gowanus arts & ice cream!!

with two weeks to go until the ny marathon, today was the start of our taper. it's such a bummer and i've been dreading it all wk. to go from running 22 miles down to 15 suddenly feels a little sad. it also makes me a bit anxious to cut down the mileage when we have 26.2 coming up, but i guess all the hard work should have been done up to this point and if not, we'll find out soon.

the weather was 52F and the humidity was low at 54%, it was the perfect weather to be outdoors! we started at the central park engineers' gate on the east side and did two counterclockwise loops, and finished up with the 100th st to 90th st straightaway. after two days' rest, the legs felt pretty loose and we averaged a comfortable 8:26 pace. wished we could have gone for a 3rd loop in this amazing weather, but we'll have to save that for dec/jan/feb :)

central park run

for lunch, we explored williamsburg/bushwick a bit and to whet our appetite, we went for soft-shell gringo tacos at san loco. san loco is a spot we pass by every single evening when we walk from the train station to the apt. when kev asked me if i wanted anything, i was like - pssh, it's alright, im good. MAYBE i'll just take one bite of yours. but when they arrived, i have to admit, it was so darn tasty (i had the beef) that i ate the whole thing! omg :/ poor kevin. instead of having two, he only had one ... the atmosphere is really low key, high ceilings, good music, lots of tables and space, with delicious finger lickin' tacos. we will definitely go back before we leave the hood!

luckily we only had to walk another ten minutes to arrive at our second lunch spot: okonomi, which means "what you like", which doubles as a yuji ramen in the evenings. okonomi was really simple and nice. there were 4 seats at the bar and 2 tables with 4 seats each (12 seats in total), so we were lucky to be seated immediately. we ordered the spanish mackerel sashimi with a dash of yusco as an appetizer and it was magnificent, melting on our tongues almost on contact. then kevin had the trout (top) and i had the tuna belly (bottom) for our fish, and we both added onsen tamago, and i even added a side of uni :) the side dishes were broccoli rabe, swiss chard, tsukemono, and a sweet japanese egg. it was ALL soooo tasty.

it's been so long since we've had homecooked asian food ... and okonomi's preparation and taste really did remind me of tokyo. can't wait to go back!!

okonomi, be sure to get there early - or you'll have to wait!

our delicious lunch setto

after lunch, we took the G-train down to gowanus, and sadly, for our inaugural ride on the g-train, it failed miserably. hahaha ... first of all, the g-train only went for about 4 stops after which the conductor announced it was the final stop on the line and we'd have to get off and transfer to a shuttle to go the rest of the way. after waiting 10 minutes, the shuttle arrived and brought us only another 3 stops when the conductor announced it was the final stop. lol. now i remember why i never took the G-train in the past ...

anyways, we finally made it to gowanus around 3ish and did the self-guided gowanus arts tour, stopping by 4-5 locations to check out probably 10-15 individual studios over the course of the afternoon. i didn't have any specific intentions on the studio visits, other than to enjoy the artist's studio and work and explore gowanus. and we did just that. here are some of the interesting places we visited! i've seen some of the artists' work at crafts fairs throughout the city, so it was pretty amazing to see the studios where theirs works are designed and crafted.

kristiana parn's studio - i love her prints!

rene murray's ceramic studio

yumiko kuga's ceramics

to top it off, we finished our tour of gowanus with the BEST ice cream i have ever had - at ample hills creamery. dude. i love this place! it's so unassuming and unpretentious, especially given the high-quality of its product! and the two servers i interacted with were super fun, easy-going, and nice.

we sampled three flavors: salted crack caramel, malty salty pretzel punch, and pistachio squared, but opted for the malty salty pretzel punch and their small is gigantic! *smile* it has chocolate covered pretzels mixed into malted vanilla ice cream, a heavenly combination of the sweet-n-savory trend.

we're already thinking about how we are going to get ample hills creamery in our ice cream mix. we will be back!!! and for the record, salted crack caramel and pistachio squared were also delicious ...

ample hills creamery's ample menu :)

malty salty pretzel punch

we ended the night with a quiet dinner at nuovo fiore, an italian spot i've been wanting to try for a couple weeks now. we shared the pasta fagiole (soup), butternut squash salad, cavatelli con broccoli rabe and sausage, and pizza formaggio. every dish hit the spot! and it felt relatively light for italian food as well.

just 3 blocks from the apt, and with delicious food, ample seating, and great friendly service, fiore is our new favorite italian spot in the area! doesn't hurt that the entire staff speaks italian either. another spot to come back to ... it's going to be sad to leave williamsburg :(

best: i'm thankful for the cool, crisp fall weekend we got! we spent the entire weekend on our feet (too bad i wasn't still in the walkertracker challenege. would have crushed it this wkd lol)! 

worst: i noticed a bunch of fruit flies in the corner of the kitchen where the stove is, and kevin discovered that there was something spoiled in the kitchen trash which was probably attracting them. gross! good thing kevin has good aim and managed to swat most of them with a rolled up copy of last week's economist. lol. i was envisioning a walter white moment ...

smile: rene murray, one of the ceramic artists we met, opened up her handmade kiln in her studio for us! it was huge! and when her husband told us the story about how her previous kiln had no door and she hand-built a new door by bricklaying it each time she baked, we were absolutely amazed. it was enlightening to see the daily life of an artist, and their passion for their work.