Brooklyn Food Favorites 2011

Rucola

I was hoping to do a detailed Brooklyn Food Favorites post today, like the one I did last year. But then the holidays kind of took over and the last thing I wanted to do was gather images and come up with catchy text. Luckily, I already wrote about some of them so it's easy to reminisce about the good food I had at Brooklyn Commune, Dough, andAmple Hills. And while I'm at it, here are a few more places I really loved this year.

Rucola
This Northern Italian restaurant is on one of my favorite blocks in Boerum Hill. Open all day, it's good for a date, dinner with friends, or at 8am when top-notch breakfast sandwiches and bomboloni from Falai Bakery beckon.

Bien Cuit
It was very hard leaving my old block in Cobble Hill and all my favorite places along with it. Had Bien Cuit, a new bakery that makes some of Brooklyn's best bread been there back then, it would have been impossible to move.

Colonie
The Brooklyn Heights dining scene has needed some help for awhile and luckily, Colonie came to the rescue. I celebrated my birthday there this year and loved the rustic decor (and lush green wall!).

Kos Kaffe
This Park Slope cafe recently had a much-needed makeover. Spacious, full of natural light and decorated with soothing colors, it still roasts its coffee in-house and has cupcakes from Baked.

Roman's
A fun spot for dinner with friends, this place from the owners of Marlow & Sons is loud and fun. Start with the straciatella, a soft, stretchy mound of mozzarella and you'll fall in love fast.

Lot 61
Local wine and beer are a big draw at this Cobble Hill bar, but the snacks and small plates are what really impressed me. Their toasts are much heartier than they sound and I would happily eat the honey ricotta one with buckwheat honey and pistachio dust every day.

Kiwiana
Top Chef fans might remember Mark Simmons, the cute New Zealand chef from season 4. His reality TV days behind him, he's now chef and owner at this awesome addition to the Park Slope dining scene that showcases his country's signature ingredients.

Talde
This place hasn't even opened yet, but I'm betting it's going to be one of my favorites in 2012. The team from Thistle Hill Tavern are behind it and the food comes from Dale Talde, also of Top Chef fame. Its navy blue exterior and bright orange awnings add some sophistication to Park Slope's 7th Ave and I'm hopeful the food is going to make a big statement too.

Here's to more amazing meals in 2012. Happy New Year!

Holiday Fun in Bryant Park

After reading this post on Little Brown Pen, I couldn't wait to take Nico and Leo to Bryant Park. Just as Nichole explained, it was a less hectic alternative to Rock Center and the perfect place for holiday fun with four little ones. We went with our friends Whitney, Liam and June and had a jam-packed day. We looked at trains in Grand Central, posed in front of the library lions, spotted Santa and his reindeer in the Lord & Taylor holiday windows, rode the carousel, read some books in a cute outdoor library, sipped 'Wichcraft's extra special hot chocolate, threw pennies in a fountain, watched ice skaters at Citi Pond (open until February 26) and had a dance party before heading back to Brooklyn. NYC kids really have the life, huh?

Whitney and I definitely deserved some down time after an outing like that and I happened to have a freezer full of frozen appetizers thanks to an iVillage assignment. We sipped some wine and did a taste test while the kiddos played. It looked like a tornado and then a hurricane had hit my apartment when it was time to call it a day, but they sure had fun.

If you're planning a holiday party and want to go the easy route, try my ten favorite frozen appetizers. And to see NYC while it's still sparkly and festive, check out Bryant Park soon.

Pillow Talk

Since we moved into our new apartment, I've become a big fan of Etsy. Many  nights you can find me staying up way too late and scrolling through vintage side tables, cool dining chairs and all sorts of other stuff. My first purchase was this chalkboard for our kitchen. I asked the shop owner to paint it cherry red and it looks very cool next to our navy blue cabinets (more on those some day!). Next, I was on the hunt for fun pillows to brighten up the dark brown couch in our living room. Woody Liana quickly became one of my favorite shops. She makes some of the prettiest pillows I've ever seen with designer fabrics. She sent me a bunch of samples for free, but sadly, none of them worked. A lot of her listings have been removed for a holiday sale she's having in her local shop, but if you're in the market for pillows, check her past sales to see her work.

