Mmm mmm coffee

Normally, I cringe at the thought of waking before 8 on a Saturday. But I'm quickly learning that the waking can be tolerable when the following activity piques my interest. Like, say, going to Red Hook for coffee and exploring.

Red Hook is one of those areas of Brooklyn that is not super easy to access. You can take the F to Smith and Ninth, jump on the 77 bus and arrive at the shore of the East River in one piece, but on weekends, well, we all know how accommodating public transit can be then.

So we drove down the Slope, over the Gowanus and to Van Brundt, the main-ish street of the semi hip neighborhood in question. Red Hook is, to some, a bit too gritty; and to others, a bit too far from anything. It is gentrifying yet currently retains its shore-side vibe, with empty lots, warehouses and chic coffee shops juxtaposing one another along the drive.

The old chocolate factory on the pier is now a Fairway, a supermarket mecca, next to which a run down brick building dressed in buoys and life rafts advertises its antique collection.

"I wonder if this place will ever turn into 4th Street, Berkeley," M. said.

It's possible--4th Street, too, once boated bayside industrialization and is now home to Crate and Barrel and The North Face shops. But Californians drive places. And New Yorkers don't. So until Red Hook is more easily accessible via bus/train/ferry, I'm not so sure it will see the same fate. But I could be wrong. After all, we now live in New York, and we drove there.

In fact, we drove there with a purpose. We drove there to check out Baked, a bakery one block down from our favorite greasy spoon, Hope & Anchor. A friend of ours (a pastry chef!) had vouched for it, so we decided it was worth an early morning visit. And boy am I glad we went.

Coffee? Perfect. Their cappuccino comes in one size (small) and, as a standard, always has two shots of espresso. The cranberry scones were made with fresh berries. And their selection of spicy chocolate brownies, cheesecakes and buttercream frosting-topped cupcakes called to us even in the a.m.

We cradled our coffees and sat by the large, orange-silled window, watching the variety of life stroll by. What a wonderful start to our weekend.