Located on 255 Smith Street in the newly gentrified area of Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, Battersby will fool anyone by its humble exterior. But what sounds like a  British pub is actually a restaurant, whose doors first opened in October 2011. Chefs and owners Joseph Ogrodnek and Walker Stern are used to preparing some pretty savvy meals and have worked at Gramercy Tavern and the Vanderbilt, to name a few places. They met at the Culinary School in 2002 and worked on an off together in various places in New York City including The Essex House under Alain Ducasse. They started talking about opening a restaurant a year ago, and gradually "it came together," says Ogrodnek. The Restaurant The restaurant itself is small (elbow rubbing possible) and very intimate — so much so that you could likely whisper and it would be heard by the other end of the room ( we don't recommend yelling). What immediately caught my eye were the fixtures, authentic old-fashioned brick walls and a commitment to standards. You won't find velvet or chandeliers here –you'll find [...]

Driving and wandering through sinuous, captivating Cape May made me marvel at the fierce concentration of Victorian Homes. These were homes like I had never seen (they were functional and aesthetic at the same time, and it wasn't hard to see the upkeep). During my brief brush with the Victorian homes, I drank in every style of architecture: houses with the standard green trim, Queen Anne Revival style homes, and also those that wanted that edgier, post modern touch with Italianate Gothic trim and colors from a pale banana to mandarin orange. Architect lovers can walk easy here. Cape May has the highest concentration of seaside Victorian homes in the country, and it was the first developed seaside resort town. You'll get more than your fair share of Kodak moments. Don't be surprised to see the sprinkling of IFederal style and Mansard style homes too. Here are some of the styles of homes you can expect to see if you do the audio walking tour (you can rent the audio devices from Emelen Physick Estate): Italian Gothic Italian Trim This [...]

In the 1998 American fantasy comedy-drama Pleasantville, it takes a remote control and a setting that's so Back to the Future (aka 1950s) to help the plot thicken. Because of the novelty of the retro scenes (and because I didn't grow up in the U.S.), I found the entire concept of the idyllic family and scenes at the Soda Fountain really fascinating. I had never been in a Five and Dime store before, and had never tasted a proper root beer float. Hence, I found the movie all the more appealing because I treated it as a period piece. Over the course of the years, I found old fashioned soda shops, watched scenes from The Brady Bunch, and encountered countless TV shows and episodes where the phrase "Honey, I'm home" was widely used. So, I'm not now a stranger to the entire look and feel of the 1950s – 1970s anymore, especially since Mad Men is in full swing too. During my recent trip to Cape May, New Jersey, I couldn't help but marvel how deeply set in time this [...]

When we finally arrived at Historic Cape May after an uncomplicated and clutterless drive through Wildwoods, NJ and the straw-colored salt marshes on a particularly windy day… The salt marshes are giant nests; bird havens. On an ideal clear day, you can spot that elusive osprey, and see herons and several other species. Time permitting, visitors can take tours on boats to get really up close and personal. Historic Cape May is an area with the largest number of coastal Victorian homes in any part of the country, and it was really hard not to ignore the beautiful architecture everywhere (more about the homes specifically in another post). We parked our car in the center of town and decided to stroll down the famous Washington Street Mall, which is a traffic-less section of town flanked by numerous shops painted in every shade, cajoling visitors to step inside during off-season.  Being the nation's oldest seashore resort, you'd expect to that hallmark of Americana: Salt Water Taffy stores. Fralinger's Salt Water Taffy, part of the James Candy company, is particularly well known [...]

Before a recent trip to Cape May, NJ, Matthew posed an interesting challenge: "stay an entire weekend gadget free." I'm sure many bloggers have tried, but failed this experiment. The truth was that I was on the verge of a serious burnout and I needed some weekend time to cool down. A road trip to Cape May sounded like just the ticket.So, we packed our bags for just a night's stay in a bed and breakfast called Candlelight Inn in Wildwood, NJ. Little was I prepared for all the kind of 1950s scenery we would see on our journey. Candlelight Inn is one of those places you just dream about, or have seen in the movies. A sprawling ten room Victorian home painted in a cheerful bright orange and green, this was a place we fell in love with just on looking at the website and reading the reviews. We had one butterfly in the stomach moment though, when I called the owners, Bill and Nancy, to ask them about a vegan breakfast. We had one vegan, about twelve years [...]

