5 Things

5 happy moments from the last 5 days:

1. My best friend came to visit. We managed not to cry. I'm not going to let her leave.

2. This song. On repeat. Permanently.

3. Evening reading.

4. Big cups of American coffee.

5. Writing silly articles at work. They made me laugh.

Happy weekend!

X

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Juliana's Pizza

For maman and papa's most recent visits, we had all managed to get tickets to watch Nice Fish at St Anne's Warehouse. News that Mark Rylance was in 1 mile proximity from  my parents temporary home meant that not going to this play was out of the question. So on Thursday night we were in need of an early dinner. I rushed out of work at 5.30pm, and crammed on to the usual F train, getting off a couple of stops early in Dumbo. After a brisk walk I found Juliana's, and maman and papa already standing in a line which was disturbingly long for 6pm on a weeknight. Half an hour later, with B still trying to find his way there, we were ushered inside to be seated at our table. 

Pre-theatre (I just typed theater naturally and now I'm sad about how American I've become) suppers are always a tricky thing. I'm rarely a fan of a pre-theatre (did it again) set menus, and don't particularly enjoy eating with the toddlers who are the other restaurant guests at 5.30pm on a weekday. However, in America, pre-theatre meals seem to be slightly less of a set-in-their-ways issue. This is mainly due to the fact that everyone eats at 6pm, no matter what age they are, or what their plans are for the rest of the evening.

The decor at Juliana's is pretty nonexistent, bar the striking, searing hot pizza oven at the back of the room. The service is friendly, and natural, in a classic American way. The customers are a mix of tourists, the obviously Italian owners, and all the locals. The pizzas are phenomenal. As in, possibly the best pizza I've ever had in my entire life.

We munched our way through some surprisingly perfect Romaine hearts with Caesar dressing. This simple salad was so tasty we ordered another. A good sign for a pizza restaurant. It's rarely worth ordering anything other than the doughy special. Apart from Pizza Express' dough balls with garlic butter, which will forever hold a special place in my heart, no matter how bad the indigestion I get from them is.

We had one large number 1 and one large number 4. Set on the metal pizza stands, we split these two gigantic pizzas between the four of us. B was very happy to be with three people who had already been out for lunch that day and who were therefore willing to give him more than his fair share of slices. Number 1 was rich, intense, and an explosion of flavor: on the crispy, perfectly charred dough, was melted mozzarella, topped with Scamorza affumicata (a smoked Italian cow's milk cheese), pancetta, scallions, and Oregon-grown white truffles. White pizza perfection. Number 4 (the more photogenic of the two), was the same delicate base, but this time topped with tomato, mozzarella, arugula, and prosciutto. The only way I can explain to you how good it was is to say that maman and papa, who had just spent several days eating pizza in Naples, declared this the best pizza they've ever tasted. If that's not a good enough reason to get yourself to Juliana's right now, then I don't know what is.

Juliana's, 19 Old Fulton Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201

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Baked in Brooklyn

A sunny spring day was made up of a lot of walking as we led maman and papa across Gowanus, up through Park Slope (via Milk Bar for coffee), around Prospect Park, along Windsor Terrace (with a quick stop for lunch at Krupa Grocery - fab grilled cheese), and finally we followed our noses down to Greenwood cemetery.

When I say we followed our noses, I mean it quite literally. Before starting our sun-drenched explorations of Greenwood cemetery we were looking for a quick coffee and sugar stop at Baked in Brooklyn. Once you're about 10 blocks away from this bakery, you know it. The scent of cinnamon buns and freshly baked bread fills the air around Greenwood. I am honestly tempted to pick up my belongings and move to an apartment in this south Brooklyn neighborhood just so I can be surrounded by the smell of freshly baked treats all day, every day.

The factory-esque exterior of Baked in Brooklyn isn't a facade, as us New Yorkers have come to expect from most warehouse buildings in this city. Once inside, glass interior walls divide you from the real bread and bun making. Expert bakers plait 6-braided challah loaves in less than a minute (Great British Bake Off contestants could really learn something from their skills), perfect spheres of dough plop out from a loaf shaping machine, and freshly baked loaves run down the conveyor belt, to be collected and checked for quality by a trusted baker at the bottom of the run.

After I'd got over the excitement of watching the speed of the loaf-plaiting man, and debated for a while about whether I should quit my job and come and work in this bread-baking heaven, I returned to the important matters at hand, and set about deciding what we should eat. Iced coffees and cinnamon buns were the final decision, followed by the free butter 'cookies' filled with jam that they were offering around. The bun was fluffy, and light, and sweet, and as perfect as a sugar-filled American-style cinnamon bun should be. When every layer and scrap of icing had disappeared, we finally had the energy to tackle the roaming hills of Greenwood cemetery.

Baked in Brooklyn, 755 5th Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11232

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5 Things

5 happy moments from the last few days:

1. Political TV shows. Watching multiple at once. Obsessed.

2. Easter cookies and Easter Peeps.

3. Having less hair to brush in the morning. It makes a significant difference to the time I have in the day.

4. Risotto. Always so dreamy.

5. Bumping into friends on morning runs.

Happy weekend!

x

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