Pickle on a stick

That's what you spent your Sunday afternoon doing, right? Eating pickles on sticks? Wait, you didn't? Well my goodness, you're missing out! I ventured again today down to the LES in hopes of all my pickle dreams coming true. They did.

Pickle Propaganda

I tried lots of interesting stuff; preserved lemons, pickled turnips & spicy okra, some kimchi, and basically cucumber pickles of every variety, (half sour, full kosher, mustard, and various levels of spicy). I wasn't brave enough for the pickled pig ear with leeks though. Maybe next time? Anyway, this festival wasn't quite as busy as yesterday's Grub Street, which was very refreshing. In addition, most of the samples of things here were free! I only spent $2.75, and that was because I bought two juices to drink after eating all things brined. Obviously I would have spent more if I were buying pickles to bring home, but since my favorites visit my local Brooklyn farmer's market (Ricks Picks and McClures spicy pickles), I could afford to wait (Rick's Mean Beans are seriously the best thing ever. Something about crisp green beans in really spicy cayenne pepper brine just speaks to me). Besides nobody wants to risk pickle spillage on the subway! Another interesting thing I tried at the festival were several varieties of homemade bloody mary mix. Some of them had some brine action going on, but not being one to ever actually drink a bloody mary, I was surprised at how good they were. Perhaps I need to add this to my "drink at brunch" list?  

Pickle Party!

After all that picklin', I knew I needed to cleanse my palate with something sweet. It just so happens, that the Sugar Sweet Sunshine bakery is right up the street from the festival, and came highly recommended by my friend Erin in her Brooklyn guidebook. The bakery itself was pretty darn 70's cute, and I ended up ordering a sexy red velvet cupcake. Because who doesn't need to order a little something sexy from time to time? It was very tasty. Gritty chocolate buttercream just like I like, and the delicately moist red cake was just as tasty. Mmmmm. I want another one right now just thinking about it from earlier today.

Sugar Sweet Sexy

All in all, another fantastic day of food and sunshine here in the big city. A lady could really get used to this kind of life!!