CULTURE
April 12, 2017
Page 21
Emma’s Eats | Emma Fingleton
Dessert Goals Festival is a Piece of Cake
Dessert Goals is a festival that gathers some of the most wellknown and up-and-coming bakeries, ice cream shops and candymakers under one roof. What would be a diabetic’s worst night was a dream come true for me. Created by two friends who decided NYC needed a Smorgasburg-like festival devoted to desserts, this March’s festival was its second event after its inception last fall. I attended the two-day pop-up event in Brooklyn on March 25 and probably consumed more sugar in an hour than many people consume in a month: worth it. Almost two dozen vendors served dessert with roots from all over the globe, from the Japanesestyle ice cream in fish waffle cones at Taiyaki to churro s’mores from the Spanish restaurant Boqueria to Belgian chocolate mousse from Brooklyn-based Johan. My inner glutton was excited to try desserts from every stand, and I started with a matcha cone from Taiyaki. I already wrote about them in a previous column, and I could not resist its creamy soft serve and warm (and photogenic) fish waffles. Van Leeuwen’s ice cream bon bons, made exclusively for the event, were fantastic. Their ice cream always has very clean, pure flavors. The bon bon, a salted caramel enrobed in dark chocolate, was a gourmet version
of a Klondike bar. (Note: I noticed few vegan options overall, but Van Leeuwen offered a vegan flavor as well as vegan brownies. I have had the vegan ice cream several times before, and it is the best I have tried out of vegan ice creams in the city.) Silk Cakes’ offerings were arguably the most beautiful of the whole event. Delicate “Sakura blossom” mousse cakes and pastel almond layer cookies arranged on tea stands created a crowd of people elbowing each other for a picture. The almond cookies, essentially more elegant versions of Italian-American rainbow cookies, were perfectly layered with jam and chocolate. Around the corner, Underwest Donuts was offering many of its popular cake donut flavors. I snagged a delicious quarter of the special Dessert Goals donut, a funfetti donut with salted caramel, cotton candy and a chocolate glaze. Another highlight was realizing there were more vendors on the rooftop, including delicious twists on peanut butter cups from Jessie’s Nutty Cups and exquisitely decorated cake pops from Rebecca’s Cake Pops. Brigadeiros, Brazilian truffles made with sweetened condensed milk, were my favorite new item I sampled; they were rich, chocolatey and so cute when rolled in sprinkles. However, the mochi ice
cream from Mochidoki did not work texturally; the chewy outside did not have a strong matcha flavor, and the ice cream interior was too cold considering you had to bite into it. Guests pay a nominal fee to enter Dessert Goals, which includes access to the Dylan’s Candy Bar sponsored candy bar, the scenic rooftop area and the garden. Obviously the organizers know their audience, as everyone there was under thirty and had their phones in one hand, desserts poised in the other. Not only were the dessert vendors curated, but the space itself was very welldesigned, with inflatable donuts and Instagram-worthy balloons spelling out “Dessert Goals” welcoming the crowds, gummy bear chairs on the rooftop and a clever “Salt Bar” full of pretzels and other snacks to cleanse the palate. The atmosphere was very exuberant and youthful; after all, it is an event devoted to overindulgence. Each vendor was so friendly and willing to answer questions about the desserts, which was great because many of the vendors offered sweets I had never tried before, like ice cream-filled mochi and dragon fruit bowls. My only regret was not sneaking in a container to smuggle some dessert home. Even I have my limits when it comes to sugar, and unfortunately I could not try ev-
erything, such as the macarons from Stache of Goods and the ring dings from Ring Ding Bar. However, I definitely am looking forward to attending the event when it comes back to NYC and seeing which vendors are chosen next.
If you didn’t get a chance to check it out this year, do not worry, the team behind the festival just announced Dessert Goals is hitting LA this June, and it will be back again, probably by next fall. Remember, dessert is always a good idea.
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Like many things in New York City, the Dessert Goals Festival was over-the-top.
Review | Film
Parallel Game Illuminates Forgotten Baseball Players By GRACE MULLEN
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Now that the baseball season has officially begun, fans across the nation are undoubtedly anticipating the skillful plays and thrilling games that await them in the coming months. Yet, while most people have turned their attention toward the future, a group of Fordham students got the chance to recognize some of the great baseball players of the past. In February, the members of the West Wing Integrated Learning Community were invited to explore the legacies of athletes often left in the footnotes of sports history. The Parallel Game, a documentary produced by Eric Newland and Fordham alum George
Dalton, presented students with an in-depth examination of the Negro Leagues and their profound influence on the world of baseball. The film began with a look at the origins of Negro League baseball and the social tensions that led to its inception. Established during the days of Jim Crow and racial segregation, the Negro Leagues were of the utmost importance to black communities throughout the United States. According to filmmakers, because so much of the public sphere was considered “off-limits” to African Americans, they decided to establish their own social spaces, including churches, music clubs and, of course, baseball teams. Described during the documentary as “the
jazz version of baseball,” the Negro Leagues served not only as a representation of the black community within the athletic world, but also a reinvention of the game itself. The documentary screening was immediately followed by a discussion between Newland and Dr. Mark Naison, a professor of African American studies at Fordham. Newland, who described The Parallel Game as a major passion project of his, shared his experiences with the production of the short film, for which he interviewed dozens of historians, public figures, and athletes, including several retired Negro League players. In addition, Naison gave a deeper commentary on the radical significance of the Negro Leagues in both developing a distinctly
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The documentary Parallel Game gives light to the Negro Leagues that remain a major yet little-known part of American history.
black community and breaking the racial boundaries that divided American society. In general, The Parallel Game offers a thought-provoking take on the central role of baseball in American life and its direct implications for black communities. The film successfully establishes the world in which its events unfurl, presenting its audience with a sweeping view of the social climate of mid-twentieth century America that made the Negro Leagues so essential. Yet in taking a more comprehensive approach to such a rich history, the documentary ultimately fails to expand upon the more compelling perspectives that were reflected in the film’s closing interviews, many of which contained first-hand accounts of life as a player in the Negro Leagues. However, Newland and Dalton are not yet finished with the stories of these sports legends. The trials faced and victories won by black baseball players will soon be depicted, albeit fictionally, in the upcoming television series “Smoke Town,” which is currently being optioned for production by studios in Los Angeles. By grounding the story of Negro League baseball and its nationwide impact in personal narratives and interactions, the producers hope to offer audiences across America a more intimate, in-depth view of Black community life in such a tumultuous social climate. The film was generally well re-
ceived among many of the West Wing Scholars. Andrew Seger, FCRH ’19, shared his educating experience with the film.“I think it was a really thoughtful documentary that [Newland] clearly did his research and tried to really shed light on this one perspective of black culture that really isn’t talked about, but is something that was really important throughout history. So I’m glad we got to see it.” As a visual arts major, Mary Kate Magee, FCRH ’19, focused more on the production value of the documentary. “The film did an excellent job of piecing together baseball history from a usually unseen angle, and did so in a very visually pleasing way,” Magee said. My one critique is that the film’s false ending came at an awkward time and did nothing beneficial for the storytelling, but otherwise it was a great film with a valuable message. Overall, The Parallel Game grants its audience a chance to take a second look at sports history and acknowledge the stories of athletes kept too long on the sidelines. By establishing the profound impact of the Negro Leagues on contemporary baseball and its players while arguing on behalf of its central role in black community life and the search for equality, The Parallel Game encouraged the West Wing Scholars to develop a deeper appreciation for the untold stories of these ground-breaking black figures in American history.