(upbeat music) - Here's what's coming up next on You Oughta Know.

A Delaware woman drops the pounds and picks up a career designing workout wear.

Plus, travel with me down this trail trekked by champions.

And see how art inspires food, that inspires art at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

(music continues) Hi there, I'm Shirley Min.

Thanks so much for joining us.

Art inspires our world, and that brings us to our first story.

the Shape of Time, Korean Art after 1989 is an upcoming exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

The exhibition showcases South Korean culture as seen through the eyes of contemporary Korean artists.

Elisabeth Agro and Hyunsoo Woo are the exhibition's co-curators.

- People are going to be able to see sort of the cross section of contemporary Korean art that has an important turn since 1989.

- [Elisabeth] Ranging from installation based work, three channel video, to works made out of ceramics and lacquer.

It's presented on one platform, so it's contemporary art at its fullest manifestation.

- And this exhibition has inspired the chef at Stir, the restaurant inside the museum, to create a Korean inspired menu for you to enjoy.

As you'll see, this next story is an example of art inspiring food, inspiring art.

(smooth music) On Arcadia University's campus, ceramics major, Angie Brewer is throwing clay and molding it into dozens of small plates.

The custom plates are for Hoon Rhee, the executive chef at Stir.

It's the restaurant inside the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Last fall, Chef Hoon reached out to Gregg Moore, professor of Art and Design at Arcadia.

Gregg is a bit of a rockstar in the ceramics world.

He collaborates with chefs to make custom dinner and serveware.

So, when Hoon asked Gregg for a referral, he got to thinking.

(music continues) - I thought this would be a great opportunity to integrate the process into curriculum, and thought it was a good fit for our students, our advanced ceramic students.

So, I proposed it as such, as part of a course for students to work collaboratively with Hoon.

(upbeat music) - [Shirley] Hoon commissioned the students to make about 80 plates, which will be used at Stir to serve Banchan.

- In traditional Korean meal, Banchan, you could say it's miniature side dishes, but they're essential to the Korean meal.

Trying to present a meal without banchan is just unheard of for a Korean.

Banchan can cover anything.

I mean, the most famous one obviously for Koreans is kimchi, fermented cabbage.

- [Shirley] Hoon, who happens to be Korean American, will serve the banchan as part of a Korean inspired menu he's developing to pair with the museum's exhibition on contemporary Korean art, called The Shape of Time, Korean Art After 1989.

- When we first met, he introduced the project as a way of kind of bringing an homage to contemporary Korean art.

I had Chef write down on post-it notes, parts of plates he liked and what part of it did he like, which rims did he like, which feet did he like, which widths did he like?

And kind of taking all of those pieces and kind of mushing together, which is what we're at right now is trying to mush those together into one cohesive plate.

(music continues) - Walk me through this progression here.

- Sure.

We wanted to keep it stoneware.

I wanted stoneware in the whole restaurant in general.

And you know, Korean ceramics has a history, long history of stoneware in the early years.

As you can see, as it moves along, you can see it kind of get darker.

The shape kind of, it tends to start to flatten out, and we kind of arrived at this happy medium.

By the time the students are done, it should be a combination of... - [Shirley] These three.

- [Hoon] These three.

And so, where you'll see the glaze color of this, the shape of this, and the foot... - Foot of this - Of this.

We would like the experience to be all encompassing.

We hope that the guest is able to at least get a taste of what the curators are trying to say through the exhibit.

I'm sure people have their own interpretations of my food as well, and create discussion, and create some sort of educational experience in all forms.

(upbeat music) - [Gregg] The trajectory of their learning for this was incredible.

They're not part of the exhibition proper, but they're a part of the experience.

(music continues) - [Angie] This plate has a lot of intention, even though it looks really simple just looking at it, once we start talking about it and the meaning of it, you start seeing it and seeing the subtle homages, and the subtle cultural significances too.

- The Shape of Time, Korean Art After 1989 opens next week at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and runs through February 11th.

Founded in 1975, the William Way Community Center continues to look for ways to meet the needs of the LGBTQ plus community.

(gentle music) - [Chris] William Way, we're coming up on our 50th anniversary, and in those 50 years, we've gone from being a small storefront center down in Queen Village, to in 1997 purchasing this space at 1315 Spruce Street.

And it's a wonderful location, both because it's central, it's accessible by public transportation, and it has plenty of space for our arts and culture empowerment and community connection work.

Our community center's meant to be welcoming to everyone whether you're an LGBTQ person, or an ally, a friend, a colleague.

And we view ourselves as one of the few places in Center City where you can go and not be chased out by a security guard, or not asked to leave because you're not part of.

We view everyone as part of what we do here.

So, whether that's coming in for a support group, or using our wifi, or connecting with one of our peer counselors, we love when the community comes in and takes advantage of our resources.

