Burgers & Cupcakes

I'm pretty sure we've mentioned these folks before... (right?!) but Burgers & Cupcakes is amazing and deserves another shout out.

Brian and I ate there tonight... after not having done so in a while.  "But, why?" you ask.  IIII DON'T KNOWWW! I asked Brian that very same question about 10 times throughout our meal.  I think they have the most delicious fries ever (the thin and crispy kind-- raaahhh)  and I think their cupcakes kick all those other NYC bakeries to the curb (no names mentioned here :X).  And their burgers are great too!  My fave is their Lemon Grilled Chicken Burger with goat cheese.  Mmmm.

And what really makes this place great are the friendly workers.  They gave us free cupcakes tonight after our meal!  And theeen as we were walking out the door they gave us NINE MORE FREE CUPCAKES.  I meeeaaaan, come oooonnn.  They also have a frequent eaters card so you can get 1 free meal every 5 meals or something like that ;)

And they have a new Banana flavored cupcake that our buddy John claimed was the best cupcake he has ever had.  (He was one of the recipients of our free cupcake gifts)  Others in our box included strawberry, blueberry, mint chocolate chip, chocolate ganauche and red velvet... all with either their AMAZING butter cream frosting or cream cheese frosting or...other amazing frostings.  Photo below.  Drool away!!

(Okay, so the picture quality isn't that great.  Had to iphone this one.)

How to Properly Celebrate America's Birthday

There are a lot of good ways to celebrate the 4th of July but there are really only 2 essentials: Cook outs and fireworks. So our day started with a trip to Prospect Park to celebrate with our Brooklyn friends.

Here's Kevin working the grill.

Here's Robert enjoying the picnic.

Here's Brian soaking up the sun.

Here's a Petanque game in action!

After about 8 hours of food, naps, and Pentanque it was back to the island to check out some fireworks. It turns out there was a pretty great view from my roof.

Happy Birthday Uhmerika!

Red Hooked

Last weekend we headed out to Ikea Brooklyn to peruse some Swedish home goods. Perhaps you've heard of Ikea. Ikea is filled with cheap furniture. Not only is the cost cheap, but so is the quality! I mean the stuff is pretty sleek so it's better than your Walmart furniture, but it'll still probably fall apart if you have to move it. Ikea also has some cheap food. The food is kinda cafeteria style Swedish meatballs and chicken fingers and things so it's not exactly worth going out of your way for. Ikea Brooklyn is pretty unique one way. You can get there by a free ferry boat at Pier 11!

Ferries in the summer are a good time. Open air, breezes on the water, and great views of Manhattan, Jersey, Brooklyn and even the Statue of Liberty. Your ride culminates in a slow trip through some pretty creepy looking derelict docks when you arrive at Ikea. But since you're probably over Ikea just as much as I am, I've got a suggestion for you.

Next time, skip the Swedes and head for the Red Hook Vendors. Hop on the Ikea ferry which is completely free on the weekends. Enjoy the ride, soak in the views, and even marvel at the bright new Ikea built in the very industrial neighborhood of Red Hook. But then just walk on by. When everyone turns to right to enter the front door of the big blue box, turn right with them and just keep going. Eventually, you'll run into a park and soon you'll find ball fields. Futbol fields. Futbol fields surrounded by food trucks. Food trucks representing all sorts of Latin American specialties. Cheap Latin American Specialties.

So practice your Spanish (or your pointing skills) grab a cup of horchata and enjoy. Find a spot under a nice big tree, watch some futbol, and soak in the sun, and be happy that you're not in a big blue box soaking in florescent light. Be sure to thank Ikea on your way back home for such a lovely day on their dime.

And let me know if there's anything else I should check out next time we're in Red Hook (besides of course their summer movie series)

Billy's BBQ

While you were fighting the long lines and paying for your BBQ last Saturday, we were hangin out with the best new menswear designer in America. Our good friend/salesboy/part-time-model B. Capps invited us over for the Annual Billy Reid BBQ. And because Billy knows real BBQ comes from the south, he got Jim N Nicks to truck a whole hog up from Alabama for the event!

Free pulled pork tacos! Homemade tortilla chips and queso/guacamole/salsa! Free beer and champagne! And hanging out with some good friends that, like most of us New Yorkers, work far too much! Who could ask for anything more!

