you guys! i'm back! the world rejoices. i was emailing a bit with a blog friend (you know who you are), and she perfectly summed up that summertime, and all it's fun activities, leave a little less time to blog. and i agree. i love having a record of what i've done, but if i'm spotty, i'm spotty. oh well. i'm still here though, promise!
this weekend was a quintessential brooklyn summer weekend, which means we went to coney island. i also made buckwheat pancakes before our sojourn to crazy town, as you can see in the appetizing picture below where they look like huge black hockey pucks. they tasted great though, so i promise you it's just in looks that they stink (and i used this recipe). i'm already looking forward to making some more next weekend.
through an amazon deal, my mom scored brian and i some cheap tickets to the brooklyn cyclones game (a minor league team for the mets), so we made a day of it with my cousin, glynis, and tina. coney island is always an adventure - the people, the rides, the food. the cyclone remains my favorite roller coaster, ever, since i'm partial to wooden roller coasters and it's just a classic thrill, and we also rode the steeplechase and the soarin' eagle, just like last time. i can report back: still good. with some time to kill we decided to venture a few blocks off the boardwalk to go to a pizza place, totonno's, and suffice to say we had one of the more bizarre experiences of our lives. i don't even know if i can tell it properly (you kind of had to be there), but the place is known for having staff that's a little cantankerous. ok, that's fine. and there's often a line outside to get in. that's also fine. what we didn't expect was for the line to be so hostile. we were joined in line by a few other couples and they made it clear that they were unhappy there was a line, and there was so little information on the wait time. people were going in and asking questions, coming out and giving reports on what tables were eating and what tables weren't eating, an old man thought that a young lady thought he tried to cut in line and he started screaming "I DID WHAT YOU COULDN'T DO! I ASKED THE QUESTIONS YOU COULDN'T" i mean the guy was screaming like we were in a war zone or something. when i asked her if she was ok she icily told me "I'M A NEW YORKER" and can take care of herself - i guess an old podunk like me from kansas just came off wrong. this young lady also started to rearrange tables inside so couples could share a table, larger groups could get their own table, and she asked for everyone's input before she got management's blessing. because i guess she thinks she can manage the restaurant better? i mean people, it was bizarre. we probably waited ten minutes in line, just ten minutes (!), and these people acted like they had never been to a restaurant or stood in a line before. we were the most laid back people there, which is saying a lot because that never happens. the line was capped off with a young lady asking me if they were taking names for the wait list, i responded they would come out and just see she was new and take her name then, and she yelled "I COME HERE ALL THE TIME, I KNOW HOW IT WORKS" then why did you ask? so. much. hostility. all in this tiny little line. mercifully, we were soon called in. rest assured - they are better places for pizza in new york, and better places to wait for pizza, too. i realize that's all rambley and makes no sense, but guys this shit was cray. we spent the rest of the night re-living those crazy town people and laughing until we couldn't breathe.
we ended the night with a beer at the cheapest rooftop bar in nyc, that is right on the ocean, so score one for coney, then the baseball game, followed by a classic nathan's hot dog. and finally, in the ultimate twist only new york could pull off, we rode the subway back with some very loud people, the kind of people you remember because you listen to their whole conversation, who happened to get off at our stop. the next morning i had to wake up early and get to penn station and when i got there, who to my wondering eyes should appear - one of the young ladies who rode the train with us late in the night. suffice to say, it looked like she had a rooooough night, and i was shocked by how small and fateful this world can be. of all the gin joints in the world...
thanks for a crazy weekend nyc. keep it up.
