Traveling Greek NYC

The boy greek touring through NYC with me, Kaycie, Angie and my mom. 

Here he is the in the weirdest and most expensive NYC hotel I have ever stayed in...more on this later.

Walking across the Brooklyn Bridge after spending a fun afternoon with my friend Tiffany.

Times Square

Rockefeller Center

Rockefeller Center 

BROOKLYN FOOD TOUR

While in New York (in June) at the Fancy Food Show Kelli and I went on a food tour of Brooklyn. I was so excited about doing this while I was in New York. On the morning of the tour we gathered at the Javits center and took a bus over to Brooklyn passing the World Trade Center site and the cutest little dog park where there was this cute little pug chasing all of these huge dogs around the park. Anyway I digress....Our tour guide was from Brooklyn and as we were driving out of Manhattan she told us fun little facts about Brooklyn, the mix of cultures that make up all of the little neighborhoods in Brooklyn. Did you know that if Brooklyn were its own city it would be the 4th largest city in the country? I had no idea.

Our first stop was was The Chocolate Room in the Park Slope neighborhood.
This was a fun chocolate shop and dessert cafe. They feature chocolates made by chocolatier Fritz Knipschildt. Each Knipschildt chocolate featured in the shop has the name of a woman. I loved that. We all got a sample of the chocolates. Kelli picked the "kelly" which was a strawberry, lemon and thyme ganache. I tried the "valentina" a tasty lavender caramel covered in chocolate.

They were voted in the 2008 Zagat as the 1# Dessert Cafe in NYC. Their chocolate cake was featured in the February 2007 of Oprah magazine. They gave us a little sample of cupcakes made from the same recipe as the chocolate cake and covered with fantastic dark chocolate frosting.
The next stop was at Sahadi

This is a Middle Eastern market. It is filled with and amazing assortment of dried fruits, cheeses, olives and spices.

I loved all of the amazing colors and smells. It really felt like I was in a spice market in the middle east.

I wish I knew more about middle eastern cooking because I am sure I could have stocked up on hard to find spices, chickpea flour, hummus and I can not even believe I did not buy any green olives.....I love green olives.

At Sahadis we sampled Spanakopita.

Right next door to Sahadi's we went to Damascus Bakery.

They are famous for the Pita bread they make. I bought a little sampling of Baklava while I was in this store. They also gave us a sample of a traditional lebanese kibbi pita sandwich. When I found out this sandwich was made from ground lamb I wanted to pass it up but I was inspired by Kelli, who had never been to NYC and was determined to try every new food she could find, so I tried it and really liked it. The next stops was Nicky's Vietnamese Sandwiches.

Here we had a sample of a traditional vietnamese sandwich. I was surprised to learn that vietnamese food is influenced by France and these sandwiches are made with traditional french ingredients a baguette, pate and mayonaise. I had the portobello mushroom sandwich and I really liked it.

All three of these places were on Atlantic Avenue. Article with additional places to visit on Atlantic Ave can be found here.

The next stop was my favorite. I was so hoping our tour would include a stop here so when I looked down and saw One Girl Cookies on the list I was so excited. This shop was everything I hoped it would be.

I loved the blue and brown color pallet and the great light fixtures and mirrors.
They recently added a little dessert room where the garage used to be. They still have the garage door which I hope they open when they do the dessert tasting bar which they have every Friday night.

The thing I love most about this company is their fantastic packaging, the owner used to be a buyer at Barneys which explains a lot about the great packaging. I love that the cookies are so tiny so you can eat 3 or 4 and not feel at all guilty about it. I also love that each cookie is named after the owner's grandmothers, aunts, great grandmothers etc. I love that. There is a geneology chart painted on the wall in the dessert room.
We got a fun little sampling of cookies here and I also tried the ice cream sandwich that was voted #1 Ice Cream Sandwich in NYC.

One Girl Cookies is in the Boerum Hill neighborhood which looked like it was filled with fun shops and restaurants.

The next stop was Joyce Bakeshop where we got another bag filled with cookies and pastries.

The last stop was Bierkraft in the Park Slope neighborhood.

Here they had a beer, cheese and chocolate tasting. Kelli and I passed on the beer but the cheese and chocolate tasting was really fun. It was also very interesting to hear about the way local breweries are producing beer using a lot of the methods that are used in wine making. The first tasting was a summer sampling. The beer had hints of passion fruit, the cheese had slight fruity notes and the chocolate was filled with a passion fruit syrup. It was really neat to see how all of the samplings were paired and the flavorings that tied them together. All of the items we sampled were from New York state most were from Brooklyn.
They sold 1000's of different types of beers for all around the world.

