Spring Food and Craft Market » Markets of New York

Pumpkin & Honey Bunny: Handmade Greeting Cards and Fizzy Sodas

Vendors of the Week for the Brooklyn Lyceum’s Spring Food and Craft Market!

Erica Rothchild and Anton Nocito are the team behind Pumpkin & Honey Bunny and P&H Soda and Syrup. It sounded like a cute and sweet name to me, and then I learned that the original Pumpkin & Honey Bunny are the robbers in the opening scene of Pulp Fiction. Gives the name a bit of a different twist, wouldn’t you say?

Erica is a graphic designer who makes beautiful hand-printed greeting cards, and Anton makes old-fashioned artisanal sodas. The theme that ties these two pursuits together is a sense of nostalgia for the early 19^th century that lends an Old World feeling to their work. In Erica’s designs, it is her use of vintage images, like a toast rack or a classic jello-mold. Anton aims to bring back the flavors and culture of old-time soda fountains, where people gathered for a chat, a nosh, and phosphate, or a cold soda freshly made from syrup and seltzer.

Erica’s line of greeting cards currently features primarily food-based themes because she began selling them at the Greenpoint Food Market. She uses a Gocco, which is a Japanese tabletop screen printing device. Erica’s Pumpkin & Honey Bunny cards include images of a pretzel (“Tying the Knot”), an old time oyster vendor, and a cherry pink pie (“Sweetie Pie”), among others. She is working on new designs for the Brooklyn Lyceum Spring Market, including Mother’s and Father’s Day cards. You can also find her cards at several shops in Brooklyn, including Brooklyn Kitchen, Tree House, Tiburon, and Word Bookstore.

Anton trained at the French Culinary Institute, and he is the chef at the cafe at the AKA Hotel in Midtown. He launched P&H Soda and Syrup at the Greenpoint Food Market, and he found that he could barely keep up with the demand at last week’s market. I had the cream soda, which was the perfect blend of sweetness, fizzyness, and cream soda flavor. Anton uses natural ingredients, including organic sugar and fair trade ingredients like hibiscus and ginger, as well as sugar alternatives like agave. In addition to the classics like cream soda and ginger lime, he likes to experiment with flavors, including hibiscus, hyssop, and verbena. He is working on a sarsparilla right now. In the summertime, he uses fruits from the farmers market to make new flavors for his syrups.

On one hand, Anton modestly says, “It’s just soda.” On the other hand, P&H Soda & Syrup has a great deal of thought and craft behind it. Personally, I can’t wait for him to open his soda fountain, but in the interim, I’ll be happy to drink his sodas at the Brooklyn Lyceum Market. He is also giving a soda making class on May 20th at the Brooklyn Kitchen.

You can see Erica’s cards on her Pumpkin & Honey Bunny Etsy Shop, and you can keep up with Anton on his blog, P&H Soda and Syrup, Inc. Meet them both at the Brooklyn Lyceum’s Food and Craft Market on May 1 & 2 and also at the monthly Greenpoint Food Market.

“Markets of New York City” Guidebook to Launch May 1 & 2 at Brooklyn Lyceum’s Spring Market!

I am thrilled to announce that my new guidebook, Markets of New York City: A Guide to the Best Artisan, Farmer, Food, and Flea Markets, is launching at the Brooklyn Lyceum’s Spring Food and Craft Market on May 1 and 2! I will be there with the wonderful people from my publisher The Little Bookroom all weekend, so please stop by and say hello!

Inspired By Yoga Part 1: Off The Mat Soaps, Scents and Sprays

The beautiful and peaceful smells coming from a table at the Brooklyn Indie Market last fall floated up into my subconscious and made me stop walking. But it was the incredible enthusiasm and huge smile of the artisan Iosellev Castañeda, or Josie, as she’s known in the markets, that made me stay, chat, and learn.

Everything that Josie makes is based on the principles of yoga. She is a certified yoga instructor, but she found that talking with people one on one in the markets is much more to her liking than being in front of a class. Off the Mat is her brand of yoga-inspired soaps, perfumes, candles and accessories. She makes all of her products by hand, combining her passion for the teachings of a yoga lifestyle with her professional experience as a fashion designer.

Her products are all very carefully conceived and made with the highest quality ingredients, mostly vegan, that make them such a pleasure to use. I have become one of her customers who does not practice yoga, but I’m learning more about it every time I see her. If you do happen to know a thing or two about yoga, you have found a passionate kindred spirit in Josie. She is happy for her products to start conversations about yoga, or healthy lifestyles, or frankly anything that makes anyone happy.

I first tried her fragrant soaps based on the seven Chakras. Packaged in rainbow colors, the Chakra Collection soaps filled up my shower with earthy botanical scents. My favorite one is the red one, or Muladhara, which represents foundation, stability, or root support. I have no idea what that means about me, but I really loved the soaps!

Off the Mat’s Black Label line also includes soaps, perfumed oils and sprays, and soy candles. These products are based on the spices, scents and cultures of India and Mexico, and they contain Indian “attars,” or flower- and spice-based fragrances distilled in water using low heat and pressure. The “Elixir of the Gods” scent is a chocolate perfume made from cocoa beans. When I wear it, I actually get the same happy feeling that I get when I eat chocolate, only all day long and guilt-free. “White Amber” is clean and spicy, while “Patchouli” is deep and sensuous.

The newest set of products is the Red Label, based on the concept of “kama,” or pleasure (think “Kama Sutra”). These soaps, oils, sprays, and candles come in four scents: Kama (bright florals), Yuj (warm florals and honey), Agni (warm, spicy, clove), and Maha (fruity floral, fig). Each one not only smells divine, but comes infused with 14K gold shimmer. All of the products from Off the Mat have wonderful packaging, but the Red Line is particularly special, with designs by artist Mayya Cherepova.

Always innovating, Josie also makes jewelry and handbags from upcycled yoga mats. She uses unsold (and unused) stock for her accessories. But if you have a favorite yoga mat that’s seen better days, she’ll custom make it into a great pair of earrings and a shoulder bag for you. She also has two other product lines, the White Label and Botanical Collection that also both smell great.

You can check the website for locations to meet Josie and purchase her wonderful products. She will have a boutique at the Brooklyn Collective from March through May, and she will also be at the Brooklyn Lyceum’s Spring Food and Craft Market. When the warmer weather arrives, you will find her back at the Brooklyn Indie Market.

Namaste!