Staten Island

I've officially been to all five boroughs -- we finally made a special trip to Staten Island last Friday to see what all the buzz was about (there was/is no buzz; I don't really know why I wanted to visit Staten Island).

First, we took the free ferry from downtown Manhattan to the Island, hopped on an SIR (Staten Island Railroad) train, and walked to the Alice Austen House, which was recommended by my friend Sarah because of its cool subject (Alice Austen was one of the first "prolific" female photographers) and the location of the house. Pretty great views of the Hudson and Manhattan. 

Then, we walked 20 minutes through not-so-amazing suburbs to a Sri Lankan neighborhood.

Most of the area we walked through looked like this.

We went to this restaurant Ari had read about the NY Times a couple of years ago, called Lakruwana. It was really good! But the decor was a little over the top (I don't think my photos quite capture it); it felt almost like I was eating lunch at a themed restaurant at Disneyland.

The house special: rice cooked with turmeric (?) eggplant, caramelized onions, a fried egg, tempeh (?) cubes, and cashews. And then a noodle dish with curry you could pour over it.

After eating lunch, we made the mistake of thinking that the 20-minute walk to Flagship Brewery would be enough time to make space in our stomachs for some beer. It wasn't enough time.

We ordered two tasting flights, which were really fun to sip, but we...just couldn't get close to finishing the beers. We were too stuffed. But it was a cool brewery!

After giving up on the beer, we waddled back to the Ferry Terminal and took the ferry home. And I took an obligatory picture of the Statue of Liberty. I couldn't resist! 

Thanks, Staten Island. You were...ok, I guess. I don't feel like we need to hang out together again anytime soon. No hard feelings!