The winter holidays are my favorite time of year in New York.   From Thanksgiving through New Year’s, New York becomes a magical place.  The normal hustle and bustle of the city takes on a more festive beat.   Sure, the streets are even more crowded with tourists and there’s no such thing as a “quick trip to MACY’S,” but these are minor inconveniences compared to the fun and excitement that this time of year brings. 

As a 13-year resident of Manhattan, I had the opportunity to play tourist this year.  It was great!  Believe it or not, when you live in Manhattan, you rarely go to Rockefeller Center (we stay home and watch the holiday tree lighting on TV) or Times Square (we always plan our route around the city avoiding it).  But this year, I decided to dive head first into the holiday hoopla.

The humongous tree in Rockefeller Center is a must see.  If you want to get a good look and not be elbow-to-elbow with several thousand strangers, go late and on a weeknight.

If you’re in the mood for ice-skating, you can join the long lines at the rink at Rockefeller center or head into Central Park and cue up for a skate around Wollman Rink (a far better experience in my opinion).

There are decorations galore on the streets and in store windows – MACY’S, Lord & Taylor and the premium retailers along Fifth Avenue offer a plethora of holiday delights.   The best show in town is the Radio City Christmas Spectacular with the Rockettes.  It’s so corny, but you can’t help but enjoy yourself.  The live nativity scene at the end of the show is my favorite part.

Happy Holidays and may the New Year bring peace, good health and happiness to us all!

Claire

One of New York City’s biggest concerts takes place each December to kick off the holiday season – Z100’s Jingle Ball.  The concert regularly sells out Madison Square Garden in hours and attracts some of the country’s hottest artists.  This year’s roster certainly didn’t disappoint – the lineup included Taylor Swift, John Mayer, Justin Bieber, Jordin Sparks, Kris Allen, The Fray, Jay Sean, Boys Like Girls, Pitbull, Owl City and Ke$ha.

While music rang through Madison Square Garden on Friday, December 11th, several of my coworkers and I were backstage in the gifting lounge on behalf of our clients, 5 Gum and Hasbro.  The lounge served as the behind-the-scenes destination for celebs and VIPs where they could pick up goodies as an added bonus for performing.  At the 5 Gum table, guests participated in a guessing game where they estimated the number of sticks of gum held in a cookie jar.  The prize at stake was a donation made on the winner’s behalf to the Food Bank for New York City, so everyone took the game very seriously!  Isaac Slade (lead singer of The Fray) opened the calculator app on his phone to work out formulas, The Twilight Saga’s Peter Facinelli stacked packs of gum on top of each other to eyeball his estimate, and Connor Paolo of Gossip Girl inquired whether the rules of the game were like those of The Price Is Right (the closest without going over wins).  In the end, Jordin Sparks was the victor with the closest guess, beating out others such as 30 Rock’s Judah Friedlander, Dancing With the Stars champ Kym Johnson and American Idol runner-up Adam Lambert.  It was definitely a fun-filled day for everyone in the lounge – Hunter PR employees included!

Kaitlin

Hunter Public Relations recently commissioned our seventh annual survey to find out the most memorable food-related stories of 2009 and the decade.

Food health and safety stories topped the list for 2009, and childhood obesity was voted as the biggest story of the decade.

When conducting the survey this year, we decided to change things up a bit. For the first six years, we asked food editors nationwide to vote for the top food-related stories of the year. But in 2009, after consulting with some of our best media contacts in the industry, we decided to poll a random sampling of Americans for the top stories of the year. In honor of the decade coming to a close, we asked them to vote for the top food-related stories from the past ten years, as well.

We enlisted Wakefield, an independent market research firm, to survey 1,000 Americans aged 18+ via an email invitation and online survey.

Check out the complete list of survey results here.

As a self-proclaimed “foodie” and member of the NYWCA, I am both personally and professionally interested in the ways in which the food industry has evolved and changed over the past ten years.

For the Top Food Stories of The Decade, I was surprised that “Organic Food Becomes Mainstream” wasn’t higher on the list. (It was only ranked #7 out of 10). As a mother of two small children, this is an issue I encounter every day. Whether shopping at the grocery store, online or at the greenmarket, I’m always amazed at the variety of organic foods and brands available to feed my children and myself. Organic food is no longer a trend; it’s a way of life. At least it is in my house.

Amanda

Everyone knows I am a self-professed  “foodie” who loves checking out the newest restaurants, out of the way coffee bars, and best gourmet markets.  During my 20’s and early 30’s, I was practically a walking Zagat guide: always up to date on which chef was cooking where and the go to source for my friends and family for the perfect suggestion of where to dine.

And then it happened. I had two kids and all that changed.  Well, sort of.

Luckily, part of my job here at Hunter PR is taking editors out to eat at some of the most fabulous places in town.  But, these days I’m also on the lookout for great, kid-friendly spots to introduce (hopefully convert) my kids to the joys of fine dining.  When the two converge, it’s a huge personal victory. But, usually they don’t. Which brings me to my recent editor lunch at The Breslin Bar and Dining Room.

