-packaged kosher meals for Holocaust survivors.

With a small team, Teyf then bring the meals directly to these seniors across New York City.

“I am personally cooking and delivering these meals. I know that my grandparents, who were Holocaust survivors, are smiling down on me. This is something I want to do to honor them and because it’s the right thing to do,” Teyf says. “It’s in my soul to give back.”

An estimated 38,000 Holocaust survivors live in the greater New York City metropolitan area, according to Selfhelp Community Services. More than 50% of them live in poverty.

The pandemic is particularly traumatizing, echoing their lives more than 75 years ago during the Holocaust when food and resources were scarce. Because of coronavirus restrictions, they struggle with a lack of resources and community as they isolate at home.

Teyf has partnered with the Museum and the Met Council to identify 50 Holocaust survivors who need assistance. Additionally, the Museum is reaching out to other survivors to assess their needs so Teyf can provide more support.

He also is setting up an arrangement to deliver more kosher meals to essential healthcare workers at hospitals throughout New York City. The meals include salads, entrees, and desserts.

 

Serving Up a Dish of Heart and Sole
Jewish dish from Teyf’s restaurant

Teyf’s family has more than a century of epicurean experience.

“My great-grandfather started baking matzah for the Jewish community in Minsk in 1920,” he says. Each of his grandparents was the sole family survivor of the Holocaust. “After the Holocaust, my grandfather continued his father’s tradition of baking matzah for the Jewish community, which he had ultimately risked his life during Communist times until 1979. In 1979, my grandfather decided to pick the whole family up and leave Minsk for the United States for our Jewish freedom.”

Museum President and CEO Jack Kliger praised Teyf’s philanthropy.

“David is doing a real mitzvah,” Kliger says. “The Met Council and David are being generous with their hearts and minds: stepping up to serve others when there is a great need in our city.”

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Living

7 Ways to Celebrate Mother’s Day in the Time of Coronavirus

7 Ways to Celebrate Mother's Day in the Time of Coronavirus
Photo by Emma Bauso from Pexels

Mothers and grandmothers are not known for their social distancing natures.

 

We are generally affectionate creatures, eager to give hugs, kisses, and loads of well-meaning advice.

So how can you safely show your mom or grandma how much you love her on Mother’s Day during the time of coronavirus? Here are seven ideas to celebrate mom and grandma on Mother’s Day, May 11, from a physical distance:

1. Order takeout

Order brunch or dinner from her favorite restaurant and have it delivered right to her door with a special message from you. Join her for dinner via a video chat.

2. Make a video

Kids can list all the things they love about grandma, while you can finally tell her the story about how you used to sneak out your bedroom window.

3. Send her a hug

Tape together a few pieces of newspaper or use the white side of wrapping paper and outline your child with their arms outstretched. Let your kids color themselves in. Fold it up, put it in an envelope and send that hug to grandma!

4. Arrange a drive-by celebration

Call her and let her know to come outside, then drive by with signs and balloons. Have siblings or other, family members that live nearby? Organize a mini-parade!

7 Ways to Celebrate Mother's Day in the Time of Coronavirus
Image credit: Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels

 

5. Surprise her online

Arrange a time to chat with her via Zoom, then you may have other family members join a few minutes early. She’ll be thrilled to see so many faces she loves.

6. Take an art class together

My kids love Art for Kids Hub on YouTube. They even have a whole section dedicated to Mother’s Day projects! Grandma can choose a drawing with them to tackle altogether over video chat or let the kids know what art project she’d like them to draw to decorate her walls.

 

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Mother and Daughter Downtown Magazine

 

7. Just call!

Life during coronavirus has us all under a lot of stress and pressure. So you can be forgiven if you’re just not up to a big project to celebrate mom this year. Just a chat on the phone with you and your kiddos will mean the world to her. After all, it will give her plenty of opportunities to dispense advice, if not all those hugs and kisses.

By Kara Murphy, publisher of Macaroni Kid Erie, Pa.

Categories
Dining Doctors Featured Living News NYC Restaurants

Three NYC Restaurants Helping to Feed Essential Workers In The Wake of COVID-19

Courtesy MRSC

Our essential workers need fuel for their long, grueling shifts in NYC’s hospitals. We recognize three restaurants donating their time and efforts to help those who help us. 

 
Brooklyn Chop House (150 Nassau St.) in FiDi is making food deliveries to their neighborhooding hospital, New York Presbyterian, nightly for as long as the restaurant’s doors are open. They’re offering their most popular dishes to the staff that is working tirelessly to ensure NYC citizens safety, including nurses, doctors, surgeons and more for being the true heroes during this pandemic. 
Since word of their generosity has spread, almost a dozen other hospitals have reached out to Brooklyn Chop House for help, including Sloan Kettering, NY Presbyterian, Cornell Weill, and Lenox Hill. Without hesitation, the owners said they’d make meals for their workers too, as well as Elmhurst Hospital. They are also offering 20% off for all first responders picking up meals at the downtown hotspot.
Screen Shot 2020-03-24 at 10.10.17 AM.png
Courtesy Brooklyn Chop House
 
Loulou, the newly opened French bistro in Chelsea, began delivery to ICU doctors and nurses two weekends ago and plans to continue their efforts during the coming weeks. When the world changed, co-owner Loulou Mathias Van Leyden had to decide whether or not to close his less than a month old restaurant completely. He and his partners ultimately decided to fight and began delivery and takeout. He went a step further by delivering meals to New York Presbyterian/Columbia University ICU staff members on Sunday, March 22nd because of a fundraiser set up by Seven Rooms and now he’s continuing this endeavor.
Loulou is asking for help through donations where 100% of the proceeds will go to preparing and delivering meals to doctors during this time. The restaurant made additional deliveries to Brooklyn Methodist Hospital and Mount Sinai. To donate you can visit: https://www.gofundme.com/f/meals-for-hardworking-icu-doctors-during-covid19

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The vegan, plant-based and kosher chain Beyond Sushi in NYC delivered their first set of hospital meals to 42 health care workers at Elmhurst Hospital in Queens this past Wednesday (April 1st) as the result of a community fundraiser that was organized on the hospital’s behalf. The restaurant’s owners, Guy and Tali Vaknin, will now start a fundraiser of their own where for every $200 raised, they’ll send another care package of individual meals to a local hospital and are kicking things off with a donated delivery of their own at Metropolitan Hospital later this week.

