Rating: 💋 💋 💋 💋 😘
Happy Wednesday!
I am especially excited to share this excursion with you - the story of a beautiful day walking around Brooklyn. As I might have mentioned, I am terrible at cold weather, but one thing I love about New York is it is such an exciting city that it sometimes makes the cold bearable. I will never say that again, so let's just let winter have its moment. Of course, I still prefer the other three seasons, but if I am going to be cold, I might as well be in New York.
This day stands as a testament to that, as it was FRIGID. Any other city in the world and I would have flat-out refused to leave the apartment. As luck would have it, the treasures of Brooklyn coaxed me out of my cocoon, and I was plenty rewarded.
Shannon and I took a lovely walk to Books Are Magic, her favorite bookstore. I had heard of it before and been meaning to go, but this was my first chance to stop in. It was wonderful. Books Are Magic is a perfectly-sized bookstore, offering plenty of options without overwhelming you so much you get lost in the stacks and don't know where to turn. I could have bought maybe twenty books that I saw. Instead, I kept a list of titles so that I can go back for more. I did not have the space to go ham. I did buy a copy of Normal People though because I really enjoyed Conversations with Friends and, as a result, had been meaning for months to get a copy of Sally Rooney's other book. Now seemed as good a time as any and it was a lovely treat to myself. I have not gotten to read it yet, but I will let you know. In the meantime, Conversations with Friends got five stars, I believe, on my Goodreads. If you have not read it yet, please do.
More surprises awaited us outside the store. There was a box full of ARCS and unedited drafts on the sidewalk. They were giving the books away for free! Excuse me??? Is today Christmas? Shannon, who has a Master's in Publishing, theorized they might have been recording which books were taken for marketing purposes, seeing which are the most popular and making note of how many copies to order when the official books come out, things like that. I probably did not phrase it properly. I do not have a Master's in Publishing. I do not plan on getting one. I just like to read.
It was so fun bonding with my fellow book-lovers who descended on the cardboard box of treasures. We were all so respectful. Everyone maintained a distance, gave each person their turn to peek through the spines and find their chosen story, and there was an unspoken rule to only take one. We wanted to share the love and not be greedy. I saw several books I wanted, but I let my book find me. An Advanced Reader's Copy of Men Who Hate Women by Laura Bates became my spoil. I read the title aloud and a woman raised her eye brows at me like "ooh tell me more," before her boyfriend cracked a joke and we all started laughing. A respectful joke, by the way. This was my book, the one I needed to read. I recently finished it and now I think everybody needs to read it. I left a review on Goodreads, so I won't belabor the point. You can read my review here. What I will say is, the book is not what you think, and Bates did a phenomenal job. I want to thank her.
If you live in Brooklyn, definitely peek by Books Are Magic on the regular to see if you can sus out a free book. I do not know how often they do that, but it is worth a shot. Also, just go to Books Are Magic anyway. It is beautiful. It is magical. What are you doing - go already!
Now you are probably wondering, "Hey! This is a food blog! Where's the food???" Don't worry. It's coming. We were just working up our appetites by browsing literature. Now that we had our books, we needed to enjoy them with a snack.
Shannon and I had been out long enough that the cold was starting to seep into our skin. Fortunately, just down the street and around the corner, we found the solution: Brooklyn Farmacy.
If I lived near this soda fountain sweet shop, I would probably end up going there a ridiculous amount. It would be the smart thing to do.
As we arrived at the corner outside Farmacy, we met our friends Sophie and Jack. They heard we were getting hot chocolate and very wisely wanted in on the action. Everyone kept their masks on and queued up to enter the store one by one. It was a very organized, easy to follow system. The customer service was great. Maybe this is a result of isolation, but the cashier was so nice and chill that I wanted to be friends with them. Then Jack left us for a grocery run and we had a girl's date. It is so exciting enjoying a socially distanced gathering. I have not had one in a hot minute. Plus, even when you are isolating with wonderful people, getting to throw new personalities into the mix and hear new stories and perspectives is such an absolute joy. Thank you Sophie, Jack, and Shannon!
