A couple of weeks ago, we were lucky enough to venture to Staten Island for a lovely (though windy!) walking tour of Staten Island's North Shore. I'd never before explored the area, and it was absolutely amazing to be guided through a place that's played such a role in the city's history, from the earliest days of its settlement through today. 

A few photos of our adventures are below, and keep an eye out for another tour later this...

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This is a preview for our May 20th Masters of Social Gastronomy lecture Food of the High Seas!

Hardtack is a terrible thing to eat. Tasteless, rock-hard biscuits of twice-baked flour (and salt if you're lucky), hardtack has been a major means of sustinence for sailors throughout history.

Fortunately, though, a) you're probably not a sailor, and b) hardtack has a lot of fun nicknames: ship's biscuit, sea biscuit, cabin bread, sea bread,...

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Our friends at the Brooklyn Historical Society have a very cool event coming up this week: Brooklyn on Brooklyn: Elizabeth Streb and Jed Walentas on Wednesday, May 7, and they're generously offering Brainery fans free admission if you use the code BKBRAINS when registering on Eventbrite. 

Join two Brooklynites who transformed community through art: MacArthur Genius Award-winning choreographer Elizabeth...

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Coming your way, this week!

The History of the Gowanus Canal - May 5

The History of Landscape Design from 1860-1960 - May 7

The Brooklyn Waterfront, Past and Present - May 8

Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down: Writing Reviews for Film - May 9 (daytime session!)

Wontons & Dumplings - three sessions on May 10!

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For May's Masters of Social Gastronomy lecture, we're revisiting the topic so awesome Mother Nature snowed it out this past winter: the food of the high seas. 

We'll explore the culinary world of drunken sailors, seventeenth-century pirates, and the modern-day cruise ships that rule the waves. What's so tough about hard tack, and how exactly do you come down with a case of scurvy?

We'll be trumpeting the salty secrets...

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