Reflections on NASPA Orlando
This past week I travelled to the annual National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA) conference in Orlando, Florida. Seven years ago I attended my first national conference also in Florida. At that conference I was a first year graduate student in a sea of over ten thousand attendees. That experience was incredibly overwhelming, I knew no one, was involved in nothing, and had no idea what sessions to attend. I spent most of that conference in my room, and only came out to get food and attend a session that I found particularly interesting. It was definitely not a good conference experience and made me question if involvement was right for me.
Six conferences have past since that day and I have not missed one. My second conference experience was much better because I took a volunteer position on a committee and presented. I was also actively job searching so I started to get to know other participants in the conference. Additionally, it helped that the conference was in Boston, a city I could walk around. Unlike Orlando I felt much less trapped and able to explore on my own. Since that time I have been to Seattle, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Arizona, each conference better than the last. In Arizona I was an award winner and that was an experience all to itself. You can see that post here.
Though last year was a great experience, this year was one where I really felt like a full fledged part of the organization. The reason behind this feeling is active involvement. There is a big difference to me between going to a conference and participating in one. I am a networker through doing, not one through meeting. This means that I will get to know people and develop relationships through the work that I accomplish. At this conference I had all sorts of things to do. I was a member of the regional advisory board, a leader in the knowledge communities, and a member of the 2014 regional conference committee.
All of these activities shifted my experience and brought me to meetings, gatherings, and fun receptions. The difference between this year and last was that I have now served on the board for a full year. I am no longer building new relationships, rather growing ones that already exist. Walking through the conference I was never too far away from someone I knew which makes you feel much more engaged in the conference activities. I also was able to attend over a half dozen receptions, some that had full meals and great conversation. I have never been so busy at a conference and yet so content and energized. As my friend Renee said on Monday night, “If you’re whole body hurts, you know you did NASPA right”.
There is also something to be said about being at my second campus and my second job. With a significant portion of new professionals leaving the field after 3-5 years it feels good to be at the entry point to mid-level, people definitely treat you differently. It seems like an unspoken statement of “Ok, you’re here to stay so lets chat”. This may be something to think about moving forward because a lack of acknowledgment and connections could be one reason why people leave. From now on I will make it my business to help new professionals and first time attendees feel connected to the association. I think I also felt much more confident sitting on boards with people at much higher positions now that I am at my second step. Lastly, being at a new campus means that reconnecting with past colleagues is a new adventure. Spending Tuesday night with friends from UCR was great fun, just like spending other meals with friends from graduate school. It is amazing to see where we are all going and what is in store for us in the future.
The last fun thing at the Orlando conference was running into and reconnecting with past employees and others you have helped over the years. I was able to sit down with an old Resident Advisor who worked for me for two years, went to graduate school, and was job searching. It was amazing to see her growth over the past few years and it truly demonstrates the value of the work we do. It was my first “Full circle” experience, and definitely not the last. Additionally, I ran into someone who sat in one of my presentations at a difference conference in my second professional year. He told me that my work with student training molded the programs they did at his campus over the next few years. He said that they pulled out my documents each year to make sure they followed the guidelines to success. It is amazing to see your creations impact campuses in other states in such dramatic ways. Another reason why I know this work is for me.
At the end of the day, the conference is just the pinnacle of each year’s work in NASPA. The more you volunteer and the more good work you do, the better your annual conference experience will be. Over the next year I will continue to serve on the board and see where that involvement takes me. If anything it will help me meet even more people and develop more relationships so that the Baltimore conference will surpass Orlando. Eventually babies may join the party but I’m ready for that change to come and add a new nuance to the conference adventure. Until next year!
Review: Big & Little’s
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On my final day in Chicago a few months back I was able to stop by Big & Little’s Restaurant. This place was on Tripple D and I have been wanting to eat their food ever since. Big & Little’s is a interesting blend of a corner burger place and a high end bistro. I was extremely excited to try what they had to offer. When I arrived a only had to wait in line for a short time but that was only because I missed the rush. Only a few minutes later and I would have been in the line out the door so lucky me. I was also lucky that I had some cash on me since they do not take cards. I ordered right from the dishes on the show, I mean who could pass up on pork belly and foie gras?
I only had to wait a few minutes for my food to arrive and I used that time to charge my dying phone. Soon I was sitting in front of two awesome looking dishes. First on the menu was a pork belly po-boy. Overflowing on a bun were over a dozen pieces of pork belly perfectly cooked, fatty, and gloriously greasy. Each bite of pork was unbelievably flavorful and paired extremely well with the crunchy pickles. The lettuce below the pickles was also a good addition. Since the pork belly was decadent, as expected, the crisp lettuce helped to cut through the richness and allowed me to keep eating. Lastly, the bread was chewy and tied the entire sandwich together in a nice package. I think the best thing of this sandwich and the next dish was how generous they were with the expensive ingredients. With a pork belly po-boy I think I would have been happy with half the amount of pork they gave me but I’ll never turn down more.
