With a wealth of non-native New Yorkers forever influxing to the five boroughs and especially Brooklyn etiquette that should have long ago been established as consistent and never wavering sometimes gets mucked up. Staying to the right on the sidewalk for example to allow the faster and crazier New Yorkers to jut around you is a pretty standard “rule” that gets ignored all too often.
More significantly though is the new New Yorker’s disrespect of bagel culture. It is not that they do not appreciate the greatest carbohydrate New York and Brooklyn have to offer, it’s that they do so all wrong. Some of these people do something that would have any self respecting Brooklynite feeling defeated and angry. They have the nerve to toast perfectly good bagels ruining their doughy softness and making them into just some regular old toasted bread.
A Brooklyn bagel is not the same as those dumb things you get in a frozen bag at your local supermarket and to toast one is a crime against culinary justice. A nefarious and vile act that should be grounds for sending people to some Brooklyn salt mine deep in East New York.
This might not be Brooklyn news but apparently it is to some.
Just before 9/11 many writers had contemplated what they called “The End of History.” We lived in relative peace and prosperity and progress be it technological or sociological had sped up so much that keeping track of it was no longer tenable. Of course now we know that those who predict the death of history are doomed to be rocked to the core by it.
Then there are slow news days. Lately, post #OccupyWallStreet, I’m feeling a bit of a lack of history locally. Of course am I asking for trouble simply by mentioning this dearth of eventfulness? Probably.
Brooklyn news these days can be tragic on a hyper local scale(a man was shot by the police in his own home last night) or almost about the fact that nothing is happening(have your heard the Nets are a thing that will eventually happen here). What it is not in the last few weeks is world changing important cultural, political and economic shifts. Where are those stories?
The last decade Brooklyn has played a big role in the collective consciousness. Perhaps we have now entered into a period of cultural insignificance. More likely though the sky will cave in in some way or maybe something huge and good will happen.
It’s January and though it is once again unseasonably warm here in New York it still feels like prime time for a cool refreshing Winter Ale. I have been spending the last few months doing everything short of binging on the excellent Brooklyn Winter Ale. Wandering around bars and music/comedy venues last week it seemed to be on tap at almost every place we stopped.
Good! I know it can get a little bland to keep getting the same beer at spots with upwards of 7 beers on tap and yet there I was. I think the reason I kept returning to it is the flavor felt full without ever feeling overwhelming and the beer was just heavy enough to allow for long sustained drinking. It may not seem like Brooklyn news at this point since the line started showing up in well stocked delis around October but I think they’ve hit a stride with this particular brew and I thought it seemed worth letting everyone know that now is the time to dive in.
Of course if you aren’t a fan of winter ales or Brooklyn Brewery in general I don’t know that we should even be talking to each other at this point.
Brooklyn Borough Hall is a highlight location for environmentally conscience New Yorkers. It’s one of many GrowNYC Greenmarket locations. Here you can find programs and produce aimed at improving New York City’s quality of life. Back in March they began a compost. Every Saturday from 8AM to 5PM there is a food scraps collection for citizens. It will be transported to a facility to be used as amendments for fertile soil. This initiative will continue through to December so you have plenty of time to get involved.
Summer costs are already rising because of energy consumption. The compost can actually reduce costs in other areas of city life. Food can sum up to around 17% of New York City’s waste. To send it to a landfill actually increases the disposal costs. Not only that but it contributes to the emission of greenhouse gases that pollute city air. The compost can be used for planting trees and other plants in NYC parks, sidewalks, and gardens.
If you want to help out you can drop off scraps of the following foods: vegetables, fruit, non-greasy rice, pasta and cereal, coffee grinds and filters, tea bags, egg shells, and more. Place these scraps in some sort of plastic container, milk carton, or compost pails. It’s an easy summer activity to do that gives back to the community. While you’re there you can check out other things at the Greenmarket like fresh food and educational events.
I knew today was going to be different, colder. Luckily I had my new bicycle gloves to keep me warm. But there was still a lot to discover. On Flushing Avenue, far east of the new bike lanes, the Bushwick Loom has built a veritable menagerie of shops. There’s a jewelry boutique, a jam co-op, a market, a chabad dinner party, a yoga studio, moped shop, vintage clothing stores and lots more to see.
All of this activity should make the industrial part of Flushing Ave. a little warmer this winter. There are still some open spaces in this minimall collective, so here’s hoping we have another cafe coming soon to replace the Archive.
What keeps me confused are the boundaries of this neighborhood. Bushwick is technically south of Flushing, so I can allow them getting away with calling themselves the Bushwick market being on the north side of the street, but technically it’s East Williamsburg. Then again, I tell people where I live (just north of the Market) and they say, so that’s what the realtor told you, huh?
This neighborhood is coming down with a case of split personality disorder – on one hand, it is a lot like Williamsburg; on the other it is five stops deeper on the L train. What do you think we should call it?
A couple of months ago, dehydrated and exhausted after wandering aimlessly through the heart of Williamsburg all day, my friends and I discovered Peach Frog. Perhaps we were drawn in because of all the comfy sofas and armchairs at the entrance – yes, we tried them out, and they felt good.
