Most suggestions taken from David Lebovitz's blog at http://www.davidlebovitz.com/.
FIRST STOP: WE MUST!
405 West 23rd Street
New York City
(212) 206-0669
Popcorn!
560 5th Avenue
and
242 W 34th St/1 Penn Plaza
Black & White Cookies
115 Second Avenue
NYC
Gelato!
95 Orchard Street (between Broome & Delancey)
NYC
Last weekend one of my roommates (not the apple picking one :P) and I hosted a very classy party, in honor of the opening of a new performing arts center at our (engineering) school.
The opening of this performing arts center has been the topic of a lot of controversy lately, over many issues that generally center around the need for other improvements on campus, and the sheer amount of money being spent on this new building.
While I have my own opinions about this, I won't go into them in too much detail on this blog. However, as a club officer, I was invited to the invite-only Gala Opening Event last Friday night. I definitely wanted to go check it out, mainly because I was sure there would be good food there (and I was right!).
It was black-tie only - so sophisticated! I've never been to such a "grown up" event, so I was pretty excited to get to wear my black prom dress again ;). Unfortunately, I forgot my camera and didn't get any pictures of the night! I have some bad-quality cell phone pictures, but it doesn't do anything justice. The pictures you see now are from re-visiting the building the next morning, with my mom.
So, anyway, I spent most of the day on Friday preparing for our unofficial after-Gala event - the anti-event! Julie (my date for the evening!) and I really enjoyed the irony in the party hopping we did. I present to you our menu for the evening:
The petit fours took the longest to make - about 2 days. I deviated a bit from the original recipe listed above, starting with the Magnolia Bakery Vanilla Cupcake recipe, baked as a sheet cake, as the base. From the birthday cake mentioned in a previous post, I found layers were extremely easy to cut when using this recipe, so I didn't want to risk anything new! Especially trying to balance making all of this between classes and meetings.
The focaccia recipe's already made a debut at the Apartment Warming party, made by Chris both times! It's a huge crowd pleaser every time - everyone's usually surprised that it tastes so good, since the idea of grapes on pizza dough is a bit strange at first. I LOVE this stuff, and it was definitely a hit at the party.
(Can't have a classy party without champagne!)
A few weekends ago, my roommate and I went apple picking ($5 a bag...what a bargain!). We have wayyyy too many apples to know what to do with so we've both been baking like crazy. My favorite snack lately has been Baked Apples, which is super easy and makes the apartment smell absolutely amazing. I like to bake it in a toaster oven, since it's faster and uses less electricity (woo bills!..):
Baked Apples
1-2 apples
cinnamon sugar
nutmeg
pumpkin pie spice
few dabs of butter
Preheat oven or toaster oven to 350 F.
Slice the apple(s) in half and cut out the core, leaving the rest of the apple intact. Cut slits in the flesh of the apple so that all of the spices and butter can melt into the apple. Sprinkle on the cinnamon sugar, pumpkin spice, then nutmeg. Cut the butter into small pieces and dot it onto the apple halves. Bake for 30 minutes or until the apples are soft and bubbling.
I also made a pie the other day, I'm not actually sure if there's any left but it was very good. I usually use this Brown Butter Creamy Apple Pie recipe, but I wanted to try something different this time, so I found this Caramel Apple Pie recipe instead. It's definitely worth a try if you're looking for an apple pie recipe!
Other bloggers talking about apples right now:
Posie Gets Cozy (Sour Cream Apple Pie - definitely trying this one next time!)
Smitten Kitchen (Mom's Apple Cake)
Sweet Potatoe (Vegan Apple Pie, yum)
Simply Recipes (Applesauce)
I was so inspired to post earlier, and I made the mistake of switching on the tv, turning on my electric blanket (we're holding out on the heat in the apartment), and cozying up with....the internet. *shame*
I wish I could say that I was distracted by a book (I've been meaning to start A Widow For One Year), or, you know, my grad class readings (uhoh), or even my homework. But no - it was the internet that got me. Oy.
Anyway, last Sunday my mom and I went out to brunch at the aforementioned Flavour Cafe. We both ordered The F Bomb breakfast sandwich, described on their menu as "Flavour's very own breakfast sandwich.. 2 eggs, provolone cheese, our special sauce on a hard roll". It was delicious! The roll was what got me. Rolls can make or break a sandwich for me. I hate the really bready, starchy, almost tough rolls that are sometimes passed off as hard rolls. I'm the girl who only uses half a hamburger bun for hamburgers. But this roll was much more of a croissant/hard roll hybrid in terms of its texture and taste....deliciously flaky and tender. Yum!
I also ordered the Pumpkin Spice Latte to add to my now-growing list of fall-themed beverages that were had. The presentation was lovely, I'm a huge fan of whipped cream, as are most people! And the drink itself was not overly sweet, which I'm always afraid of when drinking a flavored coffee drink. I'll definitely be going back for more of this one as well. I love anything pumpkin flavored! Next up on the list is one of the campus cafe's drinks - Pumpkin Chai Latte.
Now, time to get to bed...working out with Julie at 7:30am tomorrow. Eek!
I know it's fall and classes have started because I've been craving coffee again. Of course, after my visit to Seattle, my coffee taste will never be the same again. Not that that's necessarily a bad thing! But all that's available on campus is Green Mountain so I've gravitated more towards the coffee based drinks, like mochas and lattes. Yum!
Chris and I got a Pumpkin Pie Latte at MochaBlend Cafe, a cute coffee place by Price Chopper near campus. I'm definitely a regular there, and Chris and I were in search of a fall-themed beverage. I figured they would pull through! My second favorite coffee place is Flavour Cafe and Lounge, closer to downtown Troy. Flavour Cafe has a super cute staff (SO friendly!) and I love the ambiance there. MochBlend is very earthy warm toned, and Flavour Cafe is full of cool, soothing colors. But, I have to say that even though Flavour Cafe has the edge of very skilled baristas (see below!), MochaBlend wins out by an edge because Flavour Cafe tends to have off-days where the coffee is just. not. good. Strange.
I can't wait to try all the other fall coffees and whatnot that I'm sure will spring up soon. And, this weather means I can finally break out my MarketSpice tea again!
All I have are cell phone pictures because I never think to bring my camera to these places...gah.
Amazing Pumpkin Pie Latte from MochaBlend
Chris approves! And I wanted something for scale..those mugs are humongous!
