Happiness is a fresh hot bagel

One would assume that living in New York City fresh hot bagels would be easy to find anywhere. You know what they say about assuming. I live on the upper East side and it is incredibly hard to find a good bagel in my neighborhood. First I checked bagel express which is two blocks from my apartment. When I got there I was surprised to see a C rating on the window. I might be able to compromise with a B rating but definitely not a C rating. Did I mention that it was a rain storm and I had my 14 month old son in the stroller. Yes this is how determined I was to find a good bagel. There is another nondescript bagel place near me but I wouldn't even consider it because I've had their bagels before and they're always stale. At this point, I finally remembered Tal bagels on 86 street between first and second Avenue. I could tell from the outside that they mean business what bagel place opens at 5:30 in the morning? Trying to be health-conscious I ordered the whole-wheat everything bagel with light vegetable cream cheese. This bagel tasted good but not as good as the next bagel. Yes you heard me right the next bagel. The table that I was sitting at was facing directly into the kitchen where they were making the bagels. Although I had already finished three quarters of my bagel and I wasn't even hungry I couldn't stop drooling over the hot bagels that were on the way out of the kitchen. After watching the guy bringing hot bagels in a basket back-and-forth I finally had to stop him and ask him for one that came right out of the oven. The first bite of this bagel that was still steaming was heavenly it didn't even need cream cheese. I just realized that I've never had a hot steaming bagel even though I grew up in New York City and lived here almost my entire life. From now on I'm going to ask for the hot steaming bagel right out of the oven and not even worry about cream cheese. On second thought, maybe at least the side of lox. http://www.talbagelsny.com/

Cupcakes Strike Again

I would like to blame yesterdays cupcake eating on the pregnancy but I can't get away with that excuse because I have been eating them long before the baby. The only thing I can say to justify my eating of 1 1/2 cupcakes in one day is that the rest of the day I ate very light (fruits,vegetables, baked fish). My friend Amie who is also a dietitian and I met for lunch yesterday by Bloomingdale's department store. It occurred to me after we made the plan that Sprinkles Cupcakes just opened 1 block from where we were having lunch. Of course I could not pass up the opportunity to buy one or two and to see if they tasted as I remembered them tasting about 6 years ago.

The original Sprinkles opened in Beverly Hills California at the time when I was living nearby. Before I tasted my first Sprinkles cupcake my dear friend Suzanne used to say that she had dreams about their red velvet cupcakes. Now that is a pretty strong statement to make about any baked goods. Of course I had to eat one and then I was hooked just like Suzanne. I am a person who likes major variety which does not serve me well because Sprinkles has so many flavors and they are very smart by putting up a calendar of what flavors will be baked on specific days. This forces people like myself to make planned trips to the bakery.

Yesterday being June 8th, I was pleasantly surprised to see one of my favorite flavors pumpkin on the menu. I could not imagine eating just one so I got two and again justified it to myself that I would share them with my husband. The dirty dietitian in me got pumpkin selfishly knowing that my husband George hates pumpkin. I have to confess that I did not mention the pumpkin cupcake to him but I will. The end result was that the Sprinkles cupcakes tasted exactly like I remembered and they are in my opinion the best cupcakes that I have had in NYC.  Even George really enjoyed the key lime cupcake and he is not really a big fan of cupcakes. The cupcakes are heavy in weight and the cake part is very moist and dense. The frosting is a perfect balance of sweet where some other places make them too sweet (Magnolia). Also the ratio of cake to frosting is just near perfect. Okay so clearly I just professed my love for a cupcake which is pretty sad but I will do it again and again as long as Sprinkles keeps putting out a superior product. 

The London Candy Company

Recently I heard that a place called the London Candy Company (94th St. & Lexington Ave.) opened in my neighborhood. Of course I had to check them out so I popped in one day and felt a bit overwhelmed as there were so many products and I did not feel like asking what each product was. I know how could I "the asker" not ask 20 questions but I think now that I am at the end of my pregnancy, I have no patience left so I could not be bothered. I did purchase a bar called the brunch bar which was like an oatmeal raisin/granola bar we have here. I also picked up salt & vinegar potato chips (my favorite) and some weird corn puff snack that said it tasted like pickles (no pregnancy jokes please). The taste of the potato chips were nothing special but I did like the pickle puffs.

