Last Sunday, in my quest to enrich Chicklet's life and broaden my own horizons, I finally went to a part of Brooklyn I've always driven through but never explored: Cobble Hill.I'd like to take full credit for this outing, but the idea was inspired by Time Out Kids who featured Cobble Hill in last month's stay-cation, recession inspired issue.
In order not to look like a total tourist, I skimmed the half-day itinerary Time Out Kids suggested and wrote down all the relevant addresses. Didn't want to panic the locals with the Crown Heights influx.
As the Chicklet has a way of doing with these adventures, she fell asleep right as we hit Cobble Hill giving me ample time to get my bearings and figure out where the neighborhoody, "ultimate-parental meet and greet" Cobble Hill Park was located. Sadly, the baristas in Starbucks on Court Street were clueless about where Clinton Street was and wanted to send me in the direction of Park Slope but luckily I ran into a track-suited woman on her afternoon fitness walk who told me I was only basically a block away.
Cobble Hill Park is gorgeous and green. People are reading novels, and sipping iced coffees, and typing on laptops and here you are reminded of why people are just ga-ga for Brooklyn. At the risk of sounding totally incoherent, there's just a vibe, man...
Unfortunately, as much as I loved Cobble Hill Park, there were no swings and the Chicklet's gotta have swings or else the park makes no sense. (I cannot figure out this slide phobia thing she has going on.) Actually Cobble Hill Park's playground is pretty pathetic. The "yellow plastic slide" the Time Out Kids editors extol...small, kinda dingy and underwhelming. There's a reason no pics of it made the issue.
Anyway, we decided to head to a few more places on the Time Out Kids itinerary. There was nothing going on in the storefront of "Salsa Salon" except two adults having a leisurely conversation... zero "kids turning the beat around" as the magazine had suggested. Undeterred, we tried Stinky Bklyn which it never occurred to me was a cheese shop. What a cool name I thought without really looking up what jamon serrano is. (Who knows that off the top of their head? Seriously. I'm clearly not the average Time Out reader.) Not in the mood for cheese, we headed for the toy store, Pizzazz.
Pizzazz looks so average from the outside. Small aisles that make for difficult stroller maneuvering, haphazard organization but me and the Chicklet loved it! They have this tiny little play area at the back with a train set and a little red piano and she just sat down on a stool and jammed...while simultaneously pressing a button on a Curious George airplane nearby and making it buzz. Then at the end of our stint she picked out a little Sesame Street soft toy to take home before running back to that piano to have one last session. It's funny. Some toy stores overstimulate. Every time I go into Toys R Us on 42nd Street I feel paralyzed with the flashiness. Pizzazz feels the right size, full of ordinary, old-fashioned toys. We have to go back.
Our half day almost done, we checked out Sweet Melissa Creamerie, next to the Patisserie, where I'd really intended to go...but who can really turn around once their child has set sight on ice cream. So the babe had vanilla with sprinkles which was vanilla with sprinkles. How can you really doll that up? Although I had a moment of squareness when the kid at the register asked me did I want rainbow sprinkles or bumble bee sprinkles (Sweet Melissa's colors of brown and yellow). Third World Girl is not used to living in a world with so many choices.
I gave in and had a chocolate cupcake that I ate half of. It was so rich it tasted like mocha and dirt. (You want a good cupcake go to Ladybird Bakery in Park Slope). Then we sat outside the creamerie and watched the world go by... the old neighborhood ladies, the hipsters, the young pregnant couples, the moms and kids in strollers and marveled at how sometimes in Brooklyn the dogs are always friendly, the people are always cool and you want to find a way to live in this borough forever.
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