Eat Play Nap Adventures

We're getting towards the end of winter and we're sick of being inside. The weekends are long if we don't get out of Brooklyn and staying in the apartment is a recipe for disaster. So on this date, we did what we're calling Eat Play Nap Adventures. These involve about a 4 hour excursion to a different part of town, involving something fun for Nate to do, pizza or the equivalent in kid-friendly food, and shopping for some delights that such neighborhood has to offer.

On this Sunday, coming home from a day and night spent on Long Island with my parents -- my foks were mostly out of town but that did not deter us from invading their house -- we thought we'd do Greenpoint. We consulted www.idreamofpizza.com, our favorite pizza blog and were reminded of Paulee Gee's, a top 10 in NYC pizza and near to Nate and Shana's favorite play center, Play. Nate napped in the car as we drove towards Play. As we hit Greenpoint, Nate was still sleeping. There's no way we were going to wake him so we kept on driving around, kind of aimlessly. Didn't we hear stories of our parents driving us around for no reason? Were we really doing this? We drove around Eastern Williamsburg. Then we drove to South Williamsburg. Then we headed to Long Island City. An hour later, after driving through an industrial area where bodies were likely buried and toxic waste dumped, we went to Play where Nate, well, played. But Paulee Gee's was only open for dinner. Damn it! So our pizza dream had to be exchanged for Greenpoint's famous Mac and Cheese place, Brooklyn Mac.

After, I phoned my buddy Dave Herman -- he lives in Greenpoint and seems to know every excellent thing to eat in every friggin' neighborhood in New York -- he directed us to a polish market where he shops regularly. Polaski Meat Market. Shana was delighted with this tip and we headed there in the cold. We bought soups, pierogies, bread and other polish essentials. Nate came home happy and enriched; he did Greenpoint well.

We will go back to Greenpoint though and get us some of that Paulee Gee's pizza very soon.