Little Red Riding Hood, You Sure Are Looking Good

Riding the bike in the Red Hook neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York.

Halloween Christmas decorations in January need not lose their value

Red Hook and Brooklyn in general during the winter can be bleak or beautiful depending on the block you're on.  Sometimes the beauty can lie within the bleakness.  For example, above, there lives a presence in the abandoned car deteriorating behind that fence.  A story is told just by it's mere existence and state of disrepair.  It's almost stately if you stand there and stare at it.  Like an old elephant at the zoo.  This is possibly all nonsense decided in the mind and in the moment you're in but it sure does feel real. 

Dinner was a thing of simplistic beauty.  Baked chicken, herby mashed potatoes, vegetable greens and for extra carb overload, boxed mac and cheese.  
 

Is There Life on Mars?

Honey Mustard Chicken Legs from cleanfoodcrush.com

A duck family swims in the polluted waters behind work

A wall went up in one swoop for a new building in Red Hook

I have joked that they're doing building wrong here, one wall at a time.  What do I know but it's odd the way they are constructing this new building and I've seen tons of new construction in the last 10 years.  It could have something to do with building on the waterfront.  In any case, I am happy to know more humans will be milling about at night in this desolate area.  The cold barren landscape can feel like Mars in the winters.  In the summer, it's another type of scary element floating about in the dark.  

Just as you can transform boring everyday broccoli spears by roasting them, chicken legs get new life by adding honey and two types of mustard.   

Down By the Seaside, See the Boats Go Sailin'

Green Giant Steak Salad 

Beefed up take out.  I took the salad mix and meat from Habana To Go Steak Salad and added in all my fresh greens and re-seasoned the meat with pinto beans to make a Green Giant Steak Salad. Too good.  

The day was so gorgeous, I rode an hour before going into work and I wasn't even crying. A touch of old lady humor for ya.  Where my seniors at?!

A house or an art installation?  Hard to tell.  Red Hook and the Gowanus area is mostly nothing.  Lots of sadness, huge housing projects smack down in the middle, dusty parks, shut down baseball fields. But then it's art and inspiration, stillness and empty piers.  The best and worst of one world.

One of the last nearby places you can go and spend time completely alone with urban decay but always with a bit of dreamy manipulation.

Words can't compete with the sound of a breeze or the soft waves hitting the rocks on the pier.

Look Around, This is Your Hometown (Bar-B-Que)

Hometown Bar-B-Que Red Hook, Brooklyn

Barbecue so good that I rode home from work, and then came back into the neighborhood just to sample the legendary fare.  This platter of meat was everything and it was only one of many.

Someone had a camera that took tiny polaroids.  Interesting.  Why tho?

Warm and super delicious corn bread with just that right amount of sweet which is not much for me.

It's hard to get excited about chicken when there is brisket, beef ribs and pulled pork in the room but dress 'em up in these cute little pickled red onions and guacamole, smoke and char them on the grill and you know what, I think there is just enough room for you over here sweetheart.  Why don't you just jump right on that plate.

Did I mention some outrageous Texas style Mac and Queso? Whiskey sour pickles and Hometown slaw that held it's own amongst the brawn.

At the end shared bites of Banana Cream Pudding that I argued was made fresh.  This was a late night, semi-planned dinner, meaning we planned it but not sure who told the restaurant.  The Chef came out and instead of us ordering separate dinners decided last minute to just bring out a shit load of platters which quickly became my favorite idea of the night.

Red Hook the week my bike was stolen and I had to take the subway to work