Here are some of the photos I shot way back in October for the December issue of Edible Brooklyn. Rosca de Reyes is a Christmas bread eaten in January to celebrate “Day of the Kings”. I was lucky enough to go to Don Paco Lopez Bakery in Sunset Park to witness the making of such deliciousness. Since I’m not a good writer please read the article from Edible Brooklyn by Jamie Feldmar here in digital form on page 80 or pick up a free copy if you see them.
Four & Twenty Blackbirds, one of my favorite pie places, recently started doing a monthly “Pie For Dinner” with Chef Nate Smith. I randomly came into contact with Chef Smith, he saw my photo of a dish he made at The Spotted Pig and emailed me for a copy of it. I was curious what he was up to and that was when he told me about the Pie For Dinner event at Four & Twenty. When he first told me I *GASP. I do love pies very much. I asked if I can go and take behind the scenes photos at one of the pie dinners and he said sure.
This past Sunday I was in the Four & Twenty kitchen for over 5 hours shooting photos. I had so much fun that night. Everybody was so cool and nice enough to offer me beer and wine. While plating the starter dish I jumped in to help and grated cheese onto the dish. The night ended with all of us trying out Brooklyn Brewery’s Black Ops, beer that was aged in bourbon barrels.
Here’s what they served that night.
Warm Cabbage with Wild Mushrooms
Rabbit and Root Vegetable Pie
Salty Nut Chess Pie with Maple Cream
Complimentary beers selected by Brooklyn Brewery.
Chef Smith told me that he had spent about a week preparing and freezing the pies. Around 4pm when he arrived at Four & Twenty they started right away with the preparations. First was adding egg wash onto all the rabbit pot pies. After that the pies went straight into the oven. During that time they spent cleaning up the place, cleaned the dishes, forks and cups and arranged the tables for the night. As the night progressed the kitchen was filled with the warm smell of delicious pies being baked in the oven. Everyone was tempted to open the oven and just stared at the deliciousness. At 7pm the guests began to arrive. Bottles of Brooklyn lager were passed out to the guests and the chef started work on the starter, though he told me that it wasn’t really a starter since he intended the veg dish to be eaten at the same time as the pie. Before getting to the starter, he took out all of the pies from the oven, unmolded them from the pie tin and back into the oven to crisp up the bottom part as well. When both the starters and pies went out it was time for Melissa and Emily, owners of Four & Twenty Blackbirds, to get to work on their dessert pies. The night ended with so many happy filled tummies and happy faces. I even bumped into my friend Liza de Guia and somehow talked her into watching The Walking Dead.
As of now both December and January dinners are sold out but they are planning more for 2011 so stay tune! ALSO vegetarian pies are available too, just let them know ahead of time.
Here’s a guy that was able to turn his love of everything pizza into a job. He probably doesn’t see it as a job. If you love what you do it shouldn’t feel like a job. Known to many pizza/food bloggers simply as Paulie Gee he lives and breathes pizza. I constantly see him check into other pizza places on Foursquare and on the day that I was there he was sporting a Totonno’s hat and shirt. It was great to hang out with Paulie, his son Derek and the other Paulie Gee’s crew that day. I arrived around 4pm on a chilly Saturday and there was already a fire blazing in the oven. From 4 to around 5:30pm there weren’t much happening besides sweeping the floor, testing a new pizza and catching game 2 of Yankees vs Rangers. Then around 5:30pm everyone started to shuffle around putting candles on the tables, getting the bar ready and checking on the fire in the oven. Right at 6pm doors opened and already 4 different parties walked in.
If you want to learn more about the man behind Paulie Gee’s, check out Liza de Guia’s video on Paulie.
I have met so many interesting people because of this little photo project of mine. Each of them with their own interesting stories. As you can see this time my project took me to the Brooklyn Flea.
Earlier last week I contacted the people that runs the flea to get permission to take photos. They wrote back and said yes. Super nice people. I was told that the vendors arrive, to the flea, as early as 6am. So last Saturday I woke up around 5;15am and left my apartment around 5:40am. I don’t remember the last time I was out on the streets that early. The sky was still dark, it could’ve been 8pm at night. Ah the crisp early Autumn air. Glad I had my hoodie on.
After getting off the train I walked to the flea, it was 5:47am and the sky was still dark. Once I got to where the flea was going to be, I noticed couple vendors have already arrived. Now that I think about it, why did I go to the flea so early if the gate wouldn’t be open till 7am. I’m glad I did though because I was able to chat with few of the vendors. One gentleman drove about 45mins to Fort Greene with his filled up van. His helper had gotten sick the night before so it was just him that day. We talked about Nikon vs Canon to real estate to him being in this business for over 25 years.
I also chatted with a lady that drove 2 hours that morning to get to flea by 7am. Her mom had been in this business in London for over 30 years and now it’s her turn in Brooklyn.
After 4 hours of being there, walking around and snapping photos I was pooped! I couldn’t imagine how these people do this every weekend from 7am to 6pm. The gentleman that I had 1st talked to told me he usually doesn’t get home till after 7pm. Being a vendor at a flea market is tough work! It was also nice to see a lot of the vendors helping each other out and joking with one another. Such a great community of people!
I really wish I had more time to chat with each vendor to learn about their stories.
Cathy Erway of Not Eating Out In NY and most recently of Lunch At Sixpoint was nice enough to let me take photos of her while she makes lunch for the crew at Sixpoint down in Red Hook, Brooklyn. Ever since I found out that Sixpoint started their very own rooftop garden/farm I’ve been wanting to check it out. Cathy took me from her picking vegetables from the garden to prepping to cooking the food. I even got to try the food and it was delicious, especially the cucumber. The potatoes and okra dish you see below, if you want to make it here’s the recipe!
This is part of my Capture Brooklyn photo project.
