Summer's End

Is it just me, or does each summer seem to pass even faster than the summer before? June, July and August just flew by this year. Every year I make grand plans to take advantage of the many exciting activities in New York City during the summer, and every year I barely scratch the surface.

Summer is more or less at an end, and I wish I had made more of it. More long lunches, more time in the park, more sweet corn, more popsicles, and more pesto made from the basil secretly being grown on our fire escape. More of a summer tan might have been nice too.

Fortunately Labor Day Weekend went a long way towards making me feel I enjoyed summer to the fullest.

Saturday was a day outdoors, mostly spent bicycling around Brooklyn. A planned trip to Coney Island with friends for a little sunset photography was aborted when one bike needed emergency repair, so we consoled ourselves instead by going to Di Fara to try out some of the top-rated (and most difficult to get to) pizza in New York City.

What an experience. By all appearances, the pizza place has barely changed in the past 60 years since it's owner, Dom DeMarco, has been making pizzas there. You can see him in the photo below (on the left). Dom makes all the pizzas himself, and has been making them so long he has no qualms about reaching his bare hands into the million degree pizza oven to push around the pans and check the done-ness of the pizzas. One young family member assists Dom in taking orders and bringing out big buckets of fresh mozzarella.

I learned plenty about the history of the place by reading all the articles pasted on the wall, because after all we did have a two hour wait for our pie. I'm not kidding! Granted, Saturday night at 6 p.m. on Labor Day weekend was probably not the best time to go, but once we had invested an hour of waiting time, we were not about to turn back. The swarms of people milling around on the sidewalk and in the tiny waiting area kept telling us, "It's worth it!" The pizza was very, very delicious, but after a two hour wait my tastebuds were somewhat dulled by my ravenous hunger, so I'm not sure I can be objective. (For a far more eloquent review, check out The Amateur Gourmet blogging about his transcendent Di Fara experience.)

Sunday I had the day all to myself and I wandered around Brooklyn with my camera enjoying the sun, snapping pictures, and stopping in a few of my favorite little shops like Fact and Fancy and Blue Ribbon General Store to pick up pretty notecards. I ended the afternoon in Fort Greene Park reading a very satisfying book. Does it get any better?

Monday I spent one of the nicest afternoons possible in Gillian's lovely backyard, enjoying delicious food, excellent conversation, great music, and lots of new friends.

And, because no weekend is complete without a little something constructive, I took a few hours to finish up my Pay it Forward suprises (can't share what they were because not everyone has received them yet!). One got hand-delivered and the others went into the mail. (If you missed getting in on the Pay it Forward fun here, wander on over to Lollychops. She is hosting her own and may just have something left for one lucky commenter!)

And I finally, finally finished the scarf for my husband that I have been working on since March--just in time to welcome him home from a long trip. Only six months in the making--that might actually be a knitting project record for me! For my next craft project (already begun) I'm concentrating on something smaller!

Happy End of Summer everyone, and thank you for all your sweet comments on my last post. Stay tuned for the first post in Project Recipe Book this weekend!