I decided to give this store a second chance one day because I remembered that they had really good coffee "Stump Town Coffee" and my husband had been stuck on Starbucks which I know is not the best that there is as far as taste is concerned. Okay there was a bit of an ulterior motive on my part to browse the sweets again. This time they had samples of a Snickers bar out and I thought "so what is so special about a Snickers bar" but then I tried it and knew right away it was not just a regular Snickers bar. Also the big tell that it was good was that George does not usually go for chocolate because it is too sweet but he ate multiple samples. I asked and was pleasantly surprised to find out that England has very strict chocolate laws and that they do not cheap out like we do here in the states by using high fructose or regular corn syrup, they must use real sugar. The taste is obvious and that also gives me a great excuse to justify eating chocolate from The London Candy Company.  

Paul Patisserie Strikes our nations capital

I know that I have not written in a long long time but now that I have some free time on my hands (not much since I am expecting to give birth ant day now) I thought I would write. The French Macaron is still on my mind and on other peoples minds when they think of me. Most recently, my friend Shoshana told me that the famous macaron place in Paris Ladurées opening a location on the upper east side of Manhattan 864 Madison Ave (between 71st St & 70th St) . I have read and heard so much about these macarons that I am afraid they may no live up to the hype but then again I will never know unless I try.

What’s new ?

Strawberries everywhere!

Strawberries have long had the reputation of being a love potion, The Sun King loved them…

This is the queen of red fruits and its arrival heralds that of summer, its melt-in-the-mouth texture makes it one of the most succulent of fruits.

Mint and Strawberry Macaroon

This new macaroon is an utter delight, with the delicious taste of strawberry which gradually awakens as if by surprise in a burst of intense freshness while the unexpected icy mint suddenly appears.

This new creation reveals a surprising yet elegant combination. Between the two macaroon shells lies the strawberry jam delicately perfumed with icy mint.

Seasonal Macaroons

Boxes of Ladurée Macaroons

The Collection of Ladurée Macaroons

The latest addition to the USA is Paul Patisserie which opened a new cafe in Washington D.C. I plan on going there next time George and I are in the area which will probably be sooner than me visiting the location in Florida. If anyone is interested in taking the taste test of French Macarons, there are so many places to choose from in more than one borough of NYC. Enjoy the tasting.

WEDDING CAKE

Since I love cake, picking out the cake for my wedding was most exciting and delicious. George and I tried one bakery first that we loved the designs but had never heard of the place. I know you are thinking why would you try a place that you have never heard of, well I was willing to try any cake especially since it got good reviews on Yelp and the price was right. 

When we got to the tasting, I was so disappointed that we were not tasting a slice of layered cake but we tasted a cupcake which does not have the same consistency or taste as traditional wedding cake. I won't name the place publicly since I do not think that is nice but I realized that I had to scramble fast to find another cake. I began my search with the index of New York magazines wedding guide. Based on the price alone I only had 2 options in Manhattan which were Soutine and Ceci Cela. 

I was so committed to finding delicious cake that I was willing to shlep through a snow storm across town to Soutine which is on the upper west side. When we got there, we were greeted by the owner Madge who offered us a platter of different cakes and a hot drink. All of the cakes were so moist and delicious that we had a hard time deciding but what made the choice a bit easier was the fact that both George and I do not care too much for chocolate but we love fruit flavors. We decided to have 2 different flavors. The bottom tier was white cake moistened with lemon syrup then layered with lemon curd and fresh raspberries. The middle and top tier were white cake moistened with orange syrup then layered with pastry cream and fresh strawberries and blueberries. 

Most people would think that one cake was enough but not me, I also opted for a grooms cake and to have cake as the dessert choice on the menu. It sounds like cake overkill but really the reason was simple. I thought because the wedding cake was light and fruity that we had to have an option for the chocolate lovers so we chose black forest cake. Although the concept of a grooms cake is an American Southern tradition (think Steel Magnolias), I wanted to have one for George because he is originally from Kiev and they just happen to make a famous cake called the Kiev cake. Kiev cake is very popular in the former Soviet Union and in Brooklyn NY where there are many Russians who enjoy the cake. In fact we bought the Kiev cake from the Kiev bakery in Brooklyn. The cake is made of layers of meringue, nuts, and cream.

The results were mixed on which cake was better Bride vs. Groom but not by sides of the wedding party but by personal tastes. For me personally I thought my light fruity cake was the best but I still enjoyed eating Kiev cake along with my cake for the solid week after the wedding.