Perfectly cooked pork belly
Now if the richness of a pork belly po-boy was not enough, the next dish put me over the edge. I was literally sweating when I finished but it was so worth it to try the foie gras french fries. There were really only two ingredients in this dish but what a combo! Who would have thought that you could pair the decadence of goose liver with the humbleness of fried potatoes. Definitely a knife and fork kind of side dish. Basically, though the foie gras was served in large pieces, it made sense to smooth it out into some sort of a condiment for the fries. Ketchup just didn’t seem appropriate. The look of it after doing that was not picture worthy but it surely made the fries delicious! This was my second foray into foie gras and definitely a much better experience.
So rich and tasty!
Big & Little’s Restaurant is an unassuming little place with some big bold flavors. One of my all time favorite meals and no service or ambiance to bump up the experience. They rest on their flavors and that is definitely not a bad thing. I was more than happy to spend upwards of $30 for my meal of rich and decadent items paired with street food favorites. I would stop by again without hesitation and try their other po-boys. The oyster po-boy especially. Next time you are in Chicago or if you are there right now run to Big & Little’s, you won’t be disappointed!
Overall Review: 9/10
Take a look at the Big menu for their Little place here
Review: Kopp’s Frozen Custard
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On the way back to Chicago from a wedding my friends Renee, Gavin, and I stopped by Kopp’s to grap some burgers and frozen custard. Kopp’s is mostly a fast food place with upscale custard. When we arrived I was super excited to see that one of the specials was grasshopper fudge custard! We ordered our food and, once we received it, took up residence on a bench around the corner of the restaurant. I first ate the burger which was pretty good. It was a relatively standard with a thin patty with thick cut vegetables and a chewy bun. It tasted good but it was not the reason I came to Kopp’s.
The vegetables are so thick you can’t even see the patty
After finishing the burger I dove into the custard. Grasshopper Fudge is everything I like in ice cream. Mint and chocolate custard with fudge swirled into the mix. This was the first time I ever had frozen custard and it will not be the last. The custard was an interesting combination thick and creamy. I could take the cup, turn it upside down, and the custard did not move at all. Yet when I took a bite it was probably the smoothest dessert I had aside from pudding. The mint sang through and balanced extremely well with the chocolate. Each spoonful also brought a little fudge to the table which added to the richness of the entire cup. I polished off my cup of custard without any hesitation and could have gone back for more.
It just looks creamy and delicious!
I am glad that I finally made it to Kopp’s, the custard was everything it was made out to be. The burger was good but definitely not the star of the show. I imagine that is why it is not called Kopp’s Burgers and Custard. Next time you are in Wisconsin you should swing by and hope they have grasshopper fudge on the menu. You will not be disappointed!
Overall Review: 7/10
Check out all of Kopp’s custard options here
Review: Pizzeria Bianco
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While waiting for my flight to leave Phoenix, I stopped in at Pizzeria Bianco with my friend Renee. This pizzeria is a transplant right out of Italy with it’s own wood oven right in the dining room. I love seeing pizzerias set up like that, it is just a lot of fun to watch them cook your pizza only a few feet from your table. Take a look at what we got to see:
Prior to chowing down on pizza I had to order my first recommended dish, the Spiedini, Italian fontina cheese wrapped in prosciutto. The wrapped cheese was then skewered and cooked to be served nice and warm. Probably better than the pizza, this dish may be the best thing I’ve eaten in Phoenix. The cheese was warm and creamy and the deliciously salty flavor was layered along side the crispy and salty sweet prosciutto. Often salt on salt is too much but this combo just worked perfectly and kept me coming back for more. If I hadn’t already ordered my pizza I might have just went with a few more orders of the cheese and called it a day. It really was that good.
Mmmm Cheesy!
A few minutes after our appetizers, my pizza arrived. I broke my own rule and ordered a pizza without a red sauce because it was the other reccomended dish off my restaurant list. The Rosa pizza consisted of some of my favorite ingredients so I felt like it was ok to deviate from my norms. First it had a wonderful crust on which to build. Thin and crispy with a bubbly crust, but what would you expect from a super hot wood fire oven. The toppings started with cooked down red onions, and unlike Mr. Scott Conant, I love me some red onions. The bite of the onions was balanced out by the cheeses especially the fresh Parmesan. The last topping and by far the least likely on a pizza were the pistachio nuts. The great thing is that I love pistachios also! All of these ingredients mixed together on a pizza created a depth of flavor that made me happy to have taken the risk. I would definitely reccomend this pizza to people who want to stray from the norm but in the end the prosciutto wrapped fontina skewers significantly out shined the pizza.
