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It just so happens that Colleen's sister-in-law, the lovely and super talented Allison Smith, has an apartment in Brooklyn just a hopskip from where the craft fair was being held. Allison kindly agreed to let us stay with her and even better--she took us to all of the best restaurants and bars her awesome little neighborhood (Greenpoint) had to offer.
Hanging out in Brooklyn was awesome. So neighborhoody and cozy and hip. Some highlights:
Everyone rides bikes. (Allsion actually knew this woman and despite what you are thinking, she is not in the roller derby.)
Just about every street has bike lanes. You have to look for both cars and bikes before crossing.
Art is everywhere.
Really, everywhere:
Allison took us to her studio, which was amazing. This building pictures is all studios!
Inside Allison's studio, she has all kinds of treasures. Her latest medium is old bike tires. This is the turtle and the hare.
I also loved her series of gun targets. That Allison--so talented!
On Saturday night we went to an opening in Williamsburg for Pat Shaw, a friend of Allison's. Isn't her work cool?
The best part about the opening? The after party at Good Company Bar, where everything was on the house! They had house infused liquors and a giant Jenga game out back on the patio.
A lot of bars and restaurants had secret patios, which I thought was pretty cool. A new place near Allison had giant glass garage doors that opened so that the whole bar was open air. A lot of places had sidewalk seating and it was very common to see to go windows on the street.
And there were food trucks everywhere! Coffee, ice cream, cupcakes, yogurt, tacos, you name it. Allison told us about a few places that outgrew their trucks and became actual restaurants. Very cool.
We ate at some really good places. Five Leaves was my favorite. We went there twice. The Five Leaves Burger with pineapple, pickled beet, and an over easy egg with a side of truffle fries was YUM.
So was the giant bucket of mussels that we ate.
And I loved the grilled octopus salad at Cafe Collette.
Oh and I had some amazing beverages--grapefruit margaritas, the El Jardin with cilantro infused gin, and the Saint 75 (a St. Germaine twist on a French 75).
I could have stayed in Brooklyn forever, but it seemed silly not to go into Manhattan at least for a day. I loved seeing the hip subway performers.
And the doormen in Soho were pretty easy on the eyes too.
I spotted some emerging food trends, like this rice pudding bar. Who knows, we might get one sometime in the next ten years!
We also had to visit the High Line. The landscaping was amazing.
It had all sorts of arty features, like this very practical bird feeder.
And I was a huge fan of the DIY billboard.
And there was an interesting inflatable play area at the end.
The High Line also had food vendors, but we were there late in the day and most were sold out. I was sad about missing out on the paletas, but we found the mothership, People's Pops, at the nearby Chelsea Market. Colleen and I both had the Stumptown Coffee pop.
That should give you a little taste of what New York had to offer. (You can see all of my pictures here.)
A HUGE thank you to Colleen for inviting me along and a HUMONGOUS thank you to Allison for taking care of us while we were there.
I love New York!
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