As for the tradition of saving the top tier of the wedding cake in the freezer for 1 year until the wedding anniversary, we decided against it because we feel our freezer is not big enough and that when our anniversary comes around we will get the same exact cake and eat it fresh.  

BAKED

 














So it all started innocently enough with a trip to Ikea in Red Hook Brooklyn. My friend Sonya and I went to Ikea via the free shuttle bus from downtown Brooklyn. Of course I was hungry when I got to Ikea as I am always hungry but I also really get a kick out of the cafe at Ikea. I chose wisely by ordering the salmon and a salad. So I was satisfied but I still wanted something sweet and then it hit me that the bakery Baked was in Red Hook. Right then and there, I decided (Sonya was game) we were going to take a side trip to Baked. Me being the "asker" (Sonya's nickname for me because I ask for directions all the time), I went right up to an Ikea employee and asked them for directions to Baked. Thank goodness it was only a few short blocks away. Now I have to back up a bit and tell you that I have tried a few things from Baked before but only at a bakery named Royale which was near my office. I thought that if the few items I had tried already were good then the fresher items would be great.

Once we were inside Baked the fun began because they had so many amazing things on display, picking one choice was very difficult. We decided to share to minimize the damage, and we chose the malted milk ball cake which was truly fabulous. It had the right mix of moist and sweet without being overly sweet. This place was definitely worth the calories.

After the cake, we had enough energy to go back to Ikea and shop. I highly recommend visiting Baked if you are going to Ikea. 

Fancy Food Show Day 1

The Fancy Food Show at the Javits Center is one of the most exciting events in the food world. Most people who know me know that I am a big foodie as well as being a dietitian. I come from 2 cultures that are into food and eating, my moms side is Italian and my dads side is Russian & Austrian. My Italian grandmother always made enough food for a small army and my Italian grandfathers family owned a ravioli and specialty grocery store in Greenwich Village. My Austrian grandfather worked as a waiter in a NYC restaurant. For us as a family, food was always around but at least we had balance and I knew enough that you don't get to eat cake for breakfast.

The Fancy Food Show is in its 56th year and it is bigger than ever. My first time attending the show, I was in grad school at NYU and I saw a flyer for a company called FOODTEMPS. This company basically paid me about $10 per hour to sit at a booth and hand out samples of coffee. My first experience was with First Colony Coffee who was so nice to me, they let me trade their product at the end of the show with other food companies to get their products. I went home with so much loot it was rediculous. After that I worked for a few different companies and a few different summers in a row. I once went to the Winter Fancy Food Show in San Francisco but it paled in comparison to the one in NYC at The Javits Center which is huge and now has the show on 2 levels.

Today was the first day of the show and I decided to take my boyfriend George who says he is not so into food. The show runs from 10-5 and I told George that we should really try to go all day because it is so huge that you need a lot of time. He said there is no way that we will need so much time. We took our time getting there today and actually got started at 1:00. After the first few bites George said to me this is such a great idea and he was having a great time. I am going to highlight the foods that made a lasting impression on me since we got lost in the tastes. The show has food from all over the world but the few things that you see over and over again are cheese, chocolates, jams, spreads and wine.

The first thing I really enjoyed was sweet potato butter by a company called Low Country Produce http://www.lowcountryproduce.com/ it tasted just like thanksgiving on a spoon. I said very loudly to one of the people at the booth how great it is and that it should win an award before I actually saw the silver award the butter earned. The man thought that I was saying that I liked it just because I saw the award

but I told him I really did not see the award until after I made my happy statement. 

Another amazing taste I had was actually many tastes of the same thing but different flavors was a homemade marshmallow from a company in Canada called Butter Baked Goods http://www.butterbakedgoods.com/ I tried Lemon, Coffee, Green Tea and eggnog. See my video to see just how good it really is.

Of course there was plenty to choose from in the area of beverages. If I had to pick the one thing that really stood out and made me excited I would have to say it was Savida http://www.savidasangria.com/ brand Sangria which came in both white and red. Of course there were not floating pieces of fruit in the bottle but the wine was infused with fruit flavors. Contrary to popular belief, Dietitians get together and enjoy good wine and food. Every year the Greater New York Dietetic Association gathers to network with each other. This year they were looking for sponsors and since I thought this sangria was so good and had wholesome ingredients I suggested that they should ask Savida to provide the sangria and I am happy to report that they agreed.

After the 1st day I was exhausted but took time off from work to attend all 3 days so I was looking forward to the next 2 days with a big appetite.

