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LOCAL SPIRIT: Holiday makers enjoy a cocktail at Ku De Ta on Bali's Seminyak Beach.

Pastry chef Will Goldfarb is living every stressed-out urbanite's dream.

After several successful years in New York running a dessert-centric restaurant with a cult following, he picked up and moved to the tropical paradise of Bali and is now executive pastry chef at Ku De Ta, a restaurant and beach club with a cult following.

"[Bali's] local drinking culture is very sophisticated these days," Goldfarb says, adding that there's lots of fresh young talent working hard behind the bar to impress the international clientele.

The iconic tipple here is a spirit called arak. "The ultimate local beverage would probably be... an Arak Madu with honey and lime," notes Goldfarb.

(Not to be confused with arrack, an anise-flavoured spirit popular in some Middle Eastern countries, Bali's arak is distilled either from coconut palm sap or a mix of black glutinous rice and coconut milk.)

Although inexpensive, arak can be found at bars catering to locals and budget-minded tourists, Bali's more upscale restaurants and cocktail lounges tend to promote pricier rum and vodka drinks, mixed with tropical fruit such as mango and passionfruit, and Asian-inspired flavourings like ginger and lemongrass.

Fiery arak is usually available for the asking, though. (Stick to reputable bars though - homemade arak has been linked to poisonings of tourists and locals)

See the original post here:
Back to Arak: Bali's cocktail base

Andrew Schiff was sitting in a traffic jam in California this month after giving a speech at an investment conference about gold. He turned off the satellite radio, got out of the car and screamed a profanity.

"I'm not Zen at all, and when I'm freaking out about the situation, where I'm stuck like a rat in a trap on a highway with no way to get out, it's very hard," Schiff, director of marketing for broker-dealer Euro Pacific Capital Inc., said in an interview.

Schiff, 46, is facing another kind of jam this year: Paid a lower bonus, he said the $350,000 he earns, enough to put him in the country's top 1 percent by income, doesn't cover his family's private-school tuition, a Kent, Connecticut, summer rental and the upgrade they would like from their 1,200-square- foot Brooklyn duplex.

"I feel stuck," Schiff said. "The New York that I wanted to have is still just beyond my reach."

The smaller bonus checks that hit accounts across the financial-services industry this month are making it difficult to maintain the lifestyles that Wall Street workers expect, according to interviews with bankers and their accountants, therapists, advisers and headhunters.

"People who don't have money don't understand the stress," said Alan Dlugash, a partner at accounting firm Marks Paneth & Shron LLP in New York who specializes in financial planning for the wealthy. "Could you imagine what it's like to say I got three kids in private school, I have to think about pulling them out? How do you do that?"

Bonus Caps

Facing a slump in revenue from investment banking and trading, Wall Street firms have trimmed 2011 discretionary pay. At Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) and Barclays Capital, the cuts were at least 25 percent. Morgan Stanley (MS) capped cash bonuses at $125,000, and Deutsche Bank AG (DBK) increased the percentage of deferred pay.

"It's a disaster," said Ilana Weinstein, chief executive officer of New York-based search firm IDW Group LLC. "The entire construct of compensation has changed."

Most people can only dream of Wall Street's shrinking paychecks. Median household income in 2010 was $49,445, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, lower than the previous year and less than 1 percent of Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein's $7 million restricted-stock bonus for 2011. The percentage of Americans living in poverty climbed to 15.1 percent, the highest in almost two decades.

Continued here:
Bonus Withdrawal Puts Bankers in "Malaise"

By Max Abelson - Wed Feb 29 19:42:53 GMT 2012

Raul Belinchon/Gallerystock.com

Photographer: Raul Belinchon/Gallerystock.com

On the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

On the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Photographer: Scott Eells/Bloomberg

Euro Pacific Capital Inc. via Bloomberg

Andrew Schiff, director of communications and marketing at Euro Pacific Capital Inc.

