NY weekend pt. 1: Brooklyn

J and I went to NYC this weekend in search of inspiration, and yes, I think we found some.

We started off with a great meal at the Spotted Pig in the Village (because we were going to need some nutrition for the big afternoon we had planned). Braised radishes with prosciutto were the big hit for John, while I loved my fried duck egg on a bed of asparagus and ramps. Plus beer. Yum.

From there, we headed to DUMBO, a gorgeous old warehouse-y neighborhood that is now full of furniture design shops and coffee, and I guess lots of new condo development. We were armed with a list of shops we had seen in an NYTimes article about Brooklyn design, plus some others I'd found by punching "furniture" into Google Maps. (I knew I had to see "Ugly Luggage" and "Trailer Park." Though the latter consisted of, well, stuff that we've found on the street and painted, which I guess is what the owner does, but he then prices them outrageously. If he can actually sell them for that much, I don't know.)

We didn't always find the shops on our list, but we really enjoyed the walking, from DUMBO to Boerum Hill to Park Slope and then subway to Williamsburg. I really enjoyed seeing all the different types of shops people had developed, from high end design to recycled junk to ironic trashy kitsch to nicely curated collections of lovely things.

Later we met old friends for dinner at Five Leaves. Yum. Then on to Lucy's apartment and more red wine and catching up. Somehow, we arrived home at 3 am with 3 new Steve Keene paintings. Yippee!

The next day we went to a great flea market in Ft. Greene with some other old friends and their 3 lovely daughters. Great quesadillas, empanadas, and asian dogs. Then just made it back to Manhattan in time for an hour of ICFF before it closed.

Wow. It's big. We took Linda's advice and walked as fast as we could until we saw something that blew us away.  And I will save that for our next post...