Serendipity III

I think the pictures say it all but there is more to the story of why I would go to Serendipity and order an ice-cream sundae like this. Growing up on Roosevelt Island, I was just a short 5 minute tram ride away from Serendipity. Going to this Ice-cream palace was a treat that my parents took me to and my friends and I went for many a birthday celebration.

The last time I went there, I took my friend Paula who is also a dietitian and we ordered the nuts sundae which is the top left picture and the chocolate decadence sundae which is the top right picture. The chocolate decadence sundae is so crazy it is basically a giant hunk of chocolate cake surrounded by chocolate ice cream. Serendipity has regular food as well which is not so good but it is hard to get a table unless you eat more than ice-cream. The ice-cream sundaes are are great and worth the calories but only on very rare or special occasions. Truth be told, this was about 2 years ago but I remember it like it was yesterday. Some fond memories will never fade.

Dirty Thoughts

Living in NYC and riding the subway to work daily is always interesting and can be nice in many ways. I know that a lot of people would not agree with me about the previous statement but it really is all in how you look at it.

I happened to be lucky and have a good experience the other day on my way to work which was around 8 am. I was standing on the number 5 express train going downtown which is always so crowded but this trip it was not so there was plenty of room for me to people watch. Across from me was what appeared to be a grandmother with her 2 granddaughters on their way to school. The 2 girls were probably around 4 and 6 years old and were dressed in matching little outfits. One of the girls said she was hungry so grandma pulled out a package on Nabisco Sugar Wafers. Naturally, my first thought was "are you kidding me, who gives kids cookies first thing in the morning?" and before I could get any more annoyed at grandma, she opened the package of cookies and that's when the amazing smell hit me. Immediately, I was transported back to childhood when I used to eat these same cookies. NOW MY DIRTY LITTLE SECRET IS OUT, THAT YES I used to eat these same sugar wafers when I WAS A KID. The only thing different was that the outer package was gold. I used to be able to eat the whole package sometimes in one sitting.

I know if I tried to eat them now they would not be as good as my memory recalled them so I think I will just stick to my dirty thoughts. Also now knowing what I know about calories it is enough to stop me from eating them. Thanks Nabisco.

Nutrition Facts Serving Size 8 cookies Servings Per Container 9 Amount Per Serving Calories 140 Calories from Fat 50 % Daily Value* Total Fat 6g 9% Saturated Fat 2.5g 13% Polyunsaturated fat 0.5g   Monounsaturated fat 2.5g   Trans Fat 0g   Cholesterol 0mg 0% Sodium 25mg 1% Total Carbohydrate 21g 7% Dietary Fiber 0g 0% Sugars 14g   Protein -1g   Vitamin A 0% Vitamin C 0% Calcium 0% Iron 2% * Percent daily values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs: Calories: 2,000 2,500 Total Fat Less than 65g 80g   Sat Fat Less than 20g 25g Cholesterol Less than 300mg 300mg Sodium Less than 2,400mg 2,400mg Potassium 3,500mg 3,500mg Total Carbohydrate 300g 375g   Dietary Fiber 25g 30g Protein 50g 65g

Ingredients: Sugar, Enriched Flour (Wheat Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamine Mononitrate [Vitamin B1], Riboflavin [Vitamin B2], Folic Acid), Palm Oil, Cornstarch, Soy Lecithin (Emulsifier), Salt, Baking Soda, Artificial Flavor. ©2010 Kraft Foods North America/Kraft Foods Global, Inc. East Hanover, NJ 07936800-NABISCO

I literally get DIRTY but quickly get clean

So the other day I was minding my own business at work when Lisa who is my Chinese cultural consultant comes into to my office with a present. Lisa is a very sweet 72 year old motherly type who knows that I like to eat and also knows that I like her cooking so she brought me a gift.

Picture it, me sitting at my desk at lunchtime starving (I am always starving and even if I am not really, I like the drama of saying STARVING) when Lisa enters my office and announces that she has a present for me. Naturally I know it is food so I get super excited and Lisa tells me it is her famous shrimp dish which is  1 pound of shrimp cooked in the shell (Lisa says this keeps the shrimp from getting tough) that has been sauteed in onions, choy sum (similar to bok choy), and lot's of sauce. For some reason I still can't figure out, both Lisa and I thought it would be a good idea for me to peek at the present while I was sitting at my desk and the bag was directly over my lap. I am sure you figured out by now that the second she tipped the bag to open it, the shrimpy, oniony sauce poured all over my lap and on to the carpet.

