Send gifts from the heart, and your home turf with By Brooklyn

When Gaia DiLoreto opened the first By Brooklyn in Carroll Gardens 2011—the only shop that exclusively stocks its shelves with borough-made goods—she expected a few things to sell well, namely food, from chocolates to gift boxes to the always popular local hot sauces.
But there was one item that was an unexpected hit. “I didn’t know what a tea towel was before I opened my shop, then I started getting requests for them ALL the time,” she said. “Now that I have a variety, Three Legged Dog, Brooklyn Bell Tower and our custom one from Maptote, it’s hard to keep them in stock!”
The fun of perusing the gifts in her two stores (the newest outpost opened on Grand St. in Williamsburg this fall), lies in discovering the breadth of things are made here, from this speckled ceramic pour over cup  to these suede baby booties.
Both locations are offering an array of deals for in-store and online… Read More

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Send a Cake in a Crate this Holiday Season

Bake blogger Molly Yeh’s recipe for Hazelnut Mini Cakes at home. Photo: Cake in a Crate
Yes, your holiday baking projects can be delicious, creative crowd-pleasers that are also vegan, gluten-free, and made from healthy ingredients without refined sugar. How? Thank Cake in a Crate, a new Bushwick-based delivery service that collaborates with distinguished food bloggers to develop amazingly good recipes using high-quality ingredients. Cake in a Crate ships their entire menu of cakes, cookies, tarts and more to 48 states and everything comes pre-measured, and can be completed in six steps or fewer.
Everything comes pre-measured and the entire dessert can be made in six steps or fewer. Photo: Cake in a Crate
Hazelnut Mini Cakes are the newest addition to the Cake in a Crate roster. The recipe comes from My Name is Yeh, which Saveur named its blog of the year for 2015. Other selections include a coconut cream and cashew-based… Read More

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Indie Guides: Insider Travel Tips from Your New Best Friends All Over the World

In an age of seemingly endless travel sites (on which every restaurant, museum and coffeehouse has an inscrutable combination of one- and five-star reviews), the best way to create a solid itinerary when planning a trip is to ask friends for travel recommendations. What though, if you don’t have a pal in Madrid or Berlin?
Enter Indie Guides. Launched in February of 2015 by Paris-based co-founders, Anne Le Gal and Gary Monginod, there are now Indie Guide apps for cities around the world, the most recent of which is their brand-new guide to Brooklyn. Written by locals, app offers users 50 places to eat, drink, shop and soak in the local culture. The Paris and Montreal are free; the rest, which include Rome, Istanbul, Tokyo and Lisbon, will set you back $1.99 for iPhone or Android.
Indie Guides feel like highly curated insider information because they are. “They are very subjective and personal,” Le Gal wrote in an email.… Read More

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Embrace Winter with Warm Scents from Good Candle

Lighting a Good Candle is excellent protection against winter dreariness.
When we head outside in the winter we bundle on the layers–hats, coats, scarves, gloves and sweaters–to keep the cold bite at bay. Think of the illumination and warms scents from Good Candle as a way to bundle up inside. For those months when it’s dark when you wake up and dark when you come home, lighting one of their hand-poured, Brooklyn-made candles to fill your apartment with the memory of a summer campfire, the tang of a Sunday morning mimosa, or thrill crisp thrill of spruce needles, may just transform winter into a cozy delight.
Would you care for a quarter pound of Campfire?
Good Candles are made in Crown Heights, using American-grown soy wax and high-quality essential and fragrance oils, and they come in three sizes–quarter pound ($16), half pound ($25) and pound ($30). Their gorgeously evocative fragrances include holiday appropriate options like… Read More

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Mekelburg’s: An Epic Foodie Playground Opens on a Sleepy Clinton Hill Street

Taking baked potatoes to a whole new level. Photo: Mekelburg’s
The garden level of a red-brick residential building on quiet Grand Street in Clinton Hill is the unlikely home to one of Brooklyn’s tastiest, and most under-the-radar new eateries. Set back from the street and down a short flight of stairs, Mekelburg’s is about as unsuspecting as it gets–if you do happen to notice it from the street, it doesn’t come off as much more than a fancy bodega.
“Some days we have people who live across the street coming in and saying, ‘I never realized you were here,’” says Alicia Mekelburg, who opened the new spot with her husband Daniel this summer. “Then we also have people from Manhattan coming out here and asking ‘Is this the place with the potato?’”
We’ll get to the potato shortly.
The couple founded the NY Bite Club underground dinner party series nearly a decade ago, well before every New… Read More

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Five Classes and Makerspaces for Your Budding Roboticist