Thanks Brandon! Hopefully we'll be seeing you around a lot more and hopefully it will again involve whole animals roasted over flame for free.

We got Stiles

Eating in NYC is expensive. You think you'll save some money by going to the grocery store and even most of those are stuffed with gourmet options at inflated prices. Luckily, NYC has Stiles Farmer's Market (2 locations: 9th Ave and 41st St and 52nd St between 8th and 9th). No frills, fresh produce at aweeesome prices. They close a bit early (6:30pm) but it's worth shuffling your schedule to make it there. But don't just take my word for it:



2 ears of corn
1 avocado
1 green pepper
1 yellow pepper
1 cucumber
1 lb of strawberries
6 oz blueberries
6 oz raspberries
18 oz blackberries
3 bananas
2 pears
2 golden delicious apples

For a grand total of $14.03. Not a bad trip to the store. I'm gonna make some wicked smoothies.

Lights, camera, EAT!

Free food?! You know we're there. 4 Courses?! Hot dang, we're classy! ON TV!? Sign me up! This may be my big break! Next up Real World and then a career on Real World/Road Rules challenges followed up by a couple seasons of The Surreal Life. Ahhhhh, you all want to see me living and pay me to do it!

Our entry and drink tickets

So apparently there's some new reality show coming up on the Food Network called The Restaurant. I'm not really sure what the details are but it appears that there are 2 competing restaurants or some such a thing. Anyways, as audience members/food eaters our job was to go have a 4 course dinner at 3pm! All the while a camera man and a boom mike hovered around to catch our witty and insightful conversation. We discussed politics, the effects of the Greek economic reforms on the stability of the Euro, the delayed responses to the oil rig sinking in the gulf coast, oh and our endless barrage of beige food.

But let me take a step back. While we waited for our meal, we were told we would be able to pick between 2 restaurants based on their menus. But when we got into the studio we were told we had to go to the yellow restaurant because the other one was too full (note: that's probably a bad sign). The menu actually looked pretty good, seasonal Italian vegetarian dishes. But it turned out to not be so great.

As mentioned above, everything was beige, which doesn't effect the taste but certainly doesn't help. Other items were cold, or occasionally piping hot, and the eggplant Parmesan was lasagna. I don't know if telling you all that violates the confidentiality agreement I think I signed. Hopefully I get told to take down this post because it would mean that people actually read this. I mean honestly the food wasn't terrible, because I was starving and like eating food, but it was definitely underwhelming. Also it was the sweetest dessert I've ever had in the worst way. It was the only part of the meal I really couldn't stomach. It will be fun to watch the show to see what happened in the kitchen and what the judges think. Oh and also it will be fun to see myself on TV.

OH! And the best part of the whole thing was when the girl at the table next to us spit out her drink while she was on camera! (Oh yeah, we also got free booze). SPIT OUT HER DRINK ON CAMERA! Freaking incredible! And then the girl that she was eating with tried to cover for her by saying "It must be all the carbs" HOLY CRAP IT WAS AWESOME. I hope it gets on TV and edited to be about the food being gross or something. Aw man, it totally made the day worth it. That and being on TV.

But what do you sell?

This one's been a long time comin... Burgers and Cupcakes.



As their name indicates, Burgers and Cupcakes deals primarily in burgers and cupcakes. They also sell salads, pizza, shakes and fries. It's a pretty straight forward sorta place. You build your burger (Beef, turkey, salmon, chicken, etc.) however you want and just pay for any toppings beyond the standard mixed greens, onions and tomatoes (It's worth noting that there are enough mixed greens to go on your burger that you can build a nice side salad.) I'm more of a burger connoisseur but the cupcakes are delicious as well (Windnie confirms).

The place is a pretty good value, has very tasty burgers (of all various types) and is probably the closest restaurant to my apartment, all of which means we visit regularly. But here on Big Apple Small Wallet we're not content to just give you pretty good value on great food, we're here to get you great value. So here's our little secret for you...

Burgers and Cupcakes makes their cupcakes fresh each day! Wow! That's a great secret for you!

But wait! There's more!

Fresh cupcakes means getting rid of the old cupcakes! So if you happen to casually stroll in near closing time, Burgers and Cupcakes may just GIVE you a cupcake! This has been verified and double verified and for the good of you fine people we will triple or even quadruple verify free cupcakes. We care about you that much! Even better, join us for our triple verification!