The Brooklyn food tour was really one of the best things I have ever done in NYC. I loved it. I really, really liked Brooklyn. It was great to walk around and actually see the blue sky. I really think in the future if I have an extra day in NYC I will take the subway out to Brooklyn and spend the day. It was great.

Legally Blonde the musical

I am such a sucker for musicals.  I really think I am the only person I have every heard of who cried at the end of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang when it was on broadway a few years ago........yes I could blame it on the red eye flight I took the night before and it was just exhaustion but I really think it is because I am a freak.  

Anyway, there were not any tears shed during Legally Blonde but I loved it so much.  I am already trying to figure out how I can get back to NYC so I can see it again.  Until then I guess I can watch it on youtube or the reality show on mtv The Search For Elle Woods.

On My Way

I am finally on my way to the Big Apple.


I am flying in and out of JFK. Does anyone want to guess on how long my flight will be delayed on the way home? I am going to guess at least one hour.

New York City Waterfalls

I just heard about this today on MSNBC and it looks really cool.
This Danish artist is putting up waterfalls around the city. Web site here.

Leave it to Olafur Eliasson—the guy who installed a giant artificial sun in London’s Tate Modern and dyed rivers in Germany, L.A., and Tokyo bright green—to create one of the biggest, most brilliant public art projects in city history. His 90- to 120-foot-tall man-made waterfalls, stationed at four sites along New York’s shores and lit up past sunset, make for the largest installation of the Danish-Icelandic artist’s career, but the project is not about size, he recently told the magazine: “It’s about making water explicit…falling water, it makes a sound, it engages a whole different range of senses. You see gravity.” We’re expecting them to be a rush. —


Locations
Between Piers 4 and 5 near the Brooklyn Heights Promenade
Brooklyn Bridge
Governor's Island
Pier 35 near the Manhattan Bridge

Tony Awards

I watched the Tony awards on Sunday night. I always get very excited to go to NYC after watching the Tony Awards. Going to a Broadway show and then walking out of the show into Times Square at night has got to be one of the most amazing feelings ever....such energy. I love it!
The one of the big winners was South Pacific.


I saw South Pacific in San Francisco a few years back with Angie and her friend Jackie. I liked it ok but I was not crazy about it. I am sure this production is 1000% better....I think Robert Goulet was the star of the production we saw.
In the Heights won the Tony for best musical. I really thought it looked like a fantastic show after watching the cast preform on the Tony's.
I was checking out some of the reviews of the shows in the New York Times and guess which musical is a Critics Pick?
Yes Xanadu...who would have thought that a musical on roller skates would be so much darn fun?

I think I will end up hitting the TKTS booth and see what the options are. I have had pretty good luck with that. Or there is always the Wicked lottery I mean this will be my 7th or 8th time trying to get those so the odds should be working in my favor this year right? Or if I get ambitious this weekend I could buy tickets using the discounts offered on the Broadway Box web site it looks like they have some discounts for some good shows.

The Gelato District

I love Bleaker Street in Greenwich Village. It has such fun little stores and restaurants all along the street. Imagine my excitement when I read that this area of the village is now being called Manhattan's gelato district.

Grom is the newest gelato shop to open here.
1. GROM
233 Bleecker St., at Carmine St. 212-206-1738
An ingredient-fetishizing, Slow Food–inspired juggernaut, with fifteen branches in Italy and another uptown. The company’s mission is to make gelato the exacting, old-fashioned way, eschewing artificial coloring and preservatives, of course, and using only first-rate (mostly Italian) ingredients: Hazelnuts and strawberries come from Piedmont, pistachios from Sicily, and lemons from the Amalfi coast.
Don’t Miss: Pistachio, hazelnut.
Where Made: Gelato base flash-frozen in Italy, daily whipping done on-site.
Nearby Subway Stops A, B, C, D, E, F, V at W. 4th St.-Washington Sq.
2. L’ARTE DEL GELATO
75 Seventh Ave. S., at Barrow St. 212-924-0803
3. CONES
272 Bleecker St., nr. Morton St. 212-414-1795
When Häagen-Dazs brazenly set up shop in Raul and Oscar D’Aloisio’s native, gelato-crazed Buenos Aires, the brothers decided that Americans had a lot to learn about ice cream, so in 1998 they opened this homey little storefront.
Don’t Miss: Dulce de leche, corn with an optional sprinkle of cinnamon, Johnnie Walker Black Label with macerated kumquats.
Price: $4.15 for a one-flavor cup.
Samples: Two when it’s busy; otherwise up to eight, but a taste of the Johnnie Walker–kumquat flavor will cost you a buck.

