Early BK morning

Hooray for Heather who finished the Brooklyn Half Marathon! Although she had to get up at 4:30am to get prepared for the race, P and I were up and out of the house by 7:30am. We biked down to south entrance of Prospect Park and were standing by the side of the loop by 8:10am along with other race supporters. The runners were finishing their 2nd loop and exiting the park by this time (on their way to Coney Island), and we were whooping, clapping, and cheering them along! It made me miss my running days... :(

We unexpectedly saw P's coworker which was fun, and within a couple of minutes, we saw Heather crying out our names as she ran past us waving with her giant smile! We whooped and hollered and in my excitement, started up again with the cheering. Noticing a guy wearing a t-shirt with his name (Bob) painted on it, I started cheering for him too- only to realize that I actually DID know him! (He is one of the engineers I work with!) After more cheering of the runners, we biked into the park to have some "breakfast" (water and bananas) and do some people/dog-watching. Then we decided to go to the nearby Brooklyn Botanic Garden but it was so early that even they weren't even open yet!

So we biked around looking for a cafe (good lord, is anything open before 10am in this city?!?)... and we found our answer... at the beloved and popular Tom's Diner, which opens at like 4am or something. Thankfully we got seated right away since it was still pretty early so we didn't have to deal with the typical line of people outside. The old friendly host/manager (I forget his name- no, it's not Tom) was joking around and clapping customers on their shoulders, greeting them by name, waving a Purell pump about. He was squirting it into the palms of people he was seating- two guys had walked in right before me- and then proceeded to squirt some into my hand- saying with a smile that everyone should always have clean hands in his restaurant!

We sat down and immediately the same manager guy set down a plate of (complimentary) cinnamon buttered toast in front of us while a waiter poured our coffee. What service! P got their famous fluffy pancakes and I got an assortment of pancakes, eggs, and bacon. Yes, the food lives up to the reviews (although my meal was a bit heavier than I would have liked) but those pancakes!! Wow! Meanwhile, the manager was walking around with a giant bowl of orange wedges and giving them out to customers while chatting with them- it seemed like most of the patrons knew him and his staff by name.

We literally rolled out of there, completely satiated and in such a happy mood- and walked off the breakfast at the BBG, now open. We wanted to take advantage of our membership (free admission) but turns out it's free admission anyway on Saturdays before noon! The rose garden was the place to be- and it was so colorful and gorgeously lush!

It was crazy- by the time we met up in Park Slope with Kel and Iris, it felt like we had done a whole weekend's worth of activities already- and it was only like 2pm!

Red Hook and pizza

Karen is staying with us this weekend, but she met up with her friends, so P and I headed out with our bikes and explored nearby Red Hook...

It's still a bit gritty, but Van Brunt Street shows signs of an emerging little community- young trees line the sidewalk, and cafes, shops, and bars cater to the diverse group of locals. The scale of the free standing homes is much smaller and "lighter" than other parts of Brooklyn- mostly 2 story wood frame and brick buildings, which contrasted with the towering brick projects several blocks away. Beautiful historic concrete and brick warehouses and giant steel cranes sit along the industrial waterfront, which used to be a major shipyard.

IKEA plaza was clean and shiny, its bright blue and yellow facade and massive parking lot a symbol of the changing neighborhood. We rode our bikes along the pristine, landscaped waterfront bike path, lined with streamlined galvanized benches and nautical remnants of its shipping history.

Maritime features (oooh! shipshape!) are everywhere in the neighbor- hood, from the names of shops and bars, to architec- tural and decorative elements of buildings, to the salvaged nautical features (bollards, ropes, winches, etc.) incorporated into the design of the brand new waterfront esplanade.

We poked around the shops on Van Brunt Street, drooled over all the plants at Chelsea Garden Center, filled up my bike basket with produce from Fairway Market, stopped at the Red Hook Lobster Pound for some lobster and shrimp rolls, and finally made it back home in time to do a little bit of plant tending and take a quick nap.


A few hours later, we were a bit peckish, and Paul suggested that we go down to Lucali's for pizza. I have never attempted to go on a Saturday night, but it was still *early* so we walked down there to find out the wait was like an hour. We walked around Cobble Hill/Carroll Gardens for awhile, admiring the spring blossoms and beautiful brownstones, picked up some cookies to try to prevent my low-blood-sugar-irritability (didn't work), and sat impatiently on their outdoor benches.

The wait ended up being about 2 hours (argh!!) and we got shuffled around a bit when we were inside, but finally we were able to give our order and waited patiently for our perfectly-baked-pie-of-heaven to emerge. Mark, the owner, rolls out the dough for each pizza as the orders come in, on his candlelit marble countertop. Turns out the wait was exceptionally long that night because there were some unexpected special guests that threw everyone off- Gwyneth, Chris, Beyonce, and Jay-Z walked in about 10 minutes after we were seated and sat right next to us!

Just another day in the life...

Birthday!!

Another year, another birthday.... but what a wonderful birthday it was!

Paul got me a beautiful new Linus bike, and I feel like I'm riding around in a French film, with baguettes and flowers in my basket! The bike helmet doesn't complete the look, but I have to get over that... safety first!
Linus bikes are inspired by French bicycle designs of the 50's and 60's, but completely modernized and streamlined. I love sitting upright in its elegant frame, I love the leather handlebars, and ringing the little bell- and I have gotten so many compliments on it by passing bikers!

It definitely is the best birthday present ever- I feel like I'm like 12 years old!!
...and my sister pitched in for the adorable basket in front!

Although I got over my fear of re-learning how to ride a bike when I was in Japan, I was a bit apprehensive about riding stateside. Fortunately Paul was super patient with me and we rode on (mostly) bike lanes to Prospect Park and the Brooklyn Botanical Garden for my inaugural ride!
We organized a picnic in Prospect Park, on a day that was forecast to be about 70 degrees. Unfortunately it never got above about 50 degrees so all of us shivered uncomfortably for as long as we could stand. Thanks to everyone who came out and celebrated!