We just got back from a quick cookie run to a relatively new storefront in the neighborhood - One Girl Cookies. Located around the corner from Bartabac at 68 Dean Street, they have what is probably the nicest new spaces I’ve seen in ages. (Please don’t ask me about Banania - I might cry.)

Anyhoo, their petite little homemade cookies are delicious and really do taste homemade. I tried a Cecilia, mocha cream sandwiched between two chocolate wafers, which was delicious and had a nice “I know you are a cookie but my mouth thinks of you as a bon-bon” taste.

C/o Lauren by way of Two and 1/2 Pounds of Bacon we bring you Nancy Reagan’s Stop The Madness at youtube.

starring:

MUSIC (in order of appearance)
New Edition - Steve Arrington - Tim Feehan - Whitney Houston!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Jon Burford - LaToya Jackson - Kimaya Koepke - Herb Alpert
Linda Stokes and Jackie Ball (of Magic Lady) - Steve Arrington
Toni Basil - Tim Feehan - Tata Vega - Andre and Sandra Crouch

and Introducing (in her First Rock Video)
First Lady Nancy Reagan

VIDEO Special Guest Appearances
Lyle Alzado - Kim Fields - David Hasselhoff - Kareem Abdul Jabbar
Casey Kasem - Stacey Keach - David Kieth - Michele Lee
Daphne Maxwell - John Matuzak - Gerald McRaney
Jameson Parker - Nancy Reagan - Tim Reid - Arnold Schwarzeneggar
and the Goodyear Blimp

STARRING
Claudia Wells
and Michael “Boogaloo Shrimp” Chambers (aka Turbo from Breakin’)

We were treated to spectacular fireworks Wednesday night as we were on our way home from our friend Tim’s art exhibit. Certainly a delightful treat! Although we have yet to find the reason behind why the fireworks were set off, we believe it was a gift to us for gracing the seaport with our prescence.

Feasted at Stan’s Place (411 Atlantic Av) way back during Dine In Brooklyn Week, and my mouth still waters when I think about it. I’ll admit, I’ve never had, you know, “real” Cajun or New Orleans cuisine or whatever, but this was mighty tasty. A yummy okra salad started things off, and then we had perfectly seared steak/tenderloin-ish beef over sweet potato cubes and green beans with blue cheese butter(!!). Amazing. The desserts — I had bread pudding, the missus went for beignets — were delicious. The atmosphere is nice and cozy, and the service was solid. Check this place out.

Also made our way to the infamous Frankie’s 457 for dinner. I do like their brunch, but I have to say, I had the Cavatelli with Hot Sausage & Sage Butter, and the sausage and presentation were nice, but overall, it didn’t really taste like much of anything.

Finally, the pizza at Sam’s is incredible. I’ll even go as far as saying it’s the best in the neighborhood. Sorry Giardini’s.

After a drawn-out little guy vs. big guns, 2 year, wait-and-see stand-off (OrangeYouGlad being the little guy, British telecom giant with a “colorful” name as the big guns) - we finally own our business name. OrangeYouGlad ™ is officially trademarked and is ours! Ok, I know this isn’t actually neighborhood news but we thought we’d celebrate with a blog post.

We’re thinking of biting the bullet and getting a storage space for all of our extraneous, randomly used crap (that is cherished enough that it won’t be in the next stoop sale) such as ye ‘ol Simpsons Christmas village, sewing machine, camping supplies, guitars, etc. I’ve started collecting some prices on local storage facilities to compare prices on 5×5 and 5×10 spaces and this is what I’ve found.

If you have any insight into any of these joints, feel free to comment. Perhaps there is a good place I’ve missed. The StorageUSA seems like the best deal, although we may just go for the $87 special at Stop & Stor.

I’ve already heard a few negative comments about American Self Storage, the most alarming was that they change the rental price on you quite a bit, and without notice and then debit your account directly. Ouch!

We took a drive down to Asbury Park on Saturday. The boardwalk that winds along the beach passes through some of the relics of the town’s history as a premier seaside destination in the late 1800’s and early to mid 1900’s. The town is currently on the cusp of a renaissance, but some of the neat old buildings (while boarded up) still hold their ground. The area definitely has a Coney Island (pre-keyspan stadium) kinda feel to it. I can’t wait to return this summer!

Downtown Asbury Park is full of little shops and there are some really wonderful tree-lined residential streets leading up to the beach.

Asbury Park Then:

Click here for more historic photos/postcards.

Asbury Park Now:

That early morning fog horn was actually the Queen Mary pulling into Brooklyn Saturday morning. We got back from our day trip to Jersey (see Asbury Park post) in time to catch the QEII pulling out of its new digs in Red Hook.

Kat alerted us to a great series of cat bath photos over at cuteoverload. This cat has the largest, most expressive, manga-esq, saucer eyes. And, he actually seems to do pretty well in his bath.

Photos by HYC

Check out this manhole cover doormat at flaxart:

There was a fire today on smith street between 3rd and 4th street. Luckily nobody was seriously hurt although a few firemen did have minor injuries. Those guys are really amazing. Within minutes the building was surrounded and they were climbing the ladders up to the roof. We weren’t able to find out any details about what happened but it appeared to be towards the top and back of the building. I hope everybody and everything is ok - with as minimal damage as possible.

Here are a few pictures :

A new Gato Del Dia feature will introduce you to our local neighborhood shop cats.

Meet Mittens, a chubby and rather handsome gato with a love of organic produce and a friendly face rub. I learned that while he/she may raise his butt up in what looks to be an invitation to scratch his hinder- this is actually NOT his favorite place for a rub down. During this past snowy season, he actually jumped into my arms - although I’m not sure if it was because he liked me, or because there was some cold slush on the floor and he preferred to be escorted around the store.