After I got out of work, I set out to get breakfast at the Winter home to NYC's Schmorgasburg and Brooklyn Flea, which is located at 80 N. 5th Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. They have about 60 food vendors and 120 flea market vendors that alternate week by week. I had heard about this new thing called the "Bruffin" in a Scoutmob email a while back, and since I actually had free time for once in my life, I decided that it was finally time to go get myself one of these bad boys. What is a a "Bruffin," you ask? According to the post-card style advertisement that I got from the vendor, it's a "breakfast muffin" that's a "perfect meal in a muffin," consisting of a brioche base, and then stuffed with some sort of fillings (sweet or savory) to complete the meal. They actually had a lot of different varieties today, including the one I got, which was their bacon, egg, and cheese variety, aka THE "Breakfast Bruffin." Let me tell you, it was love at first bite! (And it is served warm, too!) At first, I was afraid that it wouldn't live up its hype, but I'm a big brioche fan, so I figured that it couldn't be too bad since brioche was involved. Throw in bacon, egg, and cheese, and you've got yourself some breakfast love--all for $5. I also tried their chocolate-covered bacon one, but I stupidly didn't take a picture of it, so I've only included the picture of the bacon, egg, and cheese "Breakfast Bruffin" below. I'm definitely going to return to try their other varieties.
The "Breakfast Bruffin" from The Bruffin: Made in NY
As I was leaving the indoor Schmorgasburg, I spotted the DOUGH stand. For those of you who don't know what DOUGH is, please acquaint yourself with it. DOUGH is the BEST doughnut I've had in NYC thus far. Their doughnuts are so fluffy and they're huge, filling, and very tasty. They have many different varieties too, including toasted coconut, hibiscus, lemon poppy seed, cafe au lait, chocolate mocha, and dulce de leche with toasted almonds. In the past, I've had the dulce de leche, the cafe au lait, the chocolate mocha, and the toasted coconut varieties. Out of all of the ones I've tried, I'd have to say that my favorite is definitely the dulce de leche flavor. OMG drool! Luckily, they were out of my favorite flavor today, or else I would have purchased one for later. Even though I didn't get one today, I have a picture of the dulce de leche one and the chocolate mocha one so that you guys can get an idea of how wonderful they are. Since I'm on Spring Break now, I'll definitely be making a trip out to their 448 Lafayette Avenue location in Brooklyn this week so that I can try more of their flavors.
Chocolate Mocha doughnut from DOUGH
Dulce de Leche doughnut with almonds from DOUGH
On my way back to the train to Manhattan, I passed a Dunkin Donuts. Normally, I don't like their doughnuts one bit, but I've heard a lot of hype recently about their new Mint Oreo Creme Donut, and since DOUGH didn't have my favorite flavor today, I decided to live a little and get one of the new mint doughnuts for my roommate and I. When I brought them home, my roommate wanted to try them immediately before we left on our next adventure. We both thought that they were pretty good, actually. I mean, if Krispy Kreme had done their own version of the Mint Oreo Creme Donut, I'm sure it would be WAY better, but it was by far the best doughnut that I've ever had from Dunkin Donuts. Good job, Dunkin.
Mint Oreo Creme Donut from Dunkin Donuts
After stuffing my face even more, I decided to talk my roommate into going to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden with me, since neither of us had ever been there before. It's only $5 with a valid student ID, so we thought it was worth the trek from Midtown Manhattan. It was a beautiful day. Even though the gardens were bare and nothing was in bloom, we enjoyed ourselves. The weather was perfect. The Japanese Hill and Pond were beautiful. I could only imagine what it looks like when everything is in bloom, especially the cherry blossoms. I think I just might have to return in the late Spring/Early Summer when all of the plants come back to life.
The Japanese Hill & Pond, Brooklyn Botanic Gardens
Me and the interesting statue at the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens
My roommate and I decided to take a selfie with the koi fish
I was totally unprepared for this picture, but it cracked me up because all it made me think of is "Ever since I can remember, I've been poppin' my collar," so clearly, I had to include it. ;)
After the Botanic Gardens, all I wanted to do was pass out, but I had to run one more errand while I was out, so my roommate and I stopped by the Stiles Farmer's Market on 52nd between 8th & 9th Avenues in Manhattan. We had walked past this place before, and I was intrigued by it, so I tried to peek inside, but we had a destination to get to that day, so I didn't go in. A man, who was standing nearby, saw me look into the market and then start to walk away with my roommate, but before I could walk away, he told me that even though it might not be the most inviting place on the outside, that it had really good, fresh produce on the inside, so I should check it out some time. I'm sure glad I listened, because I love this place!! Since I'm a half-Mexican girl from California, I've been missing all of my favorite Mexican foods lately, and I decided that I'd make chiles rellenos for dinner tomorrow night, and I had no idea where I could find ancho chiles in Midtown Manhattan, but I lucked out with Stiles Farmer's Market. They had them, and for only $1/pound! They had such great deals on produce, and the workers were very friendly. I ended up getting 12 ancho chiles, 8 tomatoes, 5 nectarines, and a giant zucchini for $11.81! Needles to say, my roommate and I will be doing as much of our produce shopping here as we can from now on. If you haven't been to Stiles yet, you should hop on board that train! :D
All smiles from our $11.81 worth of produce from Stiles Farmer's Market in Manhattan
I'll post updates on how tomorrow's chiles rellenos turn out. For dessert, there's going to be baked s'mores, empanadas with banana and Mexican caramel, and monkey bread. My roommates and I are going to be pre-diabetic by the time tomorrow night is over, but oh well, it's the start to our Spring Break. We'll work it off later. ;)