THE SALTED CARAMEL HOT CHOCOLATE. INCROYABLE.
Okay, so, I got Farmacy's Salted Caramel hot chocolate because it looked like the most dazzling menu item at the time. I am keen to try one of their milkshakes, but it was really really cold. I only had eyes for the hot chocolate options. I made a gorgeous choice. The froth was so thick and fluffy. The salted caramel added a lovely twist to the sweet milk chocolate beverage. That swirl of whipped cream? Ambrosial. Best lunch I have had in a long time.
Chocolate beverages secured, Shannon had a delightful contribution for us to enjoy alongside: homemade brownies. I am not talking about Betty Crocker, though I am not so much of a snob that I do not love those. I do. These, however, were from scratch and oh my Lord. Fantastic. I am not gassing her up, I really mean this. Shannon's baking got us through those early months of quarantine a year ago, and she is out here excelling. These homemade brownies were a little chewy on the outside and super moist and fudgey on the inside, which is the dynamic God intended, I think. Plus points for the white chocolate chips she had the ingenuity to tuck inside. I cannot say enough good things about them. Dipping the brownie in the salted caramel was a power move. So heavenly.
It was also a sugar bomb, but like, life is short. Ya gotta live a little.
In other news, today happens to be my twenty-fourth birthday.
When I first found out about Champagne Birthdays, I thought, "What a great concept!" I love birthdays, anyone's birthday, and any reason to make more birthdays extra special sounds great to me. I suppose it does not sound great to someone born on, say, the first of the month, or Leap Year. They will not even find out until it has passed, or the calendar might rip them off. I am sorry about that. I encourage you all to sway the rules to have your own Champagne birthday as you see fit. It is not cheating, it is creating a fun celebration.
I was born on the twenty-fourth, so I was not faced with any issues out of the gate. In fact, twenty-four seemed like a great age to have a Golden Birthday. I thought my twenties would be so fun. Old enough to be responsible for myself and taking control of my life. Young enough to just, like, I don't know, be reaping the benefits of youth. Lol. I was probably more excited to turn twenty-four than I was to turn twenty-one. I did not mind turning twenty-three at the beginning of the pandemic, nor spending the entirety of that year in isolation, because who cares about twenty-three? I mean yes, I would like very much for the pandemic to be over, but that has nothing to do with my age.
Twenty-four mattered though.
As it turns out, twenty-four will be my second birthday in quarantine. There will not be any exciting festivities. Boo.
At times like these, I like to remind myself that it is just a day. It does not really matter. The worst thing is to be disappointed on your birthday. To some extent, you cannot control your inner hopes and dreams, but you can help combat disappointment by not having any expectations. Then anything that does not happen, well, you did not think it would. Any fun thing that occurs is just exciting and then wow, what a great birthday you had! I expected zero out of my birthday last year, and I was overjoyed by Shannon soldiering on to ice a cake in our ninety-degree apartment, and the deliciousness of the dessert that followed. I wore a yellow tee-shirt (a favorite), treated myself to a salad from a nearby takeout restaurant, and watched a movie. All really simple things that made my day fun. Keeping that in mind, I do not expect anything today. It is just a day, just an age, and it really is not a big deal.
That being said, when this is over, can we all have a huge party? Celebrate every holiday and every birthday and every milestone that got swallowed by the wave of Coronavirus? I am talking fireworks and sparklers, champagne and specialty cocktails, great music, lots of dancing, and a beautiful reunion of all the people we love so much. Oh, yes. And dressing up. It will be the fashion event of the year - look out Met Gala! I just think that could be a beautiful event to look forward to and keep us going.
It would be so fun.
Okay anyway, thank you for reading. I love you guys 💛
XX,
MK
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