The perfect cap to the best year to date. Happy 2010, everyone!
Location: Sycamore Plow (AKA The Frye Family Farm). 2 hours outside St. Louis, Missouri.
I realize I’ve strayed from the “travel” part of my blog, but I shall return to form after my South Africa trip in November. Meanwhile, I’ve been practicing my portrait-taking abilities at dinner parties in the neighborhood.
I live for a good dinner party. So when Emily suggested a cookout with our blogging-minded friends, I jumped at the opportunity.
But the “North Brooklyn Bloggers Banquet” would not be a spectator event, I was alerted. Each participant would either cook or assist in the preparation of a dish and then publish their experiences in a blog post. So, with my camera and a curried squash soup in tow, I joined the group at Liz and Joe’s lovely apartment in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.
There, I found a kitchen full of delicious aromas and Sunday conversations. Beans and corn were being shucked, avocados expertly peeled. Breads and tarts came in and out of a very busy oven. Someone plopped a case of PBR into a bucket of ice. All the while, Kenan, inconspicuous sketched portraits on a simple notepad and Jake screwed on his brand new 50mm 1.2 lens to his 5D Mark II (jealous!).
I helped myself to some delicious rosé from the fridge and then got down to work. And by “work” I mean snapping tipsy shots, sampling sliced tomatoes from the balcony-garden, refilling my glass one more time.
A quick thunderstorm. Some strong sun. Occasionally, we took our drinks to the balcony where a hammock was stretched and looked down at the garden below.
Brooklyn continues to exist as the most magical place I’ve ever lived in.
Take Flatbush Avenue to the end of Brooklyn. Watch passing signs for Avenues U and V. Kings Plaza Mall is as massive and 1970s as the Death Star. Some place called Nick’s Lobster House next to Gerritsen Creek. (Why would anyone want to eat lobsters near a creek?) A golf course. Cross Marine Parkway Bridge. Now you’re in Queens. See navy bases and army camps. A national reservation area with horse stables and abandoned buildings. A gated community called Breezy Point. The Atlantic Ocean.
All those tiny, tiny islands you only see when taking off from JFK.
These are some of the things we saw on our way to the taxman on Saturday. My borough, explored.
