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.... 

crown maple syrup

A few weekends ago, Kurt's parents were in town for a visit. They come pretty often, so we're always trying to find new and interesting things to do with them in the area. Kurt and his dad have been geeking out over maple syrup all winter/spring, so we found a farm (aka a 'sugar bush' so I'm told) to visit a couple hours outside the city.

We had a tour scheduled for early afternoon but took a wrong turn (we're on a bridge?! what are we doing on a bridge?!) that delayed us a bit. Kurt called the farm and they graciously agreed to let us come to the later tour, so we had some time to kill and stopped for lunch in Cold Spring, New York. It was a cute little town with antique shops and local cafes. It's an easy Metro North stop outside the city, so we might have to go back to explore sometime.

Finally, we arrived at Madava Farms for our tour!

Driving up to the farm, you can see all the maple trees with taps and a complex network of tubes to collect the sap. 

On the tour we got to learn all about the sap collection and how it gets made into maple syrup. Our tour guides were incredibly nice and very knowledgable. Kurt and his dad even got to pick the brain of the head 'syrup engineer' (I just made that up. I don't really know his title.) and chat about their own homemade syrups. 

They have a pretty state of the art operation for a relatively new farm. The term "reverse osmosis" was used and made me look at maple syrup in a whole new light.

After the tour, we got to do a tasting of all Crown Maple's different varieties: Light Amber, Medium Amber, Dark Amber, Extra Dark, and Maple Sugar. After a few tastes, it was hard to tell them apart but they were all delicious. Our tour guides gave lots of ideas for using syrup in recipes beyond the basic pancakes and waffles. I'm excited to try some maple syrup cocktails.

I also want to get my hands on the Crown Maple + Mast Brothers Chocolate collaboration! I'm kicking myself for not buying a bar while we were there.

We had a really great time visiting the farm (I know Kurt and his dad were beside themselves with glee) and would suggest it as a fun little jaunt outside the city. It's not too far from Dia:Beacon, so you could easily make an Upstate NY day of it!

**Kurt would like to emphasize the point that both he and his dad made maple syrup this spring. In his first year of production, Kurt collected his sap from an undisclosed location and boiled it down in our Brooklyn kitchen. [I had the pleasure of cleaning up a few sugary messes and having every single pot we own occupied constantly. Thankfully the season is short.] Kurt's dad has been making maple syrup for years at home in Ohio. He even brought a sample to share with Madava Farm's 'head syrup engineer' who was very impressed. While Kurt's parents were in town, we also had a pancake breakfast to test which Martig makes the best syrup. Better luck next year, Kurt.**

mack attack!

Way back in the summer, my friend Mackenzie came to visit from Alabama. As with all visitors, there was a bit of drinking, lots of good food (Big Gay Ice Cream, Co., Grey Dog, Smorgasburg), a couple ferry voyages (including a private ride on the Ikea ferry), some against her will Citibike-ing, and lots and lots of walking. The weekend even turned into a bit of an Auburn architecture reunion. I hope you had a good time, Mack! Come back soon!

One afternoon Kurt and I skipped away from the touring and walked around Long Island City. We checked out the LIC Flea and took a nap along a waterfront park. After taking the East River Ferry to DUMBO, we had some relaxing beers at Brooklyn Bridge Park's pop-up pool. Oh, how I miss summer!!!