Welcome to Big City, Little Friend
It's me, I'm the little friend
Who am I & why should you listen to me?
Buckle up, kiddos.
I come from a long line of tiny women with big hair, one of which is my namesake. My great-grandma Edith came to Brooklyn from Russia sometime around WWII & lived in Sheepshead Bay. She was a switchboard operator & allegedly had a great sense of adventure when it came to exploring NYC & trying new things. I never met her because she passed just months before I was born, but I feel more connected to her than any living relative (if you know me, this is obvious).
My family would eventually become “successful” & move away from Brooklyn to Long Island (as was the goal in those days), only for me to say fuck it & move right back when I attended Brooklyn College (I got a film degree & made zero college friends). I lived in Bensonhurst & then Gravesend, not knowing then that my life was starting near where Edie’s (her nickname & mine) ended. I’ve since experienced a short stint in a bad apartment in Bed-Stuy (haven’t we all) & now call Bushwick home.
So I guess what I’m saying is, I’m inhabited by the spirit of an old Jewish switchboard operator from Brooklyn & I hope I’ve inherited just a bit of her sense of adventure 👻
1. Noshing 😋
I had the absolute delight of attending a monthly supper club, That Dinner Thing, with my gem of a friend, Larissa. You have to enter a ticket lottery & purchase tickets in pairs (so you have an excuse to invite someone out) & if you get picked you get to enjoy a dinner amongst strangers who will hopefully become friends (or at least insta-acquaintances - hi @thesalonnewyork 👋).
The menu for the night included a ramps puff, brothy beans, cod or cauliflower steak, & a matcha crepe cake. The brothy beans were an absolute highlight for me & I loved that the whole menu was very green & Spring-forward. The whole team behind this production is absolutely top notch. I will definitely be entering future dinner lotteries - wanna be my guest?
Earlier that day, I spent time in Ft. Greene Park with new friends Alicia & Shelby. I brought cookies & I had a bunch leftover, so I distributed them to the TDT team to thank them for their hospitality. I made Claire Saffitz’s browned butter chocolate chip cookie recipe from Dessert Person (I add in a few tbsp of miso & sprinkle salt on top for some extra zhuzh).
2. Watching 👀
It’s NBA finals time, so while my partner has commandeered the living room tv, I’ve been spending time in the bedroom watching things on the projector. Someone at work recommended that I watch Euphoria & I love Zendaya so I figured now was the time. I binged the 2 seasons available on HBO within a couple weeks & I have thoughts:
This show is even more unhinged than the memes I’d encountered pre-watch led me to believe. Do kids actually dress like this? Was everyone in high school constantly on drugs & I was just unaware? This show seemed dramatic for the sake of being dramatic without a lot of intent or purpose behind the characters actions aside from shocking the audience.
I feel like Rue wasn’t even the main character most of the time. Nearly all of the first season I felt like I was watching Jules’ story unfold, but the screenwriters kept holding back on actually developing her character or explaining her motivations. The very heavy use of voiceover also seemed a bit extra - I’d be halfway through an episode & Rue was still spouting exposition from offscreen. It felt lazy & half-done.
This show made me depressed AF. It’s possible I’m just suffering from too much Euphoria in a short period of time. But between everyone making awful decisions & the dreariness of living in a small town, nothing about this show made me happy or hopeful. This makes me think this show might actually be good because it caused such a visceral feeling in me?
Final thoughts - All in all, I hate-watched most of the series because my curiosity got the better of me each time an episode ended. I did, however, really enjoy the last two episodes of season 2 that covered the production of Lexi’s play (I’m definitely a Lexi). I love when stuff gets meta & this absolutely tickled my brain. But these 2 episodes are only as good as they are because of everything that came before them, so again, maybe this is a good show?
3. Exploring 🗺️
I wish I lived closer to Prospect Park (I’m not far, but it takes 3 subway transfers so it feels far) so when I go there I try to make a day of it. I once again showed up too early for peak cherry blossoms at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, but it was a beautiful day so I still had a great time. Last time I was there, a sweet old lady gave me a tour & told me that the garden purposefully contains plants that all bloom at different times, so whenever you visit something will be in peak bloom. While some cherries in the Japanese Garden were blooming, it was the magnolias that were absolutely popping off. Lorenzo & I also happened upon a kids corner of the garden that had fun activities & a xylophone you could play! I tried & failed to play the theme song to Gullah Gullah Island.
