Category Archives: That’s Life

What’s going on in my little world.

Brooklyn with Jon: Day 7

Thursday

  • Van Brunt Stillhouse
    • 6 Bay St
    • due W of N end of Prospect Park
    • open 1-6 weekends
  • Widow Jane Distillery
    • 214 Conover St
    • Open today 9:00 am – 5:00 pm
    • simple flight 3 samples
  • Cacao Prieto
    • open Saturday 11-7
    • tours noon, 2, & 4
    • didn’t buy any chocolate; no samples
  • Sixpoint Brewery
    • 40 Van Dyke St
    • Open today 8:00 am – 5:00 pm
    • next to Van Brunt Stillhouse
    • very friendly, talked for a while; closed for renovations
    • told me about a cordial maker on the corner which was also closed (showed no signs of life anyway)
  • Brooklyn Brewery
    • 79 N 11th St (near Jon)
    • closed today
  • Gee’s pizza
    • “anything else I can bring you?”  “yes, we ordered two pies.”
  • Champs Junior
    • blueberry pie (vegan meh)
JamesIsIn

Brooklyn with Jon: Day 6

Wednesday

  • Museum of the Moving Image 36-01 35th Ave (NE of 36th Ave & 31st St)
  • Socrates Sculpture Park 32-01 Vernon Blvd (take Q/N toward Astoria; leave train @ Broadway; walk W to park near water)
  • bbq joint beer and cornbread and Argentinian drummer
  • High Line from W 30th St to W 16th St park from old elevated line W of 10th Ave
  • wandering lower Manhattan
  • Madison Square Park and meet Jon
  • Eataly too busy, bought wild boar sopressata (~1/4 lb $11.02)
  • noodle house for dinner
  • Jon rode home and I took subway
  • met Polish Pietro? (Peter) and talked on platform and G train (one stop) about his alcoholic brother and other things
JamesIsIn

Brooklyn with Jon: Day 5

Tuesday

  • Shake Shack (Smoke Shack, fries, and vanilla custard with chocolate toffee mix-in)
  • Met
  • Central Park to CP West then C to memorial
  • burger bar for Bronx pale ale
  • O’Hara’s to see patches and scrapbook
  • 9/11 memorial (free Tuesday, get tix @ <16:00) Greenwich St & Liberty St
    • got 2 free tickets at 16:00 giveaway
    • visited two bars waiting for Jon at leave work and arrive there
    • discovered site was incorrect about 7 pm final entry (it’s 6:30 though sign said 6)
    • tried to talk way in to little avail
  • bahn mi Nom Pang 26th & Broadway
  • Times Square
  • W Village for comedy show
  • G train down for maintenance so took shuttle bus instead
JamesIsIn

Brooklyn with Jon: Day 4

Monday

  • MoMa PS1 22-25 Jackson Ave (Court Sq)
  • arrived at 10:36 doesn’t open until noon
  • eat eggs bennies at Court Square Diner
  • MoMa PS1 22-25 Jackson Ave (Court Sq) $10
  • Sculpture Center $5 donation
  • Home of Soccer 1745 1st Avenue (near 1st Ave & E 90th St) oops $58
  • Yankees Clubhouse Shop 110 E 59th St (near Park Ave & E 59th St) sorry pop, they are $250 but made with original wool
  • Booker & Dax 207 2nd Ave (E Village near 2nd Ave & E 13th St) didn’t understand address and thought it had changed
  • Pouring Ribbons 225 Avenue B (E Village near Ave B (W of 1st Ave) & E 14th St) best Ramos gin fizz ever with foam an inch over the glass rim (also very cool bubbly water dispenser with two pressures)
  • so many wrong turns it’s painful, seriously (never forget your compass)
  • Il Buco for dinner (house made salumi, bread, olive oil, gnocchi, pasta, and porchetta)

Brooklyn with Jon: Day 3

Sunday

  • charge everything
  • (Jon went to Yoga)
  • shower
  • find fishhook on carpet
  • empty card + rsync
  • call mom, dad, brother
  • write notes
  • (Jon returns)
  • grocery shopping @ Associated
  • get salads @ The Garden for ribs later
  • eat at bodega in Brooklyn Heights (turkey & provolone on a roll, mexi-coke, ice cream sandwich for $8.50)
  • walk entire Brooklyn Promenade(?)
  • oops, it’s Smorgasburg
  • a storm is brewing
  • go to Williamsburg and play pinball @ Jack Bar (one beer for me, a white from Germany)
  • got half soaked running to Buddhist mediation class
  • got half soaked running to catch the b62 (one of three stacked up, probably not another for half an hour and we had to run behind it 2 blocks to catch it at the next stop since it didn’t stop as we were running to the corner)
  • back to Jon’s place for ribs (mine) and potato salad and carrot salad (salads from The Garden)
  • Jon roasts chicken breasts on bed of white onion and covered in parchment paper for his lunches
  • walk down Manhattan for dessert
  • peeked in @ Champs Jr (only one pie: apricot & chia)
  • ice cream @ Van Leeuwen Artisan Ice Cream
  • empty cams & rsync
JamesIsIn

