Eataly Is Love

An event of monolithic proportions occurred in New York this week: Eataly opened. For those who are unfamiliar with the concept, Eataly is basically an All-Italian Supermarket with the highest quality and best selection of Italian products outside of Italy. Though there are a few locations actually located in Italy, and in other parts of the world too, Eataly New York (conveniently right across the street from school...!) is the first of its kind in North America. Mario Batali and his business partner Joe Bastianach (and Joe's mother, Italian food maven Lidia Bastianch are major investors in store and I have to tell you that it is truly amazing. They have everything: the finest meats, bread, fresh pasta, dried pasta, cookbooks, fish, a mozzarella bar, a Parmesan bar, Alessi products, wine, beer, spices, jarred sauces, fresh produce, desserts, coffee...everything.

It's a beautiful store and though my hand was a little shaky from excitement, I took a few pictures so y'all can see inside. It is so wonderful that I have a feeling that I just might become a regular in the coming weeks...


This view is looking back on 5th ave...can you spot Mario Batali?!


Meat Counter (a lovely red-haired Texan named Jordan who is in my management class at school works behind here, she's a peach)


Aisles and aisles of pasta and sauce = heaven on earth.


Parm wheel station -- isn't that just amazing?!


Lovely wee desserts

Eataly is located at 200 5th Avenue in New York. Though they don't appear to have a website yet, you can check out their Facebook page or just google Eataly NY and have about 60 dozen hits come up!

Operation Wedding Cake: They Have Eyes!

So even though it may not seem like it, Operation Wedding Cake is still in motion. The trouble with gumpaste is that it takes so long to dry so it is hard to do things back to back to back but since my wee bride and groom penguins had, had a little while to set up, I decided to tackle their eyes and beaks last night.


I must admit that it does give them personality! I hope they don't look to stunned! I outfitted the Collin Murray penguin with a dashing bow-tie and I did think about attaching his wee hat but I'm not sure that it is going to sit right on his head, so I may have to remake it or just make the call that Collin Murray penguins don't wear hats.

As for the bride penguin, I made her some tiny, tiny little flowers and as soon as I find her a veil, I will accessorize her as well! Stay tuned!

My Favorite Part Of Summer

There have been very few ways to beat the heat in New York City this summer. In fact, I've only found two: air conditioning and the ice cream sandwiches from Three Tarts Bakery. Y'all may remember Three Tarts from the first time that I wrote about them in May. I've kept frequenting the store since then, not just because of their delicious tarts, marshmallows and cookies but once it go warm, because of the ice cream sandwiches. They have terrific flavors like lemon basil ice cream on olive oil cake or carrot cake with cream cheese ice cream -- they are really inventive and truly delicious, always fresh and a perfectly sized little treat.

Since it is so hot today, I took Russell to Three Tarts before a stroll along the Highline. Tonight's flavors:


Cinnamon ice cream between hazelnut cake


Chocolate ice cream with brownie chunks between chocolate cake

Let me tell you, just like every time, the sandwiches were delicious and a great way to cool off on a hot, hot, hot summer night which is why they are my favorite part of summer.

Fruit Salad Done Right

I'm always a little terrified when I go to a friend's house and hear that fruit salad is on the menu. It's the thought of all that cut cantaloupe and honey dew melon; the whole grapes or limp strawberries; and oh, gasp, the brown bananas -- I just hate it and it hardly ever tastes very good! Most of the time people just pick out the fruit they like and the rest goes to waste anyway! The point, my faithful blog readers, is that we can do better justice to the fruit.

Try arranging fruit separately on a pretty platter or grouping fruits that all ripen in the same season together in a salad. Mixing together medium-dicing cantaloupe and melon, adding a bit of minced fresh mint, some blueberries, a splash of lemon and a tiny bit of sugar also makes a lovely salad but it doesn't even compare to the combination that I have absolutely fallen in love with from the sandwich chain 'wichcraft... For their little slice of deliciousness, combine segmented oranges and grapefruit with diced mangoes and pineapples and then toss in a few blueberries -- that's it. The 'wichcraft salad is so fresh and delicious that I can't go to the restaurant and not order it -- it's like heaven in a little plastic takeaway container.