4. MILK & COOKIES BAKERY
19 Commerce St., nr. Seventh Ave. S. 212-243-1640
This custom-baked-cookie specialist also operates as an under-the-radar outpost of Il Laboratorio del Gelato, with a rotating assortment of five to seven flavors scooped individually or showcased in a multitude of ice-cream sandwiches. As a novel twist, cookies can also be baked to order on the spot, with customers choosing such ingredients as mint chips, blueberries ,and walnuts to spice up doughs in vanilla, chocolate, peanut butter, and oatmeal.

Don’t Miss: A single scoop and whatever cookie just came out of the oven.
Where Made: At the lab on Orchard Street.
Price: $2.25 a scoop; $4.50 a sandwich.
Nearby Subway Stops 1 at Christopher St.-Sheridan Sq.; A, B, C, D, E, F, V at W. 4th St.-Washington Sq.

I am most interested in the Milk and Cookies Bakery making your own cookies sounds like so much fun and the name is so cute! And i really am interested in trying Il Laboratorio del Gelato. This bakery was also included in a list of the cities best ice cream sandwiches.
On the topic of ice cream sandwiches this was voted #1

It is from
One Girl Cookies
68 Dean St., nr. Smith St., Boerum Hill, Brooklyn; 212-675-4996; $3
The tiniest, and the best of the bunch. One Girl spackles its cakey pumpkin or chocolate “whoopie” cookies with no less than Il Laboratorio del Gelato ricotta gelato.
I have so wanted to go to this store forever......I always buy a box of their cookies from Dean & Deluca everytime I am in the city. They make fantastic cookies but it is the super cute packaging that gets me every time. All of the packaging includes cute vintage photos of family members..... I love it.

If I feel like I need an adventure I may try to jump on the subway and find this amazing bakery.

A Little Light Reading

This looks like a must read before I go.....

Wildflowers for the Bees

I am so sad this takes place before I get to New York. On June 21st at Fort Greene Park in Brooklyn they will be holding a Wildflower Seed giveaway. One of my very favorite companies right now, Haagen-Dazs is supplying 2,000 packets of wildflower seeds to encourage people to plant flowers and help save the bees. There will also be a live hive on display under glass.

Blast from the past.......

I am thinking about going to the Lower East Side Tenement Museum. When the landlord of 97 Orchard Street died in the late 1980's the five stories above the storefronts he controlled were opened for the first time in fifty years. Inside were twenty apartments that were left exactly as they were when the landlord closed them up. Using city records and testimonies from descendents of residents many of the apartments have been restored to look as they did at various points of the building's tenure as a tenement house. You can tour different apartments and learn about real former tenants, their occupations and lifestyle.

I would like to go on the Getting by Tour which includes a visit the apartments of the German-Jewish Gumpertz family in the 1870s and the Sicilian-Catholic Baldizzi family in the 1930s, and learn about the networks of support that were available to them during hard times.
Or the tour about the Moore family, a group of Irish immigrants who lived in the building in 1869. In their restored home you learn about the struggles immigrants faced from the 19th century to present.


Located at 108 Orchard Street
Subway: F to Delancy, JMZ to Essex Street

Continuing Education

This morning I found classes offered at the Institute of Culinary Education in Manhattan. I think the walking tours look like a lot of fun. They offer walking tours of these areas Little India, Author Avenue (little Italy), Chinatown Dim Sum, Chocolate Factories and a Greenmarket Cuisine tour. The only one that will be offered while I am there is the NYC Cupcake tour. It might be fun. This is the tour description:
"All cupcakes are not created equal---this walking tour will show you the best of them. Join ICE’s resident cupcake expert Melanie Underwood on this sweet tour of her favorite cupcake spots of the city. Along the way you’ll eat and discuss what makes cupcakes one of America’s favorite treats at the famous Cupcake Café along with lesser known bakeries like Sugar Sweet Sunshine, Babycakes, Crumbs, and Billy’s. The class meets at 10 AM at La Bergamote (169 9th Avenue, at the southwest corner of 20th Street) for coffee and pastry. Wear comfortable shoes and bring an unlimited Metrocard. Tours run rain or shine. Registration for the walking tours is limited to those age 18+." $70
They also offer this class, Cooking in New York: A Five-Day Global Culinary Adventure. How much fun would it be to spend five days at a cooking school?