I soon found Arianna Belle, a smaller shop with a great selection. Arianna also has a design blog where she shares photos of beautiful spaces. I could spend all day looking through her color inspiration section. She clearly has a smart eye for design and thanks to her I now have the perfect pillows for my couch. I went with two fabrics. The floral one is Quadrille's Potalla fabric and it has aqua, navy blue, and gray. The other is Celerie Kemble for Schumacher and I love how the deep peacock green works with the navy blue pattern.

If you haven't checked out Etsy before, I highly recommend it. You'll be amazed by all the talented people and unique handmade products. And since all of the shops are run by small business owners, the customer service is amazing and many are willing to work with you to customize their products. When purchases arrive, they often feel like special gifts. Arianna wrapped my pillow cases in chocolate brown tissue paper, tied them with a silky ribbon and included a hand-written personal note on pretty stationary.

If you're already an Esty fan, which shops are your favorite?

Happy Everything

Most mornings, I hear the sound of little feet running down our hallway at 6:40am. My bedroom door flies open and Nico rushes in. Lately, he always says—or rather, shouts—the same thing. "I'm ready to start my dayyyyyyyy!" I try to pretend I'm alseep, always hoping he'll take the hint and wait patiently till I'm ready to start my day, but that has yet to happen. I sometimes beg for five more minutes, his go-to request whenever it's time to transition from one thing to the next. He'll give me about five seconds tops and if I'm not showing any signs of waking, he'll pry my eyes open while repeating a let's-start-the-day chant. All this ruckus usually wakes Leo. I go and get him and bring him into bed, hoping that somehow, they'll want to sleep in for a change. Instead, they prefer to bring on the hug and kisses, often fighting over who gets to lie on top of me, forbidding access to anyone else. This morning, they joined forces and decided to try some body slams, you know, WWF style. Leo really didn't master it, but he sure thought it was funny when Nico would jump and then land on me. It's certainly not the most peaceful way to wake up, but I'll take it. Seeing how happy they are gives me goosebumps.

I don't send holiday cards, but if I did, I would use photos like the ones above. We took them the night we decorated our Christmas tree. Daniel, his Dad and I kept trying to get a good shot of Nico and Leo posed in front of it. We bribed them with the iPad, books, goofy faces, and some singing. I'd even pulled out the matching pajamas. We finally managed to get a few good shots, but these are my favorites. They just wanted us to roll around on the floor together, laughing till their little bellies hurt, because that's much more fun, isn't it? And years from now, when I'm trying to remember what the holidays were like when they were 1 and 3, these are the memories that will mean the most.

To all my friends, family and any other This Little Piglet fans out there, consider this my version of a holiday card. Happy Everything!

Sunshine Stripes

Not only did Daniel spend 10 hours painting stripes in Nico and Leo's room a few weeks ago while the boys and I were in California, but he also documented the whole process. We'd been deliberating for so long about what to do with the room and thick horizontal stripes in two shades of yellow (Benjamin Moore haystack and dalila) seemed like a good way to add some much needed light. It really did the trick and was much cheaper than wallpaper. We were inspired by the thick, two-toned stripes I shared in this post (check out the third photo), so Daniel did some research online before getting started. If you want to give it a try, here are some tools, his tips and step-by-step photos. He tells me this video helped him a lot as well: http://www.ehow.com/video_8103877_paint-horizontal-stripes-wall.html.

TOOLS
Chalk line reel

Level

Good masking Tape (he used Scotch Blue with Edge Lock)

Pencil

Hammer

Spackling knife or spatula

A few medium sized nails

Good wide paint brush

Flat head screw driver to open paint can

Small 6'' paint rollers

Paint container to use with roller

Ladder

Laying the tape is the hardest, but it will look professional and painting will be easier it you do it well. Measure the height of the area of your wall you actually want to paint. This height could be from floor to ceiling. In my case it was from floor molding to ceiling molding for two walls. Whatever it is, this number will be your numerator. To make your life easier, you should try to chose a denominator (the number which will divide the numerator) that gives you an integer number. The denominator will represent the number of stripes on your wall. Example: if your wall is 110 inches tall, your denominator could be 10, 11, 5. That way, the width of your stripes would be 11, 10 and 22 inches respectively. But if you were to choose to paint 7 stripes divided evenly on your 110 inch wall, then you would have to mark stripes with 15.71 inches...which would be a pain in the butt.