This week’s Blogger Spotlight shines on Will Peach, who does a bit of everything. He represents the gap year travel blog of GapDaemon as assistant editor  and also has two blogs: one on Spain (My Spanish Adventure) and the other on the slightly saucier side of travel at TravelSexLife.   Q.Tell us a bit about your blog. Who is the target audience (if any) and what prompted you to start travel writing? Will Peach: Hey Charu! First off let me say thanks very much for having me and interrogating me with all these wonderful travel questions. You do know how I love a good bit of torture! I guess I’ve always been doing travel writing – ever since I finished University four years ago and found myself living in Vietnam. Back then I was a magazine writer, but that came more out of my lust to write as a career. The travel thing just kind of fell into place alongside that I guess! Now I wouldn’t swap it even if you put a naked Scarlett Johansson in front of me. But that [...]

If you were to ask Mark Thompson about the grand opening of his store, the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory, he would have envisioned it completely different from what actually transpired. He took a chance on where he opened the store, for starters. The former fireboat house building needed a fresh coat of paint, and complete renovations from tail to toe. "For years, this part of New York was considered the rock bottom," he told a group of bloggers who visited the store on a trip. "From Red Hook all the way to Greenpoint, this was not the place people wanted to visit." The fact that Thompson took a chance on the old ferry terminal says a lot about his vision and chutzpah. As Brooklyn's DUMBO area transitioned over time, it became well known for its water purification system. In the 1960s, the Kennedy administration started the water purification laws in the country, and New York "was really the last port to develop its water," says Thompson. But today, DUMBO is well known for the quality of its water. So well [...]

I felt a bit weird trekking to Brooklyn and staying there for two days to explore the neighborhood. Let me explain, the burrough and I don't really know each other. In fact, the only reason why  I haven't had much of a love affair with Brooklyn is because I had dismissed it as a residential landmass, even though I didn't know anything about it. I have several friends who live in the area who had constantly voiced their love for their locale. Since there's a saying that goes, "the more you know, the more you want to know," I decided that this visit would be just what the travel doctor ordered for the skeptic residing in Weehawken, NJ. Luckily for me, I had experts who really knew what they were talking about to ease me into Brooklyn-ese. We were in the expert hands of Dom Gervasi who started Made in Brooklyn Tours. Dom, a born and bred Brooklynite, knows the area like the back of his phone, and is a licensed NYC Sightseeing Guide. Made in Brooklyn Tours leader Dom [...]

Today's photo of the day is once again of—you guessed, it –Wisconsin! After my recent trip, I could not help marvel at the pristine quality of snow-covered terrain, especially the sweeping spruce trees. One such giant (almost Gulliver-like) spruce tree stood in our way as the group hiked on Rib Mountain State Park. Several branches stood, imperturbable and laced with snow. But the spruce trees seemed to make fun of the bare trees because of their generous evergreen leaves. This is a slightly overexposed photo (the glare of the sun plus the snow makes for some truly white on white) but the essence of that moment is still very much alive. Spruce trees at Rib Mountain State Park, January 2011

Today's photo of the day is of Wausau, Wisconsin, a place I never thought I would visit during the winter because I'm typically shy of the cold and snow. A hike through Rib Mountain State Park completely changed my mind however. Birch and oak trees gently swayed with snow and ice; the landscape –white on white–was more brilliant than I anticipated. As I hiked through one of the oldest geological formations on Earth, I could hear the silence. Simon and Garfunkle's song, "The Sound of Silence" echoed in my mind. The tints of aqua and white formed an Ansel Adam-esque backdrop and it was hard not to feel close to Nature.