Cupcake Contest Take 2

Last Monday was the third annual cupcake contest hosted by Brooklyn Kitchen. This year's event featured almost 60 cupcakes, bakers, and testers, packed into Union Pool's backyard.


sister's "Fire Antz" aka spicy chocolate cupcakes
It was impossible to try them all - I think I probably tasted about 20. And I successfully paced myself, limiting my sampling to half or quarter sized bites of the cupcakes, so that I didn't end up with a tummyache at the end of the night like last year.


I didn't win anything again (the competition at this event is always so steep), but I was happy because I got a lot of compliments and my cupcakes were popular enough to have all disappeared by the end of the night. I called them honey babies just because I wanted to come up with some kind of catchy name, but really they have been likened to a great muffin or coffee cake with a light honey spice flavor, topped with amazing frosting. The maple, chopped almonds, and sparkles of sugar are what makes this cupcake sing.


I'm already planning my recipe for next year's contest...I'll definitely be incorporating chocolate.


Honey Babies with Maple Almond Frosting
Recipe:
9 tbsp butter
3/4 cup raw turbinado sugar
heaping 1/4 cup honey
3 eggs
2 tsp bourbon vanilla (bourbon steeped with vanilla beans)
1/2 tsp almond extract (optional)
1/2 cup milk
1 1/4 cups flour
1 cup ground almonds (1 cup of almonds ground in the food processor until it resembles coarse flour)
1 1/2 tbsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp salt

Frosting:
6 tbsp butter
2 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp bourbon vanilla
6 tbsp maple syrup
3 tbsp milk
1/2 cup finely chopped almonds
raw turbinado sugar for sprinkling

Butter two 12-muffin tins. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Cream butter and sugar together. Beat in honey, eggs, vanilla and milk.
In a separate bowl, combine remaining dry ingredients. Beat dry ingredients into wet mixture until smooth. Scoop batter into muffin tins and bake for approximately 15 minutes until knife inserted comes out clean.

For frosting, cream butter and powdered sugar. Mix in vanilla, maple syrup, milk, and half the chopped almonds. Adjust sugar and butter to desired consistency (my measurements above are approximate). Frost cupcakes, and then sprinkle remaining almonds and a little sugar over top of each. Makes 24 cupcakes. This recipe can easily be cut by a third to make a batch of 12 large cupcakes.

A New Red Hook Ritual

Once or twice a month Jesse and I delight in taking a shopping trip to Fairway in Red Hook, where we can stock up on bulk goods for cheap, like organic coffee, beans, rice, and so on.


Now we may have found a new ritual to tack onto our Red Hook trips: A stop at Rocky Sullivan's for beer and a snack outside. We'd been to this bar on an assuming corner before and hadn't thought much of it, just a normal working class neighborhood bar. Then I found out about its roof deck, but we weren't able to take advantage of it until the first nice weather hit this weekend. Now we have truly seen the light.


The bar neighbors Sixpoint Brewery, so we were able to get two of our favorite Sixpoint beers, Bengali IPA and Righteous Rye. And Jesse was able to ogle all the Sixpoint kegs lying around. Rocky Sullivan's has a bar menu, but I'm guessing their best food is their brick oven pizza, made fresh to order. We had the margarita pizza, complete with homemade pesto sauce, and it was delish. The crust had a slight buttery flakiness to it, a little like pastry crust, but not too much.


We enjoyed our afternoon snack on their roof deck. We were the only ones up there, and I can't imagine it ever gets too full, so it certainly lives up to its reputation as "serene" I highly recommend checking it out if you're in the hood, although don't tell all your friends because hidden gems are always better when they remain that way!

New Amsterdam Market Auction!

New Amsterdam's first fundraiser event may be sold out, but you can still support them by bidding to win one of their many awesome auction prizes!

I am so excited about almost everything on this list, I can't decide what I will bid for! Here are my favorites.....

A Small Repast with Alice Waters

Tour and Lunch with Blue Hill at Stone Barns

Uncork New York! case of wine

Bluepoint Kayaking Tour and Clambake

So head on over and indulge in some fun foodie longings to support New Amsterdam Market, the organization trying to bring a permament monthly indoor farmer and artisan market to New York City.

