Category Archives: Raves

Eating Out, Events, Raves

Ring in Spring With Tacos, Markets and Ball Field Feasts

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Yay! Finally something useful is moving to a street I frequent. First Oaxaca Tacos opened around the corner from us on Smith Street, making for the first fast, friendly and delicious place for delivery or a quick late-night meal at the bar. Now, Oaxaca is opening an outpost on 4th Ave., between President and Carroll Streets, which is wonderfully convenient for me, since it’s right around the corner from where my children go to school.

Fourth Ave. is otherwise pretty barren, save for Root Hill Café, Brooklyn Lyceum a bit further down and the down home Latin American food at Yomaris Restaurant. So the addition of Oaxaca Tacos is most welcome. I already predict after school visits for a quick bite, or stopping in for a late lunch when I arrive too early for school pickup.

I’m a fan of the soft tacos, especially the fish, or the bowls of rice and beans with chicken mole or carne asada and all the trimmings. There’s no opening date yet beyond early April  for the new Oaxaca at 250 Fourth Ave., according to the website, but the sign is up and the bodega it replaces is long gone.

What a nice change to have something I like in a useful location. From our Carroll Gardens address we manage to be just far enough away from everything we utilize; walk up to Henry Street for bread and bagels (Mazzola + Marius), hike up Court Street for Citibank and CVS, down to Atlantic Ave. for cheese, olives and pita bread (Sahadis + Damascus Bakery), Atlantic again to cruise Urban Outfitters and soon Barneys Co-op. Now if we can get someplace on Smith Street, near Degraw please,  to get a good cup of coffee and a fresh baguette, I’ll stop complaining.

Oh, and speaking of good stuff, I should mention that the Carroll Gardens Greenmarket, which sets up outside of PS 58 and across from Carroll Park, resumes Sunday, April 11.

Also good news for fans of tacos and beyond, the beloved Red Hook Ballpark vendors will be setting up their stalls again May 1.  And the satellite vendors at the Brooklyn Flea’s Fort Greene and Hanson Place venues will be at your service from Sunday, April 11.

Spring is in the air at last …

Events, Raves

Obama Framed

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Obama A La First Grade

It’s not every day you invest in art. But we did a week or so ago, at our children’s school Arts Day, an annual fundraising event where each class creates a saleable project for parents to bid on. There were quilts and pictures and bound collections of children’s art, and then there was this, I think fabulous, tiled painting of President Barack Obama.

Created in a similar vein to the works of famed American artist Chuck Close, who is known for his paintings based on a grid pattern, it can take a minute or two of staring from a distance to work out who it is, as we discovered when some friends glared at it with a confused squint. But once you get it, you can appreciate the colors and delve into each child’s individually colored and decorated tile.

It just happened to be the work of my son’s first-grade class and we just happened to lodge the winning bid and bring home this colorful piece, which will eventually grace a wall. I was in the classroom to help the children decorate their tiles and it’s no small miracle that it actually turned out looking like a person, let alone the President.

Raves, Style

Loving Lady-Like Liberty

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I never line up for anything. It has become a sort of personal creed for me, especially since moving to New York more than a decade ago and being  stunned at how willing people are to queue in this city – and in such an orderly manner. Australians are largely a cynical bunch, and lazy, so the whole lining up thing doesn’t work well. A French friend, also stunned at the orderly American queue, said lines in her homeland were notoriously rowdy and crooked, with people going in all directions.

That’s why today was notable. I surprised even myself and stood in line with about 200 other shoppers to get first dibs on the Liberty of London for Target range. Thankfully, the line moved fast, and I made it inside in about 15 minutes at what was probably peak time around 12.30pm. Was it worth it? Well, yes I believe it was. I scored three pretty sundresses, of course in Liberty printed fabrics; a couple of tea mugs and floral tumblers as well as an armload of frocks and bikinis for the daughter, all of which actually fit.

I was pleased to find the dresses were modern cuts and the fabrics didn’t feel cheap and nasty as has been the case with some other designer for the masses collaborations. Target seems to have really hit a home run with this latest teaming, raising the question among just about everyone I chatted to in that long line: why isn’t there a Liberty of London store in New York?