If you’ve ever been to the annual Maker Faire at the New York Hall of Science, you know that makerspaces provide enriching, interactive learning environments for kids. But this buzzworthy term, which is associated with STEM-based learning (or STEAM if you’re feeling artsy), and hands-on experiences for kids to create things collaboratively, is becoming more commonplace as after-school classes for “makers” and robotics pop up around Brooklyn. 
But are these classes fun? And what are the kids making exactly? If you’ve wondered whether your child would enjoy tinkering, we’ve broken down some of the best introductory classes for your young maker.
This four session class teaches kids how to build a real computer. Photo: Raspberry Heights
Raspberry Heights
“If your child (age 6-11) has an interest in electronics, programming or making with technology, they are ready to begin in the Raspberry Heights Workshop,” according to owner, Ron Callahan. Unlike other computer classes, this four session class… Read More

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Treasures from the Deep: Gowanus Souvenir Shop

For that urban explorer in your life, the one who is drawn to places like the Gowanus Canal for its ability to spawn three-eyed catfish, there is now the Gowanus Souvenir Shop. Many of the artworks and wares in this shop/exhibition space are inspired by the neighborhood’s toxic past and the canal’s natural rebirth, with the kind of tongue-in-cheek humor you would expect from a place that glorifies a Superfund site. But you’ll also find Brooklyn-made home and beauty goods that simply make eye-catching gifts.
They do have a knack, though, for finding charm in the most unusual of places. This Sunday, Dec. 6, for instance, there is a book launch party for Some Signs by Michael Levin, a limited edition monograph featuring his photographs of “metaphorically sequenced signs of 33 Gowanus businesses,” published by Gowanus Souvenir Shop. And on Wednesday, Dec. 10, the space is hosting a release party for these faux horror movie posters inspired… Read More

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Personalized Portraits for People Who Love Your Kids

It’s possible to personalize your holiday gift list, without too much stress on your life or your bank account. Photo: Caitlin Rain
This time of year can be stressful and although we may have high hopes for unique gift ideas, it’s easy to fall back on boring last minute purchases. There’s so many great gift fairs and pop up shops to choose from, but it may be impossible to find the time to get there. Don’t despair. If your holiday shopping list is full of grandparents and other family members who would appreciate seeing more of your kids, here are some personalized suggestions that go beyond the quick (but efficient) iPhoto album.
A watercolor portrait of your children by artist Aki Kano is worth 1000 words, but only costs $125 dollars. Photo: Ground Floor Gallery
Custom Watercolor Portraits
As part of Park Slope’s Ground Floor Gallery’s holiday show, entitled #newcollectorbk, local artist Aki Kano… Read More

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10 Culture Essentials for December

In December it’s easy to forget that there’s more to life than the next holiday party, plate of cookies or nostalgia-driven viewing of A Charlie Brown Christmas or Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. There’s a whole of host of cultural delights out there this month, including a spectacular new show at MoMA, live theater, must-see movies–and a chance to view some major releases you may have missed on the big screen. There’s even some excellent new television to watch once you’re all partied out.

10. Can we all agree that Judith Light is the under-the-radar, secret star of Transparent? From the high WASP camp of playing Angela opposite Tony Danza on Who’s the Boss, to her occasional guest spots on Law & Order SVU as no-nonsense judge, Liz Donnelly, Light is always a pleasure, and never more so than as the Pfefferman matriarch on Transparent. The second season of Amazon’s break out, boundary-pushing family dramedy returns on Dec. 4, (just in time to help… Read More

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Brooklyn ARTery: Artisan Gifts for Your Hard-to-Shop-For Family

Sponsored By Brooklyn ARTery. Brooklyn ARTery offers one-of-a kind, affordable and fine quality handmade merchandise from local artists and fair trade artisans worldwide. Created By BlankSlate
Shopping for family members can be hard. Who knows what to get your grandparents, or your teenaged niece? Luckily for you, Brooklyn ARTery—”the place to find a gift for the person who has everything”—sells fine handmade goods from artisans worldwide. In their Cortelyou Road shop you’ll find jewelry, home decor, bath & body products, artisanal foods, cards, toys, games, scarves, accessories, and more. 

A lot of their items are Brooklyn-made products, including quite a few from artists in the neighborhood. The store is stocked with a wide selection of holiday gifts, stocking stuffers, and ornaments for all ages. You can also create a custom gift box with delicious Brooklyn-made treats or beauty products—gift boxes ship throughout the US and Canada.

If you’re worried about running out of time, you’ll be glad to know that Brooklyn ARTery’s holiday hours are extended… Read More

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