Though they've opened not too long ago, I finally managed to visit L.A. Burdick yesterday. Queenie 2 and I met up there yesterday afternoon to discuss our upcoming vacation plans since we haven't really found time to sit and talk about our possible itinerary even though the trip is a little over one month away.

The shop is in the Flatiron district, but it's on one of those side streets I normally do not pass by. The nice thing is that there is seating though it's not that warm if one is sitting right by the door (which is where we sat). I'm sure it's more pleasant when the weather is warmer.

So we both ordered tea and a sweet. This being a chocolate shop, pretty much everything contains chocolate as a main ingredient. Queenie ordered a pot of Assam while I had ordered Earl Grey; I originally asked for a pot of tea as well but apparently, they only had one teapot to serve from. That was very odd, but no matter since the cup was big enough. As for sweets, Queenie went simple and had a canelé while I debated between the Chocolate Lemon cake and the Chocolate Coconut cake. I ended up choosing the latter which was a bit too sweet for me; next time it will be the lemon cake instead.

L.A. Burdick
5 East 20th Street
(between Fifth Avenue and Broadway)
New York, NY 10003

This month's contribution from me to Poetry Friday; I've decided to do this on a monthly basis.

Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art—
Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night
And watching, with eternal lids apart,
Like nature's patient, sleepless Eremite,
The moving waters at their priestlike task
Of pure ablution round earth's human shores,
Or gazing on the new soft-fallen mask
Of snow upon the mountains and the moors—
No—yet still stedfast, still unchangeable,
Pillow'd upon my fair love's ripening breast,
To feel for ever its soft fall and swell,
Awake for ever in a sweet unrest,
Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath,
And so live ever—or else swoon to death.

— John Keats

And the movie is on my list of films to watch as well. It may well end up being a favorite if the soundtrack (beautiful, but short) is anything to go by. One of the tracks is a recitation of "La Belle Dame sans Merci", which is written by Keats as well and is one of my favorite poems; the Mediaeval Baebes has set it to music on their "Illumination" album and it's quite beautiful.

It's been months since I last visited the Brooklyn Flea. With the change in seasons and the drop in temperatures, walking around at an outdoor flea market has not been my idea of fun.

Thankfully, the Flea has recently moved indoors until the weather warms up again. And its new location is much more convenient to get to, since weekend construction in the subway always make wandering around the city so much more difficult.

So the vendors have set up shop at One Hanson Place. The building is currently housing luxury condominiums, but in its past life, it was known as the old Williamsburg Savings Bank. My high school is very near it and one could look at the classroom windows in certain rooms and easily spot the building. I always referred to the bank as the "clock tower" because of the clocks that sit atop the tower on all sides.

So it was yesterday that I finally headed to downtown Brooklyn to check out both the Flea and the building. It is absolutely beautiful in there. Once I entered the bank lobby, what immediately captured my attention was the height of the hall and the large windows that let the light in. There are these very tall chandeliers that hung from the ceiling, and I was reminded of being inside a cathedral.

There were aisles of vendors as they set up shop in the main hall as well as some of the side rooms. Guards were posted at a few of the doorways and stairwells; after all, it is still a residential building. Some vendors were located upstairs on the mezzanine while others had their stalls downstairs in the basement.

On the street level, as soon as you walk in, there is a stand that sold baked goods, pastries and hot drinks. More food could be found downstairs, as well as tables where one can sit and eat. I grabbed lunch downstairs (Red Hook ballfield vendor for the win!) and washed it down with a cup of hot tea from the stand upstairs.

As for the shopping, I did see lots of beautiful old vintage suitcases, postcards and other interesting household goods. Sadly, much of it was either out of my price range ($60 for a pair of small glass baking dishes) or I just did not have the room for pretty but impractical items. But I admit, it was nice to be able to browse all these things in a warm and beautiful location.

The Brooklyn Flea will continue to operate at Hanson Place every weekend through March 28, before returning to its normal locations in Fort Greene and under the Brooklyn Bridge. Hours are 10am to 5pm on both Saturday and Sunday.

As I was researching restaurants for my birthday last fall, I had discovered Double Crown offered afternoon tea on the weekends. I had mentioned this to Jee and Queenie 2 and we had made plans to go in October. We never did make it then, nor any other time for the rest of last year due to scheduling conflicts. But we finally made it today, in part to celebrate Jee's birthday.

Unlike most other afternoon tea services, Double Crown offers the different items à la carte. You could order just tea sandwiches, just scones or both. Tea was also a separate item. It may sound weird but it actually worked out well. Jee and I ordered the sandwich/scone combination while Queenie wanted just scones. Tea was supplied by Tavalon; I had the Earl Grey Reserve, Jee chose the Pure Green and Queenie had the Ceylon King.

