Lydia Likes It

What's new in your neighborhood?

Call me old-fashioned, but I love neighborhood newsletters, the kind that come in my email inbox and keep me up-to-date on what's going on where I live. Events, arts, celebrations, sports, volunteer opportunities, new restaurants and shops opening, old favorites bidding my community farewell: it's all there. I'm very lucky to have two neighborhood newsletters land in my inbox every week: Sampan, the official communication from Chinatown in Boston, where I live now; and Fig City News, that's teaching me a lot about the community Ted and I will be moving to late in 2025 in Newton, a Boston suburb. Both newsletters are free of charge.

The volunteering life {job interview practice}

Long-term commitments and one-off events share space in my volunteering life, and provide the balance I crave. The relationships I've nurtured with two nonprofit agencies that serve immigrants and refugees -- Jewish Vocational Services and International Institute of New England -- ensure that both types of opportunities, from both agencies, cross my desk frequently. Several months ago, during an in-person job interview practice session, I met a young woman who had come to Boston in early 2023. In Haiti, she had worked as an environmental scientist, but here she planned to become a Certified Nursing Assistant, for which there are many openings in the Boston area, so she could be self-supporting and also help her mother and other family back home. After we finished our 45-minute meeting, I gave her my contact information and offered to answer questions or provide any other help she needed as she continued her job search. A few days later, I got a message from her asking if I'd be willing to talk with her once a week, so she could practice her conversational English. And from that time, we've been Zooming for an hour every week, with no particular agenda, just talking and getting comfortable, with gentle corrections here and there. Lately we've been talking about the political situation in Haiti, the safety of her family there, and how we wish the violence would end. We're learning a lot from each other. Oh, by the way, she's found a great new job, too.

A little piece of heart

My husband Ted and I moved from Boston's South End to Chinatown four years ago. When we looked at apartments, we considered space, windows, the view from those windows, and other little things (bedrooms, parking, fitness room, location close to public transportation and Boston Common walking paths). We never thought about proximity to dim sum -- so we lucked out when we moved right across the street from Chinatown's largest remaining, and most traditional, dim sum palace. It used to be a movie theater that showed Hong Kong action films before conversion to the restaurant in 1995. Now, the second floor is the restaurant, and there's a Chinese grocery store on the first floor (so convenient!) where you can buy everything from frozen dumplings to fresh fish to vegetables to candies to plates and kitchen tools.

In Cantonese, dim sum translates to "a little piece of heart," small dishes designed to accompany the drinking of tea. In the restaurant, you can select from a large menu of dumplings, including har gow (my favorite shrimp dumplings) and shumai (pork dumplings), chicken feet, turnip cake, rice noodle rolls, barbeque pork buns, egg tarts, spring rolls, sticky rice balls. Most dim sum menus also include plates of noodles and vegetables. 

The small dim sum dishes often come via carts wheeled table-to-table, so you can see the options (some have steamed foods, some congee, some fried specialties, some buns, lots of dumplings and rice in lotus leaves) and choose how many small dishes you'd like to try. So much fun for all ages to put together a meal this way! Everything is shared, tried, analyzed, and reordered. The carts keep coming around to your table until you beg them to stop.

When Ted and I first started going to dim sum, 40+ years ago, most of the servers spoke no English. Now things have changed, and while you might not have a conversation, you can certainly find out what the main ingredient is in any dim sum dish (fish, shrimp, pork, chicken, beef, veggie, egg, sweet). If you think dim sum might become a "thing" for you, treat yourself to a dim sum pocket guide, with photos and descriptions of many of the dishes you can taste.

The volunteering life {when you close one door...}

Every few months, I cast a critical eye over how I'm spending my volunteer hours. Does this class feel like a good fit? Am I putting enough time into the postcard group? Should I be making more welcome blankets for refugees? Rather than immersing myself in one project or commitment, I've always done best with three or four different types of activities in the mix. Like Marie Kondo, I review each activity to make sure it sparks joy. I believe that we do best at volunteering when we have fun. It's also important that the mix be right -- that all of my volunteer energy comes together in one giant joy spark. 

In 1605, the Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes wrote in Don Quixote: "When one door is shut, another is opened." Surely he was looking ahead to a particular day in April 2022, when, to my total surprise, I closed one door and another door popped open that very same morning.

On this particular April day, I sensed it was time to step back from organizing a women's book group in my building. I sent the book group members a note, and got ready to meet up with Jacqueline Church, a friend who runs Boston's creme de la creme of Chinatown walking tours and teaches cooking classes. Throughout the pandemic, she has advocated for Chinatown businesses and the AAPI community, on TV, podcasts, and in magazine articles. We settled in for coffee at the cafe next door.

Ever since Ted and I moved to Chinatown four years ago, I've been wanting to connect with the community in a meaningful way. As a white, middle-aged (okay, slightly older than that), middle class woman -- a gentrifier, by any definition -- connecting isn't easy. Last year I met with the folks at Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center about working with Chinese-speaking English language learners, but their model of one-to-one tutoring for six months at a time didn't feel like a good fit for me. I've talked to the Asian American Civic Association about working with them, but nothing clicked.

After lots of catching up, Jackie filled me in on a new 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization she created during the pandemic. FAN Chinatown's mission is to support those in need in Chinatown, especially its seniors, restaurants and the arts community. She's just getting started, and building a small board of directors. Would I be interested in joining the board? No, I told her; it's a lot of work, and I don't have the time or desire to be involved at that level at this stage in my life.

Would I join an advisory group? Yes, yes, yes! I'm honored to be asked, and look forward to contributing good ideas and energy. I'm also excited to meet the other people involved in FAN Chinatown and make some connection with the community; I know Jackie will pull together an interesting and engaged group to help get this organization off the ground. 

The idea of FAN Chinatown, and giving back to the community where I live, sparks joy. Lots and lots of joy. I'll introduce you to the organization in a future post.

When one door shuts, another door opens. I wasn't making space consciously for a new project, but my subconscious knew the time was right. 

Image above: FAN Chinatown's logo.

Pocky Sticks

The Glico Man, resplendent in neon (now LED) running shorts, towers above the Ebisu Bridge that leads to the Dotombori entertainment and dining district in central Osaka, Japan. Since 1935, both locals and tourists have met for a night out at the Glico Man and, more recently, taken their requisite selfies with him. Glico, based in Osaka, is one of Asia's most famous confectionery companies, and their most famous product, Pocky Sticks, have been a favorite of ours since we first discovered them in our local Chinese market many years ago. Pocky Sticks are a kind of thin pretzel dipped in chocolate, and they come in several flavors: cookies and cream, matcha, strawberry, banana, and plain milk chocolate. They're great for picnics and parties, and because they come in small packages, they're perfect for school lunch boxes. You'll find Pocky Sticks in most Asian grocery stores.