Here is where I should have been crying but I was laughing because the situation was so ridiculous and also because Lisa kept saying I have to go buy you a pair of pants. I work in Brooklyn's Chinatown and there are no stores anywhere close that she could buy me a pair of pants. After laughing so hard I walked to the front of the office (walking with wet pants is hard) and said to Arlene (motherly admin assistant) help what do I do. Poor Arlene said let me try to find some seltzer. She did not find any so I did the only thing I could do which was to lock myself in the bathroom, take my pants off and wash them in the sink. Luckily I was wearing very lightweight pants from the GAP that had a good amount of lycra in them. After washing the pants I ring them out in the sink and put the wet pants back on. Now Arlene had a great idea which was to take her space heater and put the heat on my pants so they would dry. This worked so now Lisa and I could both relax a bit.

As if it was planned to brighten my day, I received a package 2 minutes after my pants dried. My great package was from my friend Suzanne who sent me 2 body souffles from her company Not Soap Radio. One was called "I'm not here, I'm really vacationing in a quaint seaside village" and the other was "I'm not here, I'm really island hopping." Being impatient, I opened the package as quickly as I could and proceeded to slather on the  scents of body souffle. It was at this point that it occurred to me that if I closed my eyes and took a deep sniff that I could almost be vacationing on a seaside island while eating shrimp.

After all was said and done, I ate the shrimp (you knew I was going to because I was STARVING).

Thank you Suzanne and Lisa for making my day unique and bright.

Paul Patisserie Part Deux

I just can't seem to get away from Paul Patisserie for too long. I am in Florida visiting my Grandmother for the long weekend and was not sure if I would have time to visit Paul Patisserie at the Sawgrass Mills outlet mall. This is the place where I fell in love with Paul and his pastries for the first time a few years back. Of course those of you who have been following me know that I had a brief affair with Paul Patisserie while in London. The vanilla macaroon was one of the first things I put in my mouth when I got to London and was waiting for my friend Sonya to sort out getting money from the bank.

My Grandmother and I decided to go to the Sawgrass Mills outlet mall at the last minute today. Coincidently, my friend Sonya asked me earlier today if I was going to pay Paul a visit while I was in Florida but this was before we decided to go. When we got to the mall, it was 6 pm and we went straight to the customer service kiosk to get a wheelchair for my Grandmother because she is not up for walking that enormous mall. If anyone out there has been to this mall then you know what I mean. Of course my number one order of business after asking for the wheelchair was asking if Paul Patisserie was still there. They told me that we had to bring the wheelchair back at 7:15 pm so we went to my Grandmothers priority store which was Banana Republic. She does not buy clothes there but she is literally obsessed with their perfume for women called W. She has at least 10 bottles of the perfume and 7 or 8 bottles of the body lotion in her closet at all times. When we got to the store today she asked for 6 bottles of perfume and 4 bottles of the lotion. My Grandmother scoffed at the price because they went up about $2 or $3 per bottle so I told her why don't you just get 4 bottles of the perfume. My suggestion had nothing to do with the price but had everything to do with the fact that she has this strange hoarding problem when it comes to Banana Republic scents. Of course I had to put them away when we got back to her house so I took the opportunity to count them. There are now 19 3.4 oz bottles of perfume and 11 15oz bottles of lotion in her closet. Somehow I got off the topic of Paul Patisserie.

When I returned the wheelchair at 7:30 pm I asked the customer service person if they could call Paul Patisserie to see what time they closed which they did. I had exactly 1/2 hour to drive over to the cafe and purchase my favorite obsession which is the vanilla macaroons. By the time I got over there I could not find parking so my Grandmother agreed to stay in the car and wait for me while I ran over to Paul Patisserie. I was so excited that I had to call Sonya and ask her if she wanted me to pick her up some macaroons. Sonya was not available so I decided to wait until I got to the cafe to even see what they had left. Luckily for me, they had 3 large vanilla macaroons left and a box of their assorted mini macaroons. Of course I was compelled to tell the sales person how much I loved the macaroons and how I ate them all the time when I was in London. I told her that I wished they were in NYC and she replied that they were planning to open a Paul Patisserie in Washington DC. This would work for me since my boyfriend George has family in Bethesda MD and I could justify visiting Paul Patisserie when we were nearby. I just looked at their website and the only Paul Patisserie locations in the US are in Florida. Of course I did not take this to mean anything since I was determined to get as close to Paul as possible so I sent them an e-mail praising the macaroons and begging for them to come to NYC. I am now so curious to know what the person who reads my e-mail will think.