Thank you for all your generous support and care for our essential New Yorkers. Stay safe, stay healthy, and stay indoors.

 

SEE MORE:

Le Poisson Rouge Asking For Assistance For Its Employees/Operational Expenses

Categories
Featured Living NYC

Gardening with Kids: A PAUSE Activity

Gardening with Kids
Photo by Maggie My Photo Album from Pexels

By Rachel McMinn, Early Childhood Educator, Buckle My Shoe Preschool
Mar 31, 2020

Bringing nature into your home is a valuable learning experience for your child. Helping a tiny seed to sprout and grow is an experience that imparts empathy, self-sufficiency, connection to the earth, and ability to recognize a life cycle.

Now that the weather is starting to ease up and we are having warmer and sunnier days, it’s the perfect time to start planting with your little one! This project is beginner level and has a very big success rate (we do this in our classroom of two-year-olds each Spring). Even those with a black thumb will find their little seed growing in just a few days right before your eyes.

What do you need?

  • 3 or 4 Dry beans (pinto, navy, kidney, lima* we usually use jumbo lima beans)
  • OR seeds from fruits and veggies you have in your home – apple, lemon, pepper, orange (these will take longer to sprout)
  • A sandwich or quart size ziplock bag
  • A paper towel
  • A small cup of water

Step One: 

Before planting, we like to read the book Jack and the Beanstalk. Then our beans/seeds take on a new level of magic and amazement as they grow. After the story, fold the paper towel into a square (1/4 of the normal size).

Step Two: 

Place your beans in the fold so it is tucked in like it’s wearing a blanket. The beans are sleeping, after all, and we need a cozy bed and water to wake it up!

Step Three:

Carefully place the “bed” into the ziplock bag.

Step Four:

Pour in a little bit of water to saturate the paper towel. You don’t want a puddle in there, so if your child over pours, simply tip the bag and get the extra water out. Seal the bag.

Step Five:

Hang the ziplock bag on a sunny window with a piece of tape.

Step Six: 

Wait a few days and you should see some growing happening!! When the beanstalk gets large enough that it’s near the top of the bag, open it up and let it keep growing. When you get to this point, you will need to add more water for the bean to continue growing.

Step Seven: 

Now that your bean is big and strong you can plant it in a pot with soil and continue to love and care for it.

Rachel McMinn is an early childhood educator at Buckle My Shoe Preschool in Tribeca, who has taught the young 2 year olds for almost nine years. She holds a Masters in Early Childhood Education from Hunter College and a Writing degree from Pratt Institute. She lives in Brooklyn with her daughter, post-production & screenwriting husband, and two attention-seeking cats. 

See More

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Categories
Health

5 Ways to Relieve Coronavirus Anxiety

5 Ways to Relieve Coronavirus Anxiety

 

In the space of just a few weeks, the world has become a very different place – one that is frightening, dangerous, and where nothing is certain anymore. The novel coronavirus, which has resulted in the spread of the Covid-19 disease, has taken a hold of the world, with infections spreading like wildfire around the planet and many already dying because of the disease.

Naturally, this unprecedented situation has caused a huge amount of stress and anxiety among families and individuals, with many worried for themselves, their loved ones, their jobs, even their pets. With many places now being put into lockdown and leaders declaring national emergencies, it comes as no surprise that so many people are now suffering from anxiety. In order to try to maintain good health, it is important to find ways to relieve coronavirus anxiety, and in this article, we will look at some of the steps to take.

Key Steps to Take

There are various steps that may help when it comes to dealing with coronavirus anxiety. Some of these are:

Continue to Exercise

While you may be trapped indoors due to a lockdown, you can still get exercise, and this is important to stay healthy and reduce anxiety. You can exercise in the house by following online tutorials or even DVDs. You can also make use of your garden or balcony to exercise and get some fresh air.

Get Proper Sleep

Getting to sleep can be hard when you are anxious, but sleep is necessary to ensure your mental wellbeing and your physical health. Try to ensure you have a proper nighttime routine and use products such as CBD capsules, which can help to regulate sleep, help you to relax, and can reduce anxiety levels.

Keep Your Mind Occupied

It is important to keep your mind occupied rather than stressing all day long about something you cannot control. If you have kids, you can keep your mind and theirs occupied with homeschooling and activities. If not, you can do an online course yourself to learn new things and keep yourself occupied. You can also enjoy hobbies such as baking, arts and crafts, and even writing your own stories.

Stay Up to Date

Burying your head in the sand is not the answer when it comes to reducing anxiety. The more you keep yourself up to date, the more prepared you will be, and the less anxious you will feel. Make sure you stay on top of what is going on by following the news and make sure you follow the advice that is given out by your government.

Eat Healthily

In order to fight this virus, a healthy immune system is essentials, so make sure you and your loved ones eat sensibly. Get plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables for vitamins and minerals, and make sure you eat proper balanced meals. Being healthy will reduce your anxiety levels.

These are some of the key ways you can help to tackle coronavirus anxiety.