An Indulgent Weekend

I wanted to have a nice romantic dinner on Saturday, so I went to the Union Square Greenmarket to get the goods, and here's what I cooked up with Jesse's help. A flat-iron grass-fed bison steak from Elk Trails, seasoned with salt and pepper, and cooked in butter in a cast iron pan on medium heat for about 8 minutes on each side. At least I think that's how long it was - it seemed to take a long time. The bison farmer recommended cooking it slowly over relatively low heat, as searing it too hot can overcook the bison quickly. It turned out well, but slightly tough. I usually marinate these cheaper cuts like flat-iron and flank steak, but wanted to see if it could stand on its own. Next time I'll go back to marinating.


On the side we enjoyed brussel sprouts steamed with garlic (nice, but I think roasting would give it more oomph) and our usual fries: potatoes sliced, tossed with olive oil, salt, and pepper and roasted in the oven until crispy and tender, dipped into green garlic and vinegar spiked mayonnaise. As well as a bottle of nonlocal Malbec from Argentina via Trader Joe's because I was feeling cheap. And the cocoa applesauce muffins before and after dinner.

On Sunday I planned to make chili in the crockpot and let it cook all day while we hung out. Jesse implored "I want to go out for dinner." I responded, "That would put me over my food budget for this month, but we can go get drinks before dinner instead." Which made a nice compromise for both of us, or so we thought.


So we hopped on the G and went to Cherry Tree, which has an excellent draft beer selection, which turned into more beers across the street at Fourth Avenue Pub in Park Slope. By late afternoon, we started to get hungry but knew the chili wouldn't be done yet. So instead of heading straight home, we extended our outing even further with a stop at Flatbush Farm for appetizers.


Their oysters are amazing every time; never bland/hit or miss like at other restaurants. We also shared the Ploughman's Plate of cheddar cheese, salami, and bresaola (I think that's what it all was), but at $12 I felt it was a bit lacking in the meat for the price. Then finally went on home and ate chili and cornbread (baked in the cast iron skillet, again lacking in other baking apparatus). Total money spent in eating and drinking that day: more than if we had just gone out to dinner. Whoops!

The Best News Ever

via Robert Wright for the New York Times

Sixpoint is going to start making bottled beer! It says so in this fascinating article in the New York Times today about a resurgence in beer brewing in Brooklyn, which once produced one fifth of the nation's beer and is now home to only three breweries. Most importantly it announces that Sixpoint Craft Ales is going to open a new facility in Williamsburg that will allow them to produce bottled beer!

Jesse and I are so excited. We looove Sixpoint, and have been eagerly awaiting the day we could enjoy bottles of it in our home, instead of having to trek to a bar or all the way to Bierkraft in Park Slope for a pricey growler. Their beers, which are all characterized by the same fast-acting yeast that lends a distinctive hoppy flavor, have been growing ever more popular over the past couple years, and it's about time. I'll be sure to let you know when the bottles hit stores so y'all can go out and try it too. In the meantime, you can use Beer Menus to find the bar nearest you with Sixpoint on tap.

The Richardson

via yelp

Now that we're both feeling well enough to do more than just plop into bed after work, Jesse suggested last night that we go get a drink at Pete's Candy Store, the bar next door to our apartment. But I had a better idea. I wanted to go somewhere different, so we went to check out a new bar in the hood, The Richardson. It's known for being a classy speakeasy joint with excellent specialty cocktails, but we didn't know if they much of a beer selection. Well, we were pleasantly surprised that they have several great beers on tap, all from Northeast microwbreweries (except for Guinness and Old Speckled Hen from across the pond). Jesse enjoyed Southern Tier's excellent IPA, which I'd never seen on draft before, and I had Sixpoint's Righteous Rye for a hearty winter beer. Beer prices aren't bad either, mostly $5 a beer, with a few $6 glasses. I'm so glad I convinced Jesse we should go, since we ended up having better beer than we would have at Pete's.