I bought 2 large vanilla macaroons and a box of minis which they said I could put in the freezer. My Grandmother and I ate the large ones when we got home and she is now in love with Paul. The box of minis I promised my friend Sonya that I will share them with her. Who knew that I could be so in love with a confection.

Paul Patisserie will you be mine?

London Market Food

My friends Nancy & Tony who were in my apartment in NYC while I was in Nancy's place in London kept telling me to go to Borough market that it was a foodies paradise. Naturally, I said that we (my friend Sonya & I) had to go. Before we set out to go there I had the grand plan of looking up the best places to eat brunch in London. I chose to go to a place called Roast that happened to be in the Borough market. When we arrived at Borough market, it was a madhouse and we were both starving so we made a beeline for the restaurant Roast. I was most disappointed because we got to Roast after the brunch hour had passed so I was forced to eat lunch food as my first food of the day. Again if you have ever shared enough meals with me or just spent enough time with me, you would know that brunch is one of my favorite meals because you can get a little savory and a little sweet and then throw in a spot of alcohol. The other thing about me is that no matter what time of day it is when I eat my first food of the day, it has to be something breakfast like.

The menu at roast was heavy on the pork and many of the entrees seemed large so I thought I would be a smarty pants and get a few side dishes. My memory tells me I had some kind of squash soup that was nice and some roasted brussels sprouts which were also nice but again it was not hitting the spot for me. This could actually throw off my entire eating day and send me in to a quest to find something satisfying but never really get there. Sonya had a pork dish which was alright but then again I took one small bite. After we left roast and we had a minute to look at the dizzying array of food in the market, we were too full to try anything. To me this was a tragedy because there were so many great choices that we could have nibbled on but we were not too excited about once we were stuffed.

After borough market we decided to go to the famous Portobello market which was made famous in the movie Notting Hill. This market was great fun but the beginning and middle was mostly walking with stores thrown in. The very tail end of the market had more food vendors. We saw the giant paella pans as well as many baked goods and fruit. Sonya and I shared some item of food at this point but it was not memorable.

My advice to anyone going to London who loves to go to crowded markets is try not to go on the weekend and go very hungry.







The interior of Roast restaurant in the heart of Borough market










Giant paella pan at Borough market

Giant paella pan at the bottom of Portobella market

Borough market  

The best grilled corn ever

OK so this one has been a long time in the making, meaning I have been to Cafe Habana for the first time years ago but never got around to commenting on the grilled corn. I have thought about attempting to make this corn at home but have a feeling that it will not be as good.

This dish is actually not that unhealthy being that it is corn on the cob. There is always a way for me to justify food being somewhat healthy but then again my motto is balance no extremes.

So if you happen to be in NYC and are down in NOLITA (North of Little Italy) on Elizabeth St (corner of Spring), visit Cafe Habana if for no other reason than to have this corn. The restaurant has a quick service/take out side right next to the sit down restaurant. The corn is grilled then rubbed with some kind of butter or mayo (I refuse to believe it is mayo since I hate it and don't taste it) after that they put Cotija cheese on it then dust it with cayenne pepper. My advice is to put lime juice on it right before you bite it.

London Department Store Food Fight

 


















When I was planning my trip to London, I was determined to have high tea since I knew the experience would be transcendent given that high tea is a well know tradition in England. Friends and guide books suggested Fortnum & Mason for high tea. I had no idea that Fortnum & Mason was one of the oldest (established 1707) department stores in London. Given this fact I was delighted at the prospect of having the best high tea experience but more on that later.

The other "can't miss" experience according to everyone was a trip to Harrod's department store. I had heard of it of course but again was not aware of the insane "food hall" that awaited me. Sonya & I set out to go to Harrod's and see the whole store with the agenda of hitting up the food hall first (of course my # 1 priority is always food), but we never got to the rest of the store because we were HYPNOTIZED by the food "rooms". I thought Sonya may get bored with the food hall because food is not her priority but I think that Harrods food hall has something for everyone.















This is the entrance (picture above) which is very modest in just saying food halls, restaurants. The truth is that when you step through the threshold of this main door, you are then in a maze of food halls for all different types of foods. There are 5 different halls besides the main section where the prepared foods are. I tried to take pictures of all of the food hall entrances but I felt bad because I did not bring a camera and had to keep asking Sonya to borrow hers. At one point Sonya said why don't you just hold the camera and take as many pictures as you want which was very generous of her being that I can sometimes be a pain with my wanting to take pictures of all the food I see and eat.



















