Peephutpmei: A Cambodian Restaurant in Lowell

The entrance sign

    Something that everyone told me before coming to college was that I would find many opportunities to be exposed to a wide variety of cultures. As someone who came to school from a small, ethnically-limited  town in New York, I was especially intrigued by the promise of expanding my cultural boundaries. What I didn’t realize, however, was that culture can be learned about in very interesting and even subtle ways. For example, I never thought that going to a ethnic restaurant would be considered as engaging with a new culture; I guess a life of seeing Chinese buffet restaurants had numbed me to that idea. Recently, however, an experience with a foreign restaurant changed my mind about that idea. My recent visit to a Cambodian restaurant known as Peephuptmei has given me an insight into Lowell’s Cambodian culture (and given me some good food to boot).

    

A look at one of the ads

    I wasn’t really sure what to expect from the Cambodian restaurant, in all honesty. While my palate isn’t very diverse ethnically speaking, I’ve still had a taste of a good amount of foods from China. Ireland, Great Britain, and Spain. Even with this experience, I had never eaten any Cambodian food; I didn’t even have an idea of what it would taste like. I wasn’t expecting some kind of food that would taste completely different than anything I had ever had in my life, but at the same time, I wasn’t quite sure what other foods I had eaten in my life to compare it to. Because of this, my expectations for the Cambodian restaurant were rather flexible.

    

    My expectations became even more flexible when my friends and I arrived at Peephuptmei. The sign above the entrance had something written in Khmer (I’d assume it was the name of the restaurant). There were posters on the windows advertising multiple kinds of smoothies and even screenings of Cambodian films (again, all in Khmer). The interior of the restaurant was even more intriguing; many objects in the building were kind shade of pink or green. All of the cold drinks (except for the smoothies) were sold in a big refrigerator, the tables and chairs were arranged less like a normal restaurant and more like a communal space, what I would assume to be Cambodian pop played in the background, and the TV played what appeared to be scenes from some Cambodian version of American Idol. Suffice it to say, the atmosphere of the restaurant was certainly interesting, but at the same time, it was very inviting. The people who ran the restaurant were all very nice, and the restaurant as a whole was very clean. Based on these initial impressions, I was looking forward to the meal.

    

    When we finally got our meals, however, I was rather surprised to see how similarly they resembled and tasted like foods that I had seen and eaten before. Granted, that is in no way a criticism, but it made me realize how unrealistic the expectations that I had were. I shouldn’t have been expecting some incredibly different, otherworldly-looking food, I should have been expecting a good meal and inviting atmosphere; the tenets of a quality eating experience are always the same, no matter where you eat it and who made it. In that respect, the meal was quite delicious; I ordered Cambodian beef strips and white rice, and it was probably the best meal I had that week. The meat wasn’t too rough to eat off the stick it came on, and the rice tasted excellent as well. The other people that I went with ordered things like noodles mixed with vegetables and traditionally prepared soups, and their opinions of their meals was just as positive as mine. Later on in the meal, one of my friends received an avocado smoothie and another got a strawberry smoothie. While I tend not to like smoothies very much (they can be too sweet for my tastes), I was quite surprised by their tastes. They both managed to be very refreshing without being too watery and sugary, all while maintaining the taste of whatever they were trying to imitate. All together, it was a very pleasant dining experience.

    

    Overall, I would certainly recommend Peephuptmei to anyone in Lowell looking to expand their minds when it comes to food and dining experiences. The food was great, the surroundings were intriguing, and it makes you want to come back for more. I know I will certainly be visiting the restaurant again in the future.

   

A Weekend with Howard Levy: UMass Lowell Workshops

      One of the things that I’ve learned since coming to college is that, while I’m not a terrible musician, I still have a long ways to go if I want to become as great of a professional musician as the famous musicians today. Even though I don’t have any plans of performing for a living, I do think it’s important for any person working in music to have as good of an understanding of music that they can. In order for a person to become better at music (or anything in life), however, there are usually two things that one can do; either practice, or learn from someone who is proven to know their field. In the case of the latter, it’s sometimes hard to find someone to learn from, but when you do, the knowledge that one can gain is invaluable. I recently learned this in a series of workshops with Howard Levy, who is known for playing harmonica with Bela Fleck and the Flecktones. Being a part of Howard Levy’s workshops has helped me to become a better musician and appreciate the opportunities to grow here in Lowell.

The stage of the workshop (Levy on piano)

      My intentions of going to these workshops were to gain experience, but not in the way one would expect. Recently, I had landed a job as part of the technical staff in Durgin Hall. I thought that working as part of a tech crew would give me a lot of experience and knowledge for live sound and general technical setup, and this particular job would give me expertise in setting up equipment for a major talent.

      
      In all honesty, I was not very familiar with Howard Levy before working. I had only heard his name in passing and in reference to Bela Fleck (who I had heard of). That’s not to say he was a relative unknown to me; my parents are big fans of his work, both with Bela and on his own. My father in particular is a big fan of Levy; when I told him that I would be tech work for his workshops, he became very excited, telling me stories of listening to the Flecktones’ albums with friends and family. With this in mind, I was intrigued to see Levy live and in person.

      
      After setting up the stage in one of Durgin’s recital halls, Howard Levy arrived and got accustomed to the stage, and the workshop began. There wasn’t much more work to after getting everything set, so I was able to watch the workshop. As an introduction, Levy went over who he was and his musical experience, but it was when he began playing the piano and harmonica that people truly took notice. There have been plenty of times in my life when I have been humbled by another musician, and this was certainly one of them. Suffice it to say, the man’s skill on both instruments is impeccable. His piano playing was precise and complex, and his harmonica playing was particularly impressive; I had never thought of the harmonica of a complex instrument, but Levy definitely proved me wrong. The ways that he incorporated breath and throat noises into playing the harmonica made it sound as if he was conducting a orchestra of small horns. Just from this one introduction, I knew that the audience and I were in for something great.

      
      I mentioned before about being humbled by Levy’s playing, but I became even more humbled by his knowledge of music that he shared with us. Over the course of the four workshops he held during the weekend, he went over concepts that were as simple as playing separate patterns with left and right hands on the piano to as complex as polyrhythms (two rhythms added and played together) to improvisation based mainly on Western and Indian styles. He also gave out sheet music for some of his pieces that he had performed with various groups, including one called “Sweet Pomegranates.” He kept saying that he was attempting to cram weeks’ worth of teaching into four three-hour sessions, and while some topics were difficult to fully grasp, it was aminly a feeling of wanting to incorporate this knowledge into all of our music; it was almost like Christmas day, but for musicians. He also managed to keep things interesting with anecdotes about his time with the Flecktones and other groups.

      
      Overall, each of this workshops with Howard Levy were both enjoyable and mind-opening, a real treat being able to observe a truly gifted musician express his knowledge of what he loves doing. If anything, it helped affirm every student’s desire to become professional musicians in some way. I am incredibly glad that I was able to attend thes workshops, and I implore everyone reading this to seek out more knowledge about Levy if they don’t already know him.