The Richardson's cocktails looked good, especially the Old Fashioned, which intrigued me with its mix of bitters, sugar cube, and bourbon, but at $9 a pop and a month of spending that's left me feeling poor, I decided to try it another time. Oh and they also serve small plates - olives, nuts, toasts, and sandwiches - but sadly, nothing looked particularly appealing to me.

Since The Richardson is only three blocks from my apartment, this might be another new standby for a nice romantic drink. I think I might even have my birthday there, since the interior is spacious, with a few nooks. They did a great job with the simple and sophisticated decor, which features beautiful wallpaper, a long bar, and smooth dark wood tables, chairs, and stools.

The Richardson
451 Graham Ave at Richardson Street
Williamsburg, Brooklyn - Graham Ave stop

The Perfect Summer Day

Boyfriend makes me blueberry pancakes for breakfast (made with local buckwheat flour, honey, milk, eggs, fresh blueberries, and maple syrup). Early afternoon out on Brighton Beach with friends on the clearest summer day. Lying in the hot sun, gaining a tan, till the heat drives me to stand ankle deep in cold waves.


Back home, some cooking, some cleaning, some preparing for a romantic dinner. A short run around McCarren Park. I haven't been exercising much lately, but these short runs remind me of my past, the dirt path under trees reminiscent of summer runs during college, although those Vassar trees were much older, more powerful, more beautiful, than these few trees trailing around a people-populated park. Finishing my run on the track, the smell of that red rubber reminds me of high school. Seemingly half my high school life was spent on the track, stretching, pep talks, running, sweating, giggling, ogling hot bare-chested teenage boys, running up and down grassy hills, and out onto those sun-dappled country roads before returning back to the track. This track is instead filled with die-hard soccer players, amateur runners, families enjoying their weekend, and lounging hipsters.


Finally, dinner in the waning light on the deck with my loved one: grilled hake (a white fish), marinated cucumber and radish salad, and potato salad. Divine. All made with local ingredients, except for the vinegar, mayo, mustard, and spices. And to drink, mojitos made with mint grown on the deck. No mojito recipe because mine could use some tweaking. I followed a recipe for two glasses, and ended up with four strong mojitos that we couldn't possibly finish on this Sunday night.


Marinated Cucumber and Radish Salad
1/2 large cucumber
2 radishes
1/2 small onion
1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
few grinds of black pepper
3 sprigs fresh mint, torn into small pieces (and/or other fresh herbs such as parsley)

Thinly slice cucumber, radish, and onion. In a bowl, combine olive oil, vinegar, salt, pepper, and fresh herbs. Add cucumber, radish, and onion, and toss to coat. Let marinate in fridge for at least 15 minutes, or longer. Serves 3 as a side dish.


Potato Salad
4 medium new potatoes
1/2 small red onion
2 celery stalks
2 tbsp mayonnaise
1 1/2 tbsp vinegar
2 tsp mustard
1 tsp salt
five grinds of black pepper
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper

Chop potatoes into 1 inch pieces. Place potatoes in a pot of salted water, bring to a boil, and then let simmer 10-20 minutes until fork tender. Meanwhile, dice onion and celery, and combine with remaining ingredients in a large bowl. When potatoes are tender, drain and add to bowl, tossing to coat. Can make ahead and keep in fridge until serving. Serves 3 as a side dish.

Adventures in Freeganism

I was happy to join fellow blogger, Megan of Fix, at a freegan dinner this week. Called Grub, the dinner is hosted biweekly (or maybe monthly?) by In Our Hearts and is open to anyone who chooses to wander into this out-of-the-way space in Brooklyn. Jesse was a confused by my interest in freeganism, and he envisioned lots of stale donuts and bagels and rotting food that would make me sick. Moreover, he argued, the quality of this food goes against your interest in eating fresh, locally grown food. Which is a good point, but I also believe in the value of keeping food out of the trash and finding ways to stem the tides of waste of our throwaway society. Adam on Wild Green Yonder has an excellent discussion of the extent of food waste in New York City, and the New York Times also recently reported on freeganism as a growing trend.

