What was it about Brooklyn this weekend? We had a lovely stay, saw Broadway shows, and visited some new places our hosts took us to in Brooklyn. And this huge Fairway was incredible, and we did love the shopping experience. It was WEIRD, though. Sort of like being in the other fairways, but not. The same familar layouts, in that the same departments are by the same departments, but it's just massive and winds around. When we got there today, I think a press reception was going on, so tons of people wielding video cameras and nametags were hanging around. It made the entrance very crowded. A nice parking lot, right on the ocean. That will be a pleasure in the summer, all those breezes. Maybe they can BBQ outside? Seriously, I want to live in the apartments upstairs! Now the weird: along with the usual gaggle of old ladies, we saw lots of poor fat people in motorized carts. The people of impoverished Red Hook seem stunned to have such a place in their midst and look in wonder at everything, like they've missed the last 30 years of grocery life. It's sad how underserved minority neighborhoods are. A pod of young black ladies was by the fish counter, incredulous that clams did not come jarred. "I ain't never seen that before. When you wanted clams, you just opened the jar." So it's great that all this fresh food has come to this area. People seemed cheerful and happy to shop in such a place. My prediction? The number of red hook residents working there will drop, as their surly attitude and foul mouths will get the better of them. We were stunned by some of the colorful language we heard. In any event, seems like this is a major event for Brooklyn and warrants much more press than did the overhyped opening of Trader Joe's. We bought fava beans, emmi yogurts, a d'artagnan chicken, a honeydew, eli's bread, total greek yogurt, pears, bananas, some really good german chocolate (lots of artisanal chocolates there), and tons of other stuff.

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