photo of the day.
Friday, July 30th, 2010
‘News’
Mr. Cyclone
Friday, July 30th, 2010
Voting is underway in the “Mr. Cyclone” contest, and one local resident, Noah Price, is among the motley crew of semi-finalists, half of whom advance to a live finals competition on August 7.
His bio:
This Flatbush resident is an adventurous jack of all trades who loves all things Coney, especially the Cyclone, Sideshows by the Seashore and Burlesque at the Beach. One of the talents that he picked up from being in Coney Island every summer is eating and spitting fire. He does it to be the world’s coolest uncle!
Quote: “I think it would be so much Fun to be Mr Cyclone!!!! Plus Miss Cyclone is HOT!
Cyclone-meter: Lost track of how many times he rode
(h/t Brooklyn Paper)
Ditmas in AMNY
Friday, July 30th, 2010
The free subway paper AM New York featured a giant spread on Ditmas Park yesterday, [online here, starting at page 17, as a reader points out.]
It begins: “Warning: Stepping off the subway at Beverley Road in Ditmas Park, Brooklyn in confusing, and many visitors may wonder if they are still in New York City.”
It’s a nice, four-page feature, though, and does a good job of highlighting great local spots from Sacred Vibes to Purple Yam to Vox, and the newest ones — Toy Space and the Costello Plan. The author had particular affection for the watermelon salad at the Farm.
Lost Australian Shepherd
Friday, July 30th, 2010
Sam, Cecilia, and Joe email:
To our neighbors,
Thursday night, July 29, our dog Ruby escaped from our backyard on Marlborough Road between Newkirk and Ditmas Avenues. Since this wasn’t discovered for about an hour and we haven’t seen or heard from her since, we fear the worst. She is the sort of dog that will just run, oblivious to danger.
She is an Australian Shepherd with a short summer haircut so now she is charcoal gray, about 60 lbs, with a head of black and white hair where it wasn’t cut, and just a stub of a tail.
If anyone has any info, good or bad, please let us know. She is sorely missed.
You can call them at 917 450 6777.
See, Click, Fix
Thursday, July 29th, 2010
Community Board 14 is now using SeeClickFix, a tool which will make it easy for anyone to report issues and problems to them, and make it easier for the fabulous folks at CB14 and other city agencies to respond, and act. Complaints can be submitted quickly and easily on their website , directly on SeeClickFix or even from your mobile phone.
Once you or anyone else reports a problem the entire world can see what it is, where it is and keep track of it’s resolution. A quick look at the map and you can see all the problems in your area, see if your issue is already being dealt with and offer your own input on other problems. We wish to make resolving problems easier, make the process more transparent and empower our residents to improve the community.
Please go here to get started. Thank you, CB14, for making it so easy!
Sycamore
Thursday, July 29th, 2010
The folks from Sycamore are sending word that “Kristine, of Sycamore’s flower shop, is going to be trying her hand at bartending at 773 Lounge tonight. Go drink a beer and rock out to Stevie Nicks, Bruce Springsteen and other jams on the amazing jukebox. Might be fun.” Enjoy!
Vox Pop Transformations
Thursday, July 29th, 2010
New gate is the work of neighbor Franklyn Strachan.
Visions Returns as Club?
Wednesday, July 28th, 2010
I’ve seen no sign of this, or of any life at all, from Visions — has anyone? — but one DJ Snap tweets:
BORN FLY MONDAYS (6PM-12AM) @VISIONS (752 Coney Island Ave. Corner of Cortelyou Rd) Music w/DJ Snap, K-Starr, XL & Silky & Butta Brown Free
Mouthwatering at Mimi’s
Wednesday, July 28th, 2010
Food photographer Eric Isaac has some mouth-watering photos of Mimi’s food up on his blog, including this shot of the shakshuka eggs, which are pretty much perfect for any meal.
Saturday at Sycamore: Nebraska Brew, Grilled Meat
Tuesday, July 27th, 2010
Sycamore’s Justin Israelson emails:
Saturday, July 31, we are firing up the grill and cooling off with some sessional and seasonal beers in our garden. This weekend we are featuring beers from Nebraska Brewing Company, of Papillion, NE. $5 pints of beers and $3-$6 plates of food. The food will be grilled from 2-8pm
Goose Count
Tuesday, July 27th, 2010
DitmasDeb writes on the Prospect Park Days blog:
…And there are more geese! We saw Ed and Anne, who count them scrupulously. There are now 28 of them. Four escaped the extermination, and the rest have flown in to the beautiful, empty lake that they saw from above. I wonder how fast the population will grow. The Dept. of Agriculture claims that they have done all the killing for the year. What a peculiar statement to make! Also, I think they are doing some thinking – after all the publicity about the secret extermination, the fact that they killed resident geese, not migratory ones, and the possibility of other methods of geese control.
photo of the day.
Monday, July 26th, 2010
Gardening Porn.
