It’s now dead-hot beautiful summer and the only ones thinking about the cruel fall are those teacher types embracing their few months of sanity. If you’re a new graduate preparing for your first year in front of the classroom this September, one outgoing Sunset Park teacher may make your life a little easier. The class act is giving away a whole starting teacher kit for grades 2-5 including things like pocket charts, stickers, incentive charts, calculators, math books and “LOTS” of children’s books. You have to take the whole large suitcase of stuff at once. Betcha that teacher will be happy to see them go.
Craigslist freebie of the day: Starter teaching kit
The after-hours murderously good tacos
Photos by Ben Dwork
Food carts are all the rage these days, but Tacos El Bronco isn’t part of the growing fleet of retrofitted cargo vans with sleek logos and Twitter feeds that serve Kobe hot dogs or $4 brownies sweetened with agave nectar. (Not that there’s anything wrong with that.) It’s just an old-school lunch truck that sets up nightly in front of the Key Food at Fifth Ave. and 43rd St. and serves murderously good tacos for $1.50 apiece. And that’s it—no burritos, no quesadillas, not even rice and beans. 
Chinese grocery deals and meals
Taiwan Cucumbers. Photos by Hannah Rosenblum.
Chinese supermarkets are chock-full of delicious, inexpensive stuff—that we know from many a past meal. Still, for the uninitiated, between the hustle and bustle (and often questionable English signage), the stores can seem like impenetrable fortresses. You know that fuzzy squash-looking thing is cheap, but… what to do with it? We decided to head to a couple of Sunset Park’s staple supermarkets and see what we could find, and how to use the stuff back at home. We compared the prices with those at a couple cheap non-Chinese spots (our local C-Town and Key Food). Here’s what we found:
More favorite eats in Sunset Park
Sunset Park, we just can’t quit you. As a resident of the neighborhood and surrounding area for nearly four years, I’ve been able to partake in all of its minimally gentrified goodies. It’s now no longer a secret that Sunset Park is an affordable oasis in the money sinkhole that is greater NYC, and that’s why Brokelyn keeps going back for more. And this week, the Daily News gets in on the bargains by profiling the neighborhood it its Savings in Brooklyn series. After the jump, their picks, and a few of mine.
Costco vs. Target in Brooklyn: a smackdown
Costco photo by Gene Jackson.
Is it possible to go to Costco without wondering: Is this really worth it? The crowds, the Zipcar to Third Avenue and 38th Street, the existential despair of seeing your future in jumbo-sized cereal boxes, the inevitable 12-pound bag of frozen salmon filets you’ll never get through, the paradox of spending more to make sure you get your $50 membership’s worth.
That annual fee, of course, is the biggest question of all. Brooklyn College finance professor Charles Stone estimates that Costco prices have traditionally been roughly 10 percent less than average retail, which means you’d have to spend at least $500 a year to make your $50 back. For some people, that’s not hard to do, what with all the crap they wind up buying while they’re there.
But it just so happens that Target has rolled out a new line of “value basics” called Up & Up, which seems like a direct strike against Costco’s store brand, Kirkland. How do the two compare?
Outings 
Brooklyn Heights/ DUMBO, Ditmas Park/ Midwood/ Flatbush, Park Slope/ Prospect Heights, Sunset Park/ Greenwood HeightsOn Brooklyn Based: a few of our favorite things
If you’re still figuring out your weekend, we have five ideas for you: Brooklyn Based, the must-read, thrice-weekly email blast about the best things to do Brooklyn, did a great story on us this week, featuring five of our current favorite deals around town. Read the story here, and while you’re poking around, don’t forget to subscribe to the BB newsletter so you’ll never miss another movie screening, concert or foodie event.
Outings Coney Island/ Brighton Beach/ Sheepshead Bay, Sunset Park/ Greenwood Heights, Williamsburg/ GreenpointBrooklyn bowling alleys: a price comparison
Brooklyn Bowl. Photo by Adam Macchia.
Last night’s opening of the much-hyped new Brooklyn Bowl elevates everything about ten-pin to a new level: the food (courtesy of Blue Ribbon), the music (it’s also a concert venue) and the prices ($50/ hour during premium slots!) The place certainly bucks the trends; two landmark alleys, Mark Lanes and Bedford Bowl, have closed in recent years. So how does the glammy new joint stack up against the remaining Brooklyn lanes, price wise? A comparison.
Food & Drink Boerum Hill/ Gowanus, Ditmas Park/ Midwood/ Flatbush, Park Slope/ Prospect Heights, Sunset Park/ Greenwood HeightsHow to shop the Mexican grocery aisles
Ana's afternoon haul. Photos by Vanessa Velez.
With salsa long the number one condiment in the U.S., the border between Mexican and American grocery stores is not as clear as it used to be. By now most people think of canned Goya frijoles as vritually interchangeable with Progresso’s. But do you know your poblanos from your jalapeños, or bananas from batatas (sweet potatoes)? If you’ve found yourself at your local supermarket or specialty store eyeing all of those colorful jars and odd-shaped cheeses, this guide is for you.
Coupon quickie: get $20 off a new tree in NYC
Brooklyn Botanic Garden, photo by Dave Shafer.
Does everyone know you can get $20 from the city if you buy a new tree? As part of Bloomberg’s plan to reforest the city, you can download this coupon from milliontrees.org and use it to get a $20 break on a “1-inch caliper or larger” from a participating nursery. There are five in Brooklyn: Chelsea Garden Center, Dragonetti Brothers, Gowanus Nursery, Kings County Nursery and Liberty Sunset Garden; addresses and phone numbers follow the coupon link.
The Brokavore: Best meal deal in Sunset Pork
Photos by Vanessa Velez
Famed for its roast pork, El Bohio Lechonera in the Bronx has been a porcine powerhouse since David Chang was eating pig belly in his high chair. Though it’s on my endless list of eateries to try, I’ve never made it, so when I spied the neon sign announcing the arrival of El Bohio #3 at the corner of Fifth Ave. and 45th Street in Sunset Park not long ago, I took note.
And it’s some fine roast pork, as it turns out, moist, garlicky, rubbed with oregano, and served with a crisp hunk of mahogany skin. That’s the first thing worth noting about El Bohio.
