Though our plan to have a bite at the birthplace of the hamburger was foiled, Katie and I decided to stay in New Haven and find a place to have a relaxing lunch. Just a short walk away, we found Istanbul Cafe, where we happily swapped grilled beef for grilled lamb.
1) Nohut ezme: humus and flatbread. 2) Yogurtlu kebab: grilled chunks of lamb with soft croutons and spicy tomato and cool yogurt sauces. 3) Adana kebab: grilled spicy lamb with rice and a carrot salad.
Anybody who's done the drive from New York to Boston on Route 95 knows that the stretch of highway from Stamford to New Haven, Connecticut, makes or breaks your your ETA. Between the bumper-to-bumper traffic and constant construction, a four-hour trip can easily disintegrate into seven, especially on a holiday weekend.
In anticipation of monster delays during my sojourn back to Massachusetts on Labor Day, I planned a little lunch stop on the way so that Katie and I could fill our bellies, recharge our patience, and let some of the traffic subside.
I had seen Louis' Lunch in New Haven, Connecticut, featured on Food Network a couple times because the place claims to have created the hamburger back in 1900. We were going to be in the neighborhood, so I figured we should give the mother of all burgers a try. But, of course, Louis' was shuttered for the holiday. Food destination denied...again!
I guess I'll just have to make another trip...
For my final Friday in the city (for a while, at least), Gary and Alan took me to Coney Island to ride The Cyclone. Oh...and to chow down on some hot dogs from Nathan's.
1) Bacon cheese dog. 2) Chili dog and cheese fries. Because why not, right?
Here's some advice: Unless you want to re-taste your hot dogs, hold off on the food until after you've ridden the rides.
On Saturday, Gary, Alan, and I did some island hopping in New York Harbor, from Manhattan to Governors Island and back again for a day of sun and free public art. (Doesn't it look like Governors should be possessive or plural possessive? Sorry. You can take the editor out of the city, but...)
It was the perfect day for an excursion. Unfortunately, it felt like a quarter of the city had the same idea. No worries, though: The wait was long, but the ferry ride was short.
Governors Island has lots and lots of old, institutional-looking buildings that used to be part of a Coast Guard base. It's kinda cool and kinda spooky at the same time. Several of the buildings had art installations inside. In order to get in, we had to sign releases stating we wouldn't sue if we were hurt or if the buildings collapsed on us.
This was my favorite installation of the day. It was pretty simple: a totally dark room with with two lights suspended from the ceiling. The lights cut a series of curved beams through the darkness, stretching from the ceiling to the floor. It felt like I was in a music video from 1985 (or someone else's near-death experience). I almost fell over a couple times in here...I guess it's a good thing I signed that release.
The boardwalk connects Coney Island and Brighton Beach. If you want Russian food, Brighton Beach is the place to go, but I'm not sure how authentic our lunch from The Winter Garden was. Borscht and stroganoff, sure. But lobster salad and calamari?
1) Lobster salad. 2) Calamari. 3) Lamb kabobs. 4) Shrimp and rice.
The food was really good, and the leisurely pace of the meal matched the setting perfectly. Watching the matronly Russian woman dressed to the nines and in spiky stilettos maneuvering the rickety, uneven boardwalk, with its gaps, loose boards, and half sticking-out nails, was great fun. I think those ladies are worthy of an Olympic sport designation: high heel danger walking.
Saturday was amazing--clear, bright, and hot. This little taste of summer in early spring got us in the mood for the beach. In other words: Coney Island.
1) It's easy to forget that New York City has beaches and that they're only a subway ride away. We walked over the bridge from Manhattan to Brooklyn and then took the train to Coney Island. (The whole return trip on the train took less than an hour.) 2) The season isn't in full swing yet, but lots of the the landmark places are open, including Nathan's. There was a line around the block to order hot dogs. 3) The countdown for the Nathan's hot dog eating contest has begun!