The Doughnut Plant

While Russell and I were exploring the Lower East Side yesterday, we didn't just get our fill of sugar at Economy Candy, we were actually already pretty hyped up from a stop at The Doughnut Plant.


Grand Street storefront

The Doughnut Plant opened in 1994 in the basement of an old tenement on the Lower East Side. Back then, owner Mark Israel delivered the yeasted doughnuts he made using his grandfather's recipe by bicycle to various specialty grocery stores around New York City -- in 2000, with the help of his family, he opened the storefront that you can visit today at 379 Grand Street. Since then, Mr. Israel has invented the jelly-filled square doughnut, popularized a cake doughnut in flavors like carrot cake and tres leches, filled doughnuts with creme brulee and opened nine Doughnut Plant stores in Japan. Though the storefront is small, and a bit of a palaver to line up in, especially when the line-wait is 45 minutes, it is charming and the wait is worth it. The doughnuts are delicious, inventive, and super fresh.

We tried a few of the items on the menu, and can you blame us? After all, waiting in line all that time was hard work! Here are a few shots of The Doughnut Plant and what else, her doughnuts.


Saturday's Menu


A not-so-vast array of doughnuts -- they were busy!


Square Glazed Jelly Doughnut


A look inside

The Doughnut Plant is located at 379 Grand Street on Manhattan's Lower East Side.

Economy Candy

My step-brother Russell is visiting New York this weekend and so we did a little exploring today of the Lower East Side. We checked out this place that I've been dying to check out for a while now called Economy Candy. It's an new-fashioned candy store at its best. There is a sugar-free section, acres of gum, vintage candy, bagged candy, nuts, chocolate, you name it, really. We kind of went a little wild in there but because it as "Economy" Candy, I left this store only $8.07 lighter!

Here are a few snaps of the store:



Note the jam-packedness of the store...


See, chocolate really does help with all life's boo boos


I wish I liked gum balls because these just look so fun!


My haul...at least one of these is fat-free (see the label, it's gotta be true!)and never you mind about the sugar!

Economy Candy is located at 108 Rivington Street (at Delancy) on Manhattan's Lower East Side.

And, if you are interested, one of my favorite food bloggers, David Lebovitz (he of the ice cream fame) recently was there too. You can check out his coverage of Economy Candy by clicking here.

Operation Wedding Cake: The Work On The Toppers Begin!

I've been a busy lady this week with school and externship business going on -- it's leaving little time for focus on blogs and wedding cake bits. Tonight though, since my hands were finally almost back to a normal color, I decided it was time to get to work on the cake topper. It's important to me that a cake topper has, to quote one of my chefs, 'a little personality'. I had been searching online for one that was sassy and fun and I came across plenty -- I came across plenty with enormous price tags (why is it that whenever the word wedding is in the title that things automatically get more expensive?) so I decided that I would try to make my own. Lucky for me, if things go south or if the perfectionist in me doesn't like my final result, I have plenty of (expensive) back ups -- I'm thinking of it as motivation.

A little known fact about Collin Murray, to anyone who isn't me or his family that is, is that he loves penguins. So to delight him I decided to make a "bride" and "groom" penguin cake topper. Here's what I've got so far:


When I started this evening, I had the penguin forms that I had made earlier this week and allowed to dry.


So after my work tonight, I have two wee penguins that I've dressed in their best whites.


I have a top hat and a selection of groom-like finishing touches -- I like the, ahem, Tiffany blue bow-tie with the red knot...


I also have a couple of bride-like necklaces. I can't decide which to use, I'm going to dust them with a little petal dust so the pearls with be iridescent and the red ones will be a little bit sparkly -- like garnets -- but we will have to see which one I decide to use in the coming days.


I've also started making some roses for a bouquet. I've got six right now but I might make more. Trouble is that they are only about as big as the head of a pen and kind of fiddly to make so we will have to see how my patience holds up!