The Greenpoint shops have some kickass new things for Spring – which I’m told will come, eventually. With the three day weekend, go brave the cold and shop for the inevitable skin baring days ahead.
Fanaberie is fast becoming the destination for inexpensive but damn adorable dresses in Greenpoint. They have a whole new crop of cute ones including my favorite – this cocoa brown lace trimmed ruffle dress for just $39.
Dalaga has its share of cute spring dresses, too, but I’m kind of smitten with these A Star Is Born suede slingbacks. In blue or black, I think they’re hot. $85
Andddd since winter isn’t exactly done with us yet – Dalaga is also having an end of season sale where you can pick up some great coats like this Noble Cadet Button Coat for just $60!
Rosie’s Greenpoint connection starts on Chapter 2 of this episode. Her grandfather lived at 392 Manhattan Ave. with his first wife (not Rosie’s grandmother), who tragically died there. See Rosie visit St. Anthony’s in search of baptismal certificates. Very, very moving….
Greetings fellow Greenpointers! I’m back with a new tip and this one is truly minimal.
Week Two: Stain-A-Lot-Steel Polish!
(Get it? Olive Oil)
To clean and polish your stainless steel you will need the following: -one soft cotton rag (like a kitchen towel) -olive oil
1. Apply about a table spoon of oil to your rag and rub the surface to polish. Be sure to rub with the grain of the steel for best results. Apply more oil as needed. Start with a little oil, because for obvious reasons, this could get messy and a little goes a long way. You will be shocked at how well this works.
GO TEAM!
As always this weeks tip is brought to you by TEAM CLEAN NYC, a full service green cleaning company for residential and commercial spaces. We are holistic in our approach to business and value educating people about green cleaning as much as we like cleaning for our clients. In that spirit, we have teamed up with Greenpointers to bring you a few of our favorite Green (cleaning) Pointers.
As a minimalist and a realist, we are presenting a serious of 6 simple tips/recipes that will make life EZ, reduce your carbon footprint, save your lots of money and get the toxic chemicals out of your home. I’ll be posting once a week from now until the first joyous day of spring. So, let the spring cleaning begin!
I personally have a fondness for Phil Collins. Groovy Kind of Love was the song I dedicated to my very first boy crush. Oh wait, second boy crush. I can recall passing notes and lots of giggling. Might’ve been one of my healthiest relationships to date.
Reader Hillary emailed me a couple of quick snaps and The Brooklyn Paper also covered the event. A Phil Collins Parade… I can just imagine how those drivers trying to get through this crowd were freaking out. It’s shit like this that the hipsters do that drive the locals in-fucking-sane. I got no problem with them doing it on the sidewalk but why do they really need to block traffic on a main two way street? If one of them got ran over it would be the drivers fault, right?
Why drink the artificial stuff when you can make your own all natural soda at home? I want to introduce you local food artisan featured this week on food. curated.: Anton Nocito, the founder of P&H Soda Co., a hand made soda syrup company based in Greenpoint (and first introduced to us at The Greenpoint Food Market)! Anton is on a personal mission to wean soda lovers away from mass produced colas, and to get them to start thinking about making better-for-you sodas at home – sodas made of natural, organic ingredients.
So take a moment to hear what he as to say about bringing back old soda fountain traditions while getting a peek into his production process. I don’t know about you, but I want a hibiscus soda STAT!
To get a bottle of P&H‘s inspired and complex-but-not-too-complex soda flavors, hop on by to Eastern District on 1053 Manhattan Avenue where he brews and bottles his creations. Thanks for watching and supporting our local food artisans.
My name is Megan and I am co-founder and co-owner of TEAM CLEAN NYC, a full service green cleaning company for residential and commercial spaces. We are holistic in our approach to business and value educating people about green cleaning as much as we like cleaning for our clients. In that spirit, I have teamed up with Greenpointers to bring you a few of our favorite Green-cleaning-Pointers.
