Category Archives: park slope

Rethinking The Park Slope Food Coop

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I have written about the Park Slope Food Coop in the past.  From a strictly economic perspective (not considering the draconian penalties, long lines, or the cult-like demeanor of some members) I decided that the savings gained from shopping at the Coop was not worth the 2 hours and 45 minutes.  But I based this on a” back of the envelope” estimates on how much a family might save every month by shopping at the Coop.

But today the Park Slope Patch had a very nice article comparing the price of 20 items at five Park Slope stores: Back to The Land, Key Food on 5th, Met Food on 7th, the Park Slope Food Coop, and Union Market. Among some no brainers, like don’t buy prosciutto at Met Foods, there was a lot if interesting tidbits, like Back to the Land  is cheaper than Key Food. But most interesting was that the average item at the Food Coop was $1.32 less than Back to the Land, the next cheapest store per item.

Although this was hardly a scientific study, it did give me a metric I did not have before.  With fees and working 71.5 hours a year (2 adults) at minimum wage, the first year at the Food Coop will cost you $768 your first year.  With an average savings of $1.32 an item, if you shop every other week and get 25 items each week, you’d save $858 a year, a net gain of 90 bucks! And you’d get $340 in saving each year after that (once you “pay off” the $250 in fees.)

I’m still not sure I’m ready for the Food Coop (do all members really have to wear matching Nike sneakers, or is that just a rumor?) but knowing the real savings might ease my mind when I’m wearing that day glow Food Coop vest.

My Calculations

Hours/Week number of adults Hours worked per year Min. Wage What it costs you to work at the Food Coop (plus $250 in “fees”)
2.75 2 71.5 $7.25 $518.38
Number of items Average Savings per item # of Shops per year Savings per year
25 1.32 26 $ 858.00
Net gain $ 339.63

17 Prospect Park West Manision Renovation Finished!

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The Park Slope Patch has heavily staged pics of the much hoopla-ed renovation of the 17 Prospect Park West Victorian mansion.  Formerly the abode of movie stars Jennifer Connelly and Paul Bettany, it was bought in 2009 by a Google engineer, and locals and the blogerati were worried that the new owners would gut the “old world charm.” I’ve always admired this beautiful limestone townhouse, and when I saw scaffolding surrounding the place for a year, I thought they would do a down-to-the-studs renovation.  But it looks like they kept a lot of the original detail (and stuffed it with a lot of velvet furniture, even in the children’s room!  Maybe “Google-raised” kids aren’t constantly covered in jam and syrup like my kids.)  It really does look beautiful, but why do modern refurbs feel compelled to make bathrooms look like they are in a nightclub?

Parlor

Dining area

Perfect for the kids to bust out the magic markers on a play-date

Kitchen

Who doesn’t keep a wide array of melons and gourds splayed on their kitchen table?

Family room

I know its hard to take your eyes off the Danish/caveman club chair, but notice the high-chair?
Adult furniture from the future, children’s furniture from Amish country.

Child's room

The boots and blocks say, “we have a toddler.” The pink velvet chair says, “we can afford to have it re-upholstered”

Kitchen-level bath

I can practically hear “In Da Club” blastin’!

Tall Boy, Small Stroller

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My 3-year-old son is tall, very tall. He is often mistaken for a 5-year-old and the normal antics of a 3-year-old can seem like the behavior of a troubled first grader.  But this doesn’t bother me as much as the looks he gets when he falls asleep in the stroller.  He still takes a midday nap, and when we’re out, he falls asleep in the stroller, perfectly normal for a 3-year-old. Except when I’m coming home with my napping boy splayed out in a stroller that is just too small, it looks like a have a drugged child in a wheelbarrow, or worse, another spoiled “Park Slope brat” who refuses to walk and needs to be chauffeured everywhere.  Hey gets stared at as we walk by. People actually stop us and tell me “he’s too old to be in a stroller.”  My wife usually snaps, “he’s only 3.”  I usually ignore them or say “Then I’m glad your opinion means nothing to me.”  But the worst was when a deranged homeless guy followed us yelling “get up and fuckin’ walk!”
And this is with the biggest stroller available.  What’s a sleepy tall boy too do?

Cheeburger Cheeburger in Park Slope – Now 4 Restaurants in 4 Block Radius with “Burger” in Their Name

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The chain restaurant Cheeburger Cheeburger is opening at the former Miracle Grill space on 7th Avenue and 3rd St. in Brooklyn.  I know that the Brooklyn Paper says there is a hamburger renaissance going on in Brooklyn, but Cheeburger Cheeburger? Did we really need that?  Cheeburger Cheeburger completes a Park Slope mediocre burger super-fecta. Now with Brooklyn BurgerFlipsters, 5 Guys, Corner Burger and Cheeburger Cheeburger, you won’t wave to walk for that 3 blocks to get a crappy burger.  I guess the bright side is with the Slope becoming so enamored by alt-burger chains, maybe we’ll get an In-N-Out Burger!