Neither I nor Megan were sure what to expect, but I was certainly pleasantly surprised by the delicious array of vegetables on the menu. It felt like one of the healthiest meals I'd eaten in a while. Not all of the food was freegan, some of it coming from someone's garden and from a CSA, in addition to grocery store dumpsters. Amazingly in all, this multicourse meal for forty people cost the hosts only $36, for which they accepted donations. We ate dinner on the roof, where there was a garden and a "lovely" view of the BQE (unfortunately I forgot to bring my camera up there). I brought along couple beers because the post said BYOB, but no one was drinking so the beers came back home with me. Proof that the world does not revolve around alcohol (ahem Jesse).

This is not to say I am about to become a freegan, although I am curious to go on a dumpster diving run and see how it goes down, how people even know where to look for the food. It was a refreshing change of pace to go out, do something on my own, meet new people - things I wish I could push myself to do more often. I enjoyed chatting and biking with Megan, and perhaps not surprisingly, I ran into a few people I know peripherally. I really liked Grub's message about "looking for practical ways to build community" because a sense of community is something that I've found lacking in New York City. I miss the time spent with friends at the cooperative dorm on my alma mater, where the residents shared the responsibilities of cooking and cleaning and ate communal dinners. After two years of post-graduate life in New York City, I still have no semblance of a community, with everyone scattered throughout the city, plans too hard to make. I didn't find a new community on Sunday night, but maybe this will motivate me to seek out more new experiences that interest me.

After dinner, many bags of lettuce and greens (from the CSA I think) and bread were leftover, and I was happy to take some away at their urging. But once home, I realized that this left me with the question of how to use up all the extra food I myself now possessed. A condundrum made worse by the fact that I'm leaving for a long vacation on Friday.

So I decided to pass on the goodwill by using all these veggies to cook dinner for a friend. Tonight, another Meagan came over, and I made a vegetarian peanut sauce stir fry. I sauteed an onion, carrot, and half a zucchini from the greenmarket in olive oil, then added baby bok choy from Grub until wilted, while lentils and rice from my pantry simmered away in separate pots. I whisked together a peanut sauce from a couple tablespoons of peanut butter, a teaspoon of tahini, a tablespoon of soy sauce, about a cup of warrm water, along with salt, pepper, and crushed red pepper for a spicy kick. Once plated, I draped it in the peanut sauce and garnished the meal with sunflower sprouts from Grub. Peanut sauce stir fry was one of my favorite go-to meals in college, which I haven't made much since then because Jesse is not a fan, so it was nice to return to this simple (cheap!) and delicious dish.

Continuing to work through the perishables in my fridge, I also prepared myself a healthy grilled zucchini sandwich for lunch tomorrow. I sliced the other half of the zucchini, loaded it up with olive oil, salt, and pepper, and then grilled until charred and tender. I don't like zucchini much, but grilling somehow transforms it into tastiness. The zucchini strips went on a sandwich with homemade tofu cream cheese, a few basil leaves from my deck, and the rest of the sunflower sprouts.

I made the tofu cream cheese last week with my sister's guidance and wanted to use it up, since I figured it probably won't last as long as store-bought tofu cream cheese. It was easy to make by throwing half a package of tofu (pressed for an hour first) into the food processor with a couple garlic scapes, salt, pepper, a handful of almonds, a handful of parsley, several shakes of nutritional yeast, a dash of cayenne pepper, a few teaspoons of vinegar, and a few teaspoons of water too. Similar to the tofu garlic scape pesto salad, but in spreadable form. Really whatever spices you have on hand will work, and cashews can be used in place of almonds. My sister also recommends making tofu cream cheese with sundried tomatoes and herbs.

This picture is a good literal representation of where my mind frequently wanders: into the kitchen wondering what to cook next. I've now successfully eaten or cooked for later all my produce for the week, with the exception of kale from Grub, which my roommate promises me she will eat while I'm gone. I'm thinking of transforming some of it into a kale basil pesto first to take along my camping trip, but I'm not sure how long that will stay good in the cooler. So although i was unable to make any completely local meals this week for One Local Summer, Greenmarket and CSA ingredients found their way into every meal, and by participating in Grub, I helped to divert food waste from the landfill, so I'd say that balances it out.

