New year, new little friend 🥳
Well, this newsletter will change a tiny bit, but I’m happy to report that I’m mostly the same. I fell asleep at 10pm on Dec 31, was scared awake by fireworks at midnight, and then scared awake again in the morning when I opened some ‘happy new year’ texts from friends that my phone decided to animate with fireworks. I spent the last 2 weeks cat sitting 3 beautiful kitties, I watched the first 3 seasons of Bob’s Burgers, the first 2 seasons of The Bear, and altogether watched 15 movies (9 of them new to me). I also ate more desserts than I can count, spruced up the Big City, Little Friend instagram (where I’ll post all the fun things I come across in real time), and did it all while alternating between a single pair of outside pants and a single pair of inside sweatpants (both were washed occasionally).
This will be the first issue of BCLF that’ll have paid content mixed in. I decided to do this because I feel very strongly that people should be paid for the work that they do and while writing this newsletter brings me immense joy, it is also a lot of fuckin work. I created an Instagram so that I can still brain barf some of the fun stuff I find and learn about, but if you want more long form organized thoughts, this is the place to be. I’m a creature that thrives on feedback, so if you have any please know that I’m all ears. I’m new at this so if I fuck it up, sorry in advance. As an extra treat, I’m gonna keep the 15% off discount going a little longer, so smash that mothafuckin subscribe button.
1. Noshing 😋
One of the many dessert places I enjoyed over the last few weeks was Lysée. Lysée is a French-Korean pastry shop by Chef Eunji Lee and if they sound familiar it’s because I mentioned them a few issues back when I wrote about hot chocolate:
I’ve been to Lysée a bunch, but I’ve only ever gotten pastries to go because they absolutely will not let you dine in without a reservation. And that’s generally fine because if you head upstairs they have an amazing assortment of treats laid out like a damn museum exhibition. There’s everything from kouign amann to tarts to cookies to full size cakes (all delicious). But there was one item that was always marked as ‘sold out’ - their famous corn mousse. The mousse apparently takes 3 days to make and can only be claimed if you get there early enough before they run out or if you make a a Signature Reservation. I was no longer taking any chances, so I made a dessert res ($59pp) and prepared to be wowed.
A Signature Reservation guarantees a Corn, a Lysée (their signature cake), a Seasonal Tart & a Kouign Amann. They serve you the items 2 at a time so you’re not overwhelmed and you’re welcome to add anything else you want a la carte. The Lysée and Corn Mousse came out first for us and honestly, they were both fucking delicious.
Now, I love corn. Cornmeal pancakes, cornbread, corn cookies, popcorn, elote, corn fritters, corn on the cob - I’m the fuckin Bubba Gump of corn. And while this corn mousse was definitely delicious, it didn’t blow me away in the way that I thought it would. That’s not to say it wasn’t good though, I just feel like it didn’t live up to the hype I created. That said, the mousse was smooth and had that slight toasty flavor that popcorn does. The corn flavor itself was just corny enough to add a touch of sweetness. And there were little crunchy bit mixed into the mousse that gave it a fun texture. It was delicious, but I won’t lose sleep if it’s sold out again the next time I’m at Lysée.
The Lysée cake, however, really surprised me. I’m always skeptical of “signature items” because they sound boring to me. Like oh, you always just make this same thing all the time no matter what? Well, turns out there’s a reason this is a signature item. It has layers of soft cake that’s flavored with toasty rice and has just enough crunchy specks to make for a contrasting texture. The mousse is super soft and very lightly sweet, so even though it’s quite a thick coating it doesn’t give the same overwhelming sensation of eating a glob of sugar frosting on a sheet cake. I could eat a million of these cakes and the good news is that they’re pretty much always available and you can get them in individual sizes or in a large size (which can still be considered individual if you’re driven enough).
Other standout items on their menu are of course the buckwheat hot chocolate, the buckwheat caramel cookie, the petit jardin (a calamansi pineapple tart), and their VIC (very important chocolate cake). If you visit Lysée, head right upstairs and take your pick of desserts from their museum counter, but be prepared to spend a decent amount on your bounty (it’s worth it though).
