days in brooklyn. longing for more...

Sorry it's taken so long...for those of you anticipating this post.

Here are a few glimpses of our weekend in Brooklyn with

our oldest son, Josh, and his wife, Meggie...

You might be thinking the old girl has really lost her mind now...

but, I this is where I must begin!

In the Chicago airport ladies' rooms the toilet seats

are covered with plastic and before you sit

you wave your hand in front of the black square

which causes the plastic to rotate

bringing fresh and never-sat-upon plastic to the seat

for your personal hygienic comfort and peace of mind.

You might be thinking what I thought when I saw it...

it's probably just like those old rotating hand towel machines

every ladies' restroom used to have

where you pulled a "fresh" (wink) section down to use

after you washed your hands.

But, I didn't allow myself to linger there

because I didn't want to think about someone else's seat

sitting on my freshly rotated plastic.

So, I focused instead on the novelty of it

and snapped a pic...
then I waved my hand in front of the motion sensor
and made the plastic go 'round again...
just for fun!

This is our firstborn...Joshua Michael.

As God was fashioning him in my womb, He wove into Josh's heart

a love for "the city".

Not NYC in particular...just "the city".

When he was a child and we would drive through Atlanta

on our way to my parents' house he would look out the window

and say, "I want ta wive hiwah!"

It was a sweet gift last weekend to see our son living

at home...in the city.

Here is Sweet Husband and our daughter-in-law, Meggie.

She grew up in and around the city...the perfect helpmate for Josh...
in more ways than one!

Thank you, Lord!

This was my first meal in Brooklyn...

at Radegast (a German Biergarten)...

grilled kielbasa, sauerkraut, french fries,

with a couple of different kinds of mustard.  

Oh yeah...it was good...

...especially with this authentic German beer,

though I can't remember the name of it.

The menu said it was the oldest German beer on record.

My Nana would've absolutely LOVED it!!

In my heart I gave her a "Salut!"

I didn't snap pics of anyone else's meal that night.
I wanted to get back to business on my own plate!

When we arrived back at J and M's apartment building

this precious bundle of fur named Ella was out front with her despondent master

who had been outside for 2 1/2 hours with her

waiting for her to pee-pee.
It seems that Ella only goes pee-pee on her potty pads inside
and refuses to "do her thang" outside like all her other canine friends.
Thus, the potty-pad behind her...
on the concrete sidewalk outside...
hoping against hope that she would "do it" outside.
In the end all it took was for J and M's dog, Dexter, to show Miss Ella
how one does their business outside rather than inside.
She got the message and followed his example...
Dexter...he's definitely an above average grand-dog!

Saturday morning we woke up to a beautiful view of Manhattan.
The skies were bright and blue and...
the wind felt like needles attacking your face.
Brrrrrrrr!!!!

But, a little freezing wind was not going to slow us down!

Oh, no it wasn't!

So...Josh went to work

and Meggie, Sweet Husband and I headed

to a wonderful bakery called Peter Pan...

where these delectable delights awaited us.
Yes...we did get more than 1/2 a cruller, a jelly donut and
a piece of coffee cake...
but, we ate the rest before I remembered to take a photo.
It's all about priorities!

A little side story...
we decided to visit the bakery prior to showering and
getting dressed for the day...
so we just threw on some clothes.
I was feeling less than glamorous in my
warm-up suit pants, long sleeved t-shirt, kickin' 80's style jacket,
tobogan and casual slide-on shoes.
I warned Meggie and Sweet Husband that they would
probably want to walk way ahead of me.
Meggie...with all manner of love and encouragement said,
"Oh, don't worry...
there will be older Polish women dressed more eccentric than you!"
So I kept my eyes peeled and...
ummmm...nope.
But that was so good for some great belly laughs...
my outfit and Meggie's...ahem...encouragement.

After we had enjoyed our Peter Pan pastries
we headed to the dog park to let Dexter work out some energy.
There were several "friends" to play with...

and sniff...

but there's nothing like a random stick to gnaw on.

With Dexter good and played out we took him back to the apartment
and ventured out to have some lunch.
(You will quickly notice that we ate extremely well on this trip!)
Meggie took us to a Middle-Eastern restaurant called
Oasis.

These precious people...2 of my favorite people in the world...
sat across from me.
It wouldn't have been a pretty sight for your's truly to be in the pic,
because I was swimming in...

