Sodapop Serenades

Brooklyn Farmacy & Soda Fountain

Paris Je T'aime shirt, Tibi Scandanavian-looking skirt, vintage Coach bag, Chinese Maryjane slippers

When I was little, I had such a strong connection to the American Girl Doll series. In some ways, it was my first real encounter with the concept of history. It was the first time I learned about the effects of The Great Depression, the Underground Railroad, World War II, and many other historical events. Molly McIntire’s stories were always my favorite and I awaited the arrival of my 8^th birthday when my grandma bought me the doll. Molly has bangs (I have bangs, duh), knew who she was, hated math, but loved to read. She is my soul sister is what I am trying to say!

My friends and I always dissect the idea of sharing a milkshake. Milkshake-sharing seemingly makes for the cutest date, like in a diner scene from a black and white flick, or even that part in Pulp Fiction. Whenever I think of old-fashioned ice cream shops of today, I immediately think of Brooklyn Farmacy and Sodashop in Carroll Gardens. I went there for the first time this weekend, and I was so giddy. I felt like I was in an American Girl doll movie, transported back in time with The Andrew Sisters-style music playing in the background, the white hats with red piping that the waitresses wear that look like ones worn in diners of the 1940’s and 1950’s, and the quaint décor. Brooklyn Farmacy gets its name from the fact it used to be an actual pharmacy; all of the shelving was kept from the original building. It's also the only spot in Brooklyn with it’s own working soda fountain! The only thing missing is rollerskates. Yes, the waitresses should definitely be wearing rollerskates.

When our adorable waitress brought us our menus, I was overwhelmed to say the least. The menus at Brooklyn Farmacy change seasonally but basically any soda float or ice cream sundae that you can imagine is on it. Everything used in the shop is from local Brooklyn purveyors, too. It’s moments like these where I wish I was Adam Gertler (he has that show on The Food Network called Kid in the Candy Store)… Brooklyn Farmacy would obviously make the cut. It was tough passing up the hibiscus soda float and a mocha milkshake, but my family and I narrowed it down to the “Sundae of Broken Dreams”: vanilla ice cream and pretzels, with caramel and fudge and the “Red  Velvet Twinkle” which was a locally made red velvet twinkie split in half with a scoop of coffee, strawberry, and chocolate ice cream stuffed inside it. C’mon! It doesn’t get much better than a red velvet twinkie!!

The "Red Velvet Twinkle"

The "Sundae of Broken Dreams"

In the back of Brooklyn Farmacy is a table for larger groups. There is a giant vintage juke box, lots of vintage board games, and type writers scattered around. I was having a total Molly McIntire moment. I could see her in the 1940’s getting a soda float and playing the board games with her friends here afterschool.

  Brooklyn Farmacy& Sodashop; 718-522-6260; 513 Henry Street (at Sackett Street).

Oh, also, take this really amusing quiz from Hairpin to find out which American Girl Doll shaped the rest of your life here.

  

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Making Strawberry Rhubarb Pie, Just Call Me Martha

Out of the oven and ready to eat!

My last post was all about my—dare I say—magical experience in New Jersey, which included eating scrumptious homemade strawberry rhubarb pie. Let’s get this straight: when I say I want to be more like Martha Stewart, it’s not that I want to be some domestic mom AT ALL. Martha is a bitchin’, self-made business woman who knows how to make just about any food look good, she makes stellar crafts, and is also an OCD freak which I can totally appreciate. Oh, and for those of you who don't follow her Twitter… you're making a big mistake! Martha loves to tweet about the welfare of her garden vegetables and her beloved Justin Bieber. And since Martha was born in New Jersey, and I was staying there for the weekend, it seemed the gods were calling to me to have my crafty moment. So for our ode to M.S. we decided to use this recipe when making our strawberry rhubarb pie. Take note: if you’re using this recipe I suggest using at least a half a cup more rhubarb/fruit than suggested and a quarter cup less sugar than suggested below.

Filling:

• 2 1/2 cups chopped red rhubarb, fresh
• 2 1/2 cups de-stemmed, washed and cut strawberries (in larger pieces)
• 1 1/2 cups sugar (1 1/4 cups for high altitude)
• 2 tablespoons minute tapioca
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 tablespoons butter, cubed small
• 1 egg white beaten with 1 teaspoon water
• Large granule sugar

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Daisy Chains

Cue in summer playlists, flip flops, and lots of ice cream, because school is finally over. Last weekend, I went to my friend’s country house in New Jersey. I have many preconceptions about New Jersey (perhaps, I can attribute this to shows like The Real Housewives of New Jersey). Mainly, that it is Suburbia and I would go crazy living there, and that there isn’t much else to do there other than go to the mall.  But my visit to New Jersey last weekend really broadened my perspective of how I view New Jersey. The area in which my friend's house was was this adorable small town--population of maybe 40 families, and her house and the neighboring ones cluster around one particularly beautiful woods so it is much more remote than the typical New Jersey town. Staying there for the weekend, I had no sense of time: no Twitter, no texting, nada…and it was really relaxing. See, I can be a total country gurl, too!!!!!

This is for all of you non-believers that healthy food can’t be tasty: for lunch on the first day, I mixed up some quinoa, asparagus, cucumber, carrot, and snow peas, drizzled with some Asian orange-ginger dressing--delicioso.

Cutest fireplace!

We went wandering in the woods a lot, sometimes barefoot, collecting flowers, and feeling all ethereal and nymph-like, while the rain beat down on us. Going with our summer, country vibes, we stuck some of our found daises in our hair, while others we brought back with us to pretty-up the house.

The dress I’m wearing I found back at the Artists and Fleas market in Brooklyn, which I posted about last month. It’s really fun to read all of the postcards which all say something dorky like “Dear Jane, hope you remembered your sunscreen. We hear the weather is beautiful! Love, Mom and Dad.”

