Kent Avenue, Williamsburg #streetart #tripel #meta

The light this time of year is incredible. Don't you think? Also the use of orange for a restaurant, be it awnings, umbrellas, tables, chairs, always makes me salivate. Am I the only one? I think orange must be connected with fine dining in my brain somehow.

Since before we ran the ‪#‎RNRPhilly‬ Half Marathon in September, we've been wanting to try the "pretzel on a hook" at the Kent Ale House. We went Friday night. The gigantic pretzel was totally worth it: piping hot, delicious and served with with Pommery mustard. As it turned out, the ‪#‎AmazonStudioSessions‬ were being set up right next door.

Look, they sell Pommery mustard on Amazon. http://amzn.to/1u0me6O Color me amused.

The Williamsburg Bridge. Always amazing. We run this giant thing every Sunday. It's our bridge. Climbing the foot path on the Brooklyn side is like taking off in an airplane. It's incredible.

Artopolis is a hidden gem of a Greek bakery if you live anywhere but Astoria, Queens. If you live in Astoria, you are very likely to have visited once, and then quite often. Perhaps we are the only ones who live in Greenpoint, Brooklyn who know Artopolis, or at least I'd like to think so. They have so many tasty treats including every Greek dessert from galaktoboureko to baklava and even have special displays for the melomakarona and kourabiedes (pictured above). They must be extra special cookies in the Greek pantheon of cookies, I would gather.

But what we come for, most frequently, are the mini spinach pies. They will heat them up for you. They are only $1 each. They have cheese pies too. What could be better? Their coffee, iced coffee, iced frappe (Greek style, view here) is tasty and reasonably priced too. Four spinach pies, a coffee and an iced coffee is just $7.50. What are you waiting for? Meet me for coffee!


Artopolis
23-18 31st Street
Astoria, Queens
718.728.8484
Take the N to the end of the line

And who doesn't like bamboo-esque? I esque you. Sorry.

But yes, you want these.
On my ebay shop.
http://ebay.to/12iHvMI

Well this is a first. In Hot Pursuit of a Handbag, Brooklyn Edition. I saw this excellent bag with oddly placed handle this past weekend on Franklin Street in Greenpoint. Normally, the best place to catch a glimpse of a luxury bag I'd want to own is in Midtown Manhattan at lunchtime. And in the past, Greenpoint was the neighborhood of ironic totes. But not so much any more.

Can you name the designer of this great pebbled leather bag?

And here's the other side of that crochet street art piece in Williamsburg. But I'm pretty sure the letters have been rearranged by some sort of vandal with crafting skills. I think they once spelled out "imagine" or other hopeful sentiment. ‪#‎streetart‬ ‪#‎crochet‬ ‪#‎brooklyn‬

Or maybe "the magic"? Well, the magic is gone because someone stole the letters. And the vibrancy of the yarn has certainly faded too.

For all of you hopey-changey types out there. #believe #streetart #brooklyn #crochet

I found that I have 75 unpublished drafts among my blog posts. I guess I felt this one was too mundane to post. But now I don't. I am gathering this was March of 2011. And yes, I still use the pad every single day. I am totally buying another when it runs out.


I treated myself to some pre-birthday gifties today. The Martha Stewart Home Office Collection at Staples is pretty great. I had to hold myself back. To-Do List Notebook, $2.99

Who else grew up eating taralles? Those addictive dough rings, speckled with fennel seeds or hot pepper flakes that in New Jersey are boiled first, then baked (like bagels!), or in New York, just baked. Sure, the proper Italian plural would be taralli, but these are Italian-American, so it's okay to add an s on the end.

Rose & Joe's in Astoria makes some of my favorites in New York, and for a nice price too. $4.75 per pound. You can mix the fennel [R] and the hot pepper flake[L] too.


Rose & Joe's Italian Bakery
22-40 31st Street
Astoria, Queens
718.721.9422

I challenge you to beat this price. Two bucks for a Korean Hite beer, on tap, and two bucks for four pan-fried veggie dumplings! That's just $8.70 for two at Vanessa's Dumpling House in Williamsburg. And we had fun.

After pursuing my subject for two blocks on Third Avenue today, she turned into a lunch spot and I got the shot. Perfect. This black leather crossbody satchel is an ideal compact size (approx. 9" x 7" x 3") with minimalist black-on-black details. A classic.

Go to elaineperlov.com for all my latest writing, designs & sales. Links: Pinterest, blog, Twitter, Etsy, Ebay.

"Life-size banana" and "I will miss... you". A two-in-one street art piece. #wheatpaste #grandstreet #williamsburg #streetart

In Hot Pursuit of a Handbag, one of my signature columns on my blog, is back! And newly archived on my Pinterest page too, for your at-a-glance viewing pleasure. Get caught up on the archives, and then stay tuned. There will be many more posts on this topic where I chase down a bag I love, photograph it for all to see, and try to figure out where we can all get one too. Because if you ask me, the streets of New York are optimum for chasing down a trend. Don't you agree?

I snapped this photo on Third Avenue yesterday morning and Tweeted it. Today, I am at the top of the Perry Ellis Twitter page. They favorited my Tweet and ReTweeted at 4pm. How exciting!

Dark Clouds! I spotted another of his works in Williamsburg yesterday. My favorite #streetart in #brooklyn hashtag period.

