Artwork by Jon Pywell – Space for a Small Owl
I’ve had this recipe for Rainbow Cookies on my fridge since last year and decided to make it. Working my first job as a counter girl at an Italian bakery in Queens and accepting collect calls from the grumpy bakery owner’s son, who was in jail for idiotic low-level racketeering, gave me have a distaste for Italian pastries, with the exception of a few things: Pignoli Cookies, Rainbow Cookies & Cannolis (but only the cannolis that the nuns from the San Carlo monastery on Erice, a medieval mountain town in Sicily make. God is in them.) The rest of the Italian pastries can burn in hell.
Rainbow Cookies are pretty pricey per pound and if you’re going to buy them around Brooklyn I would recommend Fortunata Brother’s on Manhattan & Devoe.
Making the rainbow cookies seemed pretty pricey, too. It didn’t help that I had to buy 3 half sheet pans at $15 a pop from The Brooklyn Kitchen, plus 4 tubes of Almond Paste at $8 a pop! I definitely came home grumpy.
“I should have just bought them at the bakery,” I said as I laid the ingredients on the counter. But the process and the end result were worth it, plus we got between 150-200 cookies out of it.
I cut the recipe out of New York Magazine from the chef of Torrisi Italian Specialties, a great Italian restaurants down on Mulberry, the walls lined with Manhattan Special: my favorite drink, espresso soda.
If you plan on making rainbow cookies, make sure you have an entire day off plus a partner with good hand-eye coordination. I am lacking in that area and Jon, who is mechanically inclined proved, to have amazing cake layering and chocolate spreading skills. Had I tried to take this endeavor solo, I assure you these cookies would not be so pretty.
When it comes down to it, “it’s a lot of work, Jane,” as Nonna, my Sicilian Grandma would say. There are many steps: beating the egg whites for stiff glossy peaks, splitting one batter into three for coloring, baking three cakes separately until just underdone so they stay moist, cooling the cakes then layering them using orange marmalade as glue, letting them set then spreading warm chocolate on the top and bottom. Start as early in the morning as you can.
While getting closer and closer to chocolatey soft almond cookie goodness, I was giddy. I remember saying, “this sure as hell beats last minute christmas shopping.” In fact, making these cookies is what the holidays are all about: slowing down, spending time with someone you love, making something you love, then giving to people you love.” These cookies put a truer smile on faces than anything you can unwrap and rip a price tag off of.
Torrisi Rainbow Cookies Recipe from New York Magazine
12 large eggs, separated
2 2/3 cups sugar
24 oz. almond paste
8 sticks butter, softened
5 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. red food coloring
2 tsp. green food coloring
16 oz. orange preserves, heated and strained
8 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped
Preheat oven to 350. Beat egg whites in electric mixer until they just hold stiff peaks. Add ½ cup sugar, beating until whites hold stiff, slightly glossy peaks, then refrigerate. Beat together almond paste and remaining sugar in mixer. Add butter gradually and beat until mixture is fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add yolks and beat until well combined. Reduce speed to low and add flour and salt and mix until just combined. Fold in egg whites. Divide batter equally among 3 bowls; wearing gloves,(1) whisk red food coloring into one and green into another, leaving the third batch plain. Spread each batter separately and evenly, about ¼-inch thick, onto 3 half-sheet pans, each greased and lined with parchment paper. Bake until just barely set, about 7 minutes. (2) When layers are cool, spread half the preserves onto the green layer. Invert plain layer over it and discard paper. Spread on remaining preserves, and invert red layer over it; discard paper. Wrap with plastic and top with a weighted baking pan. Refrigerate for several hours. Remove plastic and bring to room temperature. Melt chocolate in a double boiler, and (3) spread thinly on top layer. Chill in freezer briefly until firm. Cover with wax paper, place another baking sheet on top, then invert cake onto sheet pan and remove paper. Quickly spread with remaining chocolate and return to freezer until firm. Trim edges, slice, and serve.
