Long Weekend

When you live in New York, sometimes it's better to stay home on a holiday weekend than go away. While others flee, you can spend three glorious days going on adventures and falling in love with your crazy city all over again. Take it from me, since that's exactly what we did this weekend. It is the way to go.

We started our weekend at home made bklyn, a sweet spot in Red Hook with comfy white couches and a serene garden. We sipped fresh lemonade, cubes of watermelon bobbing in each of our cups, and shared a big bowl of local yogurt with Early Bird granola and sliced pears. The sticky buns, almond croissants and other breakfast foods were tempting, but we had our hearts set on lobster rolls from the Lobster Pound, a place that brings fresh Maine lobster to Brooklyn. The rolls were as classic as they come, served on toasted hot dog buns with either a hint of mayo and some spices or tossed with butter, Connecticut-style. We tried both and agreed they were a million times better than the mediocre ones we ate at the Ditch Plains Drop-In at Brooklyn Bridge Park last weekend. After, we hung out in a community garden, met a woman who grows hops for homemade beer and a guitar maker who told us about Valentino Pier where Nico and Daniel played by the water and Leo napped in the shade. On the walk back to our car, we spotted a cool bar on a cobblestone street that we want to check out some day.

That night, Daniel and I had a date at Rucola, a new Italian restaurant in Boerum Hill where we split gnocchi, soft shell crabs, brook trout, an arugula salad with radishes, ricotta pudding with greenmarket strawberries buried at the bottom, and a second dessert—a warm rhubarb cake with a buttery toffee sauce—at Seersucker, another restaurant that was a 15-minute walk away. 

There was a family trip to a bike shop followed by jelly donuts, a fresh fruit tart and a bear-shaped financier at Colson and an afternoon visit to Rockaway Beach, where Nico dug in the sand and Leo discovered the ocean. Green smoothies with kale, granny smith apples and lemon from Veggie Island were sipped and stories about armadillos and a big, bad wolf were told while we waited on a long line for tacos (two with fish, one with chorizo), a bean, cheese and plantain quesadilla, and a spicy jicama, mango and cucumber salad at Rockaway Taco.

An air conditioner was installed, winter clothes were happily put away and summer ones were yanked out, loads and loads of laundry were done, tons of sunblock was applied, photos were taken, cameras and wallets were sometimes forgotten at home, Leo's bike seat was installed and yesterday, we rode to Pier 6, one boy on the back of each bike, helmets on, wind tickling our legs and the blazing afternoon sun stinging our eyes. We climbed, splashed, swung, dug and ran around, welcoming summer with open arms and happy for the place we call home.