Brooklyn

Whisk in Brooklyn

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My trip here has almost come to an end, and my services as a baby helper will no longer be available to my sister as of 4pm today.  So, I babysat Maren while Lisa got her hair cut at The Beehive in Brooklyn.  By the way, she got a great cut here.  So, if you ever need a salon in Williamsburg this is a good one.

Maren and I set out on a little adventure of our own in the stroller.  She was asleep when we left, and I hoped this would be her consistent state for the next hour.  She has been so much fun to be around this past week.  Despite her cuteness, I would have much preferred her to remain peaceful and quiet until we got back to the salon.  She knows that I am not her mommy and the longer she sleeps, the longer she is unaware that mommy is not the one pushing the stroller.  She was a quiet resting baby during our outing, except for a tiny moment of unhappiness that was quickly ended thanks to a little comfort…in the form of a pacifier.

You do not have an incredible amount of freedom when you’re maneuvering a stroller through busy streets.  This lack of freedom makes the simple task of browsing a cute gift shop, clothing store or book store much more difficult.  I passed up many shops simply because they were too crowded inside, had more than two steps to the  door, or had doors that looked a little too hard for me to fit through with the stroller.  I did see this store and couldn’t resist going in.  Whisk is a kitchen store in the Williamsburg area of Brooklyn and is quite adorable and fun to browse through.  There are no steps to the door, there looked to be just one other patron in the store, and there also seemed to be room to get around people (and for people to get around me).  I am so glad I went in.  Here is the link with their location and hours.

The usual suspects of kitchen gadgets adorned walls, utensil jars and shelves.  A side room contained both fun and traditional table linens, flatware, coffee and tea paraphernalia, cookbooks and serving pieces.  It is a quainter version of a Williams-Sonoma or Sur la Table.

I purchased this towel for $21.99 after much internal struggle.  It was a run off between this and another towel with no trim, but some very cool graphic red birds.  This will be the towel I hang on the oven door when company is coming, but I will not be using this one to clean up any spills.  It is just too beautiful.  Ben is going to think this makes it a totally impractical item, but I will let people dry their freshly washed hands on it…so it will not be completely useless.

This was one of many different colored and sized colanders; yellow, red, orange, blue, green, pink, purple, small, medium and large.  I have been wanting a small colander like this for berries for a while now.  It doesn’t make much sense to use a large colander to wash a pint of berries.  This is the perfect sized item for that job.  Yellow colander, $14.99.

Baked in Brooklyn

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Sarah and I are in Brooklyn…finally.  I won’t go into too much detail because it will just get me worked up, but it was a bit of a nightmare.  Cancelled flights, 180 people on stand-by, an unplanned night in Dallas, a 6:40 am flight the next day, lost baggage, horribly unhelpful  AA baggage people, and now items are mysteriously missing out of my suitcase.  This was not the best travel experience.

Thankfully, we are here now and having a great time visiting my sister Lisa, my brother-in-law Randy and our 10 week old niece Maren.  Isn’t she amazingly cute?  She has the most rockin’ hair I have ever seen.  She is a whopping 9 pounds now, and quite fun to be around.

This morning while driving around Brooklyn we stopped in Baked, a bakery in Red Hook, to pick up some goodies.  Here is a link to their site.  Sarah had heard of their salted brownies; caramel and fleur-de-sel in a chocolate-y brownie.  I’d read that they also had incredible whoopie pies.

The bakery is a little funky and very cool.  The door is orange with an animal antler handle.  Inside the decor consists of white deer heads on the walls, orange details and warm wooden tables and wood grain walls and tables.  A crystal chandelier hangs above the counter to soften the manliness of the place.

Unfortunately the salted caramel brownie that we came here for was not on the menu today.  However, Sarah and I are not quitters, and we will not give up just because of a slight disappointment.  So we chose an assortment of treats to sample and share with each other.

Here is a tray of most of the goodies. Clockwise from top left are the s’more nut bar, rosemary apricot bar, oatmeal cookie, chocolate cookie, chocolate whoopie pie with vanilla cream filling, and mini Red Velvet cupcake.  Not pictured but very delicious are the banana whoopie pie, lemon pistachio vegan cookie and the Brewer’s brownie made with brewers malt.

S’more Nut Bar:  A slightly sweet graham cracker base with a chocolate and marshmallow center and peanut top.  The chocolate is thick, ganache-like and incredibly rich.  I would have enjoyed more marshmallow pieces in this bar, but it was still very good.

Rosemary Apricot Bar:  This was one of my favorites.  I usually do not like apricot, but with the rich buttery bottom layer and the nutty streusal topping I was a total fan.  The rosemary adds such a great savory flavor to the sweetness of the rest of the ingredients.  It reminds me of these rosemary pecan cookies which I LOVE with a passion and cannot stop eating when I make them.

Oatmeal Cookie:  Another favorite packed full of oatmeal, coconut, dried cherries, pecans and white chocolate.  I might try to recreate these at home.

Chocolate Cloud Cookie:  Dense, chocolate goodness.

Whoopie Pie:  A softer version of an Oreo and so much tastier.  Rich and yummy chocolate cookie encasing light fluffy vanilla cream filling.  Tasty.

Mini Red Velvet:  An adorable treat with a perfect dollop of cream cheese frosting.  This a perfect single serving cupcake.