Road to Fondwa

Last week I braved some stormy weather and headed to NYU Poly in Brooklyn for an event called Rediscovering Haiti. Not only did it sound interesting, but it was hosted by their student chapter of Engineers Without Borders! I love those guys!

The event started with a historical overview of Haiti. I had no idea they were the first independent black republic, and I never considered what effects that may have on their GDP. Turns out slave ownin folk don't like to do business with a country of free slaves, whoda thunk it.

After some context we watched the excellent documentary Road to Fondwa.





If you haven't seen it I recommend you do. It's only about 30 min long and you can watch it in its entirety here. The film takes place before the earthquake and discusses the many grassroots efforts in the Fondwa region of Haiti that the community developed over the last 20 years. It is really great! As I mentioned before, you can watch it here.

After the screening we Skyped with one of the producers of the film! He was in Miami and had just returned from Haiti and he described the devastation he witnessed in the country. He also reminded us that the rainy season is about to begin, making a horrible situation, horribler. But while the buildings of Fondwa were destroyed, I'm sure the knowledge of the community will enable them to rebound and continue after this tragedy.

Hopefully I'll have the chance to get involved with the work EWB is doing in Haiti and beyond, and I would encourage all of you to find out a way that you can get involved. Additionally, I used the event for networking just like I'm supposed to do! Also, I ate lots of free food :) Now I'm sure you tire of hearing about all the free food so I'll just tell you that it included Cola Champagne!

Oh yeah and go watch the movie and tell me what you think!

Winter by the Water

There seems to be less to do now that it's cold and miserable outside.  Luckily Brian's zoo membership provides constant "free" fun and entertainment for us all year long.  On Sunday Brian and I traveled all the way down to Coney Island to visit the New York Aquarium.  Brian took advantage of the long travel time by playing Toobz on my iphone and I... slept :)  I don't know about you but I find aquariums friiigggiinn amazing.  Highlights from this one include many friendly otters (no pictures)...

 

very large turtles

and jelly fish!

We also tried to catch all of the animal feedings to make the most of our visit buuuut we got really distracted and ended up missing most of them.  We did make it to the shark feeding though!

This guy decided to snatch away his feeding pole and swim around the tank with it.  Silly.

Then, Brian and I walked along the quiet boardwalk until we got to Brighton Beach.  It was nice to share the sand with just a few people and a lot of seagulls. 

We eventually stopped at this little Russian market for a snack.

We couldn't read the labels so we just kind of covered our eyes, pointed at something and hoped for the best.  What a delicious surprise!  They were these bread-like thingies... mine was filled with egg and Brian's was filled with beef...I think.  Who knows.  But it was good!  And at $1.25 a pop it was the perfect snack to keep our tummies happy for the long train ride back to the City.  Another successful day for B and me.  Peace out homies.

Brian playing Toobz

Go for the booze, stay for the networking

College equipped me with many things; a passion for learning, great friends, the beginnings of a career and lots of debt that limits my spending potential. There are occasions however when the old alma mater gives back.

While I've been to all sorts of schools, Windnie and I share only one school in common: Washington University in St. Louis. You may have guessed that Wash U is located in St. Louis. About 900 miles away from our present home in New York City. Fortunate for us, Wash U is just crawling with New Yorkers with a passion for the educational opportunities of the midwest.

On Wednesday Wash U held a "networking event" at Mustang Harry's (In case Mustang Sally's was too feminine for you). Networking starts by handing out 2 free drink tickets to everyone in attendance (They basically took our word for being alums, which makes me think I should bring a crew next time). The next part of networking involves eating lots of appetizers. Part 3 of networking involves talking to others in a related field by looking at their color coded name tags. We didn't really make it to part 3. We were experts at parts 1 and 2 and felt like that was good enough. Expert enough that we didn't even need to eat real dinner on Wednesday night, we just stuck with our aps (as the cool kids say).

Windnie did eventually end up networking and we'll see how that all pans out. Heh. Pans out. I also suggested Windnie and I collaborate on a community development handbag project but she seemed a bit sceptical.

Til next time,

Later days

Like taking food from a creepy plastic faced man

Burger King sued over $1 double cheeseburger

When franchisees sue their franchise it makes one take pause. When one reads the fine print and finds out that to produce a $1 BK double cheeseburger in South Bend, Indiana it costs $1.10, one takes an even longer pause.

