Time to Make the Bagels

Sundays are the day we usually have bagels for breakfast, sometimes with lox, sometimes with cream cheese... sometimes in the car on the way out of town...and sometimes at Murray's, our favorite bagel place in Manhattan. This past Sunday we learned how to make our own bagels and cream cheese at The Brooklyn Kitchen in Williamsburg. So fun! We took home extra dough and enough information to try this baking experiment on our own.

Selamat Pagi | Brooklyn

Bakeri

Discovered Bakeri while galavanting through Williamsburg this past weekend. A charming blast from the past. I could have sat there all day had there been a fan in sight. Instead, I grabbed a business card and took my iced coffee to go.

Mast Brothers Chocolate

Café Colette

"Babe, I'm gonna take you out!" Words that I love to hear. On tonight's adventure, Sara decided to take me to Café Colette, which is just across the river in Williamsburg. As soon as we rolled down Berry Street, I discovered my new found love for Brooklyn.

We arrived at Café Colette and the vintage charms won us over right away. With its green bead board walls, globe light fixtures, large mirrors and checkerboard tile, we felt welcomed back to an older era.

The drinks were well planned. I had a tequila based cocktail infused with pepper syrup, which was small, but outstanding. For starters, we ordered the fried corn (YES), which was covered in lime aioli, cilantro and crumbled cotija cheese, resembling Mexican street food. After thoroughly licking our fingers we started on the grilled sardines, which was the knockout dish of the evening. The sardines were marinated in lemon and salt, char-grilled, and coupled with the roasted vegetables. For the main course, we shared the brick chicken set on top of chorizo hash and potatoes. Needless to say, it was slamming. We finished the meal with peach crumble à la mode, which was large enough for us to share. Overall, an incredible experience, and one we would like to repeat again soon.

Building on Bond.

Smorgasburg.

Today we went to Williamsburg to check out Smorgasburg, a Brooklyn Flea food market.We were so happy to be outside in the warm weather that we didn't mind waiting in line at Porchetta for the slow roasted pork sandwich, marinated in herbs & spices and served on a crusty cibatta roll.

After that, in need of something cool and refreshing we mosied over to the People's Pops for a red-plum shaved ice. So good. Still feeling peckish we waited in line at Nana's for a frozen banana dipped in chocolate and rolled in shredded coconut.

Finally, we couldn't escape the market without grabbing a wedge of Dorset cheese from Consider Bardwell Farm.

Brooklyn Larder

When I was living in Park Slope, Ronak and I frequently drove back and forth between the two boroughs-- across the Manhattan bridge, down Flatbush, and right on 7th Avenue. One warm day we decided to continue on straight to Prospect Park for a picnic. We pulled over and popped into Brooklyn Larder, an epicurean oasis on one of Brooklyn's busiest traffic arteries. We grabbed egg salad & bacon sandwiches, tabasco potato chips and fizzy lizzies-- a combination that still makes our mouths water.

JULiETTE

This past Sunday we went to Williamsburg to see Kristen run in the NYC Marathon. We cheered her on from Bedford Avenue, and spotting her among the thousands of runners felt like an accomplishment in and of itself. As she approached us there were mutual squeals of excitement, and even after she continued on, we couldn't shake the pride we felt from her amazing achievement.


All that cheering made us hungry so we decided to eat lunch in the neighborhood. We happened upon JULiETTE, a quintessential french bistro filled with red flea market chairs, vintage metal signs and Ricard Pernod bottles. How could we resist? There was a bit of a wait, but after one sip of their deliciously spicy Bloody Mary we were pacified. We ordered the Banana Stuffed French toast, and while it was good, it just couldn't stand up to our favorite recipe. We also had the Omelette of the Day, filled with kale & jack cheese. The crispy potatoes cooked in extra virgin olive oil were the highlight of that dish... Oh and another highlight, they served Stumptown coffee.

Hello Fada

Ron and I went to The Renegade Craft Fair on Sunday in Williamsburg. We met up with Jenny, Erik, & ellis and when our stomachs started growling we worked our way over to the charming French bistro, Fada, located on the north end of Driggs Avenue. I recalled having been there before many years ago when Jenny was still living on Bedford Avenue (circa 2002). It was nice to see that not much had changed.

Even though it was very hot out (with a chance of tornado), we opted to sit outside in the garden. We were happy that Jess and Matthew joined us there later after having missed each other at the fair.

The menu was simple, with standard french fare-- croque monsieur, moules, salade nicoise... We were too hot for anything warm so Ron and I split the caprese sandwich and grilled chicken salad. Tasty, but really the atmosphere surpassed the food: chipped enamel tables, worn flea market chairs, painted beams in a provencal cornflower blue... It was a mini-trip to Marseille just before the rain began to fall.

Oxymoron Cafe

Cafe Regular du Nord is nestled on Berkeley Place off of 7th Avenue in Park Slope. The name of this cafe is its anti-thesis, as there is nothing 'Regular' about it. The decor oozes old world European charm and convinces you that it could have been here for at least a century. No details have been overlooked, from the dark wood paneling to the crystal chandelier hanging from a weathered tin ceiling... all done with utmost authenticity.

Even better than the decor is the coffee itself. The iced coffee was probably one of the best I've had (it was actually an iced cafe latte, but same difference :). The frothy milk on top tamed the bold flavor of the Latin American beans just enough.

The outstanding coffee & aesthetic of this cozy cafe really sets it apart from the rest. If we lived in the North Slope there's no doubt we would become regulars.

Van Leeuwen

Ron and I have seen the classic yellow Van Leeuwen ice cream truck parked all over Manhattan (Greene St, 23rd St, 14th St), but it wasn't until we visited Jenny & Erik in Greenpoint that we had a taste of this highly-rated ice cream. The storefront is really charming and the flavors are unique and natural. Jenny had the strawberry which was delicious and very natural tasting--the color wasn't even pink, but a rose-tinted cream. I ordered what I thought to be cinnamon, but received something closer to Red Hot-flavored ice cream. I passed it around for confirmation-- All agreed, it definitely tasted like Red Hots. Unsatisfied, I ate almost the whole thing anyway because I wanted to eat the sugar cone. Even though our first taste of Van Leeuwen ice cream wasn't as great as we had hoped, it will be hard to resist the call of the ice cream truck as hot summer days approach.