My sister Silvi is visiting me in New York AND I have Spring vacation right now!  If you just want a recipe for a dairy free tahini milkshake and do not want to hear about our trip to Coney Island, scroll to the bottom.

Silvi arrived really, really early on Tuesday.  We napped, ate a big breakfast and went to the Russian Baths, way out in Brooklyn, where we were scrubbed and thwacked with various natural fibers.  We are now very smooth.  Then we went home and ate some salad.  That evening, we went to the Museum of Natural History  with my husband to attend a totally free lecture on birds of paradise (the actual birds that live in New Guinea and Australia, not to be confused with the big tropical flowers).  THEN we went to our favourite restaurant/bar in Brooklyn to eat french fries and mussels and burgers and artichoke dip and cocktails.

That was day #1.  Yay!  On day #2 I did my taxes.  Boo.

Today, day #3,  Silvi and I went to Brighton Beach and walked to Coney Island.

This is one of our favourite things to do.   We have spent a lot of time at Coney Island.  The place has undergone some major changes, but it is still awesome.  The new area with all of the shiny new rides is already in full swing, but the older section (which we prefer) is just about half-open.  This is an awesome sign from the old park, with the new park peeking out from behind.

The good old Wonderwheel is still going strong.  The Cyclone is too (if you back can take it).

There are still groups of teenagers dancing to loud music in the line to the Polar express.  Tiny, tiny children are still screaming as they are dropped 3 feet  on Deno’s toddler drop.  The ghost hole is still so bad that it’s good.

Lola Star is still selling crazy cute t-shirts and sunglasses (and she just got a new neon sign).  The creepiest automated tarot card reading grandma is still doling out cryptic advice for 25 cents.

You can still arm wrestle with this guy….someone even added a bit of blood to his paint job.

The Coney Island Sideshow was not open today (Opening night is tomorrow) but their murals were as lovely as ever.

Eldorado Bumper Cars is still there.

You can try to win one of these amazing stuffed squid in them midway.  If Silvi lets you…

I hope that there will still be big splashy, tacky firework displays every Friday night.  I want to hear version after version after version of that Jay Z New York song being covered by the boardwalk karaoke crowd.  And of course there will be the mermaid day parade.

There are a lot of things that are still closed up…maybe it’s too early in the season…or maybe they just could not pay the new rents?

When we got home, Silvi and I made ourselves a dairy free tahini milkshake for dinner.  It was inspired by the wonderful tahini milkshake that we once had at Silly’s in Portland, Maine and informed by Silvi’s recent experiments in non-dairy fatty goodness.  Silly’s, by the way, was also the inspiration for our gluten-free fried pickle post.  You could make this milkshake AND some fried pickles and you will be a very happy camper.

TAHINI MILKSHAKE (NO DAIRY)

• 1 and 1/2 cups coconut bliss (non-dairy frozen dessert)
• 2/3 cup almond milk
• 1/3 cup tahini
• a pinch of salt