PS. If I don't post again for a couple weeks, it's because I'm on a camping vacation in Maine, enjoying the woods, ocean, lobster, blueberries, and beer!

Playing Catch Up

Did you know that just a 75 minute drive from New York City lies a serene state park where hiking trails abound and a blue lake awaits you? It's called Clarence Fahnestock State Park and I had passed it many times on so many drives up and down the Taconic during college, but had never ventured inward until this Memorial Day weekend.


With our beach plans thwarted, Jesse and I wanted some other naturesque escape from the city's grey blocks. Guessing that Bear Mountain would be crowded with similar-minded Memorial weekend escapees, we decided on Fahnestock park, which is much less known, left at 2pm, and found ourselves there after what felt like a short drive later. Even better, entrance was free! The park covers a larger area than I had imagined, filled with hiking trails, and smoky campsites, and a clear blue lake perfect for exploration via canoes and rowboats. It also supposedly boasts a beautiful white sand beach, but that did cost money, so we didn't get to see it.


After a couple hours traversing a short pass over the Appalachian trail we simply headed back home and were back in Brooklyn for dinnertime. It seemed almost too easy of a getaway. But those simple hours in the woods restored our hearts and minds and prepared us for the remainder of the alcohol hazed weekend.


On the way home we stopped at Fairway to pick up soft shell crabs. I'd been wanting to try them for so long, since Jesse had extolled their virtues as a seasonal delicacy. He grilled them to perfection according to Jen's directions on Last Night's Dinner, along with grilled asparagus. Meanwhile, I prepared a lemon thyme vinaigrette for a simple salad with fresh lettuce. We usually put together balsamic vinaigrette for our salads, so I wanted to try something new. It wasn't quite right - the flavor of the olive oil was too prominent. But it was a nice change of pace, and certainly heading in the right direction for bright summery salads.


As for the soft shell crabs, I wasn't the biggest fan. The texture of the shell wasn't as crispy as I expected and was just a little too tough. I found myself hankering for the pure unadulterated crab meat inside, but couldn't get a bite without the exoskeleton. I have hope though that maybe it's a taste that will grow on me - after all, Jesse wasn't such a fan the first time he tried soft shell crabs, but he oohed and aahed over his creation this time.


As for the rest of our long weekend, it involved an easy bike ride down to our favorite spot in Prospect Park, at the bottom of the lake, where we had beer and sandwiches from Bierkraft nestled against a tree with the wide blue lake before us;


pitchers of margaritas out in the sun on Flatbush Avenue; many more bars; and burgers delivered to our rooftop gathering because it was too much to ask everyone to coordinate a potluck barbecue when all we wanted to do was go on drinking and relaxing some more in the sun and the night. And now back to the workweek.



Lemon Thyme Vinaigrette
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp dried thyme, or 1 tsp fresh thyme (I used dried because my thyme plant isn't looking quite big enough yet)
2 stalks spring garlic, minced
1/2 tsp mustard
salt
pepper

Whisk ingredients together and adjust to taste. Serve over fresh lettuces for a delightful salad.

Brooklyn Kitchen Cupcake Cookoff

dark chocolate buckwheat almond cupcakes with coconut and almond frosting aka almond joy cupcakes

"I'm full of cupcakes," was the refrain tonight at Brooklyn Kitchen's 2nd Annual Cupcake Cookoff. I missed it last year, so I was determined to make it this year. And part of being able to make it tonight involved quitting my choir early in the season. I guess at this point, food has trumped music as the no. 1 interest in my life.

I rushed home from work, changed, fed and walked the dog, downed a shot of whiskey, frosted cupcakes, and raced over to Union Pool, all in less than an hour. Then I was all by my lonesome feeling awkward among the hipsters and meat market men of Union Pool, and thirty entries of fantastic-looking cupcakes everywhere. Luckily my friends Meag and Jess showed up to save the day. Once the cupcake tasting started, everyone was quickly overwhelmed by sugar. Some geniuses started the trend of cutting their cupcakes in halves, or even quarters, to aid the sampling process. It was indeed so overwhelming that I probably only tried about a third of the cupcakes. So when it came time to vote, I felt bad about not being a fair voter.