In other news Pfizer opens their first Lipitor store in Park Slope!

Just a Wee Touch of the Colic

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Sadly have been re-reading my books by Weisbluth, Ferber, Pantley, and Karp.  Several nights of of crying from 3 week old Veronica, has my wife and I whispering the “c” word – Colic.

Nate had colic, although we denied it for weeks. At first we said “he’s just fussy.” Then we moved on to “he just has colicky tendencies” and “a touch of colic.”  But our ped confirmed it at Nate’s one month, “classic colic.”

I’m still holing out hope for V that maybe she’s just gassy or going through a phase, but in the meantime I’m looking for a 3 month sublet in Mali, where apparently they don’t have colic.

On second thought, I suppose a touch of the colic is better than malaria.

Dinner at Fornino

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Park Slope probably didn’t need another Italian restaurant, but we finally went to Fornino in Park Slope, and it is definitely one of the better ones in the neighborhood.  My wife and I took Nate (almost 3) early, around 6 on a Friday.  It is a large space, and we were seated immediately. High tin ceilings with mod lighting mixed with tables and banquettes make for an inviting atmosphere.  Although I have to wonder what inspired the “Wendys-esque” old-time newspaper tables?

We passed on the children’s menu (although, I think it’s thoughtful to have one, but godforbid I offend the sensibility of the eater-atti) and Nate shared with us.  Although the pizza at their Williamsburg location is phenomenal, I heard the pizza at the Slope location was grilled, and I’m just not a fan.  Fortunately, the non-pizza options are excellent.  We started with the artichoke and herb aioli.  [Note to self, 3 year olds do not know just to eat the soft part pf artichoke leaves.]  After a bit of coughing, Nate improvised and started dunking the house focaccia in the aioli.  Nate was on to something, the aioli was delicious, and their focaccia was better than most, and I think their aioli/focaccia is a better combo than with the artichoke.

Next was the watermelon salad. Very simple with cheese and red and yellow watermelon, but refreshing on a muggy night.

Juliet got the grilled saffron ravioli with asparagus and a lemon Parmigiano sauce.  The pasta was well prepared, but sauce seemed a little bland to me, especially for a cream sauce with Parmigiano Reggiano.  But Nate seemed to like it more than my rigatoni with “Cucina’s famous sausage.” That was good by me, I couldnt get enough of the “famous” sausage. I’m not sure if the sausage is actually famous, but it should be!  I am definitely going to try more of their homemade sausage next visit.

The staff was friendly and quick, even after Nate broke his glass while pawing for more water after gagging on artichoke.

With an antsy kid nearing his bedtime, I know not to overstay my welcome at a place I want to come back to, so we passed on dessert. But had a nice pastry and Stumptown coffee from Trois Pommes patisserie next door as we walked home.

Fertility Flight? NY Times, really?

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The NY Times had an article, Birth Certificate, Brooklyn Address,  about how hospitals in Park Slope, Fort Greene and Cobble Hill have lost patients from who live in these neighborhoods, while four Manhattan hospitals’ birth rates have gone up 31% Manhattan. In truth, births have gone up in Brooklyn and Manhattan. But because a large potion of the Brooklyn births are coming from “non-affluent” neighborhoods, apparently they don’t count.

“Hospitals in or close to the affluent Brooklyn neighborhoods are not necessarily hurting. Births at New York Methodist Hospital, in the heart of Park Slope, soared by 40 percent in the 10-year period.”

“Yet, the numbers of births at Methodist to mothers from Park Slope, Boerum Hill and Carroll Gardens dropped over that time as more chose Manhattan; the hospital’s growth came from the black, West Indian and Lubavitcher neighborhoods in Bedford-Stuyvesant and Crown Heights; Latino and Satmar neighborhoods in Greenpoint and Williamsburg; and the West Indian, Haitian and blacks neighborhoods in East New York, Flatbush and East Flatbush.”

Putting aside the waft of racism (blacks, Latinos and orthodox Jews can’t be “affluent?), but the article doesn’t mention that women may choose OBs who are near their work (most likely Manhattan), and in its statistics from Methodist, it uses just the 11215 zip code (and not the surrounding zip codes 11217 and 11232) or the fact that they compare Methodist’s number of births with a the combined number of births of 4 Manhattan hospitals.

For what its worth, my son was delivered at Methodist, and the staff and facilities were excellent. But the reason we chose it was because my wife’s OB worked there. If she had privileges at NYU, our son would have been born there. It had nothing to do with borough loyalty.

I’m not sure what point they are trying to make other than to create some sort of animosity between Brooklyn (particularly “gentrified” Brooklyn) and Manhattan.  I expect this from Gothamist and Gawker, but from The Gray Lady?