And I think many people consider it their second home.

And so, it's lovely to see LGBTQ folks and our allies have a safe space where they can come together in community.

(music continues) - We are the place to come for connecting people and referring people.

We serve about a thousand per month.

Our front desk staff, they're going to do their best to give a referral, or to find a resource for you.

Let's say it's a senior looking for housing.

Not only will they look for that housing or housing support for seniors, they can go to our elder initiative and they take it a step further.

- [David] The work of the LGBT Elder Initiative here at William Way really focuses on helping older adults in our communities to age well, to access the resources, the services, the supports that are going to help them as they grow older, and really define community.

We have a partnership with the John C. Anderson Apartments which is Philadelphia's only designated LGBTQ friendly affordable senior housing.

And so, staff from William Way help to coordinate supportive services for the older residents there, being a point for people to come to if they're having issues.

Beyond the Anderson Apartments, we've worked with a lot of senior centers, a lot of mainstream aging organizations, really to be sure that the institutions where people are going for their care, have the cultural sensitivities that are needed to really effectively meet the needs of members of our communities.

(gentle music) - It's very important to have this facility, because frequently some services that are administered elsewhere, they're not as kind and open to LGBTQ people.

I always feel very accepted when I come here, and also respected.

- [Riley] William Way became a great place for me to connect with other queer artists, and a lot of older artists too, who have learned the ropes, and who have been through the art world as a queer person.

Sort of teach me of how to navigate certain aspects of the queer scene in Philadelphia, and the greater art world.

- I remember a time when there was no community center, and most of the meeting that we did was in bars.

But we needed something bigger.

And so, the folks who envisioned the community center imagined a place for theater and performance, a place to come together to talk and hang out, a place to figure out our political agenda.

And so, over the years we've created more and more spaces within our building for the work like that.

We're at a time now where it's more challenging politically for LGBTQ communities, and so it's so wonderful that we have this safe space where we can push back against the opponents of equality.

- These next couple of stories may get you up and moving.

Body Built Fitness is the name of an athleisure line designed by a Delaware woman.

The idea came to her while on a journey to lose weight.

(upbeat music) - [Kia] How I got started on my fitness journey was with doing Zumba, that allowed for me to have a total weight loss of about 20 pounds.

What made me feel like it was time to start working out to get the weight off was I went to go sit down on the sofa and to cross my legs, and I couldn't.

I knew that I wanted to feel better, feel lighter, have more mobility and more endurance in all physical aspects.

We are at the Western YMCA here in Newark, Delaware.

I exercise between five to six days a week.

Sometimes that in includes two a day.

I may do an extra workout in the morning, sometimes in the afternoon, and/or in the in the evening as well.

My eating habits prior were horrible.

I changed my eating habits in a way that I ensure that I mostly eat plant-based.

(music continues) I drink a minimum of 100 ounces to a gallon of water a day.

I'm a firm believer that when we look good, we feel good.

So, I decided to design Body Built Fitness athletic wear because anytime I came to the gym to work out I always made sure I looked put together.

And that look of being put together and feeling put together provides enthusiasm, motivation, and most importantly, confidence.

What I have on today is my BBF Black Capri set, sold as a set only.

It has a built-in sports bra, high-waisted capri pants with duel pockets, pockets on each side.

Moisture wicking, there's compression.

Then also in the back, there's a pocket you can place your driver's license, debit card, keys.

Again, it's breathable, soft, multifunctional, and great quality.

My [Sorvor], Doctor Sorvor, Dawn Lewis, she actually wore an exclusive Zeta Dove set on our founder's day, and she basically described it as soft as butter.

Health is the ultimate wealth.

But we definitely have to find time for ourselves.

So, for anyone that's looking to get into shape, start, stay consistent.

But always, always do something, and I always say that the only bad workout is the one that you don't do.

(music continues) - Everyone knows that Philly is a sports town.

We often talk about baseball, football, basketball, and hockey.

But today we're focusing on a celebrated swim coach from Philly, who broke barriers when his team swam into the history books.

But first, I laced up my sneakers and I walked in the footsteps of Philly's own, Joe Frazier.

(upbeat music) Welcome to Boxers' Trail, located here in East Fairmount Park in Philadelphia.

The trail became a favorite spot for boxers to train, like Philly's own Joe Frazier, the heavyweight boxing champ from 1970 to 1973.

(music continues) The wooded trail sits above the Schuylkill River and Kelly Drive.

Boxers' Trail connects the Strawberry Mansion neighborhood to East Fairmount Park.

Along the trail, you can see some of Fairmount Park's historical mansions.

Come on, let's take a walk and check out Boxers' Trail.

(upbeat music) I'm here at Laurel Hill Mansion, built around 1767.

