Stinky Brooklyn Part Two

As I walked up Smith Street I spoted the new location of Jolie, a fairly upscale French restaurant that used to be located on Atlantic Avenue. It relocated some time ago and although I knew it was someplace on Smith Street I wasn't sure exactly where. It has evolved a bit. Well, actually, quite a bit. It is now Jolie Cantina and serves a mix of French bistro fare as well as Mexican food. An electic combination, I must say.

Jolie Cantina

I chatted with the owners, one of who was tending bar and the other who was tending the door. Very pleasant people and I wished them well. I also had a nice cold Six Point IPA while I escaped the heat and the crowds.

Nothing Refreshes Like A Cold Beer Now it might go against the grain, but with all of the street fare available I actually didn't partake of any. Well, I did and I didn't. The Mysterious Chinese Woman and I ate at a litlle Cuban restaurant that did have tables and chairs outside.

A Little Bit Of Havana Right Here In Brooklyn

Being the sophisticates that we are we opted for the indoor seating and I settled into a session of caipirinhas. Now this is kind of the national drink of Brazil, but I guess they must like it in Cuba as well. It is pretty simple, just cachaça, a sugar cane rum, lime juice and sugar. It wasn't that long ago that you wouldn't see these in the United States because the cachaca in Brazil is pretty much moonshine. In fact the lime juice and sugar are added just to make it drinkable. Kind of like grappa, though, higher quality stuff is now available and so they have become more popular here. When I was in Manaus you could get shots of the cachaca for 25 cents.

A Civilized Caipirnha

A Second Less Civilized Caipirnha

The bartender was really working hard muddling the limes and stripping of leave of mint. Most people, and there was quite a crowd outside, were going for the mojitos.

A Hard-Working Woman

The food was quite good as well. I had a nice Cuban sandwich and the Mysterious Chinese Woman had a stuffed poblano pepper. I didn't care too much for the cerviche appetizer, but that was more due to the style. It was good, but the squid and shrimp had been pre-cooked and it didn't have that same sharp acidic taste that you get when you just use lime juice for the cooking. There were plenty of bands performing and they were pretty good playing a variety of musical styles

Bands, There Were Plenty









Interestingly, it was a couple of DJs who really got the crowd dancing, though.

Dancin' In The Street

And although I thought this marionette was a bit on the creepy side, the kids seemed to be enthralled.

He Must Be Related To Chucky

Well we had a fun day and made one last stop for a couple of cans of cold sake.

First Time For Everything

The waitress said it was new and it was on special, two cans for $12 - and Bar Man loves a deal. It is Funaguchi Kikusui Ichiban Shibori, unfiltered, unpasteurized and very good. Easy to quaff, way too easy. I drank one in the sushi bar and brought one home, although it didn't last long after I got it there.

 All in all it was a great day and we finished it off by watching a couple of depressing movies followed up by Charlie Chaplin's 'The Circus'. I forgot the name of the first depressing movie, but it was baseed on a stage play and all the action pretty much took place on the stoop of a brownstone in 1930's New York. The second one was 'The Last Picture Show'.

Stinky Brooklyn

I thought Stinky Brooklyn, a cheese shop on Smith Street and their affiliated Smith & Vine were having a little affair with sandwiches, cheese, and a cheese-eating contest. I misunderstood what was going on. It was a full blown

Street Fair


In fact Stinky Brooklyn didn't have anything going on at their place. In fact they were closing up because of the cheese eating contest down the street somewhere.

But, I Wanted To Buy Some Cheese


But no big deal, there was plenty going on. I think the street fairs here in my neighborhood are some of the best in all of New York because they feature food from local restaurants and local artisans presenting their wares. I didn't see a single Italian Sausage stand and at some street fairs you will see a dozen or more.

I Love Grills And Smokers


There were some pretty interesting things for sale as well. If I had a bit more room one of these would have been nice, whatever they were.

Every Home Should Have One


I Guess They Are Clocks


And the guy who makes these things proudly showed them off and seemed pleased that I liked them. A bit disappointed that I didn't buy anything, but he didn't seem too eager to get rid of anything either.

Proudly Displaying His Wares


And then there was a bit of a Mexican feel about the fair as well. This is the kind of stuff you see in Puerto Vallarta.

Hats Anyone?


Or A Basket, Perhaps?


Well, you just know there would have to be something that I would like enough to buy, and this place had some uniquely New York and Brooklyn stuff.

Bags



And Purses 

Now don't get excited, I only bought a mouse pad.