WEDNESDAY 12/27
Beer Mixology Bar Opening @ One Stop Beer Shop (134 Kingsland Ave) 7-10pm, Small bites plus complimentary beer cocktails by Brooklyn Brewery, Original Sin Cider, The Original Moonshine, RSVP (at) 1-bsb.com
THURSDAY 12/29
Free Bowling @ Brooklyn Bowl (61 Wythe) 12-2pm, Free Bowling, Free Shoes, RSVP
Mattison, DJ Ron Like Hell, Visuals, Scandalabra @ Zebulon (258 Wythe) 8pm-3am, A post X-mas/Pre New Year’s dance party with all the soul you’ll ever need, RSVP
** SATURDAY 12/31 – NEW YEAR’S EVE! (More Parties TBA) **
• Rock n’ Roll Extravaganza @ The Muse (32D So. 1st) $5, Toby Driver, Totem, Manawi Thorn “odds are pretty good* this is going to be your last new years’ eve EVER, so you might as well rock out…rumors about surprise aerial performances are unconfirmed, B.Y.O.B. if you W.A.N.T., whatever else you had planned was lamer and more expensive so just accept it.” RSVP
• @ Manhattan Inn (632 Manhattan) $40 Prix Fixe Dinner while Smoking Billy Slater plays live piano then dance party with DJs Romantically Uninvolved
• @ The Richardson (451 Graham) noon-4am, serving food until 2am, get dressed up and come on down! big parties: reservations (at) therichrdsonnyc.com
• Deer Tick & Friends @ Brooklyn Bowl (61 Wythe) 6pm, Show @ 7pm, Seating 1 – 7-10pm: $1,500; Seating 2 – 11pm-2am: $2500, All you can bowl, drink & eat, plus champagne, limit 10 per lane, more info
• @ Berry Park (4 Berry) No cover, $40 bottles of bubbly, DJs all night
• Rebel Angel @ Matchless (557 Manhattan) 10pm, $10, A Weimar Cabaret New Year’s Eve Fete, featuring: Amour Obscur-Weimar Gypsy Punk, This Way to The Egress- Illuminated Freak Show Musical Notation, Plus Live Cabaret and Curiosities of Flesh by Laura Rebel Angel & Ruby Solitaire
•Masquerade Party @ Huckleberry Bar (588 Grand) 8pm, No Cover, No Reservations, *Extra Special New Year’s Eve 2012 Cocktail Menu, Complimentary Hor’dourves, DJ Benny B!, Satellite Bar in the Garden with heat lamps, masks are strongly encouraged, RSVP
• Velvet & ARKHAM @ Boulevard Tavern (579 Meeker) No Cover, 80′s new wave and goth, Times Square on the BIG SCREEN, FREE MUNCHIES ALL NIGHT, RSVP
• @ Greenpoint Heights (278 Nassau) DJ’s and dancing, and a free champagne toast at midnight
• @ Gutter (200 No.14th) $5, Performances by Fergus & Geronimo, The City Streets, NT, My Teenage Stride, RSVP
SUNDAY 1/1 – NEW YEAR’S DAY
• Brunch @ Habitat (988 Manhattan) 11:30-3, Prix Fixe
• Kripalu Yoga Class @ Usha Veda Yoga (1104 Manhattan) 3-4:30pm, donation based yoga, all proceeds go the Greenpoint Soup Kitchen & Food Pantry
Having a New Year’s Eve Party? Email greenpointers (at) gmail.com with details.
This adorable pooch was found in Greenpoint on 12/27/11. He had no tags or microchip. If you are his owner or have any information please call Dog Habitat Rescue: 347-203-3934
Swanky and chic are words that aren’t in my vocabulary. It’s probably why I moved to Greenpoint. On November 1st, the Hotel Williamsburg (not to be confused with the Greenpoint Hotel) opened up on No. 12th near the McCarren Park tennis courts. I wondered if it was an actual hotel or more condos. We joked on a dog walk that we should dress up in our fancies and have a cocktail in the beautiful downstairs bar we saw by pressing our faces up against the window.
