Endless Knots

Ah, Brooklyn

Stunning day yesterday in the best borough. Step out the door and be entertained by the martial arts/music/dance practitioners of Capoeira, performing on the sidewalk on Flatbush. First two pics are the dancers/martial artists; third is their musical accompaniment.

 

Then truck on up the street to Grand Army Plaza where the Farmers Market is now in full swing. Here's just one stall with the most spectacular flowers and herbs.

And then there's this from a nearby street. If only I could upload the aroma of the first lilacs of the year.

Brooklyn's best

Have been collecting notes, via noshes, for great eats in Brooklyn and the outer boroughs, including the one that thinks it's the inner (Mannie), and so a quick round-up:

--Milk Bar, 620 Vanderbilt Ave, Brooklyn. First, coffee lovers, their Flat White, Australian in origin, is just a great cuppa. Then, the Mushroom Toast on multigrain; add a poached egg or two, and you'll come back again and again. As I have. Took some young friends of mine for a walk recently and as they decided to snooze, I settled in for quite a while, drinking said Flat White in the warm sun.

--Bierkraft, 191 Fifth Ave, Brooklyn. This place is so famous that my reviewing it per se makes no sense, but what's new, at least to me, is their serving made-to-order sandwiches on baguettes, none better than the home-baked turkey, that you can actually sit down and eat. Where cash registers once roamed, now there are benches and tables, all very down-home.

--Not in Brooklyn (yes, one does leave eventually) but on the spur of the moment recently, we went to Joe's Shanghai in Chinatown. Oh, boy. Order the soup dumplings. And the scallion pancakes. Enjoy the pandemonium and the other ten people at your table (communal seating).

--And a bit uptown from there and deserving of about 25 posts: Dirt Candy. Another impulsive eating expedition (aka dinner when starving). With one of my very favorite dining partners, we ordered and shared (I'm pulling these straight off the menu): Portobello mousse, truffled toast, pear & fennel compote (even better than it sounds), Crispy tofu with broccoli & broccolini, and orange beurre blanc; and Parsnip gnocchi, creamy root vegetable slaw, carrot crumbs. That I can remember precisely what we ate several weeks later, well, draw your own conclusions. Vegetarian delight and a thrill for the rest of us to realize just how superb eating can be without the customary sacrifice of animal.

Photo from special event in Boston

Walking on words

Library Way, New York
9 PM, March 4, 2010

 

There are 96 of these bronze plaques (Gregg LeFevre, sculptor) mounted in the paving stones along East 41st Street.  Was so busy taking photos in the dark that I didn't notice the NY Public Library until it was time to cross the street. There were dozens of candles lit on the library steps.

Eliza and friends at Verge Art Fair

It's Armory Show week in New York, which means there's art all over the city, including at Verge Art Fair at the Dylan Hotel.

From Forget-Me-Knots series, ink on paper, Eliza Stamps

There, you can see wildspace and the work of Eliza Stamps, known in these parts as Daughter #2, along with her colleagues, Emily Bolevice, Carissa Carman, and Crystal Gregor

Freda, the "breast whisperer"

Elissa Gootman's full page profile of "The Breast Whisperer" Freda Rosenfeld, the Brooklyn lactation consultant, in today's NY Times, is mandatory reading for nursing mothers, pregnant mothers, fathers of nursing babies, mothers of nursing mothers, and maybe even the babies themselves. I've seen Freda at work. Gold medal performance.

Cold turkey

Oh so very cold at the Grand Army Plaza Farmers Market in Brooklyn today but the purveyors turned out anyway, seemingly more than shoppers. Last week, even colder and with prediction of snow, there were only a handful of stalls, even fewer shoppers.

Speaks for itself (great turkey, btw)

 

What's that? Cauliflower!

Get your cold apple cider!

Eat your veggies

Yesterday's Boston Globe food section (lead article by Devra First, "Health Food Mecca?") was about the predictable: how to eat right after eating wrong. Many tofu recipes plus reviews of local veggie and vegan restaurants (yes, skeptics, you can now eat raw in Boston). And, apropos, last night, we had dinner with dear friends for which I made Mollie Katzen's triumph (and old-time family fave), Enchanted Broccoli Forest.

(Note to cooks: I made two versions, one totally heart-healthy for my friend, B, who has successfully lowered his LDL from 130 to 40 by maniacally eliminating nearly every calorie of fat from his diet, the other for the rest of us, which I souped up, as usual, with grated cheese and beaten eggs. FYI, I always use brown rice for greater texture, sometimes add lentils for more protein, and occasionally add sesame and/or sunflower seeds. Recently, I made it with broccoli and white and purple cauliflower. Basically, you can do anything with this recipe. It's delicious and beautiful on presentation.)

All of which is a perfect excuse to post these photos, taken just after Thanksgiving at the Grand Army Plaza Farmers Market in Brooklyn.

 

  

And getting shot in Brooklyn...

 

...in the best possible way. New York City has been offering free weekend H1N1 vaccinations at public clinics. Two family members went to get theirs this past weekend at a public school in Lefferts Garden.

Astonishingly well organized, multiple languages spoken, friendly folks providing the service -- and as previously mentioned, absolutely free. This one took place at George Wingate Educational Campus. Photos to convey what public health POD (Point of Distribution) clinics look like. Although not that many people were there when we went this past Sunday, 3000 showed up on another day in Manhattan.

Pregnant and nursing mothers, by the way, are able to receive thimerasol-free (no mercury - it's used as a preservative) shots.

Wingate School where clinic took place

Posters on outside doors

First you check in

Many languages spoken

Sign telling you where to go next

Offers of free medicine if needed

Or more medical advice

Green disks indicate that nurse is available to shoot you

 

Ouch!

A doctor is available at all times

In this case, Dr. Diana Berger

Adios!

A little bit of Japan in Brooklyn

We know a tree or two grows in Brooklyn but who knew that Brooklyn was the home of the first Japanese garden planted in a public garden in the U.S? My hubby snapped this shot of the pavilion in the Japanese Garden at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden on a cold December day, perhaps accounting for the sharpness of the photo. 

Bark! Bark! Bark!

It's Wednesday so The NY Times runs its best section - Dining. Today it features Bark, a hot dog restaurant in Brooklyn that is so good that I've gone there twice recently.

Photo from Bark site

Atmosphere is perfect for a place like this - very informal, high tables and stools, open kitchen where you can see the fries being, uh, fried...and, um-um-good: onion rings. I've had the Kraut Dog and, you heard it here, you don't even feel guilty eating it. For those who don't indulge is such terrible fare, go directly to the Veggie Dog (if you have no shame).

As has become the custom in such au courant places, the provenance of every item is printed on a card that stands on the tables - along with a sign not to steal the lovely salt and pepper mills.

474 Bergen, just off Flatbush, on Park Slope (not Prospect Heights side of street).