1) The Parachute Jump, or the "Eiffel Tower of Brooklyn." Back in the day, people would line up to be strapped into harnesses with parachutes, pulled to the top of the tower, and then dropped. The ride is gone, but the iconic tower remains. 2) Shoot the Freak is pretty much what you'd think. People pay to use a paintball gun to shoot a guy. The freak hasn't opened for business yet. 3) The Wonder Wheel ferris wheel. Whenever I see the Wonder Wheel, I'm instantly reminded of this scene from the movie Remo Williams. (It's one of the few VHS tapes my family owned when I was a kid. One of the others was Outrageous Fortune. The things you remember...)
We've already planned more trips to Coney Island for the summer, when the season is in full swing and everything's hopping--including the freak. Maybe I'll even get Jon to ride the Cyclone with me. But I'm not holding my breath.
On our final morning in Cranberryland, Jon and I had a big old breakfast at D's Omelet Shoppe in the center of town. I've written about D's before. It's the kind of place, were it in Iowa or New Hampshire, presidential candidates would visit to press the flesh and kiss babies during the primaries. But D's is in Massachusetts, so you don't have to worry about having a politician get between you and your home fries.
Jon and I headed up north to Massachusetts to visit Mumma and the family this weekend. April will soon be upon us (already!?), and for me that means birthday season. I can never remember what dates all the birthdays fall on, so I figure the safest way not to miss any is to wrap up all the happy birthday wishes into a catch-all visit up front. I asked Mumma if our visit would be OK to take the place of a card on the actual day, but she didn't say anything. Needless to say, I bought a card this morning.
While we're home, we're visiting all the usual places, including the (locally) famous bears on Lakeview Street. These guys were still in their winter duds. It's still a little too early for Easter/spring outfits.
Between Thursday's Turkish dinner and Saturday's German lunch and snacks, Jon and I are turning Manhattan into our very own Epcot Center. Who needs a passport when sneakers will do?
First stop: Glaser's Bake Shop, which--as Jon and I learned from Francine Segan's talk on the history of cookies--claims to have invented the black & white cookie like 100 years ago. As I've said before, I'm no fan of the b & w. Jon is, though, and he says this is the best b & w cookie he's ever had. We also picked up some Christmas and Hanukkah cookies. 'Tis the season, you know!
Jon's like my grandfather John: each could strike up a conversation with anybody--and talk for hours. Add puppies to the mix and forget about it. As we we're leaving Glasers, Jon and a woman who lived on the block started talking as they played with a pair of terriers parked outside the bakery. The woman said that only Glaser's and two other establishments remain from when Yorkville was a German neighborhood. So that did it. We had our theme for Saturday's walk. Next stop: Heidelberg for some schnitzel, spaetzle, and--for me--nonalcholic beer. (Query: Who would drink beer for the taste alone?)
Final stop: Schaller & Weber for some pretzels, chocolates, and marzipan pigs. Yeah...I'm not a fan of the marzipan. I should have gotten two packs of pretzels. Or some sausages!
We went for our Saturday walk but didn't realize that the cold, windy weather would make it a shorter trip than usual. We began with lunch at Centro Vinoteca, one of our new favorite neighborhood restaurants tucked away near the corner on Seventh Avenue and Barrow Street. I had poached eggs over a proscuitto fontina cake, and Jon had spicy bucatini. We went for a walk down Bleecker Street and warmed up with some hot cocoa from Bruno Bakery on Laguardia Place before dodging some Italian tourists' cigarette butts and heading back home. The tempurature didn't move past 30 degrees in NYC at all today, and the wind made it feel a lot colder. It should warm up a bit tomorrow, though, so stay tuned for Autumn Sunday!
This week's Autumn Saturday adventure began with some spotty weather. When the sky cleared up, we headed downtown and then across the Brooklyn Bridge, visiting some of our favorite stops along the way. We landed at the new Ikea in Red Hook, Brooklyn--the dinner at Ikea's cafeteria with its legendary Swedish meatballs and tasty deserts made the whole walk worth it.
We started the day off at Doughnut Plant, of course. This month's flavors include cranberry and Italian plum jelly. There were signs up that the CBS Sunday Morning Show is going to feature a story about Doughnut Plant on 11/23 at 9 a.m., so tune in!