Take that Conant, onions everywhere!
Overall our meal at Pizzeria Bianco was a memorable one. Not much I could complain about. The service was good, the ambiance was like most pizzerias and the food was on point. I could eat that appetizer every day, too bad I don’t live nearby. Next time you are in town and want some quality pizza on the western side of the country, check out Pizzeria Bianco.
Overall Review: 7/10
Take a look at the menu here
Review: Tuck Shop
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In Phoenix we decided to go a bit off the path and check out the Tuck Shop. This restaurant is located in outside neighborhood of Phoenix and we definitely were a little confused when driving down blocks of homes. The Tuck Shop just sort of pops up on you and looks like it could be a large home. But don’t let outside appearances fool you, the inside was cool and sleek and the food was no joke.
I was there with three other people and so we were able to try a bunch of appetizers. Our waiter was the type I always hope for, friendly and with great depth of knowledge of all the dishes on the menu. Based on his recommendations we ordered the cheese curds, the grilled baguette with roasted garlic, the roasted brussel sprouts, and the piece de resistance the stuffed Medjool dates. All of these appetizers were awesome! The baguette literally came with an entire garlic bulb in olive oil and was incredible. The garlic was roasted to perfection and spread like butter over the toasted bread. The brussel sprouts were also really delicious, they were lightly charred and caramelized with a delicious white wine and mustard glaze. The nice addition were the crushed almonds, they brought additional crunch and texture to the dish.
Without a doubt though, the best appetizer was the recommended dish from Best Food Ever on the Travel Channel. The stuffed Medjool dates were filled with a combination of chorizo and gruyere chesse and cooked to a sweet finish. The sweetness of the date was balanced by the spicy chorizo and the cheese made the entire dish creamy and long lasting on the palette. These dates were the best things I ate that night and possibly the best dish I have tried in Phoenix to date. Check out some pictures:
Baguette and Roasted Garlic
Cheesy Cheese Curds
Crispy Brussel Sprouts with Almonds
Wonderful Stuffed Dates!
After our appetizers I moved on to my dinner order. Unfortunately, they did not have the recommended fontina stuffed meatloaf so I went with two other options. First, the Times Mac & Cheese with crispy prosciutto, breadcrumbs, and oh yeah, the up-charge of $4 for some lobstah! Not just lobster, lobstah…hipsters. The mac and cheese was creamy with al dente pasta. The prosciutto added the needed salt to the dish and well, yeah there was lobster. Cooked well and really tasty but I’m not entirely sure I’m sold on the combo. I know that the trend is out there to make this down home dish high class but I think you can make it decadent without adding lobster. But this is coming from the guy who had a caviar mix-in for his mashed potato bar at his wedding, so who am I to judge.
Lobstah!
My last dish was the big recommendation from our waiter, the Pine AZ skirt steak. Those who know me well know that I am a sucker for shirts steak and mashed potatoes. Skirt steak was one of my favorite mom cooked dishes so I am a good judge. This steak was rubbed with a dry rub and then cooked in its own juices. It arrived super tender to the point where a knife was almost unneeded. Topping the steak were sauteed mushrooms that added a nice earthiness to the dish. Along side the steak were creamy parmesan mashed potatoes which added some needed salt to the entree. Each individual piece of this dish worked well individually and combined and I was more then happy to try them each way. This was a great recommendation by our server and even though I had so much before it, I had no problem cleaning my plate.
The Tuck Shop was a great choice for our dinner that night even if it was a bit of a trek from our hotel. Next time I am in Phoenix I will go back again and I recommend that you check it out too. Great service, nice decor, and good food made for a memorable dinner.
Overall Review: 7/10
Take a look at the Tuck Shop here
Europe and Back Again: Episode Italy
We arrived in Italy and took the train from the airport to Rome, my favorite city on this trip. Our hotel in Rome was near the Piazza Navona, which was where we had our first taste of wonderful Italian pasta. After our driving adventures in Greece we decided that tours and trains were the better plan. Our first tour was of Vatican City and the Catacombs. Vatican City is really an amazing place as were many of the other churches we saw throughout Italy. We were taken through part of the Vatican museums and then into the Sistine Chapel. This was truly an amazing sight and one that you just have to see in person. After eating lunch we headed over to the catacombs. The catacombs were where the early Christians were buried and though the bones had been removed it was an impressive underground city.
Our second day in Rome we lucked out and had a personal tour with a fluent English speaking tour guide. He took us through the old city and showed us the history and the growth of Rome over time. It was cool to see thousands of years of history built on top of itself in layers. Next he took us to the Colosseum, one of the most famous sights in Rome. It did not disappoint and through our tour guides storytelling he was able to bring the history to life. Did you know that animals were kept under the floors and they could also clear them out to fill the area with water for naval battles? Well, you do now. It was time to head down to Naples on the Eurorail. Quickly we learned that the Europass was a terrible deal and made it very difficult to travel but we were stuck so we made the best of it. What’s another couple hundred Euros for fines and seat reservations between friends?
