FYI: Bocce Courts in Brooklyn

Before this blog morphs into Bocce Enthusiast Weekly, I figured I’d just do a quick post about where to find all the public bocce courts in Brooklyn. Sadly, Prospect Park, which literally has every other type of amusement has no court. But where Prospect Park fails us, Bay Ridge rises up! That neighborhood has more bocce courts than I can even handle. Well done, Bay Ridge.

Places to play in Brooklyn – totally free and all ages! The neighborhoods are my approximation, so if you know I’ve labeled one wrong, let me know so I can fix it.

Bridge Park – Brooklyn Heights
Carroll Park – Carroll Gardens
Maria Hernandez Park – Bushwick
JJ Byrne Park – Bay Ridge
Dyker Park – Bay Ridge
Bath Beach Playground – Bay Ridge
Gravesend Park – Borough Park
Drier-Offerman Park – Bensonhurst
Marine Park – Marine Park

So I’ll see you all next weekend for bocce in the shadow of the Brooklyn Bridge at Bridge Park. Hotness!

Matisse loves bocce, too.

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Getting High on the Line

I heard lots about David Bowie’s High Line festival, certainly. But I didn’t actually know what High Line is – where the money from the hip, hot, exciting events was going.

The High Line is a 1.5 mile elevated railway that runs along the West Side of Manhattan.

Isn’t it pretty?

It will be made into a public park.

I’d like to see it for myself.

Here’s a map of where it actually lies in Manhattan.

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Too Much Time On Their Hands

This weekend, I had the express pleasure of getting iced lattes from two fancy-ass Park Slope coffee houses – Gorilla and the new Tea Lounge. And of course, by fancy-ass, I mean they do incredibly amazing things with foam and espresso. Yes, my friends. I’m talking about latte art.

I’ve never understood latte art. It seems like such an empty gesture. After ten minutes giving milk the structural integrity to float on the coffee shaped like a leaf, or a heart, or a puppy, all that’s going to happen is that it’s going to be drunk by some spazzed out Mommy on her way to a Prenatal Yoga class. This weekend, I watched the coffee attendant at Tea Lounge nimbly craft a leaf on a tiny espresso in a paper cup, only to cover it all up with a white plastic lid. The patron for whom he so lovingly created it didn’t even see it. It was kind of heart-breaking.

But for my iced latte, I was introduced to a whole new world of pointless fancy-pantsery. The dude layered my espresso shots and soy milk into a striped wonderland of caffiene and estrogen. At the top, he dropped a jaunty dollop of foam and stained its pristine whiteness with drips of murky coffee. Oh Lord. It was beautiful.

Then he stirred it all up. Empty gesture. It was really delicious though.

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