As we were walking across the Brooklyn Bridge, the weather changed again from bright and sunny to dark and cloudy. Good thing we were carrying both sunglasses and umbrellas.
In Carrol Gardens, we passed this sign in a window at South Brooklyn Pizza. Fresh cookies during happy hour? Now that's a bar the Oatmeal Cookie Guy can endorse. We walked down Court Street in Brooklyn from Brooklyn Heights to Red Hook, where the new Ikea is. Forget the Swedish furniture; bring on the Swedish meatballs!
Mmmm...meatballs.
Mmmm...dessert. And mac 'n cheese.
After dinner, and meandering through Ikea's miles of furniture and housewares, we headed to the ferry. Why walk when there's a free water taxi from Red Hook to Manhattan? We ended up at the New York Water Taxi terminal on South Street and then headed up Broadway toward home.
Good thing we were so good on Halloween. We didn't snack on our own candy (too much), having toasted pumpkin seeds instead. We even gave our candy leftovers to our doormen. But Saturday was another story. We walked over the Brooklyn Bridge to enjoy some of the best sweets Boerum Hill has to offer. Oh...and we had dinner too.
First stop: Blue Marble Ice Cream for some cones. We found this place during our Summer Friday IV walk and were really happy to see it so busy. The people are really nice, and the ice cream is really, really good. Jon got maple, and I got pumpkin--perfect fall flavors, especially with the 60+° weather.
Second stop: Downtown Atlantic for cupcakes. We don't necessarily consider ourselves cupcake guys, but the window displays here had us, however momentarily, converted. Jon's cupcake was just like a Hostess chocolate cupcake, with the white icing squiggle on top and the dollop of sweet cream in the middle. My vanilla and coconut cupcake was a little dry, but I really liked that the frosting wasn't too sweet. I know...you'd think that the Oatmeal Cookie Guy would have a first-rate sweet tooth.
Third stop: One Girl Cookies for cookies, of course! The star of this plate--by far--was the pumpkin spice whoopie pie. The other stuff was just feh, but this a really nice place to sit, have a lemonade and a snack, and watch the puppies go by.
Last stop: Jolie Restaurant. (Hmmm...Jolie, as in Angelina?) We really needed to eat something meaty to counterbalance all the sweets we chowed down on earlier in the day. Jolie has really good French-inspired food and a funky outdoor space I'd love to try in the spring.
For starters, Jon got risotto with lobster and peas, and I got pear and roquefort soup. My soup tasted great, but it wasn't as photogenic as the risotto, so I Photoshopped in some parsley to add some color.
For mains, Jon got striped bass with potatoes and artichoke hearts, and I got steak frites with green peppercorn sauce. Yes, we did get a doggie bag.
What do Brooklyners do on a Saturday night? They bring out the stoop-lights, of course. We captured this nighttime stoop sale on Cranberry Street in Brooklyn Heights. On our walk back, I got a pic of these tube lights under the Brooklyn Bridge at the intersection of Cadman Plaza and Prospect Street. The lights are an art installation to celebrate the bridge's 125th birthday.
As Jon just said, "This is the time of year you want to eat a potato and take a nap." Our carb-venture began Friday night with ramen at Ippudo and continued into Saturday with--of course--doughnuts from Doughnut Plant.
As always, Doughnut Plant has season-appropriate flavors, including pumpkin (left) and apple spice (right) for the month of October. I foresee a pumpkin cookie recipe in my future.
Then on to Teariffic in Chinatown for bubble tea and more noodles--udon this time.
Over the bridge to Brooklyn Heights...
where we stumbled upon a movie shoot. No celeb sightings this time, though. Darn!
We wandered around Brooklyn Heights and Cobble Hill all afternoon, enjoying the crisp fall air and all the Halloween decorations. At left, Halloween scarecrows, pumpkins, and hay bales (!?) spanning the window sills of a brownstown in Cobble Hill. At right, a sukkah for the Jewish holiday of Sukkot on Kane Street.