Brooklyn with Jon: Day 2

Saturday

  • rise ~9:30
  • empty cams + rsync
  • walkabout Coney Island
  • boardwalk
  • White Castle
  • wind + salt
  • wind + grit
  • walkabout Brighton Beach
  • Avenue J & Di Fara Pizza
  • walkabout Manhattan
  • no food sorrow walk
  • death of Nom Pang?
  • sore and tired
  • look The Strand!
  • look Eatily!
  • Nom Pang second location closed at 9:30
  • Eatily is huge walkthrough
  • ate mexifare (meh) but the ladies were flirting and that makes up for a lot
JamesIsIn

Brooklyn with Jon: Day 1

Friday

  • flight
  • airtrain, q, g, lost a bit then found
  • climb rail to get key from above door, dirty hands
  • laser cut key?
  • settled luggage
  • walkabout, see charcuterie, Old Polish Bakery,The Brew Inn
  • back to apt to meet Jon, more getting settled, roommate brother died suddenly and is out of town instead
  • get burger & beer @ The Brew Inn
  • piss @ Lake Street Bar
  • beer @ Diamond Bar
  • beer @ No Name Bar
  • Torst super fancy beers who refused to bring our check
  • last quarter of hockey semi-finals at oldster place called Pit Stop
  • rooftop potting session with coolness and view (lamenting coming construction)
JamesIsIn

Game Night

There will be an open night of gaming at my place for New Year’s Eve. I will make something like spaghetti and maybe others will bring snacks. I have some good red wine as well to offer. I know that Patrick Gaillard and Harry Oesterreicher (and Flint) are interested. If you want more information please write to me or comment here. If you want to come for a bit or for a long visit, just let me know.

Games? Settlers of Catan, Carcassonne, Cards Against Humanity, Red Shirts, Kittens in a Blender, Sortie, Master and Commander, Dread Pirate, Guillotine, Cribbage, Chess, Go, Pente, Chaturanga, and Shut the Fuck Up. Take your pick.

I picked two bottles of red wine from my cellar for New Year’s Eve. Get your game on, red lips.

Ok, so I’m making goulash for game night (Goulash for Gamers is my new charity). I also picked a couple of bottles of Proseco for fun bubbles. Add to that the aforementioned bottles of red and the soppressata and you have the makings of a fine celebration.

Some of the time fruitcake is not just a lump of lumpiness. Sometimes it is the joy of shooting your friend’s WWII fighter plane out of the sky.

Some of the time the fighter plane which goes down is the fighter plane of your lover (and you weep on the inside), and she goes off to play Candy Crush Clone 472 to await the outcome of this Sortie. Either way, the fruitcake was good. <– real possible thing.

Jackson Reinhardt enjoyed the survey of the lands from his box on its side on a bigger box near the hub of all human activity. The view was awesome. <– look up that word.

We listened to Motorhead, McKlusky, Pink Floyd (Syd’s era), and Richard Thompson. Oh, and a fine tangent into James McMurtry (Where DID you hide the body?). Some Wire if memory serves.

I’ll miss you most of all, Proseco.

PS: That sentence about the box is not a run-on sentence and by the way it rocks to no-commas thing.

JamesIsIn

Game Night

Game night Friday 12 December shall begin no earlier than 19:00 (that’s 7 PM for the mathematically challenged). Show up sometime after seven and we’ll get going once we have a good table started.

Wine for beverages? Some snacks (cheese crackers &c)? Order thai food delivered? All of the above?

Treasa Sweek, Harry Oesterreicher, Patrick Gaillard, John Walseth, Hannah J. Price. Anyone else?

Anyone wondering about things to bring, it’s wine and cheese themed. I have a couple of bottles and Harry has another. I have some cheddar and some Cambozola. I have crackers. I have a couple of apples and a pomegranate. Fruit and more cheese or maybe some bread? Whatever. See you all soon.

JamesIsIn