Shawarma...
it's a mixture of lamb, goat, chicken, turkey, beef
that is put on a spit and may be grilled as long as a day.
(thank you Wikipedia!)
When I ordered it the man who took my order
took a large knife and shaved slices off the meat mound turning on the spit
and combined with some cabbage, pickles, rice and hot sauce
it was one of the most delicious foods I've ever eaten!
...and it was very reasonably priced...
probably the least expensive meal we had during our stay.

That evening we enjoyed relaxing at the apartment
catching up on some sweet conversation
over delicious homemade chicken tortilla soup ala Meggie...
Nice.  Very nice indeed.

Sunday morning came and we all decided that
it was time to eat again.
So we headed to brunch at...

Jimmy's Diner.

They obviously did not tolerate unhappy guests.
But, I'd say that's never a problem at Jimmy's Diner
as long as they keep rollin' out the...

Crispy French Toast.
Yes...that is French toast covered with corn flakes,
which is fried to perfection.
No...there was no to-go box needed.
Yes...I'm wiping drool off of my chin just remembering.

Now...I know it appears that we didn't do much except eat
while we were in Brooklyn.
And we didn't.
But, the great thing was...we walked everywhere!
So, when the next meal time rolled around...
we were doggone ready for it!

Before we enjoyed the next sumptuous repast
we went next door to the Brooklyn Brewery and took a tour.
Well...we really only went into the brewing room
and listened to a girl tell the Brooklyn Brewery story.
And it was actually pretty interesting.

On our way back to J and M's apartment
I took an advantage of an opportunity to snap a pic of their building.
This is actually one side of it...not the front.
It's a very nice place...only a year old.
I think they've enjoyed making their home here this year.

Sadly, I didn't get any pics of our Sunday evening.
We rode the subway...
saw a lady wearing a fake mustache...
tried to not overtly stare...
and attended a worship service at Williamsburg Church,
the church Josh and Meggie just recently joined.
I really like the church covenant the new members read together
when they join.
You can check it out over at Meggie's blog.
We were blessed by a sweet time of worship
followed by a fellowship meal of taco salad...
a Simmons family fave!
Who told them we were coming?

Having eaten our fill of taco salad
and some totally decadent sour cream apple pie
(in keeping with the weekend's food theme)
we headed back to the subway and the apartment.
The night ended with some stimulating conversation
about adoption, baby names, jobs and such.
What would tomorrow hold?

SNOW?!?!?

Oh, yes...indeed...3 or 4 inches of the pretty white stuff.
But...a "dusting" of snow was NOT going to hamper
our food fun weekend!
...and little did we know...
the BEST was yet to come!!

We decided to visit a restaurant called Five Leaves
for Monday morning brunch.
It is a place that Heath Ledger was planning to open
before his unexpected death.
Someone evidently bought the interest in it
and opened it.
This is a very fortunate thing for Brooklyn.
Take my word for it.

So...we set out for Five Leaves.
Here are some scenes we saw along the way...

I took this out a window as we were waiting
for the elevator on J and M's floor.

This is a park we passed on our way to the restaurant.

...and another park.
It really looked like a winter wonderland
with the snow laying so beautifully on the trees.

Then we arrived at our destination.
Five Leaves.

This was the menu at Five Leaves.
It was lovely.  And I wish I could've ordered,
"One of each, please."
But, that would've been a dead give-away that I was a foreigner...
if the fact that I was taking pics of the menu and all the food hadn't already!

Okay...prepare your hearts for what you're about to see.
It caught us off guard so we almost embarrassed ourselves.
I mean...really.
You can't say I didn't warn you!

Josh ordered this...Moroccan Scramble.
It was made with merguez sausage, scrambled organic eggs w/spiced chickpeas,
crushed avocado and grilled sourdough.
Sounds...um...interesting you say?
It was and it was DEE-licious!!!

Sweet Husband ordered this...Big Breakkie.
It included two organic eggs any style, hash browns,
whole wheat toast and two sides...
which Sweet Husband chose to be thick cut bacon
and sauteed mushrooms that were...
oh. my. goodness.
Mmmmmmm
Moans were (and are) totally understandable and acceptable!

I began my meal with a lovely cup of green tea.
The little iron kettle is how the hot water was presented.
I might have had a fleeting thought of slipping it in my purse.
It was just so darn cute!

And then the waitress brought this and I asked Sweet Husband
to pinch me to make sure I hadn't just been transported
to the Promised Land to THE table.

Friends...allow me to introduce the most taste-bud exhilarating,

visually stimulating, ruckus inducing, make-you-squeal-like-a-groupie
brunch food I've ever seen...or tasted.