We ended the day with an earlyish supper at little Polish diner called Teresa's Restaurant in Brooklyn Heights. Ahhh...the food of my people. Well, my father's people. Continuing our day of carb-loading, we started with potato pancakes with sour cream and applesauce.
Kielbase...and mashed potatoes! Beef Stroganoff...and noodles! Needless to say, we took a cab home to Manhattan.
This was the day we went to the Cranberry Harvest Festival to pick up my award for my Cranberry Crunch Cookies.
A flooded bog and a barn. To do a wet harvest, growers flood their bogs and then use machines that look like small paddle boats to knock the submerged berries off the vines. The berries float to the the surface, where they are corralled and then pumped out of the bog and into waiting trucks.
Here are some typical sites you'd see driving around Carver: bog after bog after bog and signs for Ocean Spray-affiliated cranberry growers.
When we got to the Cranberry Harvest Festival, we took a school bus shuttle from the parking lot, through the woods, around the bogs, and to the festival grounds. I got to take only a couple pictures before my camera died...for good. (Argh!!!) Here's a pic of Mumma with a flooded, berry-rich bog in the background and a pic of some berries floating in a bog. Unfortunately, these were the only pics I was able to snap at the festival itself. If you'd like to see how a wet harvest works, check out this video of a cranberry harvest in Nantucket. It's not Carver, but you get the idea.
In honor of Columbus Day, here are pics of our Sunday dinner of good old red-sauce Italian food from Mamma Mia's. (Yes...there we went again.)
Mamma Mia's has been an institution in Plymouth, one town over from Carver, for what seems like forever. When Mumma found out that Mamma Mia's was opening a restaurant in Carver and that it was going to be around the corner from where she lived, she practically swooned. We did, too, because we had our Christmas, birthday, and Mother's Day gifts figured out in perpetuity: gift certificates! We started with the antipasto. Cold cuts on top of a salad...how bad can that be?
My family--my grandparents and my mom and dad--used to make tortellini, or "tootalings" as I used to call them, from scratch. Tootalings in broth from Mamma MIa's is one of my favorite things in the world to eat, and baked ziti with melted cheese, thin slices of meatballs, and lots of sauce is another.
This morning, Jon and I explored some of the more famous roadside attractions in Carver.
First stop: King Richard's Faire. This Renaissance fair has been around for a long time, but geeze is it expensive! Now I know why I've gone only once before.
After paying $25 to get in, no kidding you need gas money. Hey, look...the Knights Templar! Symbologist Robert Langdon must not be too far behind.
Second stop: Edaville Railroad. Edaville is famous (in these parts, at least) for its Christmas Festival of Lights, when you ride on the unique narrow-gauge railroad and look at lit-up diaroma-ish displays. But in the fall, you can take a train ride through the bogs and enjoy the cranberry harvest and the foliage. I love autumn!
This gingerbread house is an example of the kind of lit-up sites you'd see on the train ride at Christmastime. Just imagine snow on the ground and a December-dark forest twinkling with tiny electric lights. This is what I think about when I think about Christmas. And, on the right, is one of the "classic" Edaville signs that's scattered around the town.
The day in food on Jon's birthday. (Happy 32nd, HB!)
D's Omelet Shoppe is the kind of place, were it in Iowa or New Hampshire, presidential candidates would visit to press the flesh and kiss babies during the primaries. But D's is in Massachusetts, so you don't have to worry about having a politician get between you and your home fries.
Though in Halifax, not Carver, BR's has the best pizza. Hands down. I said it once, and I'll say it again. The best pizza.
And finally, a stop off at Erickson's Ice Cream for some dessert. Unfortunately, Erickson's closed for the season last weekend. No black raspberry ice cream for me!
Carver's the kind of place that's got some pretty cool things in it...if you look in the right places. Well, maybe cool is overstating it just a tad. Maybe neat is a more accurate adjective.
Exhibit 1: Savery Avenue. From Wikipedia: "Also located in Carver is Savery Avenue, the first divided highway in America, which was opened to the public in 1861 by William Savery." We're famous!