Monday, July 26th, 2010
Here is an example of what a half plot (4′ x 4′) in the Flatbush Community Garden is yielding. These were picked on Saturday…
Ask the Historian
Monday, July 26th, 2010
Brooklyn Borough Historian Ron Schweiger is spending this week answering questions on WNYC’s Brian Show.
He got into the topic — as the station’s profile says — “several decades back when he began photographing Victorian Flatbush and comparing the contemporary shots to vintage images.”
You can post your Brooklyn questions at WNYC — but I bet if you post them in the comments section here too, some of the readers of this blog may be able to help.
Sander Hicks profiled
Monday, July 26th, 2010
The New York Observer profiles Vox Pop co-founder Sander Hicks [who no longer has any association with the coffee shop], who used to be a controversial local figure.
The general theme:
After tumultuous stints in, and bitter divorces from, the city’s Socialist and Green parties (under the latter’s banner, he twice ran for the Senate), Mr. Hicks now finds himself where he was always destined to be: more or less alone, in charge of his own political fiefdom on the fringe.
Spit a Pit contest
Monday, July 26th, 2010
My camera missed most of the action at the cherry spitting contest this year. But I did catch Lucas, pictured above, carefully choosing a cherry. He later landed a personal best of 4 feet. Nice work. Some other random pictures of the contest here, including some of the top scores.
Spit a Pit at the Greenmarket
Saturday, July 24th, 2010
Market Manager Allison Whaley emails:
The Spit-a-Pit Contest has returned for its second year. Come and beat last year’s record or try for the first time! We’ll be spitting cherry pits next to the Greenmarket tent and recording the best distances from 9am to noon. And if spitting’s not your thing, you’re welcome to come eat cherries while cheering on the competitors.
Nelson has some great pictures of last year’s contest here. The record stands at 27 feet.
Halo Halo on a Hot Day
Friday, July 23rd, 2010
A suggestion from Zagat’s blog write-up of unconventional ice cream:
Purple Yam: This Filipino restaurant in Ditmas Park, Brooklyn, serves an ice cream made out of its namesake vegetable and serves it atop “halo halo” – a Philippine iced dessert of sweet beans, palm seed, cocogel, agar agar, coconut sport and jackfruit topped with flan and purple yam ice cream, of course ($2 a scoop for yam ice cream, $6 for halo halo; 718-940-8188).
Kensington Update
Friday, July 23rd, 2010
Here’s Liena’s latest summary of the problems with big, planned city land give-away in Kensington:
Rezoning: Some of the area will be upzoned, allowing folks like Bergament department store to all of a sudden be able to build 6 stories on top of their store. To give away that much money (for the apartments that can now be developed can be sold or rented at profit) without getting anything back for the neighborhood does not sound right.
The neighborhood needs public green space. It needs a community center that would offer kids as well as grownups recreational opportunities after school, summer or winter (dare we dream of a swimming pool?). It needs a location for a new public school. Before $$ is given away to developers just for asking, by way of upzoning their lots, the community needs to know what it will get in return.
For the lots that are not expected to be developed in the next 10 years – how about they are turned into a temporary neighborhood space that can be used for kids to play or a community garden – we have enough abandoned lots storing derelict vehicles already.
Everybody wants more affordable housing. Culver El Affordable Housing project should be affordable in perpetuity. If you can sell a 5 bedroom apartment to whomever you wish in 15 years, it will not be affordable in 15 years.
Culver El public land should not be given away for parking. So much is given to the surrounding property owners through rezoning, that they most likely can afford to buy any land they need for parking.
And the alternative:
By designing awesome affordable housing, there is potential for completely transforming this derelict stretch of our neighborhood by creating an attractive environment that fosters a sense of community and allows for neighborly interactions. From the current plans, it looks like we will be getting more of the same and increasingly ugly – walk a block up 37th to between 12th Avenue and Fort Hamilton Parkway, or down to 15th Avenue and you’ll see the already developed parts of Culver El.
Picket Fence love
Thursday, July 22nd, 2010
A food blogger goes to Picket Fence:
Their interior is cozy; the design reminds me of a summer home in Connecticut. They also have ample seating in the back garden area.
We were seated in the back. The waitress was friendly and we didn’t have to wait long for our food, which always enhance a dining experience.
I ordered the Skillet Roasted Chicken ($15). It was served in a tomato shallot sauce with a polenta cake and steamed broccoli.
This entrée was just amazing. The chicken was so tender that it fell off the bone without the assistance of a knife. The polenta cake was the texture of a creamy cloud. The broccoli was perfectly cooked and well complimented by the savory sauce – it was the perfect crunchy element of the meal. Needless to say, I practically licked my plate clean…my mama woulda been proud.
photo of the day.
Thursday, July 22nd, 2010
photo of the day.
Wednesday, July 21st, 2010
I came across the photo on flickr by Adrian Kinloch whose fresh perspective on our nabe unfolds on his website http://britinbrooklyn.squarespace.com/ Welcome Adrian…
