Fly Flea

I am almost reluctant to share the location of my favourite NYC Flea Market - but as most of you delicious readers are in the Uk, I guess my secret will be safe.

The Meeker Avenue Flea Market nestles under the deeply dirty and rumbling Brooklyn Queens Expressway. It's two floors of heaven for those of us without much cash but with a love of things from the olden days. The ground floor is a little hit-and-miss (videos without cases, hairbrushes clogged up with hair, that kind of vibe) plus it smells of cat wee. Your best bet is to cover your nose/mouth with a scarf and head up the stairs, past the litter tray to the top. This place is crammed with mostly mid-century furniture and household items.

If you lust after 1950s chrome or early 1960s modernism, then this is the place to pick up chairs, tables, Tvs, lamps and toys. Plus, they have some cool old school (I mean stuff that used to be in the classroom) ephemera - like chalk boards and desks with lids that flip up. Now, I don't know what I would do with one of those, but I'd like it anyway. And did I mention the prices? This place is CHEAP.

Crack Caramel

Sonic Youth are an amazing band, but I'm afraid their feedback-fest was over-shadowed for me this weekend by something far sweeter. My friends and I queued up to see Kim et al rock Prospect Park in Brooklyn for a FREE show. The waiting was worth it not just to have our ears expanded, but because of the best ice cream ever being sold from a cart inside the arena.

I've come to realize I love ice-cream more than any other sweet treat, and could eat one a day if funds allowed (n.b ice-cream - like everything else - is super expensive in NYC. sigh). Anyway, I've eaten plenty of gelato since arriving stateside, and Saturday's cone from Brooklyn's Ample Hills Creamery was just divine. I think the flavour was called something like "salty crack caramel"(I may have added the crack part). It had chunks of crunchy caramel or honeycomb in it, plus hunks of chocolate. It was so delicious, I failed to take a picture - hence the one above, from Ample Hills own web site!

(p.s In typical best/worst style, I managed to drip ice-cream on my favourite bag, which earlier had been shat on by a bird. Ah, them's the breaks).

Pure grace and beauty

Dance rarely moves me to tears, but the pas de deux Fix Me Jesus by the Alvin Ailey dance company at BAM last week made me cry. Its sheer, simple beauty combined with the spiritual music was unlike anything I had ever seen. Plus, being brought up on European Classical ballet with its tradition of being singularly unimpressed by the dancers until the curtain falls, I loved the audience in Brooklyn whooping and cheering individual steps - these dancers have incredible strength and control and deserve props like break dancers and musicians!

Whilst she wasn't dancing this particular piece, I have to single out Briana Reed (pictured above during Wade in the Water) - one of the best dancers I've ever seen - so strong, joyful and expressive. Wow. Made me want to start dancing again and push my body to extremes.

You can see Fix Me Jesus on youtube, but I am almost reluctant to post the link - as I think seeing it online loses so much of the impact of being immersed in the soaring music and the intimacy of two people dancing barefoot.

Best Food EVER!

My favorite place in all of New York is Pates et Traditions in Williamsburg, a french creperie where the sun is always shining and the conversation is always tres jolie. I always stick with the same dish when I eat here - Le Popeye. Can you guess what its main ingredients are? The service is amazing, the other diners are almost exclusively French and the Prosseco is delicious and not too pricey - hurrah! Sit outside under cherry red umbrellas and feel the best of French cuisine and laid back Brooklyn come together in glorious gluttony.

Plus, last time I ate here a fellow diner turned out to be James Murphy of LCD Sound System!

No Fleas on Me!

My favourite place in the world to be (other than in bed) at the moment is the Brooklyn Flea. This adventure into a world of antiques, vintage clothes and hand-crafted wonders, takes place every weekend in Forte Greene, Brooklyn.

All winter I have enjoyed travelling to the handsome former Williamsburgh Savings Bank Tower at One, Hanson Place for several hours of truffling for treasure! As of next weekend, the flea market will be outside on Saturdays, and stay indoors on Sundays. Personally, whilst I love the great outdoors - you can't beat the breath-taking splendour of this building.

It was constructed in the 1920s, when banks liked to show off their wealth (before they started stealing ours). The sheer scale of the place is incredible - a soaring, vaulted gold dome would be more at home in a European cathedral than a bank, and there's an incredible mosaic map on the far wall, which I presume shows Brooklyn, with Manhattan in the far distance! It's amazing to imagine what it would have been like to be a bank teller working there in the 1930s and 40s. As it stands today, it's one of the best flea markets I have ever been to. Actually, I'd call it an antiques fair as the prices are on the steep side, particularly for clothes. But the stuff is great quality. My favourite finds so far - a 1950s picnic set (a snip at $20), a gorgeous 80s silk summer dress and a book from 1972, entitled 'What Makes Men Tick'.. more of which to come in a later post!