The billowy-quality of my dress makes for perfect twirling.

During our weekend stay we did lots of girly, sleepover things like painting our nails with rad disco ball nail polishes, signing yearbooks, and almost had a séance while playing Clue. One of these activities even included dyeing a strand of my friend’s blonde hair blue, a la dip-dye trends that we love. The photo below of her hair doesn’t show it off too well, but she looks like a mystical mermaid, I promise.

Mozzarella, fresh-picked basil, olive oil, and vinegar on french bread

On our last day in the magical New Jersey cottage, it was chilly and so we had an indoor picnic. Our picnic meal included carrots and hummus (I actually don’t know what life would be like without hummus), tofu, and an assortment of sandwiches we made with basil fresh picked from the garden. It’s safe to say it was a perfect weekend. For dessert, we had *HOMEMADE* strawberry rhubarb pie which we made earlier that morning. But I’ll save all of the mouth watering details of our pie for my next post!

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Big Gay Ice Cream Truck

I first heard of the Big Gay Ice Cream Truck this past winter and with flavors like Nutella I was highly intrigued. The deal was sealed when I was watching Bethenny Getting Married?, the spin off show of Bethenny Frankel from The Real Housewives of NY (I’m a Bravo TV junkie…sometime in the future I will write a deep post about my love for Bravo), and Bethenny’s food-loving-semi-stalker was giving her a recommendation to visit the Big Gay Ice Cream Truck. So after a quick trip to Topshop, we made our way to the Hester Street Fair where the truck was stationed that day. I got side tracked by Ichi Bon candy on the way there. Ichi Bon is one of my go-to stores for candy because they have unusual ones like candied grapefruit, gummy sunny side-up eggs, and chocolate rocks. However, we eventually made it to Hester Street...

To go along with our ice cream, I purchased some refreshing rose-infused iced tea.

Doug Quint, an adorable gay bassoonist who owns BGIC was looking for something fun to do one summer and bought an old Mr. Softee truck. There are a few noticeable differences between Doug and Mr. Softee. For one, you won’t find that classic jingle playing from his truck. Instead, you might hear some Cha-Cha music blasting. Doug has converted this American Classic into something more elevated and playful. Among the flavors offered in the truck is Chocolate with Cayanne pepper and Berries and Saba.

Vanilla soft serve with olive oil and sprinkled salt

One of my favorite ice cream flavors of all-time is olive oil, which to some might sound nasty but it’s actually super yummy. Big Gay’s version was Mr. Softee vanilla ice cream with olive oil and sea salt drizzled on top in a cone, which was unlike any olive oil ice cream I had had because typically it is mixed in, but there’s was still good, just really messy to eat. Next time I want to try the “Gobbler”: a vanilla sundae with pumpkin butter, graham cracker, dried cranberries and whipped cream.

To find where the Big Gay Ice Cream Truck will be next, follow their Twitter @biggayicecream

Urban Renewal denim shorts, Topshop Peter Pan collar flower top, vintage Coach bag, Converse sneakers

You might also notice in my hand there is a giant plastic bag. At the Hester Street Flea, for $8 I purchased a circus waffle maker! I am really ecstatic about this purchase, first of all because I’m just surprised it works and I found a $40 waffle maker for so cheap, but I’m mostly so happy because it makes elephants (as well as lions). However, there is one major downside… IT MAKES CLOWNS! Clowns are so scary and yet mystifying because they wear such big shoes and can fit into such small cars. In any event, I’d say it was an all-round successful purchase.  

HAPPY SUMMER, Y'ALL!

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Chiquita Banana

1. Samantha Pleet Citrus Print Dress, $138 via The Moon and The Mars

2. Banana Shirt, $79 via Wren

3. Tutti Frutti Bracelate, $25 via Etsy

4. Banana Print Crop Top, $24 via ASOS

5. Plastic Pineapple Cups, $20 via Amazon.com 

6. Crochet Fruit Headband, $67 via Opening Ceremony

7. Vivienne Westwood Plastic Cherry Heels, $80

8. Fruit Earrings, $10 via Etsy

9. Fruit Socks, $21 via Soxtrot

Comelately, I've been feeling really inspired by fruits. Writing that out sounds silly. Like, hey, bananas-in-my-morning-cereal, you just inspired my outfit today! But before Anna Dello Russo was wearing pieces of fruit on her head, there was Carmen Miranda and Chiquita Banana. Brazilian babe, Carmen Miranda debuted her iconic headress in the 1943 movie The Gang’s All Here, during a musical number called “The Girl With the Tutti Frutti Hat”. She, along with her descendant Ms. Chiquita Banana, (you know, the banana that sings and dances at Stew Lenonard’s) made fruit--something that we typically think of as just a breakfast accountrement-- an accesory to adorn ourselves in. These tropical goddesses draped themselves in fruit and no one thought twice about it. It was like, obvi! Why didn’t I think to put my basket of fruit on my head and dance around with it? Plus, I love them because during this time all of the ads they were in had so many sexual innuendos like“Bananas Are My Business,” but no one seemed to clue into them.

Me channeling my inner Chiquita Banana in a cherry headband.

Funnily enough, it seems Topshop is sharing my same sentiments. I recently went to Topshop’s SoHo store to purchase a denim skirt with orange flowers on it—very sixties schoolgirl. During my shopping mission I was distracted by an entire section on the first floor devoted fruity jewelry and the like: plastic banana earrings, an extremely chunky (and heavy!) lemon and cherry necklace with matching bracelate, small berry stud earrings, and my personal favorite, fruity sock prints of apples and citruses.

Here's some music for the road:

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