The Breslin Bar and Dining Room, which opened in mid-October, is located in the Ace Hotel at 20 West 29^th Street.  They don’t take reservations, which already was a red flag for me. With or without kids, I hate to wait for a table. To avoid the lunchtime crowds, we arrived at 12:15pm.  Although the place was at least half empty, they wouldn’t let us sit down. They said it would be a few minutes and did we want to wait in the bar area?  Well, it would have been fine to wait there, except there was not just one but two photo shoots going on, so we ended up standing in the corner until our table was ready. Now, if I had been there with my kids, we’d already be out the door and looking for the nearest Cosi or pizza place. 

We finally sat down about seven minutes later, and overall, it was worth the wait.  The room is very welcoming, with an old-fashioned, speak-easy vibe that I really liked. The menu is short, but well edited, though I wasn’t sure why three items out of twenty-three had Anchovy dressing. (Second red flag – no kid under the age of 8 likes anything with anchovies). I was also bummed because the one dish I was really looking forward to trying, Pork Scratchings, wasn’t available that day.  My oven baked three-cheese sandwich with house-smoked ham and pickles was delicious, though not “life-altering” as my dining companion had promised.  She had the Char grilled beef tongue sandwich with lentil soup.  She raved about the beef, but I declined a bite, and opted to try her soup, which was fantastic.   We also shared (though I ate most of it) the roasted pumpkin with pomegranates. The portions are extremely generous, so neither of us had room for dessert.

Overall, it was a fun (in a grown up kind of way) place to go for a hearty winter lunch. But, would I go back with my kids? Probably not.

Amanda

Even though I was born in Southern California, I never considered myself a surfer girl.  After all, I chose to live in NYC and pound the pavement, not the sand!  However, back in 2007, I became associated with the Surfrider Foundation through a beach-cleaning initiative hosted by one of Hunter’s clients, Barefoot Wine.  What I got exposed to was something I could not shake - surf culture!  It is the best of the laid back life - catching waves, going with the flow and not sweating the small stuff.  Some of the friendliest and more sincere people I have met came through a few hours spent at the shore.  Since my first Surfrider meeting out at Rockaway Beach, I had been looking for the right way to get further involved and start bringing this feeling to other people.

It was through Surfrider Foundation that I learned about WAVES for Development in Peru.  While it's a fairly new organization, its mission is clear - and refreshing.  Peru has some of the most epic coastlines in the world, yet the people living on it are too poor to ever afford the supplies/materials to surf it.  WAVES volunteers provide these materials and give local children the chance to hit the water.  When I dug a little deeper, I decided I had to be a part of it.  So, back in October, I headed out to Peru to lend a hand with the WAVES team.  What I got was a trip of a lifetime!

After landing in Lima, I faced a 17 hour bus ride to rural Lobitos.  Yes, 17 hours sounds horrible – and it was no picnic – but, my excitement helped take the edge off (plus the assortment of random, poorly selected American movies they played, ranging from dated romantic comedies to graphic, violent thrillers played in the wee hours of the morning).  Also, the three other volunteers who were joining me at the camp were also on the bus, so we shared the pain and got some of the initial introductory awkwardness out of the way.  I met Tom and Mark, two guys from Sydney, Australia who graduated college in May and had just embarked on a six month journey across South America and Billy from Kentucky, a man with an apparently very flexible work schedule and a thirst for gnarly waves (not available to him in KY!)

After arriving in Lobitos, we met the other volunteers already at camp, Tom and Ali from Melbourne, Australia, Jen from Houston, TX and Naomi (also from Australia), the program director.  We were also introduced to our project to complete during our time there, a surf board repair shack (La Choza de WAVES), designed by Tom.  The idea in building such a place was to provide the local kids a place to do quick-fixes on boards for tourists passing through.  This was just one part of a larger effort to empower these people who are quickly becoming a part of a tourist town – guiding them towards recognizing the fiscal opportunities there are when more people start coming to visit their shores!

Outside of the days spent building, we spent our time visiting with the local people to practice our Spanish, trying to cook with limited supplies (and usually giving up and eating cookies washed down with beer) and of course, in the water.  The Aussies and Billy all had experience surfing, but Jen and I were there to learn.  All dressed in my wetsuit and carrying a long board, I certainly looked the part.  But, even after a few lessons, I did NOT (I am sad to say) ever pop up.  But, even riding the waves on my stomach was exhilarating and gave me the motivation to get back out there.  And, on top of everything else, it was all happening in a beautiful place!

I am thankful to the folks at WAVES for giving me such a memorable experience in such a short amount of time.  I was only at camp for ten days while everyone else stayed for at least a month, and we maximized every minute.  I had an amazing time seeing a new part of the world and made friends for life.  I hope to go back some day!  See below for some pictures from my trip.

Marieke

Lobitos, Peru in all its glory

Working on the surf shack

Warming up before surf lessons

The beautiful beaches of Lobitos