Exhibit 2: the Lakeview Street bears. This carved, life-sized representation of "The Three Bears" is in someone's front yard on Lakeview Street, just around the bend from Sampson's Pond. The bears are lovingly attired to match each holiday--even Halloween! This is the kind of small-town wackiness you just can't make up.
More to come soon.
This was actually an autumn Sunday, but I didn't want to mess up my post titles. Sorry! I was still feeling a little under the weather, so we didn't venture very far, just up to Madison Square Park, up to Central Park, and then back down to Chelsea. The rain held out, and the sun actually came out in afternoon. Huzzah! But I was too tired to make my usual Sunday-night batch of cookies. Stay tuned, though...new cookies TK tonight!
At Madison Square Park, there's an art installation called Tree Huts. They look like tree houses to me.
Also in Madison Square Park is Shake Shack, the city's most popular burger stand. Usually there's a line wrapping around the south side of the park, and you have to wait for close to an hour just to place your order. On this day, though, we were literally first in line and got the first burgers of the day.
After we walked around Central Park for a while, we headed home but stopped off to gawk at a new super-luxe development and have cupcakes from Billy's Bakery. Jon and I are definitely cookie guys, not cupcake guys.
On TV they say, "If it's Sunday it's Meet the Press." But on the Oatmeal CookieBlog I say, "if it's Sunday it's cookie tastin' and makin' time."
First stop: Myers of Keswick for some U.K. treats. Look...oatmeal Hobnobs biscuits!
...and a sausage roll and pack of Maltesers. (U.K. Maltesers = U.S. Whoppers)
Next stop: Royale Cafe + Pastry for some cookie taste testin'. (If you like pink or are a cupcake person, this place is for you.) We got an Oreo, a chocolate chip, and an oatmeal raisin. The Oreo was on the dry side and kind of bland. The cream filling, though, really did taste like center of a real Oreo. The chocolate chip was OK--a good amount of chocolate, but the cookie itself was missing something. The oatmeal raisin was pretty good. I especially liked the kind of extra-plump raisins they used. This one had walnuts and coconut, which I haven't seen in an oatmeal raisin cookie before.
Friday night we watched "The Ride," one of our favorite Sopranos episodes, which centers on the Feast of St. Elzear in Newark. Talk about timing. On Saturday Jon and I walked down to the Feast of San Gennaro on Mulberry Street in Little Italy. San Gennaro is the patron saint of Naples, so you know the food is going to be good.
The sights. The sounds. The smells. You can get everything from fried artichokes to fried zeppoles. And everything in between. (Who knew deep-fried Oreos were Italian?)
You can have a sausage, onion, and pepper sandwich and then go for a ride on the Ferris wheel.
Bring on the fried stuff! On the left, a fried softball-sized risotto ball stuffed with ground beef and peas. On the right, fried ravioli filled with ricotta and parsley. (I wonder if Mumma's nonna made food like this.)
Jon helping me out with my ravioli. You can even get healthy, vegetable-rich food at the feast, including fried spinach manicotti filled with ricotta and spinach. (Well...it is green.)
Scene at the feast. On the left, nothing's free, not even the bathrooms. On the bright side, though, you don't need exact change. On the right, so that's how you spell "bra-zhohl."
Surf and turf. On the left, a raw oyster bar. (Eating raw shellfish from a stall on the street? You'd better say a novena.) On the right, yet another stack of sausage and skewered meat.
A day at the feast wouldn't be complete without some zeppoles. And neither would one of these Autumn Saturday posts without a pic of me stuffing my face.
Saturdays are walking--and eating--days for us. Instead of heading south and through Brooklyn again, we decided to mix things up and head north to explore the Upper West Side.
This light on the corner of 19th and 7th signaled both walk and don't walk at the same time. Walk, don't walk, walk, don't walk. ("My sister, my daughter, my sister"...) The light went back to normal right after I took this pic. Up in Times Square, we saw people setting up the "Broadway on Broadway" stage, and we got to be part of the "on-the-street" intro/outro audience (with Harvey Levin) for a taping of The People's Court and the show's new "raw" online segment. (More to come on this soon, but here's the gist: a woman and I had a debate about Kanye West.) Yup...OCG is going to be on TV...and the interwebs!