There was a lot more going on and I promise I will post about the rest of it tomorrow, so be sure to stay tuned.

Just A Test Post

I am trying out a new extension for Google Chrome, ScribeFire, that let's you do more stuff with your blog. I actually have some new content to post about but I will do that later, or perhaps tomorrow. Right now I just want to see if this works.

Stitches Out

Like a train wreck, you just can't look away. Got my stitches and staple out today and as of Monday I am cleared to start going to the gym again. My surgeon told me that by Labor Day it will look like a normal belly button again.

Stitch And Staple Free Of course I will keep you updated on its progress.

Greek Grilled Octopus

Every year, and maybe more than once a year, the Greek Orthodox church down the block from me has a bit of a block party with great good, beer and wine, music, dancing, just a fun time. And the Mysterious Chinese Woman and I always go at least a couple of time (it lasts a whole week). And we aren't the only ones.

Lining Up For The Food

Not sure what kind of clout the church has because normally you wouldn't be able to block of a street for a whole week, but nobody seems to mind too much. I don't mind at all.

Hey, Just Having A Good Time

The other day we went and I wanted to get the grilled octopus but it wasn't ready yet so we settled for gyros, but they were really good and with plenty of meat. I had a pork gyro and the Mysterious Chinese Woman had a chicken gyro. But this time I was bound and determined to get the octopus. They put it on the grill when you order so it takes awhile.

Patience, My Dear

Well Worth The Wait

Grilling octopus can be a bit tricky, easy to over-cook it which makes it really tough. This was just perfect with a nice outer crunch and really tender inside.

But Not Everyone, Or Everything, Was Happy

That guy will haunt my dreams for weeks to come.

My New Belly Button

For those of you who are keeping track of my progress with my new belly button, and I know there must be thousands of you based upon all the cards and letters I have received, here is the latest picture. Almost Back To Normal And no, that shiny object is not a piercing, it is a staple holding everything together.

It's Official

I Am Now A BROOKLYN NETS Fan

Memorial Day Barbecue

Ah, another Memorial Day, and the weather couldn't have been better. Went to the Mysterious Sister-In-Law's house in New Jersey and, after a long winter's layoff, got to use my new smoker for only the second time. But it got a workout. Grilled cheeseburgers and a rack of ribs on Saturday and then did two more racks of ribs, two chickens, a pork butt, a boneless leg of lamb and a duck on Memorial Day.

No not everyone agrees with me and Alton Brown on this, but I prefer to remove the membrane from the ribs before I smoke them. Two reasons for this: First, it lets the spices penetrate the meat better and second, those membranes are just too chewy for me and no matter how long you cook the ribs it never breaks down. And removing the membrane is really quite easy.

Insert Butter Knife Under Membrane


Grab With Paper Towel And Pull


Then I rubbed them down with my special Small Fattie's spice mixture and put them on the smoker.

Ready To Smoke


And Smoking


One thing that I really like about this smoker, other than the fact that it is bigger than my old one, is that it is easy to control the temperature. It has adjustable vents top and bottom.

Perfect Temperature For Smoking


And They Came Out Perfectly


You can see the two chickens underneath the ribs. I used my Small Fattie's rub on one and brined the other one in orange juice. Two of my nieces don't care for spicy chicken.

When the chickens were done (you can see my remote thermometer at the bottom of the smoker) the ribs were  done as well. We had the chickens and ribs for lunch and then I put on the pork butt and boneless leg of lamb for dinner. I once again used a Small Fattie's spice rib on the pork and another variation that is heavy on rosemary for the lamb.

Pre-Smoked


Post-Smoked


So there you go. At this point I had drunk enough beer and dinner was ready so that was the end of the pictures.

By the way, I assumed the nom de plume of Small Fattie just because I felt like it.

Avert Your Eyes

Okay, you were warned. Though I would gross everyone out and post a few pictures showing belly button's progress. First, my ingenious contraption from keeping everything nice and dry when I showered before seeing the surgeon this morning.

Early Reality Television

It looked much better after everything was cleaned up and a new dressing was applied.

Squeaky Clean

The dressing looks a lot better than the belly button, though. I was assured that it just starts looking better from here on out and I will, indeed, end up with a mighty fine, or at least presentable, belly button.

It Can Only Get Better Looking

Okay, no more pictures until it is much better looking. I had some stitches taken out today and go back in three weeks to have everything checked out again and the rest of the stitches removed.

Saigon?

