Celebrate Brooklyn

One of the biggest reasons that I visit New York, is the fact that several of my college friends moved there after college (well and of course Broadway shows!). Thankfully they are generous enough to offer me the services of their couches so that I have a place to sleep. For years now, I have usually left New York feeling like I could never actually live there. That is starting to change since my friends have moved further out of Manhattan. Eric moved to Brooklyn a few years ago, and each time I stay with him, I grow to like it more. Since he offered me his couch for our two weeks, I got to explore Brooklyn more than ever.

Eric lives in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn. This is the first neighborhood that one encounters when taking the L line subway train from Manhattan. The above picture is the Williamsburg bridge and below is the view of Manhattan.

Williamsburg seems to be an up and coming area of New York. It is populated by many trendy hipsters, and beautiful people. There are endless possibilities for restaurants, bars, and shops. In fact I once saw a Bobby Flay show on The Food Network in which he went to a Peruvian steakhouse in Williamsburg called Chimu. As one of many things I did to thank Eric, I took him to dinner at Chimu, and it was so good. I had a tamal criollo appetizer which was basically like a tamale stuffed with chicken, eggs, and olives, but not wrapped in a corn husk. Also Eric and I both had the tallarin verde con bistec or in other words: spaghetti in basil and Spanish cheese sauce topped with grilled steak. Mmm Spanish cheese sauce!!

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I also had several firsts with my two weeks in Brooklyn. It was the first time that I did my laundry and bought groceries in New York for example. It was also the first time that I had taken the G train in Brooklyn. The reason I took the G train was that I wanted to go to my first Target in Brooklyn! As I was walking around after getting off of the train by the Target, I had one of those New York moments. A few years ago when I visited to see shows, I came out to Brooklyn to see a dance piece called, "Play Without Words" at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (or BAM). This was my first time in Brooklyn, and I was still a bit weird about the prospect of being in Brooklyn let alone wanting to pull out a camera and take pictures. So as I was walking to Target, I passed by BAM and was totally amazed. I really had no concept of where it was, and it turns out to be right by Target. How perfect. So now that I am not awkward about taking pictures and don't feel like everyone in Brooklyn wants to kill me, I photographed BAM. It is a really cool building, and I am thrilled that I happened upon it by accident!