Forty Days in Brooklyn: The Halfway Mark

Sunday marked the halfway point in my stay and Eric’s last full day. And while it may have come in with a whimper, Day 20 sure ended with a bang.  It was raining this morning when I woke up and let’s just say the past couple days have decimated my weight loss strategy.

Note to self: BEER IS BAD.

So while we were waiting for the weather to clear, we decided to cook.  I say “we”, but what I really mean is “Eric.” He made jalapeno peppers stuffed with chicken salad and topped with goat cheese and swiss. (All of which are on my diet.) We’re also making bison meatballs today—so he can show me how it’s done.

What you talking bout, Willis?

Side note: He did manage to rescue my sad meatballs the other day by breaking them up and turning them into meat sauce. We had a bite of it over spaghetti squash last night.  And amazingly, it didn’t suck.

Before

After

Sadly, thanks to Apple TV, we couldn’t figure out how to get the football game on TV.  We got it on my computer and I threw it to the TV but the resolution was terrible. So we ended up guess where? That’s right, the Tin Kettle, our new home away from home.

Thank you sir, may I have another?

With Bryan, the owner

We watched the game for a bit and convinced Bryan the bar owner to sell us a growler full of Tin Kettle Lager.  (We brought a clean growler with us, from the other beer counter.) But I believe he actually gave it to us. I don’t think he charged us for it all.  We took it home and put it in the fridge and prepared to go out for the afternoon. 

Now there has been a box marked “Alcohol” in the lobby of my building for more than a week. And every time I come in, I’m amazed it’s still sitting there. I mentioned it to Eric and, being who he is, by the time I got back down from putting the beer away, he’d cut the box open to see what was inside.  Someone’s wine shipment, apparently.  Horrified and laughing at the same time, I got packing tape and an apology note. As we taped the box back up, a woman and her child appeared and we tried to pretend we weren’t doing anything wrong. But when we came back later, the box was gone. I think the neighbor took it for safekeeping.

Evidence? There's no evidence. Nothing to see here.

We took the subway down a couple stops and then walked across the Brooklyn Bridge.  And on the way across, we offered to take photos of people who were taking photos of each other. Sometimes they took photos of us, too.  And sometimes, they took photos WITH us.

I have shoes like the NFL players wear.

It was windy. My hair doesn't normally look like this.

Visitors from India

Hodor

Eric tried to get them to sell him the Brooklyn Bridge,

but they couldn’t take a photo in which they were being handed money.

He's got the Empire State Building in his hands…

Once we got over the bridge, we had to make a pit stop at the nicest Denny’s in the world. It not only has a bathroom, it has a full bar. We ordered a coffee beverage to warm up, because in the wind, it was quite brisk outside. But the bartender brought it to us with ice in it. To cool it down, he said. It was terrible. So to make up for it, we ate the glass full of blackberries he had on the bar, and Eric has two slices of grapefruit before the bartender took everything away.

 We ended up walking around Manhattan for a bit, going to the Oculus and then the 9/11 Memorial. The fountains are pretty at night.

The Oculus

The 9/11 Memorial Fountain

We caught a cab back to Brooklyn and he dropped us off at, surprise! The Tin Kettle, where we enjoyed one more beverage before we packed it in for the evening.

Cousins

On the way home, Eric ducked into a little Mexican counter and we walked out with a couple of burritos the size of my head.

Mmmm, burritos.

My apartment is a 4^th floor walkup and it’s on the top floor of the apartment building.  And recently, I noticed the stairs continue up to the roof. But the door says that an alarm will sound if you open the door.  My friend Stephanie told me that 99% of the time that simply isn’t true. People go out on the roof all the time, she says, so they disable the alarm. So guess what?

Oh yes we did.

Windy. Chilly. But nice view.