There is nothing I want more than to share a drink with you, Brooklyn. But until we can, let me share all of the best ways that we can be alone, together, and feel connected until we can see each other on the other side, soon.
Party From Home
I mean this is kind of the best kind of weekend partying… You can commit to a number of plans, and then do them all a little bit while not wearing pants, and then just fall right into bed without having to decide whether or not you deserve to take an Uber home.
This Weekend
Get Wet, Bathhouse-Style.
Because it may be a while until we can immerse ourselves into this sensual palace in Williamsburg, recreate the energy and experience at home. Bathhouse has posted a few great scrub recipes (including one that helps you get rid of old bananas in a much healthier way than making banana bread) and offers you a seductive playlist to accompany your steamy bath session. Drag your quarantine buddy in with you, or go solo. Bring a cocktail. Immerse yourself and escape from whatever real life is now.
Have a Tea Party with the Bunker
It’s a virtual tea dance, which means your ’tea’ can really be anything, and your dancing will be whatever you feel goes along with Justin Cudmore and Mike Swells’s sweet sweet beats. Tune in from 3-9pm this Saturday night (you’re going to be brewing lots of tea here) and jam out.
Let the Lot Radio make your Zoom party a Lot cooler.
Because they’re bringing you live sets from local favorites and friends from around the world, so whatever is buzzing in the background of your screen will help mask those awkward silences and let you test your new dance moves in front of a much smaller, and semi-captive, audience. Tune in here.
Pleasure Jams 5 is this Friday night!
Give yourself the pleasure this Friday night of partying, digitally, with Pleasure Jams. This local DJ collective is guaranteed to make your living room look cool, and will make you into a disco queen… even in your jammies. Jam out this Friday to benefit the amazing staff at C’Mon Everybody, so tune in here at 9pm and #revelwithacause.
Home Brewed 003 with Black Coffee
This is how you like your coffee from now on- a live stream from world-famous DJ @realblackcoffee is happening this Saturday night. So tune in, fill your mug with something a little more sensual than your morning brew, and #revelwithacause to help support @SAveabusiness, a non-profit working to save small businesses in South Africa.
Ongoing
Nowadays has live streaming DJs nightly starting at 8pm!
Yep. Every night, it’s virtually Nowadays. Tune in while you’re cooking, while you’re “working”, while you’re getting frisky or doing whatever else you’re doing over there. And dance like no one’s watching because… no one is, except maybe the cat.
Saturday Night Virtual Dance Parties with House of Yes
There are rules for this virtual dance party, and they are rules that you’ll want to follow. You must wear a costume. You must be moving (and not lurking). You must keep the lights up enough to be seen. And pretty much annnnything else goes. Need proof? They got in big trouble with Twitch two weeks ago. So cure that kinky itch of yours and RSVP then tune in at 8pm, every Saturday.
Or, bring your favorite club into your house…
House of Yes IGTV is coming at you nightly, so learn to twerk in the comfort of your own home, get into some amateur burlesque, or see whatever else they dream up. Tune in for all of the weird, wild, and wonderful that you’ve been missing, and thankfully, without that creepy bathroom with all the bugs crawling all over the walls. Info here!
Go on a Neighborhood Bar Crawl, from a safe distance!
Local bars need your support now more than ever. After a string of break-in attempts on Franklin Street this week, BiT favorites Brooklyn Safehouse and Brokenland were both victims of vandalism and robbery this week. So go let these wonderful establishments know you’re there for them. A few other neighborhood favorites that have been victim to the patronage of this #sidewalkregular include Brew Inn, 21 Greenpoint, and Diamond Lil. Air cheers, to you.
At-Home Chef
We have all been cooking. A lot. And there is nothing more lovely than exploring a new recipe and sharing it with loved ones, or even the roommates that you really pissed off earlier and this is the only way you can think of to say “I’m sorry for being an asshole. I’m losing it.” Here are a few of my pics. Get cookin’, good lookin’.
This Weekend
Clean Out Your Pantry, for dinner!
Need some recipe information but want to avoid going to the grocery store? Send a picture of your pantry to the amazing team with @chefanienass and they’ll design a meal for you. (How fucking cool is that?) You’ll be surprised how much you can do with… (gets up, checks cupboard) Sea Crunchies, cannellini beans, steel-cut oats, chicken stock, and crushed tomatoes! (At least, I hope to be!) Come on, give them a challenge.
Bring Italy into your Home with Opera in the Kitchen
Sign up for an Italian cooking class, live streaming from Chianti! Opera in the Kitchen is one of the coolest experiences I’ve ever been a part of, and taught me so much more about Italian cooking. Plus, they were just selected as one of the top 50 Airbnb Experiences in the world and the top 6 in Italy to be available online to help you get through the quarantine. Open your kitchen up to all of the beauty of Italy, virtually. Sign up here, and then bring your own opera by singing into the spatula (you know how to do it…)
ACME’s Fish Fridays are still happening!
and now you’re actually able to participate! Order online here and then pick-up curbside at 30 Gem Street. Then, cook up something funky using these smoked fish recipes I’ve procured, just for you, my fishy little friend.