Time Square and court shows have been good to us. Back on election day in 2000, we got picked to be in the audience for a taping of The Judge Hatchet Show. We saw a case about a guy who was beaten with his own prosthetic leg during a bar fight and a case about a guy who set his girlfriend's kitchen on fire by trying to fry food in a tea kettle. Fun times.
Our first food stop was H & H Bagels. These really are the best bagels in the city. (Nothing like those frozen, skimpy, bready Lender's bagels Mumma used to buy when I was a kid.) These guys are a meal in themselves. A little crispy on the outside, warm and chewy on the inside. Perfection. If you go to H & H, you've got to buy your cream cheese separately and spread it yourself. The lines at this place can get so long that the clerks really can't take the time to toast, slice, and schmear individual bagels. Truth be told, these taste great even without the cream cheese.
And across the street from H & H is Zabar's. Here's a shot of the world-famous Zabar's fish counter. You can pick up some bagels at H & H, then head across the street to Zabar's for some lox, and then head a few blocks east to Central Park for a nice al fresco snack.
We stopped at Chokolat Patisserie, all the way up at 122nd Street and Broadway, as part of our our city-wide search for the best chocolate chip cookie. These were biggie versions of your standard Toll House chocolate chip cookie: passable but not outstanding. The more cookies we taste, the more we appreciate the cookies from Eleni's and City Bakery. We did get to rest our feet for a few minutes, though!
All the way up at 148th street, right on the Hudson River, we got our beloved chimichurri sandwiches again. The strip of Riverside Park that runs along the edge of Manhattan right on the Hudson River is one of my favorite places in the city because it's quiet, beautiful, and still undiscovered by tourists. After resting a little bit and watching the river for a while, we headed south again. If it weren't for the rain at 59th and Amsterdam, we would have walked all the way home. As soon as we got in the cab, though, I started nodding off and slept for over an hour when we go home. Never underestimate the power of a good nap.
Looking for something to do on a rainy Friday in September in New York? Go eat something! We stuck pretty close to home this time, but it was nice to get out--even in the rain.
First stop: A Salt & Battery for some deep-fried Mars bars. Candy bars dipped in batter and tossed in hot oil. Now if that's not a heart attack on a grease-stained paper basket, I don't know what is. These were super sweet but tasty. This is definitely a once-in-a-while kind of snack.
Next stop: Birdbath Neighborhood Green Bakery, a creation of City Bakery. This place opened a while ago, but this was the first time we stopped in. (They use "green," low-wattage bulbs, so you can never tell if it's open.) I had high expectations for these cookies because City Bakery is supposed to have the best cookies in town. (And you know what I thought of the raved-about cookies from Levain Bakery.) The oatmeal raisin was pretty good. I liked the texture, but I think it could have done with a smidgen of cinnamon. The chocolate chip was pretty good as well, but I found that the chocolate was too bitter and the cookie itself wasn't sweet enough. But these are among the best we've tasted so far.
Katrina, a reader, real-life recipe user, fellow food blogger, and true-blue chocolate chip cookie lover from Kansas, is planning a trip to NYC this fall and wanted to know where to go for the best cookies. Our usual Saturday walk was interrupted by some nasty weather, so we decided to stay local and check out as many cookie places as possible at Chelsea Market to do some reconnaissance for Katrina.
Chelsea Market used to be a Nabisco factory, but now it's full of bakeries, restaurants, and food stores. It's also the home of Food Network, though this is the only sign we could find today.
Our first stop was Sarabeth's, where we tried three kinds of cookies: chocolate chip, cloud, and chubbie ($1.50 each). The chocolate chip was a little dry and tasted Toll House-ish--in other words, just OK. The best I could tell, the cloud cookie was a standard chocolate chip but with almonds. This one was moister than the chocolate chip. The chubbie had chocolate and lots of walnuts. The texture was a little dry and on the cakey side. It was more of a walnut delivery system than a chocolate cookie.