What do you know? They invited me over for a cocktail and a tour of the hotel. I parked my little red bike right out front (no valet needed) and entered the lobby check-in bar which leads to one of the hotel’s main attractions in the courtyard: a heated salt water swimming pool. Jamie, sales coordinator and tour guide (and total sweetheart) insisted the light up cubes in the yard be turned on. Hotel patrons along owners of the “Residences,” the condos affiliated with the hotel, share the pool and other hotel facilities. A few “day passes” will also be available to outside guests and a taco truck will set-up in the warm weather.
I had a whole list of questions: how will the hotel serve the community? Who is your target demographic? How does it retain the character of the neighborhood? But I have to admit, I was speechless when Jamie took me up to the 8th Fl rooftop bar named The Watering Tower, with amazing city views. The bar will be open to the public by Spring if you want to get your swank on and for all you arty hipsters, they will have cans of PBR. I laughed out loud to that.
The hotel rooms looked like demo rooms for the new condos in the neighborhood, with a warmer feel and plushy beds. Each room comes with a vintage Crosley record player and a mini-bar stocked with goodies from local favorites like Ovenly baked goods and Brooklyn Brewery. Supporting local producers is a good thing.
And who stays at the Hotel Williamsburg? It’s not the “hip” young folk but their parents who don’t want to sleep on the pull-outs. Jamie also explained that local businesses like Greenpoint Pictures, VICE, Tandem and Pop-Gun, fill the rooms with film and music industry people. Jaimie said that the hotel identifies with the “fashion forward music scene” and will sponsor the upcoming Northside Festival.
Then it was cocktail time! Oh wait, how will the hotel serve the community? The most obvious way is by sending lodgers to local businesses, like 5 Leaves, The Manhattan Inn, Lobster Shack and Nights & Weekends to name a few in Greenpoint. Jamie keeps a few favorites, like No Name Bar, to himself. I have to admit, I had to ask this as a follow-up question via email because the cocktails and the great company made me lose track of the interview. Jamie wrote back: “As Brooklyn’s first full-service urban retreat, we plan on boosting tourism to Williamsburg, Greenpoint … It is our goal to highlight the beauty and authenticity of the neighborhood, along with the artisans and creatives who have shaped it into what it is today.”
Now it’s cocktail time? Yes! Maddie, the friendly bartender served me an outstanding classic Sazerac, and for Jamie a signature “White Sparrow,” made with Champagne, Lemon, Spiced Rum & Velvet Falernum. I normally stay away from champagne cocktails but this was perfect, spicy but light. (Mixology video to follow.) Maddie told me her favorite spots in Greenpoint are St. Vitus and Calyer. And she is going to come as a special guest judge when we do the Greenpointers Cocktail Tour!
While sitting at the bar, which could easily be in Manhattan by the looks of it, and chatting with Jamie and Maddy, I forgot why I was there. What makes the Hotel Williamsburg a Brooklyn hotel (on the border of Greenpoint in the 11249 area code) isn’t the swanky fanciness, but the down to earth people who run the place, who treat you like you’re a guest in their neighborhood, which they are proud of, an experience that might be hard to find in Manhattan.
And that fancy bar we were peeking into is a restaurant called Pillar & Plough, where I look forward to dining and reviewing, so stay tuned.
Hotel Williamsburg
160 North 12th Street
718.218.7500
I saw Santa this year in a money transfer spot on Manhattan Ave and he was riding a brown horse! Rudolph was nowhere in sight. I guess times are tough even for old St. Nic. I asked our facebook buddies to help figure out what Santa would say and we received a lot of funny responses. Partyke write: “Where is my Polish beer!” and Genia described Santa as a “little bit of high brow, a little bit of low brow.” Well put! Heike summed it up best with: “Ho, Ho [Hic], Ho … “ All in a Greenpoint Christmas!
Greenpointers wishes everyone the loveliest, most delicious and joy filled Holiday!
Looking for something to do on Christmas Day?
• Get your coffee on @ Variety (145 Driggs)
• Take a stroll @ Winthrop Park (aka McGolrick), McCarren Parks or down to the India Street Pier.
• Check out this amazingly decorated house on Humboltd between Nassau & Driggs.
