No Sleep 'Till Brooklyn

I spent a good amount of my formative years on Long Island, NY. After high school, I went upstate to SUNY Geneseo for my B.A. There, I met my long time friend Ramsay. So just over decade later, it seems fit to go visit for a few days... especially because she is getting married!

Can you see the Brooklyn Bridge?

Bridesmaid? Yes, I am. 

Knowing what to wear to a swanky bar in Brooklyn with excellent beer on tap (you can see their website here at reBar? Definitely, no.

Bride knowing what type of bridesmaid dress to pick out? Ummm....

So, you can see our situation and guess that we spent time trying on bridesmaid dresses. A lot of dresses. When I say a lot, I mean about twenty at one place in under an hour. 

... and eating four slices of cremini mushroom and fennel sausage pizza the night before didn't help. 

Was the pizza worth it? Definitely, yes. 

After dresses, we walked around Brooklyn and had a few beers at different places. It was a great time because I got to sample some local beers that I would not have the experience to do so. For example... when did Greenport get a brewery?

My not-so-spicy Greenport Wit Beer

We also spent some time at Cedar Grove beach in Staten Island. I had actually never really been to Staten Island before. After an adventure drive and a conversation about whether Transformers or Voltron would win, I came to the conclusion that it is a lot like Nassau county. It's strip mall heaven! However, the beach was actually better than my North Shore LI beach because there was sand. Growing up, our beaches were all rocks and we had to wear flip flops or water shoes in the water. That stunk.

Cedar Grove Beach in Staten Island... and Ramsay's legs

After the beach, we had a BBQ. We went to Ramsay's friend's house and had a party in the narrow alley between houses. They decorated it with table cloths and overhead lights. It was a great setting.  I had never met this couple before, but man they could cook. We had homemade guacamole and margaritas to begin with. Followed by a main meal of grilled chicken drizzled with buffalo and bleu cheese sauces... as well as racks of special dry rub ribs! There was also a killer dill potato salad made the Yankee way of NO MUSTARD, just as it should be. We finished it up with custard, rocky road, and lemon PIES. I was in foodie heaven. 

Our after-party alley way

All in all, will I be back to Brooklyn? For sure!