On the first night of Hanukkah

"On the first night of Hanukkah my true love gave to me...one spinach artichoke dip."

Blogamos.

This is my and Michelle's attempt to write a joint blog entry. Tonight we celebrated the first night of Hanukkah. Finding ourselves at a local pub, for local grub. Stephanie had ordered too much, and needed a take-out bag. (Unfortunately, the box was styrofoam - but she couldn't waste the food.) As we exited the pub, out on to the icy death trap sidewalks of the Upper West Side, a man approached us a few blocks out. From the man's appearance and begging eyes, we anticipated the ubiquitous request for money. To our pleasant surprise, he sped through his words to ask for one simple thing: the food in our take-out container. Without a moment's hesitation, we handed him the food. He thanked us kindly. And we continued on in our separate directions.

Some people truly rely on the kindness of strangers to satisfy their hunger. Living in NYC, it can be easy to ignore the beggars who ask for only money, or reject your food offers. However, tonight our eyes were opened to the fact that some people really do need our help (and our spinach artichoke dip).

NOTE to New Yorkers: Don't let your leftovers go to waste; your leftovers may just be another person's dinner.