Buttery Bliss and "Backyards"

Last week, playgroup brought us to SoHo and the exciting Vesuvio Playground (equipped with a free public pool, a huge playground, swings, and sprinklers - the kids were in Heaven!). I was hoping our luck in finding a bakery nearby would be good since the playground was named after the iconic Vesuvio Bakery (which is now closed unfortunately). But I had no idea how lucky we would be!

We stumbled upon Dominique Ansel Bakery. It looked like a cute French bakery, but then I saw that their chalkboard sign said they were just named one of the Top 5 Destination Bakeries (still can't find where that title comes from, but I believe them...read on).

I asked the lady to give me their best bakery item, so she suggested a DKA: Dominique's Kouign Amann. I had never heard of such a treat, but she described it as essentially a caramelized croissant. It was incredible!! The pastry was so tender and flaky. The caramelized exterior created the perfect texture - not gooey but not hard at all. And the center, where all the buttery caramel settled (but wasn't a messy pool), was seriously one of the best bites I've ever taken.

Hannah got a chocolate macaron, which didn't disappoint at all. Now I need to go back and try all the other amazing treats! My other favorite thing was the garden seating in the back. Such a relaxing atmosphere and the perfect place to enjoy a treat that will put you into a momentary butter coma!

So our trip to this amazing bakery and enjoying a peaceful moment sitting in patio furniture, surrounded by greenery and covered with natural shade, left me yearning for a backyard. Don't get me wrong, I'm really enjoying being a city dweller, but I'd like to introduce you to our "backyard":

Actually, we are very fortunate to have a balcony, and accomodating a full-size BBQ grill is one of the greatest perks of our place. But my husband feels that he has found the solution that will bring together the best of city and suburban dwelling: astroturf. He is certain that covering the cement balcony with a perfectly measured piece of fake grass will make for a very comfortable grilling/lounging space.

Let's just say that I haven't had the most open mind about this idea. Maybe it's my flashbacks of daily strolls through Durham on the sketchy side of Roxboro Road to get to our favorite walking path. It was not uncommon to see an overgrown lawn leading to a porch covered in astroturf, which was inevitably so worn down that its bright green hue was now a dingy gray.

So I tried googling astroturf, thinking I might find images of classy back patios covered in astroturf and topped off with a nice outdoor dining set. But the results weren't that reassuring. Mostly, I saw football fields and mini golf courses. Then there were a lot of random things covered in astroturf:

I wouldn't call it the epitome of class.

That said, I'm open to look at all angles. Any thoughts...?

Grandaisy and Gravel

The girls and I found another winner this week. I had Friday off of work, so I loaded the kids up for a morning of running errands. We planned to cover a lot of territory, so the buggy board was strapped to the stroller in hopes of avoiding the dawdling feet of my 3-year-old. It seemed like a great idea, but there were two major drawbacks: 1) the uncoordinated feet of that 3-year-old's mother kicked the buggy board so many times that I broke my big toenail and bled all over the sidewalks of downtown; 2) with a baby in the stroller, a preschooler on the buggy board, "I just worked four 12-hour shifts this week" hair, and all sorts of bags draped from the stroller, I became a true "shlepper" and earned many interesting looks. But all of that aside, we accomplished a lot, found a great bakery along the way, and hit up one of our favorite parks.

The bakery: Grandaisy is a quaint little bakery in upper TriBeCa. When I got over my initial disappointment that they didn't have chocolate chip cookies, I decided 11:00am was late enough for lunch and we ordered two of their Roman-style pizzas and a panini dolce.

The pizza was incredible! I tried the zucco, a thin-crust pizza (served unheated, which worked well and didn't taste like the hardened piece of pizza sitting in a take-out box in the fridge (which I actually don't mind at all!)). It was topped with butternut squash, onions, gruyere cheese, and sea salt. Bursting with flavor and delicious! My picky eater had the plain pomodoro, which was simply crust and sauce, but also very tasty.

When I ordered the chocolate with cream cheese panini dolce, I thought it was a macaron-style cookie. So I initially felt that it was way too dry and crumbly. However, I quickly realized it was a chocolate shortbread cookie, and my opinion softened (though the cookie didn't). The shortbread had a deep chocolate flavor and the cream cheese had a yummy sourness to it. Not my favorite treat ever, but I was very satisfied.