As a minimalist and a realist, I present to you a serious of 6 simple tips/recipes that will make life EZ, reduce your carbon footprint, save your lots of money and get the toxic chemicals out of your home. I’ll be posting once a week from now until the first joyous day of spring. So, let the spring cleaning begin!
Week One: “Home Brew”: An all-purpose disinfecting spray cleaner
To make this you will need:
-One 16 oz. spray bottle (I used a Mrs. Myers one)
-1 tablespoon of Dr Bronner’s Magic classic liquid soap in lavender
-1/2 cup hydrogen
peroxide (yup the stuff you put on your cuts)
-1 cup water
1. Put all your ingredients in the bottle, swirl around, and spray away.
2. (Optional) rip off old the label and make your own. To remove the sticky residue you can use Citrasolve. More on that amazing product later.
*For those of you who care to know, here’s a brief word about how and why this “Home Brew” works.
Lavender essential oil: Lavender has antibacterial properties first recognized in France when workers in the lavender fields did not contract tuberculosis. Lucky for us, Dr. Bronner’s soap has real essential oils!
Hydrogen peroxide: This fizzy guy is a non-chlorine bleach that means that it eliminates stains and whitens stuff all without compromising colors. It also acts to destroy the cell membranes of small organisms like bacteria and fungi.
Water: Aside from being good for you it is the worlds best solvent. Look at the Grand Canyon if you need proof.
Tomorrow, February 12, 2011 at Redstar Bar in Greenpoint. Doors open to the public at 2pm! This event is FREE! No cover, No charge for sampling the wings!
I realize last Sunday was a rough day for many of us. You might be saying to yourself, “I can’t gorge again this weekend.” Of course you can but that isn’t much fodder for swaying your decision so I thought it might help for you to read a bit about last years delicious chicken arm madness. Many of the same players are back in the ring to defend or uncrown so research carefully and make sure you hit your prospective favorites first.
Let’s get to a few contestants. It’s a long recap so if you want the full run down from last year pop over here. We’ll start out strong, drop in the middle of the pack and then close with my favorite traditional entry.
I loved this crew. They were chatty, smiley and super happy. Their wings…totally broke the mold. In the restaurant the selection is ridiculous. You can choose from Ginger Buff, Trini Tamarind, Bajan Merry Mango, Island BBQ, Chili Cilantro, Spice Island Rub and Lava. They served Ginger Buff with Lava Sauce. I screamed, cried and then hit seconds. Nothing like a traditional wing BUT they did it right. They started with a meaty wing that was not too big. This was smart because there was so much flavor that too much meat would actually kill the flavor profile. I know, I never use big cooking words like that, but here it was necessary. The lava sauce on top was a nice break from the blue cheese and complimented the Ginger spice wonderfully. So, turns out I was not the only person who though this way. They took first prize. Nice work ladies. I’ll be by the restaurant really soon for more.
Wings from a BBQ joint always peeks my interest. Off the bat they were a talkative team. I love that. Lots to say about the wings, the competition and their restaurant. Their entry was definitely of the BBQ realm. A saucy entry that had a spicy yet sweet BBQ sauce on it. I loved it but yearned for that taste on some pork. A rib, brisket some pulled shoulder, anything, would have held up to that sauce better than a wing. Let me be clear, I loved the taste. It was the wing that fell a little short. I will say, they did something no other team did. They served the whole wing intact. Still connected at the joint I needed to change my eating approach to devour this morsel and I enjoyed the challenge. I am dying to head down to Carroll Garden’s and try some of their pork creations. I am sure they will not disappoint.
I don’t have one note, memory or story to tell about this wing. I guess that says it all. So, let’s move on. Ohh, wait…they were best dressed. Doning Valentine’s Day red chef coats they were the cleanest and most professional looking of all the teams.
