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.