• Worship @ Greenpoint Church (136 Milton) 11am
• $1 Mugs of Coors and Free Pool @ Connie O’s (158 Norman) 5:30pm
• Potluck & Scrooged Screening @ Good Yoga (73 Calyer) 8pm
• Mulled cider & wine & food @ Richardson (451 Graham) 8pm – 2am
Over the next few days you most likely will be stuffing you face with delicious food. Everyone deserves the gift of stuffing your face. Take a minute to give to our community Greenpoint Soup Kitchen & Food Pantry. Even $1 can help feed a hungry neighbor. $100 can feed a lot of hungry neighbors.
2011 may have spent its final days in a mediocre gray blur of rain and oddly mild temperatures, but our neighbor Ben Roshia has been busy. For months following the move of the unique cafe Boneshakers, he – alongside friend, general manager, and popcorn wizard Stas Chizhik – has been working to turn the onetime coffee shop space into a bar slash beer store unique enough to not only carve out a neighborhood niche but attract citywide attention. The One Stop Beer Shop, slated to open next Wednesday, December 28th, will feature comfortable and intimate seating in a very consciously designed interior, delicious and unique beer cocktails, a closely tailored food menu including a homemade spiced popcorn (which, when I visited, drew even more excitement from the staff than the drinks) and growlers filled by exclusive equipment that we’re told ensures your beer stays fresher longer than a jug filled from a tap.
Ben was happy to share the following recipe for one of the bar’s signature $9 cocktails, called a Dark & Smoky. Shake together 1.5 ounces Moonshine (unaged corn whiskey) with 0.5 ounces of agave nectar that has been muddled with rosemary. Pour this over rocks, float a Stone Smoked Porter on top, and garnish with a sprig of rosemary. The result is a layered cocktail that Ben believes will appeal to customers who come with a taste for straightforward whiskey drinks but want to try something new.
My general impression is that Ben is a man with a vision for a comfortable, interesting bar. He has a realistic concept of what brings people to a neighborhood establishment and the way that such a business can add to a community, and I’m looking forward to checking out the opening next Wednesday and watching as his vision opens its doors and welcomes us in.
Find them at:
134 Kingsland Avenue
http://www.1-sbs.com/
When I first took over the website, I was nervous to step into Justine’s shoes, but I got an encouraging email from Beverly in Florida, who grew up in the neighborhood and still follows the website. She told me about her wonderful mother Irene, who had her own column in The Greenpoint Gazette in the 70s and did a lot for the community. If she were alive today, I imagine Irene would probably a contributor to Greenpointers and involved in a lot of cool events. Her story inspired me and made me see why Greenpoint is such a great place to live in today. People like Irene created the sense of community and support that I found in this great town. I called the Gazette to get a photo of Irene, but the archives were sadly lost in a fire. I’m sure she was a hot mama!
From Beverly about her mother: “Irene’s Items was the “Social Column” of the Greenpoint Gazette when it was still on Nassau Avenue near Peter Rago’s Funeral Home. My Mother was VERY involved in the Greenpoint Community. She was President of the 94 Pct Community Council and held that position for many many years. At the same time she worked for Dr. Wessler at 999 Lorimier Street and each year they would give full health check ups and vaccinations for free to the kids going to the PAL Fresh Air Fund sleep-away Camps in summer. She organized Dinner-Dances that were held at the Kof C across from the Police Station to raise money for the Community Council which took seniors on summer outings, and each year provided for kids at the Meserole Theater a Chrrstmas Party where every underprivelaged kid would go home with a shopping bag full of toys … This was all obtained via donations from the community stores and individuals. For the Christmas Party my Mom would play Mrs. Santa Claus and one of the Officers would be Santa Claus. The very first one I remember was Jack O’Grady and he did that for a number of years with my Mom until he retired. My Mom was even awarded a Plaque and Commendation by then Mayor Linsday for all her work in the community. How she found time to do it all, hold down a full time job and raise my brother and I, I am still amazed. But she did it and even if I have to boast, she did it well. I think if they ever let you go through the Gazette Archives, you will find Irene’s Items under the name of Irene Schubis. It was all about what was going on in the neighborhood, birth, wedding, engagement announcements of the “who’s who” in Greenpoint. Think Page Six on a smaller more refined scale.”