We had a celebratory lunch at Champs today. Yes, I wore my medal. I had the Soyaki Bowl with seitan. Amazing! Brown rice, broccoli, shredded carrot, onion, mushroom, tofu scramble and slices of delicious seitan. Tons of slices actually. What could be better? I brought much home. I love their giant portions that are good enough for two meals. J had his favorite, the Cuban Sandwich (vegan). Their food is great.

Champs! 176 Ainslie Street in Williamsburg. Everything is vegan. And tasty!

Staten Island HALF! We did it yesterday, starting at 8:47am yesterday morning! We woke up at 4am so we went to bed at 8pm. Pure crazy. There was a course time limit of three hours, which I didn't so much fixate on during this race. The finish line was in the baseball stadium for the Staten Island Yankees. That was super duper spectacular and a great incentive to get there. And orange ribbon on the medals a la the IMG NYC Marathon. Way cool and another great incentive to finish within three hours. I was super proud of the way I ran this one. Faster than the Philly Half and faster than the Bronx 10-miler. And can I say, I've raced all five borooughs this year! Brooklyn 4-miler, Queens 10k, Manhattan 5-miler, Bronx 10-miler, Staten Island 13.1-miler. Wow and wow. And also wow.

My medals pictured above are from the 2014 @NYRR Five Borough Series! Very proud of myself. In fact, I'm wearing my Staten Island HALF again today. We're going to Champs to celebrate! Appropriately named.

We just enjoyed free tacos @DomoTaco @Diesel pop-up in Williamsburg. They had veggie! The slaw was Japanese-esque. Beans, avocado, tomato, and very saucy. He was like dōzo and I was like dōmo (arigato). Well that was an unexpected treat!

So this is happening. Again. Who do I think I am, Deena Kastor? She broke the masters record at our ‪#‎RNRPhilly‬ three weeks ago. She is my hero. Well, at least we get to take a free boat ride.

On the other hand, race number pickup is always exciting @NYRR. I like that they give you clear bags to show off the fact that you'll soon be running a race!

Confession: I love the new show, Selfie on ABC. I think it's because I am a sucker for a fashion makeover story. It brings tears to my eye every single time. I know. Tears. Yes well. I am a fashion designer, after all. And now I've been working for other fashion brands doing social media marketing for some time. The show seems made for me. I cannot wait for the second episode.

The etiquette lessons a la My Fair Lady/Pygmalion that are woven in to the story strikes another very current chord with me. Living in NYC, I would concur that smart phone users could probably use a little guidance from someone like Henry Higgins. Don't you agree? I found out last week that Eliza Doolittle's, aka Eliza Dooley's, aka Karen Gillan's gorgeous "reveal" dress that complements her skin tone so perfectly is by Adrianna Papell. A perfect choice. It makes her look so fragile. It's amazing what a perfect dress can do.

The string of French flags at the crepe place is the finish line to all our runs. I, for one, always throw up my hands triumphantly. In other news, four-miler is done. On to NYRR to pick up our Staten Island HALF bibs & tees. Yes, another HALF. Am I crazy? I think yes.

Sculpy Bird perched up high on Franklin Street, Greenpoint, Brooklyn. I think I have documented all of Sculpy's oeuvre (now extant, as the kids say) in the Williamsburg/Greenpoint area. Five pieces in all. Stay tuned. #streetart #greenpoint

File this under other things strung up on powerlines in Williamsburg. ‪#‎awww‬ ‪#‎brooklyn‬

I purposely kept that first hashtag ambiguous. Do I mean awww cute or awww sad and distorted and odd?

Vice. #shoetossing #powerlines #brooklyn #watertower

Littleneck Outpost on Franklin Street, Greenpoint sells sardine sandwiches ($9) and lobster rolls ($18) slathered in mayonnaise. I'm not saying that they go particularly heavy on the mayo. They probably do it just right. They have another location in Red Hook after all, so they probably know what they're doing. For me, however, the combo of mayo and lobster and those buttered and toasted Maine hot dog rolls is the opposite of delicious. But they have good iced coffee. And tin ceilings. It's ice shucked. The iced coffee, not the ceilings. Meet me for coffee?


Littleneck Outpost
128 Franklin Street
Greenpoint, Brooklyn
718.522.1921

I love this boat. I think there's another one in Williamsburg, but it's giant. Must investigate. ‪#‎LIC‬ ‪#‎streetart‬

If you ask me, these numbers are pretty fontastic. Graphic designer friends, can you name this font? ‪#‎fontastic‬ ‪#‎design‬

There's the shot. #gantrycranes #LIC #NYC

Returning home one day on the B32 bus, I caught a glimpse of an insanely charming and inviting cafe on what was heretofore a not-so-charming and not-so-inviting street in Greenpoint. I recently made a trip to find it by retracing the bus route. It's Bakeri. Their first location is in Williamsburg on Wythe, another place I always want to go but have not yet in the five years since they opened. The Greenpoint location is somewhat Frenchy, not that Frenchy is a bad thing with all the tartines and brioches and galettes. Their hours are Tuesday-Sunday, 8am-6pm. Meet me for coffee! We can soak up the decor and discover their offerings together.

Bakeri 
105 Freeman Street
Greenpoint, Brooklyn
718.349.1542