Andrew Schiff, director of communications and marketing at Euro Pacific Capital Inc. Source: Euro Pacific Capital Inc. via Bloomberg

Andrew Schiff was sitting in a traffic jam in California this month after giving a speech at an investment conference about gold. He turned off the satellite radio, got out of the car and screamed a profanity.

Im not Zen at all, and when Im freaking out about the situation, where Im stuck like a rat in a trap on a highway with no way to get out, its very hard, Schiff, director of marketing for broker-dealer Euro Pacific Capital Inc., said in an interview.

Go here to see the original:
Wall Street Bonus Withdrawal Means Cheap Chex

One place to enjoy the local spirit ... Ku De Ta in Bali. Photo: Getty Images

Pastry chef Will Goldfarb is living every stressed-out urbanite's dream.

After several successful years in New York running a dessert-centric restaurant with a cult following, he picked up and moved to the tropical paradise of Bali and is now executive pastry chef at Ku De Ta, a restaurant and beach club with a cult following.

"[Bali's] local drinking culture is very sophisticated these days," Goldfarb says, adding that there's lots of fresh young talent working hard behind the bar to impress the international clientele.

Advertisement: Story continues below

The iconic tipple here is a spirit called arak. "The ultimate local beverage would probably be... an Arak Madu with honey and lime," notes Goldfarb.

(Not to be confused with arrack, an anise-flavoured spirit popular in some Middle Eastern countries, Bali's arak is distilled either from coconut palm sap or a mix of black glutinous rice and coconut milk.)

Although inexpensive, arak can be found at bars catering to locals and budget-minded tourists, Bali's more upscale restaurants and cocktail lounges tend to promote pricier rum and vodka drinks, mixed with tropical fruit such as mango and passionfruit, and Asian-inspired flavourings like ginger and lemongrass.

Fiery arak is usually available for the asking, though. (Stick to reputable bars though - homemade arak has been linked to poisonings of tourists and locals)

Batavia Arrack, distilled from molasses on the Indonesian island of Java, also may be found at some resort hotels; some historical-minded mixologists consider this an indispensable ingredient for punches.

Read the rest here:
Back to arak: Bali's 'ultimate beverage'

February 29, 2012, 1:41 AM EST

By Max Abelson

Feb. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Andrew Schiff was sitting in a traffic jam in California this month after giving a speech at an investment conference about gold. He turned off the satellite radio, got out of the car and screamed a profanity.

Im not Zen at all, and when Im freaking out about the situation, where Im stuck like a rat in a trap on a highway with no way to get out, its very hard, Schiff, director of marketing for broker-dealer Euro Pacific Capital Inc., said in an interview.

Schiff, 46, is facing another kind of jam this year: Paid a lower bonus, he said the $350,000 he earns, enough to put him in the countrys top 1 percent by income, doesnt cover his familys private-school tuition, a Kent, Connecticut, summer rental and the upgrade they would like from their 1,200-square- foot Brooklyn duplex.

I feel stuck, Schiff said. The New York that I wanted to have is still just beyond my reach.

The smaller bonus checks that hit accounts across the financial-services industry this month are making it difficult to maintain the lifestyles that Wall Street workers expect, according to interviews with bankers and their accountants, therapists, advisers and headhunters.

People who dont have money dont understand the stress, said Alan Dlugash, a partner at accounting firm Marks Paneth & Shron LLP in New York who specializes in financial planning for the wealthy. Could you imagine what its like to say I got three kids in private school, I have to think about pulling them out? How do you do that?

Bonus Caps

Facing a slump in revenue from investment banking and trading, Wall Street firms have trimmed 2011 discretionary pay. At Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Barclays Capital, the cuts were at least 25 percent. Morgan Stanley capped cash bonuses at $125,000, and Deutsche Bank AG increased the percentage of deferred pay.

Read this article:
Wall Street Bonus Withdrawal Means Trading Aspen for Cheap Chex