When I walked into the main area, I thought that was it and I got so excited/caught up in marveling over all of the different kinds of foods that were there. For those of you who do not know me, you have no idea that the decision making process of choosing something to eat in the face of too many choices can be a mind boggling experience. I have trained myself when it comes to a restaurant to take a peek at the menu as a preview (thank you menupages) or to scan quickly (almost like speed reading) and make a decision. Of course all logic or process goes out the window when there are so many choices, let alone rooms, and each choice seems more magnificent than the next. Did you know that there are 26 restaurants in Harrods alone. What is a girl to do???????




I think the healthiest option was sushi but I thought why have sushi when there are so many choices so scan all of the options first then decide. Oh poor Sonya now I feel that I may have tortured her a bit with my need to pick the one best thing.

I thought oh yes I will delight in the beauty of the fresh vegetables but then I realized that there were not too many prepared vegetables to choose from.

The fruit and veg section went by so quickly. I actually bought some flavored sea salts (rose, black olive, mediterranean, curry, plain) which cost 20 pounds but I thought how great salt that I probably              

could not find at home in NYC. HAHAHA, jokes on me since I actually paid around $40.00 with the crap exchange rate. If anyone is into the best things on Oprah's lists in her magazine then they would be impressed with me as the same salts are featured in her January issue of best gifts.

All of the searching/looking around made me ravenous and the funny thing was that at that point my decision making process was skewed and I also ended buying beef wellington potato chips which by the way did not taste bad but also did not taste like beef wellington. The real bummer about Harrods is their look but don't touch attitude. Meaning you

were able to buy anything you wanted but you could not eat any of it while walking in the main spaces. If you wanted to actually eat while in Harrods food halls, you had to be sitting at one of the restaurants. I am sure you could all guess at this point that there were no seats because of this rule. I actually saw a security (the real food police) guard tell a man that he could not drink his bottle of water in the main hall. Sonya and I decided to corral a few things and make a mad dash for the door and eat standing up just right outside of the store. It was a bit ridiculous but I did not care since I was STARVING!!!!!!

We decided on some cheese bread and scones which were amazing but not sure if it was because we had gotten all worked up or if was that the cheese bread was hot and melty. After scarfing along with the rest of the patrons outside the food hall on the street, we went back in for round 2.



Now is when we chose to spend some serious time and money in the chocolate room. Chocolate is not my first choice but there were so many other sweets and confections in that room that I had to try or at least drool over everything. I did buy a few choice pieces of chocolate that had some weird things added like jalepeno or roses.

















Of course Sonya wanted to try the cupcakes since she has a better palette than I do when it comes to picking the best ones. The funniest thing was that after carefully picking out a few mini cupcakes to eat later, was that they were all the wrong flavors than the ones we picked. At the end of the day, it did not matter because we ate them alongside of the cupcakes from Hummingbird which in my opinion blew the rest of the competition out of the water.


















These are mini petite fours which looked like tiny wedding cakes but they had a huge price tag. I guess you do what you pay for sometimes.










We did not get to try these but I was thinking how great would it be to have bread and butter pudding. I want to thank the person who invented bread and butter pudding.











The entrance to the baked goods room. I guess they think it is a novelty to have Krispy creme doughnuts. Don't get me wrong, I eat them from time to time but it is not something I would have expected to see in Harrods.








This is the assortment of scones and breads, YUMMY YUMMY.

After perusing the whole food section of Harrods I bought a turkey sandwich and then Sonya and I went in search of a place outside to sit and eat. Public squatting is very rare in London. In NYC people sit on stoops or lean everywhere. I was very tempted but waited till we got to a main intersection that had benches.


Later that night when Sonya and I settled in for the evening, it was back to the search for the perfect high tea which led me to look at Fortnum and Masons menu. We were both disappointed because the tea sandwiches had lot's of mayo which both of hate as well as cucumbers which surprisingly I do not like. YES YOU HEARD THAT RIGHT, I HATE MAYO, always have and always will, don't know why it just skeeves me. So now the secret is out, I do not love all things food.