Grand Central Station

Can you believe I have never been to Grand Central Station? I have heard how beautiful it is and I feel like this should be the year I go.
It turns out there a lot of fun retail stores and restaurants located here.
There is a self guided walking tour that can be found here. The part of the terminal I really want to see is the Sky Ceiling. In 1998, as part of a 12 year terminal restoration project, the ceiling was cleaned to remove the stains left by tobacco, nicotine and coal smoke. If you look above the Michael Jordans Steakhouse there is a small dark patch of ceiling left untouched so you can see how dingy the ceiling used to be.
Also outside the terminal is the worlds largest display of Tiffany glass and the chandeliers inside the terminal are platted in real gold.

Scavenger Hunt Fun

If I were going to New York with a group of people I would love to do this scavenger hunt. They have scavenger hunts all over the city. They have outdoor hunts at the Bronx Zoo, Chinatown, the Village (Sex and the City themed) and Little Italy (Mafia/Gangster themed) and indoor hunts at the Met (Murder at the Met themed this one is the most famous), MOMA and the Museum of Natural History. The hunts are held every weekend and last 2 to 3 hours. They also hold these hunts in Los Angeles, Washington D.C., Boston and Chicago. More information on the web site here.

Tiffany & Co

I usually try to buy something from Tiffany & Co whenever I travel. I must confess when I am in NYC I usually buy a couple of pieces on Canal street. This year I am keeping my eye out for......

While I was in Hawaii I bought the necklace from the Tiffany Notes collection. I would like to add the cuff and the ring.



I really like this cocktail ring.
I also really like the bracelet and ring in the Tiffany Twist line

I also love the following pieces but they might a little bit out of my price range.

Beautiful butterfly brooch $30,000

A beautiful flower brooch in diamonds, sapphire and platinum $94,000. And these babies I think would be perfect to wear while checking the bees in the beehive. I think they would serve as inspiration for the little bees and they would produce enough honey that I could justify spending $530,000 for a pair of earrings.

Rise and Shine NYC

Oh how I love breakfast! My favorite NYC breakfast place is Sarabeth's. I love going to the location across the street from Central Park, sitting on the patio and watching people going in and out of the park. while eating lemon ricotta pancakes........oh heaven.


But I am feeling like I should try something new so here are some new breakfast options I have found.
202
Famous for French Toast that is made from brioche wedges soaked overnight in eggs (from free range chickens), whole vanilla pods and heavy cream then it browned in clarified butter. This is a the store of clothing designer Nicole Farhi. I know clothes and french toast could it get any better?
75 Ninth Ave., at 16th St.; 646-638-1173 Nearby Subway Stops A, C, E at 14th St.; L at Eighth Ave.

'ino
Who would have thought panini for breakfast but I guess that is what this place is all about. The entire menu is available from 9 a.m. on, though the designated breakfast section is home to one of the city’s now-iconic foodstuffs, the mighty truffled egg toast, an Italianate toad-in-the-hole blanketed with Fontina and bits of asparagus.
21 Bedford St., nr. Downing St.; 212-989-5769 Nearby Subway Stops 1 at Houston St.; A, B, C, D, E, F, V at W. 4th St.-Washington Sq.

Clinton Street Baking Company
I have had a number of people tell me how great this place is for breakfast. I guess that would explain the lines of people trying to get in for brunch on the weekend. They are rumored to have the best pancakes in the city. I guess it is not as crazy on weekdays.
4 Clinton St., New York, NY 10002 Nearby Subway Stops F at Delancey St.; J, M, Z at Essex St.

Sullivan Street Bakery
Great Pastries, bread making classes, and doughnuts....love it. The bombolone pictured above has been picked as the best doughnut in the city. I usually buy something made by Sullivan Street Bakery when I go into Dean and Delucas but it might be fun to make a trip into Hell's Kitchen and visit the actual bakery.
533 W. 47th St., nr. Tenth Ave.; 212-265-5580 Nearby Subway Stops C, E at 50th St.

Egg on a Roll
This sounds like a new thing to try. Egg, bread, bacon and cheese what could be better than that? I think I would like to try this at ’Wichcraft their version is made with a fried egg, bacon and Gorgonzola on Sullivan St Bakery’s “panini” roll.
There are a number of locations. This might be the easiest to get to 1 rockefeller plaza @ 50th street or 555 5th avenue @ 46th street

If I make a trip into Brooklyn this place has been voted #1 Breakfast in New York City

egg
135 N. 5th St., nr. Bedford Ave., Williamsburg; 718-302-5151 Nearby Subway Stops L at Bedford Ave.