They were from Flatbush Ave. and entered with a jerk wing.. No blue cheese dip, just straight up Jerk. This Trini team kept it real West Indian style. A sucker for jerk chicken I reveled in their wings and reminisced about Mr. Biggs roadside jerk spot in Negril. An absolute must every time I am in the birthplace of Bob Nesta. A good non-traditional wing but a little small and dry when I got to the meat. Jerk holds up much better on a leg or thigh so I suspect a trip to Flatbush is in order.
After about 2 hours I had made my way around all the tables, once for pics and a second time for eats. With a belly full of 28 wings and a memory card full of 280 photos, I gulped down the rest of my pint and slipped through the now shoulder to shoulder crowd and out the front door.
As food competitions go, The Best Wings In Brooklyn Competition had a good showing. Two hours in and there was still a line outside Red Star. Considering the G train was broken and the temp was hanging around a windy 25 degrees, I’d say Brooklyn takes their wings pretty seriously.
Keg & Lantern is one of those bars that I always WANT to go to more often, but for some reason never find myself over there. The handful of times I’ve been there, I’ve loved it. It’s always got a good crowd going, the beer selection is fantastic and all in all I just really dig the vibe.
I plan to rectify this in 2011 and there’s no better reason to do this now since they’ve just welcomed a new chef – David Conn who plans to up the ante on bar food.
Chef Conn plans to pair a Gastro Pub meets Home Cooking fusion, with an emphasis on keen bar appetizers like Pot Roast Sliders, Fried Risotto Balls and Butterbean Hummus and entrees that run the gamut from BBQ Ribs, Roasted Free Range Chicken and Short Ribs to the more traditional Irish staples Shepherd’s Pie and Harp Battered Fish and Chips.
Along with a varied dinner menu, on weekends Conn slings a Southern/Low Country inspired brunch at Keg and Lantern, complete with his signature Redneck’s Benedict, Biscuits and Gravy, Grits and Red Eye Gravy, Shrimp and Grits, and Hangover Pancake as well as a number of other Southern specialties.
Last year 3 Greenpointers; Briana, Aja and I organized a social networking event for all the freelancing creatives out there called Work It Brooklyn and it was a raging success. The best part was speed networking, which as you can imagine, is a more productive and less awkward version of speed dating where you get 3 minutes to promote yourself, exchange business cards and make some new connections that’ll help your professional path take another step up.
We’re back again this year with another kickass event, to take place February 23rd at Public Assembly. We will have more speed networking than you can handle, drinks at the bar, and a slideshow of submitted business cards (which is also available on our website).
We’re capping the event at 250 and we’re nearing that end so make sure to register today on Eventbrite and email us your virtual business cards (workitbrooklyn@gmail.com). There’ll be raffles as well for a chance to win a free workday at Greenpoint Coworking and more.
Get your business cards ready and see you February 23!
WORK IT BROOKLYN
FEBRUARY 23, 2011 7 – 10PM $5 Suggested Donation
PUBLIC ASSEMBLY 70 N. 6th ST btw Whythe & Kent Ave Brooklyn, NY 11211
Inside the dark, wooden, stained-glass lit bar many hipsters call “The Heavy Metal Bar” on the edge of McGolrick Park in Greenpoint lies a small, narrow kitchen where Anna Wolf crafts small batch artisan beer mustard. You would never know or never guess the smells that take over this pub in the early morning hours. But, in fact, the bar takes on a new life as the home to My Friend’s Mustard from 5-11am, a whole grain, spicy, and full-of-texture mustard inspired by good food and locally brewed Brooklyn beer from Sixpoint.
Come watch an inside peek into the production process, meet Anna Wolf, the founder and owner of My Friend’s Mustard, and see for yourself the birth of a small food business inside the Palace Cafe.
To buy a jar for your condiment collection, you can visit the semi-new local beer & cheese shop: Eastern District. 1053 Manhattan Avenue (Eagle/Freeman)
was the song I dedicated to my very first boy crush. Oh wait, second boy crush. I can recall passing notes and lots of giggling. Might’ve been one of my healthiest relationships to date.