Loved ones...meet Ricotta Pancakes...
Ricotta Pancakes...meet my now insanely envious loved ones...
and, please, pardon their crossed eyes, drool and hanging tongues.
They truly are lovely people...I promise.
What's that?  They remind you of me?
Well...I'll take that as a compliment....
like a sweet eccentric Polish woman would.

They were THE MOST incredible pancakes I've ever eaten...
the butter was flavored with honey...
and the strawberries, blueberries and bananas were just enough
to fool my mind into thinking this was really
quite a healthy choice.
In truth...it was an explosion of joy in my mouth!!!!
Do healthy choices cause explosions of joy?
Can I just pause and remember this sweet bliss...

which ended like this?
Ahhhhh...

Although it pains me to move on...I must.

Upon returning to J and M's apartment
we explored the possibility of seeing a Broadway show.
But, with it being Monday...
most of the theaters were dark,
at least for the shows we were interested in seeing.

So, we opted to hitch a subway ride into Manhattan
to see a movie.
J and M had not seen "True Grit,"
and Sweet Husband and I were totally game to see it again,
so...we had a plan.

Sorry...no pics of the theater.
(after the ricotta pancakes everything is downhill)
But, I did snap this photo of the Empire State Building
and skyline around the theater.

We really must visit NYC during the Christmas season at some point.
With the snow, cold air and blustery wind
all that was missing was the sound of jingle bells.
Gotta experience that...yesiree.

Although M and I shared some delicious movie theater popcorn
with butter...and lightly salted, of course...
after the movie we had dinner on our minds.
J had it all planned out where we would feast that evening,
but we had to subway it back to Brooklyn to get there.

Now...I've been to NYC several times before
so I was not expecting to be jolted by anything or anyone.
However, when we boarded the subway
there was an older gentleman sitting on one side
right next to where we were standing (it was a full car)
and he was educating everyone within earshot
about a mixed bag of topics.

As the train departed
he informed us women that we should not be spending
lots of money shopping.
His wife did this and there were over 200 pairs of shoes
under his bed collecting dust.
From the shoes he moved on to parenting
and babies saying, "Da-da-da-da."
Just over from us was a father carrying his little son
in a sling on his chest.
Whenever the advice-giving man said, "Da-da-da-da,"
the little boy would answer back, "Da-da-da-da."
It was quite a comical routine...
although unintentional and totally improvised.
Once that topic was exhausted
the subway philosopher moved on to
the importance of exercise and even shared
some interesting tips and methods...
such as, walking in the park and
doing chin-ups on a park bench.

Ahem...come again?
...chin-ups on a park bench?  Really?

I could contain myself no longer
and proceded to bury my face in Sweet Husband's chest.
There was no stopping the laughter at this point...
Nope.  No stopping it.

We arrived at our stop and exited the train,
went to the apartment and let Dexter go potty...
then it was...you guessed it...
time to eat again!

This time J and M took us to a place any true Southerner would love...

Uh-huh...Fette Sau...
which means..."fat pig".
Now...can you imagine what was awaiting our palettes?

One pound of pulled pork, one pound of brisket,
a couple of links of spicy sausage, and some pork belly.
All of that with some of Dante's German potato salad,
Guss' half-sour kosher pickles, burnt end baked beans,
some greens and potato rolls...
we truly "pigged out"!

Fette Sau was a neat restaurant with community seating
at picnic tables and the food was served collectively
just like the photo shows...
all on a large tray from which we served our individual plates.
It was so so good!!
...and I suppose good preparation for Sweet Husband and me
to head back to our southern neck of the woods the next day.

But...before we faced the inevitable...
we enjoyed some more little treats.

I can't remember the name of the cute cafe
these little beauties came from...
but, I do remember that
Sweet Husband had the apple tart,
each of us enjoyed a piece of pistachio cake,
I had the mini-cheesecake with raspberries on top,
Josh ate up the blueberry/strawberry tart,
and Meggie (and Grayson Michael...yes, he has a name!)
suffered through the chocolate and raspberry tart.
We then discussed how we were going to roll ourselves
on and off the plane.

And so...our extended weekend came to an end...sniff...sniff...

Sweet Husband and I left full of faith

that Josh and Meggie are right where God in his sovereignty
has placed them...
and we are thankful.
The distance between us is less than desirable,
but Sweet Husband and I would much rather
our children be where they are called by God to be,
not where we might be more comfortable with them being.

God willing, we will enjoy more glorious extended weekends,
holidays and vacations filled with
sweet fellowship over sumptuous feasts.
And, I pray, those times will always fill our hearts with longing
for even more glorious times that will never end
when we fellowship at our Savior's feast.

Maranatha!