I actually changed to centimeters to find an even division. We wanted 12 stripes (4 sets of 3 stripes in dark yellow, light yellow and white.). If you can't make the division into a perfect integer (which is likely), I would make the uppermost stripe the one that is not exactly the same as the rest. For example: if your wall is 108 inches, you could have 10 stripes at 10 inches and the last stripe at 8 inches.

Once you figure that out it's time to mark. Use a pencil to mark a short piece of the line on each edge of the wall. Using the hammer, fix a nail to one side. If you have a helper, you do not have to nail anything, which will save you time fixing the wall (as I had to do). Attach the chalk line to one side of the wall, pull the string tightly to the other side, match the pencil lines, make sure you have good tension on the line, pull GENTLY and let it go. It will snap against the wall and make a perfect line. If you do not do it gently, your line will be too strong and hard to clean (that happened to me a few times).

After you mark all lines, get your masking tape and stick it to the wall in such a way that you see the chalk line (do not cover the line). This will give you better control and you'll also be able to use a damp cloth and clean off the chalk from your wall BEFORE you paint. Use a spatula of spackling knife to smooth tape edges.

After that, you paint:

*Always paint the lighter color first.

*Use the brush in a motion that puts paint from tape to wall (not from wall to tape). After you cover the entire edge of the tapes (top and bottom tapes) you can use the roller to paint all over and make it smooth. 

*VERY important: you have to remove the painted tapes after you've painted each stripe. This will ensure you are not removing tape after paint has dried, because if it has, you may get rough and ugly edges on your stripes.

Hope that all made sense to you. Even with Daniel's detailed instructions, I'm still confused. Now that he's done this once, he thinks it'd be much easier the second time around. Too bad he probably has no desire to ever do this again! Good luck if you give it a try.

Sweets from a Local Cheese Shop

Leave it to me to check out a new cheese shop and stock up on sweets. I'm sure Valley Shepherd Creamery's cheese is amazing and I love that it's all made just an hour away in Long Valley, NJ, but in my defense their high-end treats are way too distracting. I was finally able to try some cookies from Whimsy & Spice (chocolate orange cardamom, so good with a cup of tea) and discover virgin chocolate from Raaka, a company that doesn't roast their cocoa beans. Let me be clear that this chocolate is not cheap by any means, but I'm a sucker pretty packaging, and more importantly, good ingredients—their Black Coffee bar has espresso from Cafe Grumpy. If a glass of wine in a restaurant costs $10, 5 to 8 bucks for some really good chocolate isn't so crazy, right?

I also picked up a cheese slicer for Daniel's stocking since ours broke ages ago, a pretzel croissant that's a lot like the amazing ones at City Bakery but just 85 cents and much smaller, and some hot chocolate on a stick for Nico. Leo loves cheese and has a soft spot for the good stuff. Soon after we walked in, the guy behind the counter must have heard his cries for "more cheeeee" because he surprised him with a nice slice to snack on. By the time I was done obsessing with the sweets, we had to go, but I'll be back again soon to try the cheese, some fresh pasta, and maybe a sandwich or two.

Valley Shepherd Creamery
211 Seventh Ave (between 3rd and 4th Streets)
Park Slope, Brooklyn

Light My Fire

I don't celebrate Hanukkah, but if I did, I'd have a hard time choosing a menorah. There are so many cool ones out there, including these two from Jonathan Adler that I love. If you're in need of some inspiration before Hanukkah kicks off on December 20, check out more of my favorites on iVillage.

French Host Brothers and Latte Bowls

I had a huge crush on my French host brother when I studied abroad in Paris. He was handsome and goofy, had the most adorable accent in English and would always drink his morning coffee from a big bowl. He must have really considered me a sister since he never made a move. He did, however, make out with my best friend when she was visiting from Barcelona.

I've been buying these latte bowls from Anthropologie for as long as I can remember, probably right around the time I came home from France. Daniel's Dad recently gave me a shirt from there that didn't fit, so I decided it was time to add to my collection. Their new colors are my favorite yet and I love how the deep plum, royal blue, chocolate brown and aqua ones look together. I wasn't as crazy about the others, but wanted to get six. And, since they're only $5 each, I think they make a really good holiday gift. You can buy them individually in the store; online they come in sets of four and six. And while I'm on the topic of holiday gifts, I'm dying to try Leone's Gianduioso, a chocolate-hazelnut spread that comes in a gold toothpaste tube and apparently puts Nutella to shame. According to New York Magazine, I can find it at Eataly, which means I'll probably stuff my own stocking with some this year.