Rebecca Rawl inherited the land from her late husband, Francis Rawl.

She later married Samuel Shoemaker, and built a two story Georgian house on the land.

And the view of the Schuylkill is remarkable.

(music continues) (gentle music) We're entering the unpaved portion of the trail.

Oh look, there's a pretty garden up ahead.

(music continues) The trail has brought us to the Ormiston House.

This two and a half story Georgian mansion was built in 1798 by Edward Bird.

Since 2019, the Garden at Ormiston has held educational events and afterschool programs for the community, and adult volunteers, they plant and care for the garden.

(music continues) (upbeat music) The Rockland Mansion is a federal style house bought by George Thompson in 1810.

Thompson used it as his summer home.

In 1870, the home was sold to the city of Philadelphia and it is currently now the home of the Psychoanalytic Center of Philadelphia.

(upbeat music) Mount Pleasant is one of the grandest homes ever built along the Schuylkill River.

It was built by John McPherson, a pirate.

It was also home to Benedict Arnold, and his wife, Peggy Shippen.

However, they never moved in and had to sell it.

The estate was a working plantation from 1762 to 1765, and at least four people of African descent were enslaved.

All right, well that is it from me, from Boxers' Trail.

There is so much here that we couldn't cover.

So, I'm encouraging you to come on out, see it for yourself, exercise that body, and your mind.

(music continues) (water splashing) (Jim cheering) - [Jim] I grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Swimming became part of my life.

We were out on a family trip.

My dad and I were in a boat.

We were out in the lake.

One of the state parks out near Pittsburgh.

He grabbed me, threw me out the boat.

He said, "Swim, get back to the boat, and swim.

Swim."

And I didn't drown, but he pulled me back in the boat.

My mother was on the beach, and she wasn't yelling, "Swim, swim."

She was yelling something else to my dad.

So, all the way home they discussed it.

They enrolled me in a YMCA.

The very first lesson, the guy said do this, this and this.

And I did it all.

And I was swimming.

It was just like, it just came to me.

And I told my dad, I said, "Did you pay for all the swim lessons?"

He said, "Yeah."

I said, "You need to get your money back."

He said, "Why?"

I said, "'Cause I know how to swim."

I said, "I don't know what them other kids were doing, but I got it Dad."

He said, "No, you're going to finish the classes."

But that was it.

I was around 7, 8 years old.

It was a weightlessness, the freedom.

My imagination just took over.

That's how I got started.

Went to Cheyney University, swam on the swim team there for two years and they dropped the swimming program.

So, I pursued swimming wherever I could.

After the swim team dropped, I was life guarding at the recreation at the university, and a young lady told me her mother was supervising a rec center in Philadelphia that had a swimming pool.

So, I came in, took a civil service exam, passed the test.

I got hired, and we were in West Philadelphia, Sayre Recreation Center.

The gangs were prevalent at the time.

I wanted to get young men away from the gangs.

I said, you know, swim team is needed.

Once they would learn to swim, then they moved to the swim team.

That way we would keep them in the water.

And then when they get 15, 16, they become lifeguards.

Take first aid, and we would create a swimming community.

I wanted to do something that was positive.

I wanted to make a contribution.

(gentle music) Growing up, there were a lot of African American swimmers, and the good ones always got scholarships to go to a private white team.

So, when I started my program, I said, "We are going to strive to achieve the highest level swimming possible in our own community."

I think that set me apart from other swim teams.

And we did experience some racism.

We experienced some negative attitudes.

- Man, what's all these people looking at us like this?

- [Jim] But that one made us stronger.

That made us come home and swim a little faster.

- [Male] Look at that water.

That's your world.

You own that.

The race ain't over until you ain't got nothing left.

- [Jim] We were here to dispel a lot of myths.

African Americans can't swim.

Their bones are too heavy, they can't float.

And my whole program was if you give us access, then we'll have success.

So, with the Philadelphia Department of Recreation building that pool in West Philadelphia, that was the best thing because I had unlimited pool time.

I had parents that got involved.

I had the community support.

We had an experience that was like no other.

It just took off and grew.

(upbeat music) - She could always swim like a fish.

- [Jim] To have a movie made about me was very interesting experience.

During the whole process, I was like a deer in the headlights.

- I've never been outside of the Philly before.

- [Jim] I was just going along for the ride.

I was in disbelief.

When the movie came out, my life changed again.

I got to speak at the International Hall of Fame.

They gave me the President's Award, and then after that I started doing motivational speaking around the country.

We racing.

Swimmers, take your mark.

That gave me a platform to talk about swimming, talk about what we were doing.

The constant in my life, I was going to swim practice every day.

The constant in my life were the young people looking up saying, "Coach, is that all right?"