Ongoing
Learn (almost) all of Ovenly’s Secrets
Local favorites Ovenly are sharing some of their unbelievable secret recipes via IGTV daily, so tune in and try your hand at their famous Sea Salt Chocolate Chip Cookies, their Blackout Cake, and (maybe soon?) their Hot Chocolate Cookies. Say thanks by contributing to their employee GoFundMe and let’s keep this amazing bakeshop going.
Milk Bar Baking Hour with Christina Tosi, daily!
Of all the skills I want to have “when this is all over”, top of the list is the ability to make birthday cakes like @ChristinaTosi because that will inevitably lead to more birthday party invites. To do so, I’ve been tuning into her daily baking classes (ok, well, some of them…) and you should too. Then we can both bake cakes together and go to all the parties.
Get On the Sourdough Train.
Yep. Everybody’s doing it. I picked up a sourdough starter from the stoop of a friendly neighbor and I’m happy to share! Let’s show this precarious yeast shortage who’s boss, and try to learn the secrets of our pizza heroes. Just holler at me if you want some, let’s start something together.
Get Cultured.
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Get the Director’s take on Muppets Take Manhattan
Watch Muppets Take Manhattan and then join the Museum of the Moving Image’s Jim Henson curator Dave Goelz in discussion with the film’s director Frank Oz about the challenges and charms of bringing the muppets to the city. This will brighten your day, and will have you singing ”Together Again” again, with an entirely deeper meaning. RSVP here to join Saturday at 7pm.
Snap out of your Creative Rut with Rupi Kaur
She’s hosting a live poetry workshop this Saturday at 12pm via Instagram Live. So tune in with a pen and paper in hand, and discover jsut how powerful a few select words can be, as poetry.
Paint Classes through Happy Creative Dig
My favorite little creativity nook is taking their coveted wine paint nights online, for free! Learn to paint alongside a bunch of strangers, virtually, who won’t judge you for refilling your wine glass every time you clean your brush. This Sunday’s lesson hasn’t been revealed yet, but trust it’s some beautiful setting in Europe that you’d rather be in right now, and will feature a cameo from Pepper the cat. Sign up and see the full schedule here, and choose from general admission (free!) to painter package (have supplies mailed to you!) or ‘Taste of the World’ which includes an assorted food box. Cheers, future painters! or just drinkers with paint-covered hands!
Live, Local Comedy this Weekend!
There is so much good local comedy that you can access from home right now while supporting local artists too. Find some via the Brooklyn Comedy Collective this weekend and have a laugh. We all need it.
Ongoing
Decameron, Daily- Streaming Stories from an empty Italian Museum
As a response to the country-wide lockdown in Italy, Triennale Milano (an amazing design-focused museum in Milan) started a moving Instagram Live event series called Decameron: streaming stories that invites artists, designers, architects, intellectuals and other creatives to enter the empty museum and “develop a personal story”. If you’re over hearing Cuomo say the word “ventilator” or using metaphors about grinding gears, change up your 11am tune-in to this one. Livestream daily here, through April 30th.
Be a Peeping Tom.
There’s something about the 7pm clap that gives us these little peeks into the lives of our neighbors, through their windows. Local photographer @johnnycirillo has been capturing that magic through this NYC Quarantine portrait series. Scroll through to find someone you likely know, and send him a DM to be captured during your intimately noticeable moments.
Help Dr. Fauci Get Revenge
I’ve never been a gamer, but I have always been one to #revelwithacause and to seek entertaining ways to do philanthropic work. And this, my friends, is a great one. Fauci’s Revenge is a videogame from Brooklyn’s Beat the Bomb team and is a part of the #BeattheVirus campaign to raise $25,000 for NYC Hospitals and first responders, and it’s darkly hilarious. Play now and show your support.
Read more. A lot more.
The New York Public Library has over 300,000 titles available for free download! Become an expert on anything or just really enjoy that reading nook in your apartment that you never use. (Hint: Anything is a reading nook if you read in it). Plus, they’re teaming up with WNYC to make a virtual book club, so now you get books AND friends. Start here.
The New Museum, home delivery!
Sign up for daily content and virtual tours to feed your creative energy and get yourself out of that foggy quagmire.
Curious? That’s Natural, baby.
Check out the archived photos from the Museum of Natural History because we’re all a little bored of staring at our house pets. Big cats are better. Check out some amazing images of how they put together the dinos (I like to imagine while singing “the leg Bone’s connected to the… HIP BONE!”) and all of those spooky dioramas. Seriously, check them out here.
Watch old Broadway shows via the Museum of the City of New York.
Well HELLLOOO Dolly! (I have no idea if that’s part of the play at all… but, I’m about to find out.) The MCNY now has a TON of amazing cultural interests from our city’s history available online, like hundreds of Broadway plays! So stop mindlessly scrolling through Netflix. Watch these instead.
