The warmest day since October

Hope you had or have a chance to enjoy today's beautiful warmth and sunshine.

These folks did.

Live Blogging from Smorgasburg

Decided to check out the Smorg in person and against my better judgement I came here hungry.

I can report that as of 2:45p it's beautiful out, and packed with foodie and sun-lovers

But of the well known and desired food tents, most have serious lines.

Also I won't call anybody out but $4 Croissants & $7 tamales are not my thing.

3:10p finally scored!! Takoyake Balls!! and they are tasty! I'm used to the traditional method of a fried dough ball with a bit of octopus in the center, topped with ginger and bonito flakes. These from "Teriyaki Balls" have three styles: filled with Shrimp, Country Sausage and one I can't remember because I didn't try it.

The shrimp was very good but the country sausage turned a familiar favorite of mine into a delicious new experience which sounds corny but it's true they had optional toppings of corn and almond flakes which were surprisingly good. I ate it so fast I took no pictures.

3:40 about to get my lamb-burger on from "Landhaus" along with a mint lemonade.

Got the burger, very good! Nice bit of feta shiracha and a medium rare lamb patty. Very nice.

Also I guess people are getting their fill
(or food is running down?) cause the lines are running shorter.

Also can anyone in here say "excuse me" rather pushing their way through a crowd? Yeesh.
I wanted to try the "people's pops" but I was full up on mint lemonade, next time... 

Rhubarb seems like an easy sell, few can really say what it's supposed to taste like so if its sweet and refreshing you're golden.

Hipster styling in full effect (remember this year knit hats are to be worn like Smurfs, or like you're a Be-Boy from 1982

Maple Bacon on a Stick!!! Courtesy of Landhau. I really wanted some of this, Landhau will shall meat again.

Yes there's alot of Landhau picks, cause there's a lot I loved.

I admit it, the name and its turn on a phrase, turned me off. Though I love big ribs and I can not lie.

As I recall Handsome Hanks was the fish stand everyone was waiting in line for.

How green is grilling again?

Great name, plus points for the country table cloth pattern. Next time my soon to be friends....

Another proud Wolverine.

So all in all I now see why Smorgasburg is the event it is. If you've got a squad of friends it's definitely worth hitting it off if for no other reason than to extend your comfort foodie zone. And with offerings like Rhubarb, Cornflakes on Country Sausage stuffed Teriyaki Balls and more there's definitely room to expand mind and body.

I'll be back next week with more full mouthed opinions.

Take a bite out of gentrification! Some Spring Weekend Events in Brooklyn

The first big weekend of Spring 2013 begins!

Tomorrow my eyes and ears will be fixed on the Brooklyn Museum & Targét's 1st Saturday!

There was a moment back in the Fall when it seemed some sort of local grinchery had conspired to end the 1st Saturday's citing too much foot traffic. Ironic since a major goal of 1st Saturdays when they were started was to draw foot traffic to the Museum. Anywhoo. It seems smarter heads prevailed.
Film Screening, Music, Dance Party, Curator Talks (not necessarily in that order) will be going.
Check Brooklyn Museum for details.

Also tomorrow Smorgasburg is back! 

I confess I spent most of last year missing it and rueing the delicious stories I heard from friends and the bloggie-verse. But I plans to rectify that tomorrow. And you should too if you like food and acting out Portlandia skits. Sat in Williamsburg, Sun in D.U.M.B.O. 11a-6p Details at http://www.smorgasburg.com

Throw your arms around foodie-ism and artisanl everything! Take a bite out of gentrification!

This is by no means a complete list of what's happening this weekend. If you have an event you'd like to post here, feel free to leave a comment or email me direct at umbrooklynborn @ gmail.

Have a great weekend.

Photo Wednesday 4/3/13 Affordable Housing Edition

I tend to rail against condo developments for their usually high prices relative to local incomes so in the name of balance here's a large residential building nearly complete on Putnam near Classon Av (old Bedford-Stuyvestant-new Clinton Hill). It's called, appropriately, "Putnam Court"

According to the information on posted at the construction site, there are (or at one time were) 24 studio apartments as part of the development available for people who make under $28k annually.

The development on Rockwell Pl. (Near the Downtown McDonald's on Fulton) also a similar affordable housing allocation.

How many people who could really benefit from these deals, do you think know about them?I'll do some more research and see how this information becomes available to the public and publicized.

I very much like the design of the building and its attempts to match the surrounding architecture in a modern way. Frankly I'd love a lot more of the new and recently new Brooklyn condos and rentals if they blended as nicely as Putnam Court.

The project was built by Dunn Developers and details are also on the NY Times local CH/FG blog. 

In addition to providing housing to an a lot that previously was dilapidated and under used, part of the building sits on what had been a vacant lot there for decades) the development is a block away from the Clinton Hill Food Co-op, also on Putnam Ave.

So I just did some quick googling for more info about this project, and boy Brownstowner and I are really in sync lately, they just posted an article about this yesterday. From their article I find that the low rent for the studios translates to $618 per month income dependent.

Additionally I found this page on nyc.gov about affordable housing lotteries. www.nyc.gov/html/hpd/html/apartment/lotteries.shtml Try your luck!