Brooklyn Flea Market Visit

Yesterday was a most perfect day.
I was finally able to get someone to work my usual farmer's market space so we could take a long awaited trip into New York..Fort Greene, Brooklyn to be exact to visit and see for myself some of the wonderful foodie companies I have been reading about over the past few years. And visit the famous Brooklyn Flea.
From all the photos I took it seemed like, Country girl let loose in the Big City! I actually worked in Manhattan for a few years just out of college, so it's not that I've never been there!
But Brooklyn is different.
This was the first time I ventured there. And it was a wonderful experience. The Fort Greene section of Brooklyn is filled with the most beautiful brownstones I've ever seen. They were mostly all built between the 1850's and 1860's.

Just walking to the Flea from where we parked took me forever because I had to stop and take a picture on every block..it's just that pretty!
Every street around the Flea is charming, with beautiful brownstones trimmed with ornate detailing, tons of black wrought iron railings and the plantings just make it a wonderland!

So we finally made it to our destination and the first stop for me had to be one of the cookie companies I follow, probably because they started their company the same time I did.

We met Mark from his company, Whimsy & Spice. It's funny how you feel like you kind of know these people from reading their blogs!

Anyway, we had time to chat a little bit and I bought some of his cookies and marshmallows..for research purposes, of course!

Brooklyn Soda Works is another company I'd read about so we had to taste one of their soda flavors, Apple & Ginger. It's a carbonated fresh juice and it was delicious! Their sodas have great flavor and you can tell from talking to them how passionate they are about it.

I got a chuckle when I saw these old typewriters! Guess everything eventually becomes a collectible! I knew I should have saved those old, heavy typewriters we had! (See that man scratching his head? I bet he was thinking the same thing!)

This is one of the newer companies at the Flea. Anna was so sweet and friendly and it was such fun to talk to her. Who says New Yorkers aren't a friendly bunch!

She makes something called Stroopwafels, a different kind of waffle than what we're used to. It's very thin and crisp and she sandwiches them with a filling in between. Yum!

There were lots of other bakery items...

And pickles and so much more.

After we finished checking out all the vendors, we walked some more and saw some remaining downed trees and tons of branches from the confirmed tornados Brooklyn had Thursday afternoon.

You can see from all these lovely Sycamore trees that it's no wonder so many blew down in the tornado.

I love the arch they form on this tree lined street.

And those heavy massive black wrought iron railings are everywhere. Just like the ones you see in the movies!

The wonderful architecture of the old apartment buildings is amazing.

And some of the brownstones looked abandoned, or the owner just never uses the front door!

How about this blue one? These three looked a little like a patchwork of buildings.

Then we walked over to a corner grocery store because one of the vendors I wanted to see, Early Bird Granola, wasn't at the Flea but I was able to buy a bag at a very upscale grocery store.

Then across the street I spotted Cake Man Raven's Bakery and just had to go inside.

But it was so odd..the cases were only filled with slices of Red Velvet Cake, nothing more!

Walking back to our car we passed Tim Allen from Food Network's "Chopped" show. I couldn't help but say hi to him as we passed and he was nice enough to say hi back!

Then off we went.

Back to the car ...

To drive to the next destination...Four and Twenty Blackbirds. This pie shop is in another section of Brooklyn called Gowanus. It's not nearly as pretty as Fort Greene, with lots of warehouses and industry. Seemed like an odd location for a pie shop but we went in and ordered one piece of pie to taste. We tried the Salted Caramel Apple. ( it was..shhh..okay but not great).

I did like the old english style of lettering on the outside of their building though.

And the inside had neat old tin ceiling panels lining the walls.

So that's pretty much our day.

Hope I haven't bored you with all the pics!

And if you ever get a chance to visit, remember to bring your camera. It's gonna get a workout!