I voted for a peach champagne cupcake as well as a ginger spice cupcake, and my own almond joy cupcake of course. The ginger cupcake was just my style - hearty and cinnamony. At one point, I had even contempated making gingerbread cupcakes with vanilla frosting and red hots. But I didn't. Because the combination of chocolate and coconut always wins the day for me. So at least if I didn't win, I was pleased to see the ginger cupcakes win a prize. It made me wish I had made my cupcakes a little heartier, with more whole wheat, true to my own heart.


the judges take stock of their picks during announcement time

The inventive flavors ran the gamut - from rainbow red velvet to mint julep to pistachio to mint chocolate chip to boston creme to chocolate stout with salted caramel (the ultimate best in show), and so on. So the comptetition was original and fierce, and I didn't win any prizes. Sad day in cupcake land. I wasn't really expecting to win, though, because I know I'm not a good baker. Or maybe I'm just too hard on myself, like Jesse says, because he loves everything I make. In any case, we thought these cupcakes were delicious, even if everyone eles didn't agree.

I was going for a rich dark chocolate with subtle hints of nutty flavor from the buckwheat flour, ground almonds, and almond extract. And a rich almond joy-like frosting because, as I said, I love coconut and nuts. The recipe was somewhat modeled after my German chocolate cupcakes, adding in a darker chocolate and cocoa powder for a more intense, less cloying chocolate flavor. I think the end result is an improvement on my German chocolate cupcakes. So here goes, made with mostly local and organic ingredients, of course:

Almond Joy Cupcakes
dry ingredients
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 cup buckwheat flour
1/2 cup slivered almonds
1 1/2 tsp baking powder

wet ingredients
5 tbsp butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 large egg (or 2 smaller eggs, mine was humongous!)
1/2 tsp almond extract
3 oz dark chocolate (70% or 85% percent cocoa)
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/3 cup boiling water
3/4 cup milk

frosting
2 cups powdered sugar
4 tbsp butter
1 tbsp + 1/2 tsp milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
1/2 cup slivered almonds
1/2 cup coconut flakes

Toast 1 cup slivered almonds in a dry pan over medium heat for about five minutes until some of the almonds turn golden-brown. Most of them may not look toasted, but it will subtly enhance their flavor nonetheless. Do not let them burn. Remove from heat and let cool.

Meanwhile, bring 1/3 cup water to boil. Break chocolate into pieces and combine in a bowl with cup cocoa powder. Pour boiling water over chocolate and stir until dissolved. Let cool.

Preheat oven to 350 and grease two cupcake tins.

Process 1/2 cup toasted almonds in a food processor until finely ground. Reserve remaining 1/2 cup toasted almonds for frosting.

In a bowl, cream butter and sugar until combined and fluffy. Beat in one egg and then the almond extract. Add chocolate mixture and then milk, stirring continually until combined.

Combine flour, ground almonds, and baking soda in a larger bowl. Make a well in the center of the dry mixture and fold in wet mixture. Beat until smooth. Fill cupcake tins two-thirds of the way full and bake in the oven for 12-18 minutes. Make sure to check so they don't burn. Cupcakes are done when a knife or toothpick inserted comes out clean. Remove from oven and let cool.

Meanwhile, combine the frosting ingredients in a bowl, beating until smooth. Add additional sugar or milk or butter depending on how stiff or creamy you like your frosting. I like mine stiff and sugar-coma-inducing over soft-grocery-store-like buttercream.

Combine coconut and toasted almond slivers in a small bowl. Frost each cupcake and then dip upside down in coconut almond mixture to coat. Continue until all cupcakes are frosted. Makes 12 large or 18 small cupcakes.