I would describe the restaurant as somewhat of an Asian-fusion that seems to focus a bit on India during British rule. The interior is Indian-influenced with lanterns and ceiling fans that are reminiscent of those found in more tropical places than New York. At first glance inside, it seems small but then you see the doors in the back lead to another dining area, and there are private rooms downstairs as well.

The food was not only tasty but it nicely portioned as well. Three tea sandwiches, two scones and a petit cake; no pastries as one would normally see in a more traditional tea service. It was perfect since it filled us up but we weren't stuffed to the brim.

Sandwich flavors were most definitely influenced by the British: Coronation chicken, Smoked salmon with coconut labne and piccalilli, and House-cured ham with pickled lime mustard and fig.

Scones were served with clotted cream and preserves which I cannot identify the flavor to; it was good but I think it was some sort of berry preserves but it was of a similar consistency to applesauce so I can't be certain. And the cake was either a lemon, yuzu or similar citrus flavored with cranberries.

I would come here again if I wanted a good afternoon tea that was somewhat traditional but with less food. After we left, we walked it off as we each eventually went our separate ways.

The prices were pretty reasonable. Just tea sandwiches were $12; scones with the cake were $10; the combination plate was $20. Tea was $4. On the afternoon tea menu, one could also order cheese plates or seafood platters (oysters and prawns).

And after looking at a slideshow of their dinner offerings, I think I should try to go there one evening as well.

Double Crown
316 Bowery
(at Bleecker Street)
New York, NY 10012

I am terribly glad it's Friday since now is the beginning of a three-day weekend. I know the holidays have just ended but it feels as if one needs another vacation already!

Work hasn't been difficult at all yet, which is nice. I've actually not done too much in terms of this year's projects at the office because a co-worker and I have just swapped roles as of the start of the month. My projects and "clients" (if you will) are now his, and vice-versa. This is due to the insane and complex project roadmap that was set out for this year; I really would be unable to handle many of these things and would have needed another person from this other group to help out. So instead, he and I have traded. I have no idea whether this is a temporary or long-term situation. It's probably more of a wait-and-see for now. Personally, I'm not too thrilled about having to do this but we shall see how it goes since everyone has told me this is a great chance for me; I think I am more bothered by the fact that it wasn't really my choice. But as I said, we shall see what happens.

So this week has been somewhat of a transition time, as I try to wrap up loose ends with the old team. In addition, co-worker and I were told we were moving to a different floor. Now, this is much more annoying than anything else; it is our fourth move in two years! And that this move is supposedly short-term. Not fun at all. I think I shall leave non-essential items in the moving boxes and just not bother to unpack them.

With the free time I've had, I've kept myself busy on personal projects. The first half of the week was spent updating this blog, mainly in terms of the redesign and going back to tag entries. The latter half I've spent on my fanfiction project.

I have mentioned from time-to-time how I've gone back to writing. It's been a very good creative outlet for me since I like making things. It used to be making new websites but that has lost its appeal a bit since I code during my normal working hours. At any rate, the story I had started (and am still) writing back in August 2008 has finally gone public. It's actually been up on LiveJournal for a while now, but I finally decided to post it up for a broader audience on a much, much larger site. I think that it has become this year's resolution; by making it so very public, it means that I will be required to find time and finish it. That has been a bit of a problem for me, considering I have a very large outline set for this and I know how it's going to all turn out at the very end.

The first two chapters went up these past two days and I was very surprised and flattered by the feedback I've gotten so far. My original goal was to post this story only if I complete it, but it's been pretty helpful to do it now. The feedback brings up things I hadn't thought about yet, and how to answer those questions and make sure there is continuation between the original work and my story. Despite having written stories a long time ago, I think I am happier with my current works. Having been on a writing hiatus, it's amazing to compare and see the changes in writing style from the past to today.

Too bad my calling wasn't in English during my school days. I'm thinking being a writer/editor may be more interesting than building websites. When I was thinking about higher education, I had really wanted to study the Arts. My parents said being an artist would not make money, and so it was I went for a Science degree instead. If we had known how big an explosion the internet would bring to the world, then the Art degree would have been worth it since I like designing things. I still do like design even now, but am not strong enough in it to consider making it work as a full-time position.

I think this is how I will be spending my weekend if I'm at home. I did lose a day or two of working on this story when I turned my attention back to vampires briefly: an online acquaintance mentioned something about Buffy and Twilight and it would not leave my thoughts until I had written a short piece about that. And then I realized just how many fascinating crossovers could come of those two worlds. But no, no. I must be vigilant and stay away from that; I do not want to be sucked (no pun intended) back into those fandoms (Buffy anyway, I don't care much for Twilight) at all.