a weekend up north.

Some weekends I feel a strong desire to escape the confines of the city and head somewhere where I am surrounded by vast amounts of space and fields of green.  Other weekends I feel a strong desire to abandon my kitchen and head home to my parents where I can indulge in comfort food cooked by my mommy.    This weekend I had strong desire for both so the boy and I packed our bags and headed north.  We made a pit stop in the Bronx for some Italian favorites (pizza, pasta, cheese, bread!) and then ventured to my parents home where we indulged in long lazy walks through Stone Barns with the puppies and a family dinner fit for a king.  We returned to our apartment late this afternoon full, content, and happy. 

Image 1 - Zero Otto Nove: La Riccardo Pizza  - Arthur Ave the Bronx, NY

Image 2 - Cannolis from Arthur Ave

Images 3 through 9 - Stone Barns

Image 10 - Family dinner 

smorgasburg eats.

My two equally food enthusiastic friends and I spent Saturday in Williamsburg, Brooklyn at Smorgasburg.  Smorgasburg is a food festival/gathering/eat until you can’t eat any more extravaganza on the water in Williamsburg.  You can pretty much get any type of food you desire – tortas, pretzels, tacos galore, doughnuts, and many types of ice cream.  I ventured there for one reason alone…Mighty Quinn’s BBQ.  I urge you to not walk but run there this weekend to go and have some.  The brisket melts in your mouth and you find yourself stuffing it in your mouth until you realize only 30 seconds passed and all you have left is sticky BBQ fingers.  Sigh, I am still dreaming about it.  I also managed to eat pork and chicken buns from Bite Me Kitchen (the coconut chicken with crushed peanuts was utterly heavenly), Passion Fruit doughnuts from Dough, and so much more.  A filling Saturday it was.  

1 - Mighty Quinn's Brisket Sandwich

2,3 - Bite Size Kitchen Red Curry Coconut Chicken and Braised Pork Belly

4 - S'more Bakery Frozen S'more with caramel 
5 - Buttermilk Channel Fried Chicken, Cheddar Waffle, and Watermelon Salad
6 - Three Little Piggies outside the Meat Hook
7 - The dog's available for adoption. Sadly I left without one.  

new amsterdam market (and lots of ice cream!).

Tyler and I spent Sunday at The New Amsterdam Market eating our way through all of the ice cold offerings (and we had a couple of tacos as well).  If you haven't been to the New Amsterdam I highly suggest stopping by some Sunday.  There is a ton of local food purveyors selling everything from produce, to artisan cheeses and breads, and ice cream/ice pops galore!  It's a nice way to spend the day outside and a lovely way to fill up your belly.  

1, 2 - The Bent Spoon Ice Cream: Ricotta and Berry Lemon Basil - Hands down the best ice cream ever (and I have had a lot of ice cream).  The shop is located in Princeton, NJ and it's worth the drive and if you do go please feel free to bring me some on your way back.
3 - Milk Shaved Ice with Mango and Toasted Coconut - This was my first time having this and it was incredibly delicious and refreshing.  The shaved ice has a subtle sweetness to it which I loved.  The coconut gave a great texture to the whole dish and you can never go wrong with mango.