Ferries and Food

We had a lovely Sunday of good views and good food  a few weeks back when we got the East River Ferry to Brooklyn for the weekly Smorgasburg food festival. 

 When we came back 15 minutes later all these doughnuts were gone. 

Which I'm still feeling very sad about.

 Dave's new favourite thing - maple glazed bacon sticks

 My favourite - spicy chicken buns.

The location is lovely, right under the Brooklyn Bridge with lots of riverside spots to sit and enjoy your snacks

  

The main challenge was deciding what to eat! We managed mini hotdogs in pretzel buns with spicy ketchup (good snack), spicy chicken buns (amazing), a maple bacon stick (just for Dave!), fresh mint lemonade  stuffed paratha (not the best we've had), mini New York cheesecakes and finally some mocha chip ice-cream (just for me!)

Garden State pickings

On one of the hottest days of summer we drove out of the city to a pick-your-own farm in New Jersey to eat ripe peaches and enjoy some much needed fresh air.

After so long in Manhattan it was lovely to be in the countryside and the array of produce available for picking was brilliant. 

We had to be a little restrained as Dave was heading off to Washington for the week so we tried to pick only a couple of each thing and not go too crazy. But still we ended up with two boxes filled with blueberries, peaches, melons, squashes, courgettes, aubergine and lots more.

After an afternoon trekking round the farm in the absolutely baking sun we were rather tired and hot. So before heading back to the city we stretched out in the shade of the peach trees and gorged ourselves on as many perfectly ripe and delicious peaches as we could eat. 

And then topped it off with home made ice-cream from the farm shop!

New York Produce

After nine months here the initial novelty of the endless choices and chaotic 24 hour nature of Manhattan grocery shopping has worn off a little. 

We are definitely missing European cheeses and breads. And mayonaise.

(I actually had a dream recently that M&S opened a branch in New York...) 

Anyway, one thing we do still love is buying our fruit and veg (or produce as they call it here) and other supplies at one of the many greenmarkets around the city.

There is a huge and famous greenmarket in Union Square which is great but there is also a lovely little one right at the end of our block at weekends.

Most of the produce is organic and locally grown. So far we've enjoyed cherry season, peach season and lots of heirloom tomato salads and right now we are loving the most delicious sweet corn.

 Any idea what this crazy vegetable is?

 I love the little green punnets the smaller fruits come in

 Now we're looking forward to an apple-filled Fall!