sunday in the hood

when b and I go out for food or to do errands or walk around we usually go to a different neighborhood. but sometimes on the weekends we venture out to see what we can find here in bed-stuy. I was curious about some of the north-south streets west of here, and yesterday we went out to see if there were any restaurants open. we walked south on tompkins almost to fulton but didn't find anything. while walking back from the g train a few weekends ago, I remembered seeing a coffee house which had a large chalk board menu on the wall. so we headed over to the bedford/ lafayette area and found that the place- tiny cup- was open, as people were sitting out front on benches waiting for their orders. it was busy, but the people working there kept it under control. I was happy to see a thriving coffee house in bed-stuy. doors on both sides of the corner location were open, bringing in lots of light and air. the place is outfitted just as a coffee house should be, with thrift store furniture, drawings on the walls, and miles davis (electric) playing. the iced coffee was superb, as was the red pepper/mushroom quiche and salad. (boston bibb and shredded carrots, with chick peas in a light vinaigrette, dusted with sesame seeds) b had a blt, which he enjoyed as well. the prices are reasonable here too. they're open every day till 8pm and have free delivery. IN BED-STUY. after lunch we headed across the street to baskin robbins, b/c b was on an eating binge. I wanted to see a vintage shop on franklin that I had read about, but we couldn't find it. so we kept heading west, checking out some of the smaller streets in the tip of bed-stuy. there are some nice, quiet, tree-lined streets over there. i knew we were near the broken angel, which was the backdrop for dave chappelle's free concert in 2004, and featured in the documentary film block party. the last I knew, a developer had gone into a partnership with arthur, and was converting it into condos, keeping arthur on as project consultant. from what we saw, the tower has been taken down, but progress appears to be very slow. after that we progressed towards fort greene, curious if the flea market was still open. it must have been after 5pm, but many vendors were still set up. there was some really cool stuff out there. i liked that the people who sold antiques sold a mix of items. it was kind of a young vendor crowd. as we were approaching the market some spring dust flew into my throat and i started coughing. we headed to the back, where the food vendors are, and I waited in line at the mexican tent. (the cooks from the red hook ball fields) b immediately noticed that they were making grilled corn L.A.-style (rolled in parmesan cheese and chili powder) and got one. as I took a bite, he was telling me that they come to your street with a cart selling the stuff in L.A. a woman overheard him and got all excited, thinking he was talking about brooklyn. then it was over to dekalb ave., to see restaurant row. this is where sodafine was located when I first moved here, and erin had just opened the shop. there are more restaurants now, but no clothing boutiques or anything like that. we headed back east down dekalb. as we were at the edge of the pratt campus, I spotted a vintage clothing store, blue bass. they had a good selection of t-shirts, jackets, pants, shorts, skirts, tops, etc. there were several trench coats priced at $27, and t-shirts were under $10. I looked too quickly to notice their dress selection, but i will go back. going further down dekalb, we started to notice hasidim in the area. four small children were playing inside second-story window grates designed to keep air conditioners from falling off. one toddler was doing tricks as if he was on monkey bars. b noted that it was very dangerous. finally over to the home depot, where we spent time picking out gardening tools and things for around the house. it was great to spend an entire afternoon out walking around our neighborhood.