2. Exploring 🛼
If you’ve been following my new Instagram (go there for more action shots of trains), you’ve seen me post some shots from the Holiday Train Show at the NY Botanical Garden! This is one of those things I always told myself was a stupid holiday tourist trap and honestly - it really wasn’t. The more I learned about what the Train Show actually was, the more I was convinced that I needed to take the trip into The Bronx to see it for myself. Keep in mind that the show is only open through Jan 17, so you gotta hustle if you still wanna make it this year. A regular NYBG ticket includes access to the show during the day, but if you want to attend the Train Show (or NYBG Glow) at night you have to purchase a separate ticket.
Of course the main draw of the Train Show is all of the cute trains, but the real artistry is in all of the building reproductions made by Laura Busse Dolan and the creative team at Applied Imagination. All of the buildings and landscapes that the trains traverse through are botanical architecture - created entirely of natural materials like twigs, seeds, and fungi. Lots of the materials are collected near Applied Imagination’s offices in Kentucky, but some are foraged locally in nature or in greenhouses. When you’re at the show, take some time to look at the buildings really closely and you’ll be able to see all of the distinct and unique materials.
It was an absolute dream for me to be able to traverse all of the city’s biggest hits in 1 hour; I was able to give Lorenzo a full city tour and talk about landmarks that we usually don’t reach IRL. Immediately upon entering the conservatory building I came across a landmark that’s not standing anymore - the Elephantine Colossus of Coney Island! The show also had a replica of the Old Penn Station, which was a beautiful Beux-Arts building that was demolished in the 60s to make way for the shithole Penn Station that tourists throw up in today. It also created a super interesting movement that you might learn about in the next section….
The show had lots of current building, too! At the very end is a collection of some of NYC’s most famous skyscrapers - One World Trade, Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, Rockefeller Center. They’ve got a replica of the Statue of Liberty with a Staten Island Ferry floating by. Some NYC Ferries are also featured which, fun fact, are often named by NYC students. That’s probably why we ended up with a ferry named Lunchbox (no Boaty McBoatface though). A section I really enjoyed featured not landmarks, but rather apartment buildings showcasing various architectural styles found in NYC. The attention to detail all around was great - they even made sure to feature the famous Macy’s building cutout.
If you’re an architecture nerd, you’ll enjoy the Train Show a lot. And if you’re just a silly goofy guy who likes to watch trains go around on tracks, this will be absolutely delightful for you.
3. What’s Good 😎
It feels weird having this section in the middle now, but I had to move it up because of the paywall break. Sorry if this feels weird to you too, it’s a work in progress!
That Dinner Thing’s January ticket lottery opens on Jan 12! This time around they’re doing two dinner seatings at 5:30pm and 8:30pm and I for one am a big fan of early dinner.
Flying Fox Tavern in Ridgewood is hosting a Cemeterrium-making workshop on Jan 16! What is a cemeterrium you ask? It’s a cute little terrarium but with spooky skulls and gravestones 🥺
Also in Ridgewood, Woodbine is giving out free lion’s mane mushroom grow bags on Jan 13! *cries in mushroom allergy*
Street vendors are no longer allowed to sell items on NYC bridges. On one side of the argument, this will help open up congestion that bubbles up (especially on the Brooklyn Bridge). But on the other side of the argument, now there will be tons of vendors (often immigrants) who are losing out an a much needed source of income. I don’t know if this is the right solution, but it’s the solution our clown ass mayor gave us. (unrelated, but did you know there are 789 bridges in NYC? A crazy fact I learned from ciaooo!’s newsletter)
One of my goals for this year is to do more creative stuff, so I signed up for a pottery/ceramics class at Dirtbag Arthaus in Bushwick! I will definitely be updating you on all of the misshapen tchotchkes I create.
Remember when I went to the Color Factory? One of my favorite podcasts, Stuff You Should Know, recently did an episode on one of the colors I found there - Scheele’s Green!
4. Watching🍿
Of all of the things I watched over the last 2 weeks, I think Poor Things was my favorite. Poor Things is Yorgos Lanthimos’ newest film based on a book by Scottish author Alasdair Gray and it not only looks beautiful, but it tells a pretty dope story. But don’t take my word for it - Lorenzo came out of the theater gushing over the plot rather than the copious amount of boob that was on screen.
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