Saturday I went to the Brooklyn Flea. It’s back to rocking in the sunshine in the Fort Greene neighborhood after being only indoors all winter, and I’ll probably go several times this summer. You see the same stuff every week, pretty much, but instead of being boring, it’s comforting and nice to see familiar things.

This was what I scored:

One package of homemade maple marshmallows from Whimsy & Spice. I also got to meet the husband half of this baking duo. We had an interview scheduled post-SXSW, but I had to bail due to The Horrible Sickness, and I felt terrible about canceling. (Not as terrible as I would have felt passing on The Horrible Sickness, but it was still a really disappointing decision to make.)

He gave me a cookie sandwich with chocolate-whiskey filling to try. Chocolate and whiskey cavorting on cookies is a double thumbs up from me, although it took us three girls to finish the one. It’s really rich. I want more!

One ridiculously cute tiny cupcake, courtesy of Keavy Landreth of Kumquat Cupcakery. We had an interview last week for Hey Brooklyn that you’ll hear Friday. I picked a red velvet cupcake, and it was the best red velvet I’ve had in my limited experience; I only just discovered this flavor back in October. Why hadn’t I heard of it before? Is it just not “a Connecticut thing”? Hey CT, you’re missing out! (Or I’ve just been oblivious for a really long time, which is entirely possible, too.)

One “bargain bin” greeting card from Foxy & Winston. She has the sweetest animal prints and note cards. I selected a purple bunny print greeting card for $1. Someone special will get a couple of cute bunnies in the mail one of these days.

One jar of beets! (Sidenote: is anyone else rendered wholly incapable of saying “beets” without thinking “Bears, beets – BATTLESTAR GALATICA.“? Just me? Really?! Well then.) I got them from Rick of Rick’s Picks, who I wrote about in my Foodzie post. I recognized the packaging instantly and made a quick u-Turn to go check his stuff out. In addition to the “phat beets” he makes all sorts of canned pickled things, and I will be purchasing more in the future. Lots more. There’s German in me, and that German demands I feed it vegetables soaked in brine and vinegar. (When I said this to Carissa, she said that sounded gross, but it’s totally true! It’s not gross, is it? Discuss.) … (On second thought, don’t.)

Rick let us all sample his “Handy Corn” which is not as dirty as it sounds. When I told him I am a world-famous blogger that wrote about his company, he gave me a “handy corn” tee shirt. I wore all day Sunday, and it is quite cozy. Thanks Rick!

Later that night we went to the Bell House to see the Kaiser Cartel play with their friends Lucinda Black Bear and the Winterpills. You can tell all three bands like the people in the other bands very much. Everyone played on everyone else’s songs at some point, and they all have a similar vibe and feel to their music. If you like what you heard of the Kaiser Cartel, you’ll like the other bands, too.

There’s a song that Courtney and Ben play while they walk around, and they look into audience members eyes as they play and sing. It’s all very quiet and hushed, and when they were walking, it reminded me of a Jewish service, when the Torah is passed around the congregation and everyone wants to kiss it quietly and respectfully. It was like Synagogue for hipsters, and it was beautiful, and it choked me up in such a good way. I hugged them after, and they signed my CD. 

People of Brooklyn, I love you.

photos from their respective websites

The new episode of Hey Brooklyn is up!  This makes three!  Exciting!  Go have a listen.

Also, tomorrow Carissa and I will be heading to the Brooklyn Flea, and then to the Bell House to see, among others, the Kaiser Cartel (Hey Brooklyn episode number 2) perform.  You should come!  It’ll be great.

Have a wonderful weekend.

This past weekend was pretty much the best ever.

Friday was opening day at the brand spanking new Yankee Stadium, and I was there! Our family has eight seats this season: really good ones by third base and really frigging amazing ones behind home-plate, in a section that has nice squishy comfy seats and waiter service.

photo by Rob… obviously!

Rob’s sister and family took the really good seats and me, Rob, his brother and Carissa took the “merely awesome” seats, and during the second half of the game we snuck into the squishy seats because the stadium wasn’t full.

Saturday was Carissa’s birthday, and we went bowling (I got the worst score in the group of 11 that were playing: a 66. It’s time for some practice. I found, though, that I do better when I “granny bowl”, which is using both hands, swinging the ball a few times between your knees and then launching it gently down the lane. This is a technique I developed when I was little and my hand was too small for the bowling ball’s finger holes. Using this method on Saturday got me laughed at, but it made me a better bowler so I didn’t care.)

“happy face, sad face, scary face, surprised face!”

After bowling we went to a bar that had a taco truck in the back and a photobooth inside, and boy oh man, do I ever love tacos and photobooths.

Then we went to see Bishop Allen, which was so, so awesome.

I bought their new album called “Grrr” after the show; it is fantastic. Of course.

Sunday I went to Coney Island and interviewed the creative director of the museum for Hey Brooklyn.  Rob and I walked around after that, and I snapped a photos.  This is something I haven’t done in too long.  We had gone last week and it wasn’t open, so there were only a few people straggling around.  This week was the first open weekend, and everyone was out basking in the sun.  If you haven’t gone, you should.  It’s an experience.

Sunday night Stu! came over for tea and cheese. She sat while I cleaned the kitchen. Having her there to chat with while I bustled around made me WAY productive, and I managed to achieve what Rob and I call “Dish Zero”: a state in which all the dirty dishes are cleaned. That almost never happens around here.

Monday we went to opening day at the Oriole’s park in Baltimore with our friend Gavin.  He is Rob’s co-host for Put It In Your Ears, and I suggest you not listen if you are easily offended by immature humor.  We went to Hooters after, which was amusing to say the least.

The warm weather has given me “get up and go”ituide. Rob said it’s like he has his wife back, which made me sad. I know the winter was hard for him, because I went for days on end absolutely refusing to leave the apartment because of the cold, and that made us both miserable.

It’s good to be back.

On Saturday night Carissa and I stayed in, watched SNL and picked out WordPress themes for her new blog. It was one of the most perfect Saturday nights ever. I seriously love my friends.

We also killed nearly a bottle of Love My Goat from Bully Hill Vineyards (it’s awesome if you like a sweet red “girl wine”), did an interview for Interviews with Friends (wait until you hear who she ran into with her bicycle!) and watched, but did not actually DO, some of the belly dancing workout DVDs she brought over while we were flopped on the couch full of ordered-in Indian food. It was, we figured, close enough.

Go say hello!

This cute program takes a digital image and converts it into a faux Polaroid. It’s kind of cheating, but the results are really pretty.  It makes a genuine Polaroid camera noise and then takes a few minutes for the picture to appear.  While it’s “developing”, you can shake it!

I used the program to convert a cell phone photo my friend Carissa snapped and sent to me.  The bracket is from Anthropologie, and the a lamp shade and cord are both from Ikea.  She strung the cord through the bracket and made herself a charming, inexpensive, zero-footprint light, perfect for a her tiny apartment bedroom.  So cute!