Next, we got oatmeal raisin and chocolate chip cookies ($2.25 each) at Amy's Bread. These were pretty good, but they had an anise aftertaste that they probably picked up from being stacked too close to pizzelles or something. (Kind of how Mumma's cinnamon raisin bread would corrupt the flavors of everything else in the breadbox.) The texture for both was nice and chewy, and they had just the right amount of raisins and chocolate chips.
At Ruthy's Bakery we got oatmeal raisin and chocolate chip cookies ($1.35 each). Let me put it this way...if you're looking for a really good cookie, try a cupcake. Enough said.
Our last stop was Eleni's, where we got--you guessed it--oatmeal raisin and chocolate chip cookies ($0.75 small and $1.50 large). These were the best of the bunch (and the complete opposite of Levain's cookies)! These guys were moist, chewy, and tasty. I especially liked that these came in two reasonable sizes.
Jon couldn't wait to try out the places Pam and In-Young took me on Tuesday night, so this morning we planned a little trip to Chinatown on the way to Brooklyn.
Heading down Seventh Avenue--just across from Sheridan Square--we passed this scene. An art installation? The results of an overeager cabbie? Who knows, but I couldn't resist snapping a pic of this woman checking for a dial tone. (As Cindy Adams says, "Only in New York kids, only in New York.") Every weekend walk has to start with a stop at Doughnut Plant. But the place was shuttered, and our plan for a breakfast of doughnuts was foiled! Closed for vacation? Until September 5th? How could they!? Doughnutless, we headed for our next stop.
I must have told Jon "I think it's this block" at least three times before I found New Wonton Garden again. The food is so good and costs so little. These gigantic bowls of soup were only $7 apiece.
Noodle time...with chopsticks! And, as promised, I'm wearing the T-shirt that Pam and In-Young gave me. (Thanks again, you two!)
The next stop in our Tuesday night dinner redux was Teariffic for bubble tea and toast with condensed milk. Jon was so happy with his tea that he spent most of the afternoon talking about what we was going to order next time and the time after that...and the time after that. (Anyone know if there's a 12-step program for bubble tea?)
Our final stop in Chinatown before heading over the bridge to Brooklyn was at Fay Da Bakery for pork buns. Oh. My. God. These were dangerously good--the closest thing to linguica rolls I've ever tasted. Pam and In-Young raved about this tasty babies, and I needed to try one. Unfortunately, though, the bakery was closed when we three stopped by on Tuesday night. But it was open Saturday morning! The bun is slightly sweet and light as air. (It's very similar to the bready part of a linguica roll.) The filling was like a Chinese BBQ pulled-pork sandwich: a little bit sweet, a little bit savory, and just plain delicious!
And so, our bellies full, we waddled over the Brooklyn Bridge and up to Prospect Park. But with daylight shrinking, storm clouds gathering, and gnats swarming, we decided to take the train home. I hope it didn't rain on this bride's wedding day in Grand Army Plaza!
This is it...our final Summer Friday of the year. (*Sigh*)
We couldn't start a summer Friday without stopping by Doughnut Plant, of course. I had a white peach yeast, and Jon had a triple chocolate cake. We'll definitely be returning for "Autumn Saturday" posts as well.
Cranberry Street in Brooklyn Heights, just across from the Fruit Street Sitting Area and the Brooklyn Heights Promenade. (I'm from Carver...of course I'd live on Cranberry Street!) In my scratch-ticket millionaire fantasy, we'd own a brownstone on this street.
Sometimes you just need some lemonade and cookies. We got the perfect snack at One Girl Cookies in Boerum Hill. This place was much more our speed--and taste--than Levain Bakery.
You know when fall's a-comin' when the leaves start a-changin' in Prospect Park. (See...trees do grow in Brooklyn.) I took these pics near Dog Beach.
End-of-summer ice cream cones--blackberry for me, mint chocolate chip for Jon--from Blue Marble Ice Cream on Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn. Just the right the snack. This was such a cool and mellow place...I wish it was across the street from our building in Manhattan.