To relax for a minute before trekking home, we stopped to play at Washington Market Park on Greenwich Street. Hannah adores the train and settled right in. And Abbie was so satisfied, after watching Hannah and me devour our delicious pizza and cookies, to sit in the dirt and eat some rocks.

Note: Grandaisy also has a location on the Upper West Side at 176 West 72nd St #2, New York, NY.

Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass

I love how so many places in New York City are named after the actual location - SoHo (South of Houston Street), TriBeCa (Triangle Below Canal Street), NoLita (North of Little Italy), etc. But DUMBO is not only my favorite name of the sort (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass), but it's also one of my favorite places to visit. The in-laws were in town last week, so we spent an afternoon making the roundtrip to this charming Brooklyn neighborhood and of course ended up with some delicious treats along the way! Here's the tour:

Walk the Brooklyn Bridge.

Eat the best pizza in New York at Grimaldi's (the new location next door, but the same great pizza!)

Walk around Pier One. Ride Jane's Carousel (the girls adored it!!!) - the most joy that could possibly be packed into 3 minutes!

Make a stop at the French patisserie Almondine on Water Street. My father-in-law lived in France for two years, so he enjoyed the very French atmosphere of this picturesque little bakery (so picture-perfect that we had to veer around the newlyweds taking wedding photos on the front steps!).

Serious Eats dubbed Almondine the winner of the Brooklyn leg of the best chocolate chip cookie contest, therefore, I had no choice but to try it. The cookie was the same size as my apartment and absolutely delicious! Like a good New Yorker, it was crispy and soft at the same time, and it had an almost caramelized flavor (but not to the burnt-tasting extreme like City Bakery). I was wishing for a little more chocolate (don't let the picture fool you, there are more than 3 chocolate chips, but still not quite enough), but overall, a winner!

Since you can't go to a French bakery without indulging in fresh macarons, my mother-in-law picked out several of the colorful two-bite macarons to try (not realizing that the size in no way correlates with the price!). They were wonderful - dense yet perfectly fluffy, flavorful, and filled with delicious creams and jellies. I loved the pistachio, James preferred the black cherry, and Hannah enjoyed the chocolate. There were a dozen other pasteries that looked delicious as well, which gives us every excuse to come again!

Finally, ride the East River Ferry home.

It was a perfect day!

Traveling Sweet Tooth

We were recently in Utah to visit family, and of course it didn't take long for my mind to turn to treats! Thanks to my mother-in-law's killer baking skills, I usually have a full supply of sweets for our entire stay. But with a Utahn recently winning Cupcake Wars, of course I had to make a special trip to try her goods! After eating the cupcakes at Sweet Tooth Fairy, there is no question why Megan Brown won - her cupcakes are fantastic! I tried the chocolate with salted caramel frosting. The cake was moist, dense and full of flavor. The frosting had that perfect balance of savory/sweet that the sea salt adds to the caramel, and it was perfectly smooth. Loved it!

The red velvet cupcake was also good, but not quite the same blow-your-mind flavor (and the frosting has an almondy taste that caught me off guard).

Of course, being a cookie fanatic, I had to try a chocolate chip cookie. It was good, but I'd stick to the cupcakes. Honestly, if I weren't so spoiled by NY cookies, this one might top my list. But now that I know what's really out there, I missed the crispy exterior, soft middle, and quality dark chocolate. This cookie was soft all over and a little lacking in the chocolate. 

Finally, my sister-in-law has brought Sweet Tooth Fairy cake bites to family dinners on several occasions, and I HIGHLY recommend them! I think they are the best cake bites I've ever had. My favorite is red velvet, with double fudge being a close second. These are definitely rich and sweet, but perfectly so. Best of all, they deliver (and since this is a blog about New York City treats, this somehow makes this post a little more relevant)! They go on hiatus for the summer months to avoid delivering melted blobs, but will be back to usual on September 4th. 

As a side note, I love the tooth fairy. Whenever I lost a tooth, I was so excited to leave the tooth under my pillow and a cup of water next to my bed. In the morning, I'd have a dollar under my pillow and water dyed the color of the sweet fairy's dress. My husband, on the other hand, grew up in a family of 5 boys. His dad convinced them all that the tooth fairy was a hunchbacked ogre with mangled hands that sneaked into their rooms at night. Still hoping my tradition wins out when our girls start losing teeth....