A pause to think, "The cost of living in Indiana and the cost of living in New York are slightly different." A little different enough to think: "If I eat one of those double cheeseburgers in New York City, BK really must be taking a hit!" YAY! I WIN! Locavores unite and stuff your faces with delicious $1 double cheeseburgers!



In case you were wondering, (for the sake of research) I had one of these today. And I enjoyed it.

Catching up

Sometimes there's just too much going on and we don't have the time to keep y'all updated.  Mi dispiace :(

Sooo before going back to San Antonio for Thanksgiving (mmmm!), Brian and I enjoyed some last minute free fun.  The first one was the "Get Local! Shopping Guide to East Village Shops 3rd Edition Launch Party" at an awesome store called Sustainable NYC.  I personally love this place because for the first few weeks after moving to NYC I went here often to use their free wireless internet and eat lots of delicious baked goods from their cafe, Ciao For Now!  Everything is homemade and almost everything is organic, vegan and made using local ingredients.  So good!  (Even Brian thought it was yummy!)  The event they were hosting was a launch party for the East Village Shopping Guide which supports locally-owned businesses and encourages local and fair trade shopping!  (Very inspiring for the holiday gift buying I've haven't started...)  Reverend Billy was even there to give a Local Shopping Sermon!  Inttteerresttinnngg.  The vibe was lovely and the free food and wine was delicious, but one lady there was quite disturbing indeed.  She literally stood in front of the food table during the entire sermon and stuffed her face.  She was apparently really into the hummus because after about 10 minutes of eating it with vegetables, she decided to pick up a straw from the table and continue to scoop it into her mouth that way.  AND she had a plastic cup overflowing with bite-size pastries she was guarding creepily and saving up for dessert.  It was disgusting.  And she ended up with hummus all over the ground around her and hanging from her nose.  Um, gross.  But yes.  It was a nice event and I'm excited to put the shopping guide to use.  They even gave out 10% off coupons for Sustainable NYC (and other neighborhood stores) and I got a free tote bag and small notebook with my discounted purchase!  Here's a link to the online shopping guide.  Save paper!  Shop local! :)

And the night before I left for home, Brian and I spent a romantic FREE! evening at the Empire Hotel rooftop. 

There was some lovely live Jazz and lots of fancy people around to make you feel important.

And to keep the night cheap we got water instead of drinks.

The view and music was enough to make the night enjoyable!

So there you have it.  More good times from your friends Brian and Windnie.  Oh!  And if you are interested in the whole shopping local thing (you are!) here are some links to some great local holiday markets:
From Wined and Dined
From TimeOut New York
Brian and I stopped by Brooklyn Flea's Gifted today (check their hours!  They're open til Christmas!), which was pretty swell but we are hoping to go to a couple other markets tomorrow and discover more goodies.

Oh! and! Brian and I had Dallas BBQ today, which we are both IN.LOVE.WITH.  The prices are excellent and the portions are HUGE!  And you really can't get any better than their Early Bird Special! (Scroll down to the bottom.)  Although I will warn you... I got it one time and thought I was going to die afterwards because it was such an insane amount of food!

NOM!

Macy's Thanksgiving Day Massacre

Macy's Department Store: America's Great Iconoclasts

While Windnie played with her family down in San Antonio, I was left to find my own Thanksgiving fun. On a lovely fall day I set out to join the crowds and celebrate the holiday with a good ol' fashioned parade! Little did I know the horrors I was about to witness...

After the seemingly innocent act of sneaking around a police barricade using subway entrances, my childhood was savagely destroyed in front of my eyes. I took pictures!

I was frozen with disbelief when they dismembered Grumpy Bear (Censored for your sake)...

I think they were collecting scalps...

Then they turned on other beloved characters.
Woodstock lay unmoving on the ground, with Snoopy nowhere in sight...


Hello Kitty was drug to the ground, ripped open and then stuffed into a cart


Next the Pillsbury Doughboy was treated like Gulliver by the Lilliputans...

Same goes for the Smurfs and Horton...

Nothing was safe from Macy's crushing fist.
Patriotism: Dead.

Woodland creatures in hats: Gone.


Not even the big man himself was spared their wrath...

Yes, Virginia, Macy's killed Christmas.

I didn't want to stick around to find out what was next...