And our main goal was to put somebody on the Olympic team.

We are racing.

Did everyone understand that?

- [All] Yes.

- [Jim] Okay, thank you very much.

Take your mark.

This is Coach's elite group.

They're my special kids, and I demand a lot from them, and their parents.

I want the older kids to be role models for the younger kids.

So, the younger kids come in, they can't do everything but we give them things that they can do.

But they're here with the top group.

They come in Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning 5:30 AM, and they're back in the afternoon at 4:30.

And Saturday mornings we swim at 7:00 AM, and swim until I get tired.

And then I let them go home.

And with that, we still expect them to do well in school.

We expect them to have a social life as well.

We want to make them very well-rounded.

They keep me going every day.

In the bleachers real quick, let's climb out.

(soft music) My story's just not something that I did.

It's something that the Philadelphia community took up, and anybody that ran across our path was willing to help us.

I've been doing it for 50 years.

I didn't think I'd be doing it for 50 years.

50 years went by so quick.

It seemed like it was just yesterday I started, but the journey has been just fabulous.

(team clapping) Oh yeah.

Oh yeah.

Oh my goodness.

That's it for today.

Have a nice day.

- From fitness to food.

The celebrated rise of Park Place restaurant in Merchantville, New Jersey is the subject of a new documentary entitled Found the King of Matsutake Ridge.

His menu, inspired by what's in season, has customers lining up for reservations.

- [Philip] I grew up around the woods.

And then I picked food for the restaurant there.

(smooth music) The first thing that got me into foraging was the Maitake mushroom, which grow around here.

Working in kitchens and working for chefs, they weren't wild, what we were using, but being referred to as wild.

So, I was like, "I'm going to find a wild mushroom."

I get truly excited about matsutake mushroom hunting.

I mean, everyone you find you... (Philip sniffing) You know, I'll scream when you find them out of joy and excitement.

Today specifically we'll be foraging for huckleberries.

Nobody's figured out how to cultivate them yet.

So, it's a very special native plan for me to use.

I'm trying to get enough in these two weeks to be able to serve in February, or serve all year.

I'll puree it sometimes fresh and marinate a piece of meat with it.

And then I'll make a jam with the berries also and try and serve them together.

So, you can use it for savory or sweet applications.

Self-reliance is important to me.

I work alone here.

I forage alone, I prep alone.

I do everything alone.

It's a personal challenge for me.

We do a tasting menu only here, usually six courses, and it progresses with the seasons as nature progresses.

Shag bark hickory, different greens in the spring, ramps, mustard greens.

I've served over 200 different species of items here, ingredients.

I think one of the most interesting things I deal with is pine.

I'll use last year's pine needles, and make an ash out of them, and then crust venison.

I'll use the fresh needles and char and make an oil to pour over the dish.

And then I'll serve it with a matsutake mushroom that grows under pine.

So, for me it's a way to tie the whole ecology together.

I love the flavor and the smell of the ocean.

So many different things make up that.

So, I forage down that the coast to make my own sea salt.

Pick my own seaweeds.

There's some vegetables down there and beach plums too to get.

I forage with my son.

There's a mustard field that just got paved over, and he cried when he saw it, which made me cry as a parent.

It makes what I do now even more special, 'cause it's now and you don't know if it's going to be again.

But for now, it's now, in the season, in the moment, and it really is the terroir of life.

I'm very passionate about it.

I believe in it.

There's nothing else I want to be doing.

It's an art for me.

So, I try not to really figure out the art.

You kind of just have to let the art figure out the art.

And I'm just here as a medium in the art, which is nature.

- Diners picked Park Place as a must visit restaurant on Check Please Philly, which is back and serving up other local area favorites like this one.

(upbeat music) - My name is Thanh Nguyen.

I'm the chef owner at Gabriella Vietnam.

Gabriella is my daughter name.

That's my first daughter.

She 12 year old now.

I want she know I always love her and remember her in my heart.

I see like a lot of Vietnamese restaurant open, but they keep open the same thing.

Let's just do the same thing.

Menu, everything the same.

And for me, I say, "Okay, I will do different."

I do whatever Vietnamese restaurant, they don't have it, I will do it.

So, people will know more about Vietnam.

Here I will bring all the different dish, very popular in Vietnam to here.

So, whoever want to try it, they can try it here first.

So, when they travel to Vietnam, at least they know what is that and they don't scared to buy it.

My favorite thing to be in the restaurant is I can say it satisfy myself 'cause I love to cook.

That's, I think it's my favorite thing to be a chef.

And work in the restaurant.

- Check Please Philly airs on Thursdays at 7:30 PM on WHYY TV 12.

Well that is our show.

Thanks for watching and we will see you back here next week.

Goodnight.

(upbeat music)