The pop-up store was beautifully decorated with planters galore of spring flowers, and hyacinth perfuming the air, which was also adorned with massive cutouts of home wares, umbrellas and yards of wallpaper and fabric in the famed Liberty prints. The umbrellas, by the way, were sold out by noon today and a lot of the smallest sizes in the lingerie and some of the most popular dresses were in need of restocking too. Still, a woman next to me was thrilled to find a row of bras in 36 DD and beyond! There were plenty of staff scattered about too to help answer questions, though most people wanted to know about sizing, and that was the one thing the staffers seemed clueless about.

Most things are sized x-small, small, medium or large etc., although in an odd twist, some maxi dresses were sized numerically in British sizes. For the record, a UK8 is about a 6 in the US and a UK10 is an 8. I found the dresses run large, so opt for the smaller size. It was also tough to navigate the children’s clothes, since there was no guide on what ages the S, M and L were for. If it helps any, my almost 5yo was fine in the 5T and XS selections.

So here’s what you need to know if you plan on hitting the pop-up store; go early and unencumbered because it will be crowded and you probably won’t see everything properly, partly because the layout of the pop-up store is muddled and partly because in a flower-filled room full of Liberty-printed platters, clothes, rain boots, lingerie, bathing suits and so on, it all begins to look the same after a bit; and don’t bother with the fitting room lines unless you really must.

Afterwards, head home for a nice cup of tea, preferably in a glossy new Liberty print teacup.

The pop-up store is at 1095 Sixth Ave. at 42nd Street, near Bryant Park through Saturday. It hits Target.com and Target stores beginning Sunday, March 14.

Raves, Style

Buns, Boyswear and Beauty

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This bout of spring-like weather has me in an uncommonly good mood, so instead of ranting about the incredibly tedious Oscars, or the recent Park Slope-driven debate about whether it’s okay to take children to bars (though I might get to this shortly), I thought I would rave about a couple of things.

One-A-Penny, Two-A-Penny …

Every year around this time I crave real, fruit-laden hot cross buns, the sort I grew up eating toasted and dripping with butter. I have been into countless bakeries around New York and usually my request for hot cross buns is greeted with a blank stare. Or, if I can find them, they are cakey and light, sparse on the candied fruit and peels and heavy on white frosting and sticky glazes. I still haven’t found a version entirely reminiscent of the hot cross buns I remember from childhood, but I am thrilled to finally come close.

Bread Alone at the Union Square Greenmarkets has hot cross buns for the next few weeks preceding Easter. They are heavy with fruit and yeasty as I remember. The only downer is that like all the buns I have tasted here, they have an icing cross instead of a traditional dough one, which means you can’t put them in the toaster or the oven. Still, at around a buck a piece, they’re worth it.

Zara Boys

Also on the rave list this week is the boys’ section of Zara, my beloved shopping haunt, with locations dotted around New York. The store on Fifth Ave near 18th Street, which is dangerously close to my office, has super stylish children’s clothes on the upper level. I discovered that not only are the accessories great and inexpensive for my children, but there are finds to be had for a smallish female too.

I picked up a graffiti-patterned belt for my son and grabbed myself one in brown leather with brass grommets too; I picked him up a spring-weight scarf with skulls + crossbones and found a blue + white striped one for me. You get the idea. The belt was about $15 and beat anything I could find in the women’s section, and the scarf was under $10 and totally sated my current addiction to blue + white stripes.

Liberty of London

And I am hoping to have a serious rave by the weekend, as I gear up for Liberty of London for Target range to go on sale. I’ve been a huge fan of the international fabric label since I was too young to buy it; with its pretty florals and oh-so-English Garden sweetness. I still have a little cloth Liberty print bag my mother bought me on a shopping trip to Melbourne some 30 years ago. Wind the clock forward, and now I’m eyeing a teapot and a heap of breezy sundresses for me and my almost 5yo daughter.

The designer range hits Target.com and select stores March 14, but we lucky New Yorkers can get a sneak peak and shop beginning Wednesday at a pop-up store at 1095 Sixth Ave. at 42nd Street near Bryant Park.