My Thanksgiving fun didn't end there. I followed this traumatizing experience with a Friendsgiving where I ate lots of food and watched children's movies with my friends in Brooklyn! My holiday featured a lot of free/cheap events including free pie at work and a meal made by my great friends, it would have been awesome to spend time with Windnie and my family but I really can't complain. I hope your Thanksgiving was as fun as mine!

Later days!

We <3 Animals (Brooklyn)

I'm sick again!  How wonderful!  But it's okay, because Brian and I had a lovely day of free fun in Brooklyn.  He's still there watching the UC game at a friend's place... but I called it a night and came home to snuggle it up with my blanket... and you know, write this.

So first for your viewing pleasure: a picture of Brian from Halloween day--free "boo-rito" in hand!  Please take note of his amazing bib.  We bought a little roll of foil from the grocery store across the street and made our "costumes" literally as we walked over to Chipotle.  I made a bracelet and he made this bib.  We're good, i know!

And here we are in our real Halloween costumes, which I'm not going to lie... are kind of sad.  We went to the thrift store the morning of and I bought that shirt for $1.99 and Brian bought his overalls for like $10.00?  I was a farm girl (i've got freckles and pigtails...) and he was some sort of factory worker (i used my mascara to dirty up his face...)?  I don't know.  We were confused too... but whatevaaaaah

Now on to today's fun activities!
Brooklyn Animal Resource Coalition
We woke up semi-early and went to "BARC" to walk dogs and play with cats!  Not only free, but fun!  and not only fun but nice!  This is how it works:  You show up to the place, fill out a form if it is your first time, they hand you a dog and give you a little bit of their background, behavior summary, and things to watch out for.  Then you walk the dog around the neighborhood for about an hour and enjoy the scenery!  Easy Peasy!  Just make sure you check their volunteer hours on the website so you actually have a dog to walk when you get there.

Here are pictures of Brian and I walking Jenny.  (He was very proud of the 2nd photo so I had to post it for him ;) )  She was so cute and liked to play in the crunchy leaves (like me!).  Most dogs are actually much bigger and stronger... typically Pits and things.  We were given this little one because I told them I had never walked a dog before.  If you go, you'll most likely get handed something a little more challenging :)

On Saturdays you can walk dogs from 9am til noon and you can start playing with cats at noon, conveniently!  So after we finished walking Jenny we went into this cat room type thing and loved on a bunch of cats.  I had a lot of fun, but Brian was a little frightened.  A handful of the cats scratch and/or bite people for no apparent reason.  Luckily, my cat at home does both so I'm used to walking away with a few miniature wounds. (Today, I left with a scratch from a cat named Scratch...)  But don't be afraid.  Most of the cats are super friendly and the ones who might harm you are labeled with caution signs!

Prospect Park Zoo: $7 Admission, Free with membership!
After BARC we made our way over to Prospect Park.  We took our time strolling around and crunching the leaves.  So beautiful and relaxing!  We even ran into our friend Robert May who was also enjoying a day in the park.  Eventually the 3 of us made our way over to the zoo, which we got into for free because we have memberships (totally worth it for zoo lovers like ourselves!  go here for more info: Bronx Zoo Membership. We have the "Individual" one... which is really for 2 people because you can always bring a guest for free.)  But if you don't have a membership, admission is only $7!  This zoo is great.  Very manageable in size and very interactive (Take your kids!).  You can see everything in about 2 hours. Fun!

Brooklyn Museum: Target First Saturdays
And since we were in the neighborhood we walked over to "BAM" for free art!  Every first Saturday of the month, entrance is free and they have fun activities and events going on.  Today there was a great band called The Beats playing and all sorts of booze and foodstuffs (which cost money, so no thank you.)  On the website, all of the events are listed that happen between 5pm and 11pm... which I just now noticed.  You can really make a whole night out of this thing!  Calendar marked for next month!  I suggest getting there a little early since there may be lines for events that you need tickets for.

So yeah, that was about it!  The only thing we spent money on today was our brunch at The Bagel Store in Williamsburg.  This place is so delicious and reasonably priced.  They also have day-old bagels that they sell 7 for $2.25, which I had to buy.  I got all sorts of specialty bagels that I cannot wait to eat!!  (I'll write a blog on bagels soon... because i love them...)  And for dinner I'm eating leftovers!  Today was a cheap success!