Summer IS Coming - Part 2

dual rubberband fail safes.  how bad would it suck if i was riding down park slope and the bat went into my spokes?

Steven invited us to this picnic party in prospect park organized by the editor of that website Brokelyn.


they wrote about how there would be slip n' slide.  I didn't know how they were going to pull this off and they barely did using dr brommer's liquid soap (which is expensive what were they thinking) and sprinkle here and there from a 2 gallon jug.  It was not the crazy slip n' slide they made it out to be as it was the shortest slip n' slide plastic i've ever seen, look at it it's like the length of 2 adults.  They had to fufill this promise though and they did, technically.

gringos gone wild.  trying to get this piñata up, various Mexicans standing around and laughing, waiting for the gringos to be even more estupido


Mexican kid gets go ahead nod from dad
If you wait for this to load it's an animated gif!

throw came in to late.  third baseman came in too late as well.  problems when you only have 2 people on your team

Steven Hedley on defense.  Maybe next time.  the clenching of his hands and the position of the ball tell me i'm pretty safe at first base.

Steven Hedley looking like a young Willie Mays.

Steven Hedley, British guy that doesn't know you're not supposed to round the bases with the bat.  I wanted to bean him so bad.



Steven Hedley, The Man, The Legend

someone brought this weird game where you throw bolos at this thing and you get more points the lower down the rungs you get it to wrap around.


Brooklyn Social's backyard

Brooklyn Inn, cool place

the 8$ pickle starter at Pickle Shack is not worth it.  Also warning, it's a vegetarian place that looks totally like they'll have bad for you american food.  Nothing wrong with vegetarian but just, Warning!

Table 87 on 3rd ave started showing stuff on the side of the subway bridge, like the Rangers final and movies like Goonies.  Not only is their pizza tasty but they have a little bar inside too.

finally went to Sahadi's on Atlantic and I love this place!

they were selling a barrel full of fresh almonds, like so fresh they look like this.  pretty bitter outside

their hummus (super tanhini-y) and other prepared foods were awesome too.

a view of the Court Street United Artists cinema from one of Foo's coworker's pimp pad.

His sign said he was a veteran.

we got huge ramen bowls.  You can't see the true size in this photo but it is the huge size I have been waiting for to make super deluxe ramen in.

a cool VW hatchback something.  From looking online it's a Volkswagen type 3 , 1965 maybe.




Summer IS Coming - Part 1

Summer IS coming, at least I hope it is.  Today in NYC on June, 2nd 2015 it was a high of 50 degrees!!!!!  
summer means goya season in Japan and it's used in Goya Champuru, the representative dish of Okinawa.  Goya is a bitter melon and they don't sell it in New York so you have to use chinese bitter melons that don't look as cool.  Japanese goya looks like godzilla skin for real. Photo of Japanese goya below from from https://jennampollard.wordpress.com/2011/08/08/okinawa-style-goya-champuru/img_7009/

Goya Champuru is like the history of Okinawa on a plate.  The bitter melon was introduced from trade with southeast asia and the SPAM, yes SPAM is a result of it being introduced by US soldiers during WWII.  I saw someone's website with a recipe and she asked an old Okinawan grandma what they used to use before SPAM and she said she couldn't even remember.  There is tofu and egg and it's all stir fried up.

I used to drink tea every day when I lived in china and japan.  I miss that little clay tea pot Fumika's mom gave me, what happened to that thing?  Now we have this new one and I drink tea sometimes cuz I don't want to be drinking coffee every day.

a tree falls in brooklyn.  This was down the street from Lucali and there is the Lucali chef who was stabbed in some street fight mob thing in front of the restaurant and was back making pizzas the next day.  Later on there was 1 police car and 1 police van and literally 6 cops around this tree putting up yellow police tape.  seriously wtf 6 cops to do this job?


we discovered this awesome bar and music venue next door by seeing it on googlemaps.  The Jalopy Tavern, it's in this weird doldrums btween carroll gardens and red hook that no one would ever venture into unless you knew a secret.  This place is awesome.  This guy knows it.  He wouldn't leave for a good 2 minutes just seeing people inside and wondering why he couldn't be having fun with them.


I collected a bunch of these traditional Chinese tiger toys when I lived in Beijing.  It was a hobby of mine.



The Brooklyn Crab is gonna be packed this summer! (if it ever comes)


we went back to the Jalopy Tavern the next night and saw the 5000 Jazz Assassins who's style was "riverboat pop".  Basically ragtime and jazz classics and originals.  But seeing is live is a lot of fun and the singer really went for it and delivered on the intense notes.  I took a photo of this interesting dude before the show and he ended up being the singer.

this place is a find!  live music every night, usually in the vein of bluegrass and folk.



We met this amazing family from the neighborhood at Greenwood Park beer garden.  Dads, daughters, brother in laws, sisters, wives, a lot of their fam was out together enjoying the beautiful weather.  They were so friendly!

bocce ball and corn hole are HOT right now.  Everywhere is getting bocce ball and corn hole.

the rooftop on 15th and 5th



jealous of this guy bbq'ing
 manhattan in the back
a late dinner at Fletcher's BBQ 

I hate wind blowers!  especially early in the morning.  I don't get the point of them!!!!!!!  If I ever had neighbors that I hated I would buy a wind blower and just blow stuff from one side of the yard to the other whilst drinking a beer at random times of the day.