weekend in review

Visitors! World Cup! Food! Cocktails! All the makings for a good weekend. I was so happy to have Jessica and Eric in town from Alabama. They've both been to the city before, so they weren't too concerned with sight seeing at landmarks and museums which left lots of time for eating and drinking. Eric is a bartender extraordinaire/cocktail genius, so he had a long list of bar recommendations. We braved a monsoon on Friday evening to test a few of his Manhattan options.

Attaboy. No sign, no menus. You knock on an unmarked door and, once admitted, tell the bartender about your tastes and they craft something for you. Would you believe we ran into three other people from Alabama there?! Shots and War Eagles were shared all around (even though they were from that other school) and lots of commenting about the smallness of the world. 

As much as we try, one cannot exist on cocktails alone, so we grabbed dinner at Back Forty West. Pork belly and cheesecake rejuvenated us a bit to continue on to our next stop of the cocktail hit parade.

Pouring Ribbons. In contrast to Attaboy, there was an extensive menu at this place. Luckily, there was also a handy graph/matrix to help you pick your poison, directing you towards Refreshing/Spiritous/Comforting/Adventurous. I went with a Champagne something or other before Kurt and I poured ourselves in a cab to head home.

The next day was Brooklyn's time to shine. There are few things I love more than showing off my favorite borough and the weather absolutely killed it. Take that, Manhattan! Our first stop was at Shake Shack in Downtown Brooklyn. Guess what? The line was manageable, our burgers, beers, and cheese fries were awesome, and we got to sit outside in the sunshine. Win, win, win!

Next, Kurt and I were really excited to show off Brooklyn Bridge Park. 

Drink pit stop at Pier 6

Ice cream pit stop at the brand new Hay Rosie in Carroll Gardens. Whatever ice cream you get, you HAVE to get it smothered in the sea salt whipped cream. Amazing!

A quick stroll by the Gowanus Canal. What, you don't take out of towners to your toxic waste sites? Weird.

Cocktails at the Royal Palms Shuffleboard Club. It was really quiet for a Saturday, but it must have had something to do with the incredible weather.

Jessica and I in our cabana :) It was so fantastic to see old friends and catch up on all the gossip happening down south. Thanks for helping us explore our own city, Jessica and Eric!

After we bid farewell to our visitors, Kurt and I met up with a hoard of Italian fans to watch the Italy vs. England soccer match in Fort Greene.

Four years ago I lived two doors down from this place, so it was fun to watch a match in my old neighborhood and relive World Cup 2010. It was especially great because we were joined by our friend Michela who is from Rome (and getting married there in the fall!). She and all the other native Italians in the bar were incredibly passionate throughout the match and overjoyed when Italy clinched the win. Emotional Italians, who knew?

We had a post victory dinner at Habana Outpost. It got so chilly that Kurt and I had to drape ourselves in Michela's Italian flag to stay warm. I guess full blown summer isn't quite here yet.

I spent all day Sunday cleaning our badly neglected apartment and making ice cream. Kurt gathered a bunch of service berries from nearby parks which I mixed into some goat cheese ice cream (all credit goes to Jeni) and a yummy cocktail. Maybe I will get around to posting some recipes instead of just lame weekend recaps one of these days....