I just got a tour offer from the University of Minnesota that repeatedly references, including on the map, Saigon. Excuse me, do they realize that Saigon no longer exists and it is now Ho Chi Minh City? I suppose next year they will offer tours to Peking and Burma. Maybe a quick visit to the U.S.S.R. and Czechoslovakia. From here in New York I can probably fly out of Idlewild. Hey, at least they didn't refer to Ho Chi Minh City as Prey Nokor.

Fishing Opener

Ah, another infamous Fishing Opener in Minnesota. It seems like it was only a year ago. Hard to believe that I have been going to these for over thirty years now.  In all that time I have only missed one, and I have to fly to Minnesota. We've got a pretty steady crew, though.

The Core Of The Rotten Apple


That is my buddy Jerry on the left, he owns the cabin, then Bar Man, my friend Bruce who I have known since about the second grade (I have known his wife since kindergarten) and Jon, who I went to Costa Rica with earlier this year.

Two more of the core couldn't make it, unfortunately. My friend Chris, who often visits me in Puerto Vallarta, is recovering from nymphomania, or something like that, and Cubby who had his car all packed and ready to go and then woke up too sick to make it.  But we had a few visitors so we still had a decent crowd.

By the way, I had those tee-shirts we are wearing custom made to honor a friend of ours who used to come to the Fishing Opener but has now decided he prefers hunting turkeys. His name is Rico and his favorite expression is, you guessed it, "fuck em.'" And he says it so often that the phrase "What would Rico say?" has crept into our collective vocabulary.

Because of the wording on the shirts I am using Flickr to host these pictures because Photobucket would probably delete them. That is why the picture quality is not as good. I don't know how you can just embed the image code. Instead I did a copy and paste and then when you select the picture size it expands the copied image. Hence the fuzziness.

Test Picture


The above picture is from Photobucket. I want to see if it stays there. You can see the difference in quality.

One of our visitors was Skip, another old friend that goes way back to the early 70's and who now has a house on the lake. Jerry, Jon and Skip all grew up in Northern Minnesota but then they all moved to Minneapolis which is where I met them.

Skip, Just Chillin'
 

And for those who think we don't really fish:

Hey, We're Fishin' Here


Well, there is a line in the water and, believe it or not, we did catch a small bass that we released. The fellow on the left is my brother, Marty, and he was the second visitor. He actually stayed over a couple of nights while Skip came over two days but went home, about ten minutes away, to sleep in less onerous, and certainly less odorous, conditions. Well, I am making some assumptions about his wife, but I think they are fair enough.

In the past I would bring a cheesecake from Junior's here in Brooklyn every year but lately everyone prefers pastrami and corned beef from Katz's deli in Manhattan. Katz's is where they shot that faked orgasm scene in the movie "When Harry Met Sally." I picked up rye bread and Swiss cheese to make grilled Reubens and Jon brought homemade (he actually did make it) Russian dressing.

Reubens Before The Meat


As always, we had plenty to eat including Sufferin' Succotash that my brother made, venison, corned beef and eggs for breakfast, trout, all kinds of sausages from our friend Albie, who never actually comes to the Fishing Opener, and a lot more that I can't remember.

Trout Marinating
  

And, of course, we had plenty to drink.

Marinading Ourselves


It was a beautiful weekend, sunny and warm and quite windy. Given that rain or even snow isn't that uncommon in Minnesota this time of year, there certainly weren't any complaints.

And We Had Beautiful Sunsets




These geese were hanging out behind either the Eagle's Nest or the Blue Max (a couple of nearby bars).

A Gaggle Of Geese
 

And that was a short synopsis of the Fishing Opener. I got home on Monday and then yesterday I went in to have my belly button tuck. Not much to see because of the dressing (and I have to keep it on for nine days), but here's a picture nonetheless.

Looks Kind Of Gross


It looks worse than it is, although that doesn't mean it is comfortable. I will post another picture after the dressing is removed, and I know that you can hardly wait.

Oh, and for my brother-in-law who insists that I live in Brooklyn Heights and not Downtown Brooklyn:

Check This Out, Jim


I live in the building right across the street from that sign, the one with the blue awning. Jim insists that the dividing line between Brooklyn Heights and Downtown Brooklyn is Boerum/Brooklyn Bridge Blvd when it is actually Court Street, one block to the west.

Okay, that last bit was probably not that interesting to anyone other than Jim and me, but by golly, it is life-or death to us. That along with our discussions concerning which bar is the closest to me and whether or not Queen should be considered a bar. Ah, I am rambling. Probably the Oxycodone I am taking for the pain in my belly.