We arrived in Naples in the early evening and it became quickly apparent that this was not a great place to stay. Piled high with garbage with instructions to hide your valuables from pickpockets, Naples was a taxi required locale if you wanted to be safe at night. We settled in and made our way to the best pizzeria in the world. Pizzeria Brandi was where the margarita pizza was invented and they had been making it for hundreds of years. It was so good that we went back both nights in Naples and Virginia even got to take a picture in front of the famous pizza oven. Since Naples was not a good place to sight see we spent both days on tours in other cities. First, Capri, a wealthy island paradise where you can spend a night in a 2000 Euro per night hotel. Our second day we took a tour with one other couple to the Amalfi Coast and Pompeii. The Amalfi coast was beautiful and Pompeii was amazing. To see a city frozen in time is something indescribable which you just need to see for yourself.
Next stop, Florence! In Florence we realized that we were only steps away from Michelangelo’s David and we quickly bought tour tickets for the next day. We ate dinner at a cool local place and I got what was basically tripe scampi. Interesting to see tripe used in Italian cooking, it was delicious. Our hotel was no fun, they turned off the air conditioning during the day and in the middle of the night but if you opened the window you were swarmed by mosquitoes. Oh well, you can’t have all good hotels. We went to see the David and we were not disappointed, this was truly one of the world’s most beautiful pieces of art. The next day we took a trip on a bus out to Pisa to see the leaning tower. Both Virginia and I got out required “Holding up the tower” pictures but that was about it. This was a complete tourist trap but the church and tower were pretty awesome.
As we continued our train trip up to northern Italy we arrived at Venice the one city where we could not be run over by cars and mopeds. Riding through the Grand Canal was something to remember, what a fun way to live. We ate both nights at our hotel mainly because I couldn’t get enough of the squid ink pasta. Our tours in Venice took us around the city and into the church and Dogi’s palace. A nice final tour since Virginia and I were starting to get a bit worn out. Our second day in Venice we took a ride out to Moreno to get some of their famous blown glass. We found an artist who made glass in our style and bought some fun gifts for our parents and a nice piece for our house. It was also in Venice where we found a beautiful piece of art to hang on our wall.
We completed our trip with a few more days in Rome where we ate at the best spaghetti place I have ever been to and had gelato from the most famous place in Rome. A great end to an amazing trip. Our last two days were spent right by the Spanish steps and since Virginia was tired I wandered through Rome by myself for a few hours. As I had some beer while walking around and spent an hour in the Leonardo da Vinci museum I realized that I would love to live in Rome. Too bad they don’t have a target or we may have sent for our things and Bella and never came home. As we rode out to the airport to take our flights to Greece and then back to the US I reflected on our wonderful adventure, how much we saw in those seventeen days, and how much more there is left to see. Next time, Spain, Germany, and France!
Take a look at highlights from our ten days in Italy:
Europe and Back Again: Episode Greece
This past summer Virginia and I flew over to Europe for a three week trip in Greece and Italy, two countries I had been wanting to visit for a long time. We first arrived in Athens during the major austerity issues, protests, and riots. Luckily we missed the violence each time we arrived in that city but it was interesting to see all the police and protesters around while tourists walked in and around the popular attractions. While in Athens we stayed near the Plaka, or the open market area, and the Parthenon. We spent some time visiting those famous areas and eating our fill of gyros. My surprise was that in Greece, lamb was too expensive for gyros and they served the beef with mustard sauce and fries in the pita. Less like a gyro I was used to and more like a fat sandwich from the grease trucks at Rutgers.
After Athens we drove around the center and the south of Greece. Driving was an adventure, streets were fast and narrow, not something I would want to do again. Our first stop was in Napfoli where I swam in the Aegean sea and climbed 800 steps to the top of an old fortress. In Napfoli we ate some of the best gelato in Greece though it was funny that it was made by Italians. After Napfoli we drove across the country to Olympia. While the drive took three terrifying hours up and through narrow mountain passes, we made it safe and sound. We visited the location of the original Olympic games and the museum to accompany it. Our next stop was Delphi which was across a bridge that cost almost $20 (Damn Euro). Delphi provided some beautiful views off the mountain and a nice dinner of roasted goat. While in town we visited the temple and museum of Apollo which was a temple built up the side of a mountain. At the top was a huge stadium where the Apollo games were held. Finally, we made it back to Athens, found the best Baklava I have ever eaten, and then jumped on our flight Italy the day before a huge riot broke out.
Take a look at the highlights from that week:
