Thursday – Brooklyn Heights

After some delicious scrambled eggs with salmon and cream cheese mixed in ( it was recommended to me by the owners and it would be rude not to try – I think I have used that excuse before ) I went to Brooklyn by train. The area at the end of the Brooklyn bridge is called Brooklyn heights and is described as the historic part. I wandered round some streets and it felt a lot like here – the Upper West Side – but quieter. I looked at a church called The Plymouth Church of the Pilgrims, built in the mid 1800’s. It was famous as the base for Thomas Ward Beecher who was a prominent abolitionist and campaigner for women’s rights. The church was part of the Underground Railroad. I walked along what is called the Brooklyn Heights Esplanade. It goes along the waterfront in front of the very fancy old houses but quite a few meters above the water.

I sat at a long table in Le Pain Quotidien ( a chain of nice café/ bakeries) and got talking to the 3 single woman nearby. Apparently this place opened about a week ago. There was much talk why in the last few years quite a few cafes had come and gone. Someone made a comment about the ones that women frequent. One of the woman said that all the men are in Starbucks. I replied that they were all old. One of the other women said the younger ones are inside. I have often seen older men sitting in the windows of Starbucks. The other 3 woman would all have been in their 60’s. Not old! The conversation for the next hour or so covered rent control, tablets, renting apartments for vacations, salaries of teachers etc etc. I was there for about 1 ½ hours. One of the women , whose name was Susan and had shoulder-length grey hair, thought that Brooklyn Heights and UWS were the only 2 areas in New York where people thought about important issues and were interested in the outside world.

I looked at another old – 1840’s - church. St Ann and the Holy Trinity. It has many stained glass windows – 3 rows of them along the walls. Most are thought to be the oldest American made stained glass windows. It has lots of community activities including a monthly Sat afternoon invitation to knitters to join them for conversation while making things for a seaman’s welfare organsation and regular organ recitals

The walk back to Manhattan over the Brooklyn bridge was quite spectacular.
I had another nice dinner at a different local – same block – restaurant. I had scallops ( I had seen in the fish market that they are not as expensive relative to other seafood as they are in Australia) and a glass of cabernet franc – not because it went with the scallops but because it was the only American wine out of the 8 wines-by-the glass. I think that I write too much about where I eat and it might seem that I am overly concerned with eating nice things .

Some unrelated things .

Twice I have had nutmeg on my morning cappuccino – not to my taste and I must remember to ask to no have it.
I have seen far more people than in Australia asking questions about the food and asking for modifications of the dishes.

OOPs – both food.