Lorenzo & I attended opening day of Smorgasburg (their Prospect Park location is superior). The trick is to get there right as it starts at 11am, get your preferred food items, & get the heck outta there by 12pm when it gets crowded. We got pork belly from Patok by Rach, burgers from Burger Supreme & Smashed (we preferred Smashed), meat skewers from So Sarap, & delicious twinkie cakes from Keyks. Smorg is expensive & largely overhyped, but I like to go once or twice a season to try new things.
4. Learning 🧠
A preface: I love learning new things. When Cate Blanchett’s character in the Indiana Jones movie we don’t speak of told the aliens (this is why we don’t speak of it) that she wanted to know everything, I understood. I also want to know everything. When I worked at Slack, I posted NYC facts in our #nyc channel every Monday & I didn’t stop for 4 1/2 years. It was never part of my job & I saved every single piece of information I posted when I left.
Earlier this year, a company found me & plucked me from my unplanned retirement after I was laid off last November. Part of my new job involves employee engagement, so I get to plan fun events for my coworkers & they are forced to participate. This April for Earth Month, I took them on a tour of Central Park that focused on how the climate affects the environment & what kinds of sustainable practices are in place. This was the first time the Central Park Conservancy ran this tour & I can’t recommend it enough. Here are some of my favorite things that I learned:
Redbud trees begin blooming in the spring & their flowers come directly out of the bark & branches. I’ve never noticed these before - they’re very cool!
The reason that the newer trash bins have that swirly shape is because it prevents rats from running up into them. Sorry, pizza rat 🥲
The ground in the Ramble is purposefully soft & springy! I can’t remember exactly what it’s made of, but it’s meant to be easier on your feet as you wander through the paths. Also - there are no trash bins in the Ramble, so hold onto your trash!
Since 1919 Belvedere Castle was home to a weather station. If you search for NYC weather, that’s where your temperature reading is coming from. When the castle was recently restored, the equipment was moved just behind the building.
5. What’s next? 💫
In a move that is very unlike me, I truly just put together this first issue on a whim & did not map out every little detail. This newsletter will probably go through some changes, section titles might fluctuate, but I’m pretty happy with this general vibe. I’m going to aim to send out issues every 2 weeks, so please hold me accountable.
I think, ultimately, I would love for this to create a conversation. I get asked a lot about creating community & culture in my line of work & I always very firmly say that these things cannot be created; you can’t hire me to “create” culture. Community & culture are things that come about as the result of conversations & participation. And while I can certainly create opportunities & share information, it’s up to you how you use it & what you do with it.
So I want to know if you’ve also visited the places I’ve visited, if you preferred the ramps puff over the brothy beans, or if you’ve witnessed a majestic rat defy gravity & enter one of the rat-proof trash bins. I also want to know what places you want me to visit & what food I should eat & who I should talk to & what you want to learn more about because I don’t want to be stuck in my own bubble & I’ve come to enjoy being uncomfortable. So please use the comments section!
6. Acknowledgements & Further Reading 🙌
I’d like to use this space to share folks I’m inspired by, fun things I’ve read, & fun events I’ve come across. Since this is my inaugural newsletter, I want to focus on shoutouts to the people who have inspired me to start writing again! All of these folks have been doing great work for years & I want to recognize the impact that they’ve had & will continue to have on what I write here:
Shoutout to Ashley for becoming my first & only paid subscriber because I didn’t know how to turn that feature off. And to Larissa for kicking me in the ass & being the best hype person I could ask for.
This Needs Hot Sauce is a newsletter I started reading during the pandemic & I have loved following Abigail’s journey. She writes articles, hosts cooking classes, & is an all around excellent human.
The Fresh Letter offers easy & realistic food prep & entertaining tips. Two words - table nachos.
Boss Barista is a newsletter about coffee, but you don’t have to drink coffee to enjoy it (I don’t!) Her posts are incredibly thoughtful & take a well rounded look at our food & labor systems.
@howtobebrokeinnewyork I’ve been following Julianne forever for her down to earth & community focused approach to living in NY. I’m also helping out at her clothing swap this weekend!
@uncovermore is another account I started following during the pandemic & it kept my hopes high for when things would open up again. Arianna is a native Brooklynite & her NY (and abroad) guides are next level amazing.
I've seen brothy beans before (I remember Alison Roman losing it over a bowl during the pandemic), but I.... don't get it.
Is it like a soup, but with beans? Or is (texturally or otherwise) like a chili? A side or a full meal??
I would've gone for the ramp puff because I never turn down savoury pastry, but I am curious about the beans.
Euphoria is a show I refuse to watch because I teach kids that age and do not need to imagine them doing those things or being those people. Your review saying it really wasn't that well done adds extra validation.
Also: I wasn't there, but I believe you played the Gullah Gullah theme song perfectly. I feel it in my bones.