Watch this New York City Documentary on Amazon
Don’t we realize that this city is the reason why most of us are here? Our families, our heritage, our curiosity was all, likely. led to the promise of New York. Our ancestors fought to get here and to make moves here and so many of us have returned to find ourselves here. Don’t let that be lost. Watch this amazing Ric Burns series. Find your heritage here and ask your parents to connect with your eldest living relatives. Let’s carry on the torch.
Tell Spotify You Have Other Plans.
Because the Met Opera is bringing Opera into your home, every day. Opera everyday via @MetOpera, So tune in and feel cultured, without even dressing up. Different performances nightly, but I guarantee you’ll like them each better than the Pirates of Penzance.
Atlas Obscura’s Wonder From Home
All the best ways to get lost and feel better on the internet are waiting for you right here via Atlas Obscura. Because mindlessly scrolling never really led anyone to where they wanted to be anyway, here’s the anti-Instagram black hole.
Show Your (local!) Support
One of the most important ways we can spend our time and hard-earned government paychecks is by funneling that money back into our communities and supporting local businesses. Don’t let them shudder once we all decide to “open back up”.
Makeup for Lost Time with Zoe’s Beauty
There is no better way to show your support for small businesses than in a way that makes you look, and feel, better. Personally, I think it’s extremely important to make sure our eyes our expressive when they are the only part of our face we can share with the outside world. Our eyes need to say both,“Hi! How are you! I love you! Stay safe!” to everyone we pass, and also, “daaaamn right you can’t wait to see what I’m hiding beneath this hazmat suit” to a select few. The best way to make your eyes talk, your face glow, and your heart feel better for supporting this amazing place is by placing an order (DM them here!) and then picking up, curbside, on Fridays. Orders of $50+ qualify for free shipping. Let’s makeup for lost time, together.
Gumbo + Beer, at Greenpoint Beer and Ale
Greenpoint Beer’s weekly weekend meals are really the only thing that reminds me what day it is. Their local-brewery open-air beer market wants to serve you up some deep southern charm this weekend with a seafood gumbo, plus rice and cornbread. Order yours ahead of time and pick it up, with some beers, Saturday and Sunday!
Tend Greenpoint Pick-Up!
Because bringing a little life into your home while in isolation lifts everyone’s spirits. Check out their selection via Instagram and call in an order to pick up!
Step Up your Virtual Cocktail Parties with St. Agrestis + Greenhook Gin Negronis, plus hand sanitizer!
As if I couldn’t love these two distilleries and the magic they make together when stirred in a glass, Greenhook has been donating hand sanitizer to our local sanitation workers, who are ALSO on the front lines but too often forgotten about. Their spirits are available for curbside pick-up or local delivery, get a little tipsy and stay clean while you do it.
Help the businesses that are Helping the Helpers
There are so many AMAZING businesses that are using their resources (supplies, workers, time) to prepare food to donate to essential workers. Which is just about the best reason I can think of to order food from any of the businesses on this list (offering free meals to families in need!) or through this project from the Taralucci family or this one from Jose Andres (although he won my heart as the moment I stepped foot into Mercado Little Spain). Plus, local favorites Pies ‘n Thighs, Van Leeuwen, Dar525, Eagle Trading, Vinnie’s, Bierocracy, Gertie, The Olmsted, and The Wheelhouse are all donating locally, to hospitals, fire departments, and families in need. And as always, the North Brooklyn Angels are always deserving of support, especially now.
Barano Brooklyn, dinner + wine pairing
Offering their full menu and custom wine pairings through neighboring bottle shop Spirit Animal, wine and dine yourself finely tonight. All info here.
Edouard Massih Quarancatering
This Greenpoint local chef is posting his daily recipes for a homecooked, catered meal to help feed and connect you to your community from the comfort of your own mess-free kitchen. Follow him here and join in this week’s menu options, complete with a mocktail ready and waiting for your favorite liquor to be added.
Archestratus Contact-less Market!
Your favorite cookbook store and cafe has been working with local makers and markets to bring you this, a contactless market open this Saturday! Order online and pick-up right outside of the store, from 1-3pm. 160 Huron St.
Pour one out for your homies…
And please, support your favorite local businesses by contributing to their staff’s GoFundMe. There are 321,000 restaurant industry workers who are now, all, unemployed and potentially without jobs once “all of this ends”. Contribute the extra cash you have in your pocket that you haven’t been using as tips to help them get through this indefinite period of confusion. Le Fanfare in Greenpoint has been my family and livelihood for nearly 3 years now, and also provides the means for me to create all of this, for you. Show your support, to us, to them, to everyone
Ponyboy Bottled Cocktails and new Mexican To-Go Menu!
Featuring the work of local artists, 10% of each sale goes to the artist. #revelwithacause
For a few other creative ways to show your support, by one of these amazing t-shirts from Moonlight Mile, get some amazing French wines at a discount from Sauvage, and buy one of these charming tote bags from Anella.
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