Dusk on the Brooklyn Heights Promenade as we walked home to Manhattan. At left, the Brooklyn Piers waterfall. (The pic needed a little something else, so I Photoshopped in a sprig of lavender.) At right, the Brooklyn Bridge and the Empire State Building. It's getting darker earlier and earlier now.
We were going to take another marathon walk through Brooklyn and back, but the weather forecast was iffy. So what to do? Head up to Saratoga Springs and bet on the ponies, of course!
Who needs handicapping? The secret to my success is betting by name. Case in point: I doubled my money on a horse named Casual in the first race. If we had stayed for the final race, my favorite pick for the day, Backseat Rhythm, would have payed out big bucks with 6-1 odds.
To beat the crowd, we left right after the seventh race and walked downtown through Congress Park. On the right is one of Saratoga's famous springs. When we lived in Saratoga in the summer of '97, we'd walk here after dinner and feed the ducks. Then we'd go to Stewart's for $1 cones (Raspberry Graham Cracker Crunch was a favorite), which are now $1.75...talk about inflation!
Jon's two favorite Saratoga houses. The house on the left is on Union Avenue near the racetrack, and the one on the right is one of North Broadway's famous mansions that's occupied only during the summer horse racing season. Every time we pass the house on the right, Jon talks about the time he saw a guy on the veranda getting his hair cut.
We ended the day at the Malta Drive-In Theatre on Route 9.
Summer Fridays in New York are nice and quiet and empty--perfect for going on a marathon-log walk and exploring the city. While we did make it from Chelsea in Manhattan to Prospect Park in Brooklyn, we didn't quite take as long a walk as we did last Friday because we cheated and took the train home. The sun really took the pep out of me. Maybe I should have had a second doughnut...
...from Doughnut Plant! Jon had the yeast vanilla bean (top left), and I had the yeast coconut glazed (top right). The breakfast of champions.
We stopped by 1 Centre Street again to see if we'd catch the Law and Order people filming like last week, when we saw Kathryn Erbe. (I was hoping to snag a pic of Chris Noth or Sam Waterston for Mumma.) When I saw Judith Light (top left), I thought we hit SVU paydirt. But then I recognized Rebecca Romijn (in sunglasses, top left) and saw the cast chairs (top right): Ugly Betty.
Crossing the Brooklyn Bridge. This time, I was the jerk holding up traffic by taking pictures.
As seen on the streets of Brooklyn: the Bed Bug Club in Boerum Hill and a white tiger in Park Slope. (Where were Sigfried and Roy?)
Lunch at Moutarde in Park Slope. Nicoise salad sans anchovies (top left) and a warm goat cheese salad (top right). The whole time I had Mumma's voice echoing in my head: "Ugh...goat cheese!"
Prospect Park. So empty, so wonderful! Jon and I spent the afternoon and early evening on the grass under a tree planning this week's cookies and daydreaming about Brooklyn brownstones. Scratch-ticket millionaires?
What to do on a summer Friday? Head down to Doughnut Plant for a blueberry yeast doughnut (top left) and a lavender cake doughnut (top right) for breakfast.
Walk past 1 Centre Street and see Kathryn Erbe (top left and right) during the filming of an episode of Law and Order: Criminal Intent. Then walk over the Brooklyn Bridge.
Traverse Brooklyn Heights, Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens (top left and right), and Park Slope.
Explore Prospect Park, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden (top left), and the Brooklyn Public Library (top right).
Traverse Park Slope, Prospect Heights, Boerum Hill, and Brooklyn Heights. Stop off at Bacchus (top left and right) in Boerum Hill for supper.
Walk back over the Brooklyn Bridge.
Head home to Chelsea through the Financial District, TriBeCa, and the West Village.
Rest feet. Write blog post from bed.
Yes. That tall, skinny dude is none other than John Kerry. The Fourth of July parade in Plymouth, Massachusetts, usually features local pols like the Registrar of Deeds (huh?), so I was really surprised to see a former presidential candidate and a current senator walking down Court Street.
The "Ex Lax Inc" building on Atlantic Avenue in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn.
How could I not take a picture?