As the week progressed, it seemed like the formal high tea thing was not going to happen so I let it go. Sonya and I were at The National Gallery and then we decided to do our own thing, she went on a walking tour and I decided to go to Fortnum and Mason since it was so close. After going to Harrods, I assumed that Fortnum and Mason would be just as fabulous but it was not quite the same. F & M was much much smaller and only had one small food area which was fine by me since I was already saturated with Harrods.



I settled on the parlour at F & M where I had a pot of smoky tea and 2 mini scones with clotted cream and strawberry jam. Then I decided to be very bad and not have anything of substance but since I was still hungry I ordered some strudel which was good but not as good as I had anticipated. I will say that the interior of Fortnum & Mason was beautiful and quite charming. The day concluded with Sonya and I eating dinner at S & M which stands for sausage and mash, I will write all about that in a different posting. So long to department store dining.

Sweet London

When planning my trip to London, I did not plan on eating so many sweets or pastries.

Who knew that PAUL Patisserie was going to be lurking around every corner!

Sonya and I arrive in London and got to the flat

we were staying at in the morning. We had an overnight flight so sleep took precedence over food. Once we

napped and were heading out for

the day we were on a quest to eat lunch at a proper fish & chips shop. Our hostess

Nancy suggested we try a place that sounded like it was right around the corner. I was

really eager to try the authentic food so we walked a bit further out of the way than was necessary. The one good thing was that Sonya's bank was on the block that were on searching for the fish & chip place. At this point I was STARVING & about to have a low blood sugar meltdown so I told Sonya that I would be right back & I ran across the street to PAUL & got a mini chocolate croissant & a vanilla macaroon. My first bite of London food was of the vanilla macaroon & that was the moment that my love affair (sometimes hate) with PAUL was started up again.

I had forgotten about PAUL (Ft. Lauderdale FL location) for 2 reasons, one being I thought it was just some cute French patisserie that was only in the Sawgrass mills outlet mall & I did not try the famous macaroon when I was there (I know crazy).
The other reason (this makes 3) which was subliminal that I wanted to forget about PAUL is because that is the name of my ex boyfriend who I was trying to put out of my mind.

Since I stumbled upon PAUL the first day we were in town, I assumed we would have to make special trips back to PAUL to get a bite of heaven before the trip was over. Boy was I wrong, everywhere Sonya & I went we saw PAUL. Apparently, there are many PAUL'S all over the city of London. I think that the only way to describe how many PAUL'S there are in London is to say that it is like trying to find a Starbucks in NYC meaning they are literally everywhere & you do not have to look it up in the directory. Well when we finally got to the Marleybone tube station which was right next to our flat, we found PAUL (my London boyfriend) yet again. I am not sure if I am exaggerating or not but I think I may have eaten at PAUL on a daily basis while I was in London or perhaps PAUL was just occupying too much space in my head. I was sad when the trip was over because I really enjoyed London but I was happy to know that when I got home I could break up with PAUL for good. One of the other things that I was pondering standing in Marleybone station is why are the people here not grossly obese like in the states if they have tons of food around. Right in the center of the station, there is a huge candy boat. There is also a grocery store right next to PAUL, a pasty (like an empanada) shop, a bagel shop, a Burger King, & a sports bar.

I think the reason (explained by my friend Christian who is a dietitian raised in London) that Londoners are not as fat as Americans is because they have smaller portions of food & they walk a lot. Perhaps they are laughing at all the tourists who get trapped buying candy at the tube station.

The next must try stop on the sweet train was Patisserie Valerie. I had a cream filled doughnut which was great but that was the first day I was in town before I got swept away by my very DIRTY boyfriend PAUL. Valerie & I never had a chance to really get to know each other.

When I was looking through the Time Out London guide I came across a bakery called Hummingbird which was described as an American style bakery, so naturally I had to put it on the to do list more for Sonya really since she is a cup cake officionado. I tell myself this as a way of rationalizing eating cup cakes in London. We had tried a very bad cup cake earlier in the week which was just pretty so my hopes were not very high for London's finest cup cakes. Although I am no expert when it comes to cup cakes, I must say that the cup cakes at Hummingbird were hands down the best cup cakes I have ever had anywhere period.

Red velvet on the left & Vanilla Vanilla on the

right.

Very pretty but bad malt ball cup cake below

So it is a good thing that London is an easy walking city because I did do a fair amount of walking but then again, I did a very fair amount of eating. Sonya had the camera so on the day that she went on a walking tour without me, she took this great picture of caffe Nero which sums up the trip in a sweet little package. Shouldn't it always be cake time?