Bicycling vs Spinning

May is Bike Month here in NYC, and I think I know why...because it's finally consistently warm enough to encourage the public to ride outside. Likewise, I've been biking a lot more these days. Although my bike is an old piece of junk that clanks obnoxiously, it still plugs along reliably, and I've gained enough confidence that I can now ride solo in Manhattan. Just this week, I commuted to work by bike for the first time, and I can't wait to do it again next week. Although, as I crawled across the steady upward incline of the Queensborough bridge, I thought to myself, it must be like childbirth, whereby you only get yourself to do it again by blatantly ignoring the pain it takes...BUT the "biker's high" I get afterward helps too.


Last weekend, I rode about 25 miles in one day, beginning with a refreshing but leisurely paced morning 10 mile ride: we got up early for the Brooklyn Greenway Waterfront Tour. Although we were running late (thanks to Jesse aka Mr. Morning Dawdler), we were lucky enough to catch up with the mass of bikers at the East River Park in Williamsburg and continue southward on Kent Ave in Williamsburg, where they have just approved construction of a protected bike lane. The tour continued into the gated-off industrial innards of the Brooklyn Navy Yard. They're in negotations with the development corporation to push back their fences for a Greenway alongside the water.


Next we had a pit stop at Empire Fulton-Ferry State Park, where they were nice enough to set up port-a-potties and offer water and donuts (which I happily used my willpower to reject). We headed past the future site of the Brooklyn Bridge park, where they have already started to demolish pier structures, and then down the first actual completed segment of the Greenway on the Columbia Street waterfront. It looks like an elevated paved sidewalk/bike path, and they had just planted little trees earlier that morning! Our tour finished at Valentino Park in Red Hook where there's a nice view of the Statue of Liberty. It was an interesting ride, although disappointing to learn how long they expect the completed waterfront to take (approximately another 5-10 years), but I really respect the vision and dedication of the Brooklyn Greenway organization.


Last week I also went to a spinning class at the gym with coworkers. I was curious to try it out and see if it would be a good way to train for biking outdoors on bad weather days. In truth, I found it to be godawful boring and torturous. I often have that experience with gym classes, since I'd much rather be working at my own pace or stop when I want to stop. In this case, it felt pathetic to be biking and sweating away in a black box or a room, spinning our wheels, and going nowhere.

Like A New Old-Fashioned Gal has said, in olden days, life incorporated a lot more manual labor, including the exercise involved in transporting oneself around. It seems silly the way people stop and take the time to run in place on treadmills at the gym. To that end, I really like the idea of getting my exercise by commuting by bike or walking partway to work on perfect-weather days.

Pros for Biking:
- Great exercise
- Contributes to my health
- Get home earlier than I would if I went to the gym after work
- Fun
- Biker's high afterward
- Makes me feel badass
- Helps me indulge my inner map geek when I figure out routes
- Could save money on metrocard if I bike enough
- Could save money by cancelling my gym membership, but see below
- Electricity-free workout (unlike the gym)
- Gas-free transportation (unlike the subway or Jesse's car)

Cons against Biking:
- I sweat. A lot. As a result I get weird helmet hair.
- I have to get up earlier in the morning to have time to stop at the gym near my office to shower off my sweat before work.
- Bridges or anything resembling a hill is hard (New York City may look flat, but as soon as you're on a bike you learn it's not)
- Higher risk of intaking the pollutants from New York City air

And the pros outweight the cons! The bike wins! Now let's see if I can keep it up. And if I ever find a nicer bike. If you want to join the fun, check out all Transportation Alternatives for rides, resources, and volunteer opportunities, and Bike Month for bike events this May...like National Bike to Work Day next Friday May 16, complete with snacks provided by eco-friendly City Bakery at all East River bridges. Guess who's looking forward to that?!

The Brooklyn Botanic Garden and the Perfect Spring Dinner

Now that it's spring, what better way to celebrate than to head to Brooklyn Botanic Garden to see the cherry trees in bloom. Admission is free on Saturdays if you can manage to get there before noon. So last weekend after our hearty breakfast of eggs and ramps, we biked down to the BBG. Well I thought it would be mostly downhill. I'm not sure why, except that going south always seems like it should correspond with going downhill. Little did I know that it would actually be uphill most of the way on Washington Ave to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. I guess that would be why they call it Prospect Heights. I was huffing and puffing, and the hill seemed to have no end, with just ten minutes to go before noon. But we managed to make it with minutes to spare. And it was worth it to see tons of pink cherry trees in full bloom.