Peach Frog sells the most delightful designer clothing, footwear, sunglasses, candles, gifts, furniture and homewares, and they guarantee you’ll always save up to 90% off retail prices. As soon as I walked in the door, I was astounded to find an irresistibly lonely looking teddy bear for only a couple of dollars and an array of soaps and Poivre D’Or jams and honeys at similarly low prices.
After trying on expensive Fedoras in the neighborhood all day – she’d been considering buying a nice-looking but ill-fitting one for $70 at a nearby over-priced vintage store – my friend found The Perfect Fedora at Peach Frog, and it was less than $15.
Definitely check out Peach Frog next time you’re in the neighborhood – you’ll score hipster stuff, but you won’t pay hipster prices.
Peach Frog is located at 136 North Tenth Street between Bedford and Berry Streets, Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Catch the L train to Bedford Avenue.
Aside from the character, the culture, and — ugh — the G train, us Brooklyners have something even more fundamental in common: We don’t mind paying a little less for rent than our Manhattanite brethren.
In fact, we don’t mind paying a little less in general. We rather enjoy it, you could say.
Enter Groupon, a site you’ve probably heard of and possibly neglected to explore. With subsites for most big cities — Brooklyn included — Groupon offers sweet deals from local businesses.
It works like this:
Brooklyn biz contacts Groupon with a potential promotion — an $X coupon for less than $X cash — as well as the number of buyers the business would need to make it worth their while.
Groupon posts the offer online — a new one every day! — and allows customers to purchase coupons via credit card. (Or Groupon gift certificate. My birthday is coming up, guys — take note.)
If enough customers purchase the coupons, the deal is on! If not, everyone gets their money back. No hard feelings.
So, for example, Groupon’s current deal allows you to purchase a $30 coupon for the cleverly named 5 Burro Cafe for $15. The deal became “on” shortly after 8 this morning, when 30 people had purchased coupons. The current number is over 200.
Film director Spike Lee and Absolut Vodka have teamed up to bring you Limited Edition Absolut Brooklyn. A blend of red apple and ginger, this new vodka goes well with a light-colored soda, like Ginger Ale, Sprite, or 7-Up. Creating “city flavors” has been a habit of Absolut since 2007. Currently New Orleans, Los Angeles, and Boston vodkas are available.
The bottle, which features a summer-colored “stoop,” was designed by Lee, who is also filiming a love story in honor of the borough. The film is just one aspect of his much larger “Stoop Life” movement. (See the trailer to his new film below)
Absolut has also pledged $50,000 in sales to Habitat for Humanity, to assist with their rebuilding of affordable housing in Bed-Stuy. A bottle of ABSOLUT BROOKLYN can be had for just $24.99 at most local liquor spots.
Good groceries and fresh produce can sometimes be hard to come by in Bushwick, which specializes in the bodega. One of the biggest is Food Dimensions by the Myrtle-Broadway JMZ, which requires a big, deep breath before entering: it doesn’t make for the most pleasant shopping experience with its bright lights, long waits at the checkout, and over-amplified music. To its credit, however, if you can see through the aisles of junk food, it sells good fresh fish and has great deals on seasonal fruit (get your $1.50 oh-so-sweet cantaloupes right now while they’re hot).
For a more intimate grocery shopping experience and organic food options, there’s Mr. Kiwi’s, an endearing family-run store with wicker baskets hanging from the ceiling. At Mr. Kiwi’s, you can get a large freshly squeezed juice made in front of you for $3 (my favorite combination is pineapple, apple and orange) and lots of good stuff like fresh fruit on sale at the front tables ($1 blackberries!), Chinese vegetables, cheap salad leaves, cheeses, nuts, tofu, sushi, Ben and Jerry’s, Kettle chips, hummus, Applegate Farms organic lunch meats, and a great selection of beers, including Framboise Belgian beer in raspberry, blackberry and peach. But perhaps the best thing about Mr. Kiwi’s is that the staff are super friendly and kind; whenever you walk in, you’ll feel at home.
Mr. Kiwi’s is located at 957 Broadway Avenue (cnr Myrtle Avenue), Brooklyn, accessible via the Myrtle-Broadway JMZ station. Telephone (718) 453-2640.
A member of the Brooklyn NY News team recently returned from a stint below the Mason Dixon line, and her travels reminded us of the few — but critical — goodies that our dear borough does not provide. (And neither does Manhattan, for that matter.)
What are we talking about? Southern fooderies mostly, like Sonic, Denny’s, Shoney’s, and — wait for it — Zaxby’s.
But while these establishments are sorely, sorely missed, we can think of another Southern staple we’re happy to do without. Unfortunately, it’s knocking on Brooklyn’s door.
We’re talking about Walmart, the super-duper chain that’s tried and failed to forge a location in various NYC locations. The latest site is the Gateway II shopping area in Jamaica Bay, Brokelyn reports.
Could a Brooklyn Walmart survive? Brokelyn posits that residents’ loyalties to local shops (and Target) will prevail, but bargains are bargains.
Also, the combined retail square-footage of the Walmart corporation is apparently larger than that of Manhattan. Ouch.
With a wealth of non-native New Yorkers forever influxing to the five boroughs and especially Brooklyn etiquette that should have long ago been established as consistent and never wavering sometimes gets mucked up. Staying to the right on the sidewalk for example to allow the faster and crazier New Yorkers to jut around you is a pretty standard “rule” that gets ignored all too often.