I particularly liked the culinary beds, to indulge in fantasies of my own vegetable garden. I think swiss chard is such a pretty plant, with its bright colors and shiny leaves.


I also liked the garden paths winding around a pond with Japanese sculptures, lined with elegant weeping cherry trees, willows, and Japanese maples, complete with cute turtles sunbathing on rocks!



There weren't a lot of flowers out this early in the spring, but there were pretty tulips.


I'd like to go back later in the summer to see how the garden changes with the seasons, to enjoy more colorful flowers, and to see how the vegetables and herbs in the culinary beds have grown.


Later that night we enjoyed a great dinner that felt so wonderfully springy because I was lucky enough to find the first asparagus of the season at the Greenmarket the day before. I snapped the tough ends off the asparagus, rolled them in olive oil, salt, and pepper, and then roasted them for 10 minutes at 400. Meanwhile, I let some quinoa simmer away while Jesse pan-fried thin flounder filets in olive oil and seasoned them with salt pepper.


To top it off, I mixed up an herb mayonnaise using garlic, lemon juice, and some parsley from my urban garfunkel garden. I'm not a big fan of quinoa. Although Jesse loves it for its high protein content, and we often substitute it for pasta or rice for that reason, I think it has a dull soft taste that can sometimes ruin a dish. But with a dollop of lemony fresh mayonnaise, the quinoa was transformed into something I could enjoy. And that is something to cheer about.


We enjoyed dinner with cold mugs of Wiesen Edel-weisse beer. It cloudy wheaty bright taste, great for warm spring or summer days, was the perfect complement to our meal.

My Urban Garfunkel Garden

In just spring, when the world is puddlewonderful.
- e.e. cummings


Yesterday was such a beautiful early spring day. The sun was shining, New York City was bustling with people and plants and life, and I was in an unusually good mood. I've been feeling perpetually grouchy lately, but the warm day filled me with promise of brightness and warmth and happiness before me. As my fried Jessica put it, the day lent a nostalgia for what we knew was to come as in summers past: lazy hot days, sipping cool beers in gardens, lounging around lush parks, walking in warm twilights and nights.


I started out the morning with visits to both McCarren Park and Union Square greenmarkets. The little trays of herbs and plants at the market called to me, and I was determined to make today the day I finally got my urban garden going. My mom is an ardent gardener, and I grew up surrounded by beautiful lawns and flowers, and ate fresh broccoli and peppers from her vegetable garden. But personally, I never had any motivation to get down with the dirt and manual labor of gardening.


Until I started to explore local eating, and realized that the most local way of all is from your own backyard. Or in my case, from a container garden on my miniscule deck. I feel lucky enough in Brooklyn to have any outdoor space at all past a fire escape - ours is a little wooden deck with a grill and a rusty chair, used mostly when cigarette smokers visit. As well, I can walk out onto a small roof space from my window, where the warmth of the black tar will be good for tomatoes and basil later this summer I think.


Without meaning to, I selected flats of parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme from the Blew Farm stand, just as in the Simon and Garfunkel song. Back at home, I was lucky enough to have potting soil left over from the previous tenants. And I had some indoor plants that were on their last legs, from the dry heat in our apartment and the ravages of our dog's teeth. So I pulled out the old plants and gently potted the new baby herbs and set them out on our little deck.


I also had a packet of mixed greens seeds that were a Christmas gift. I was too lazy to start the seeds inside a few weeks ago, so I planted them directly into a container bought at Home Depot. Now I cross my fingers and hope that the seeds will sprout, and that I'll be able to enjoy homemade salads before the oppressive New York summer heat kills them.

And so now, I wait, for nature to run its course. For fickle, blustery early spring to warm around the edges, for plants to sprout, for fresh crunchy vegetables to appear in the farmers market, for my herbs to grow tall. And in waiting, must not forget that I need not wait for warm weather to feel alive.