NYC - Day 4 Friday 8/17

Last Day!

On our last day, we said goodbye to our nice Harlem apartment, dropped our stuff off at the luggage-holding store near Penn Station, and set out to Soho.

 The Soho area is pretty cool. It had some really interesting stores that I have never seen anywhere else. One of which was called Evolution and had everything to do with animals, insects, and humans. So, it had fossils, every kind of beetle, moth, and butterfly imaginable, bones, globes, rocks, etc. It was such a cool place and won Ansell and I’s best store in New York award.

Soho also had a little shop called Mini Cupcakes. It is exactly how it sounds. I chose the Cookie Dough one although I think the Smores would have been fun as well. It’s $1 for one, $3 for 3 and I think $5 for 6. The next time I might just get all the flavors to try it out.

These cupcakes are so small that even 6 of them probably wouldn’t add up to a full cupcake. :)

We also visited this fantastic boutique hotel/restaurant called Isola. The restaurant part is like an indoor/outdoor space. The walls and ceiling are all glass and they incorporate a lot of greenery and open space so it feels like the outdoors but temperature controlled. Ansell and I really loved it and we spent some time enjoying a drink (beer for Ansell and tea for me) while doing some quiet reading. 


I really appreciate when places allow us just to hang out and sip drink quietly while reading. The wait staff didn’t bug us much and didn’t pressure us to buy more stuff.

This is what we get in Portland.
Yeah...it's hard to top.

For lunch, we passed a cabaret place doing a $10 lunch deal and took advantage. We actually got a lot of food and it was pretty good quality for $10. It was obviously a “get-them-in-the-door” tactic though so you could meet the girls inside. I wasn’t that impressed though. If I wanted to see bored attractive girls dancing to music I’d go to a club, at least there the girls would be having fun. Besides when you used to live in Portland, OR and got to see fire dancers and gymnastics just taking off your clothes isn’t very impressive, just boring. So we ate cheaply and left.

These are all paintbrushes stuck in clear gesso.

We rounded out the day by meeting up with another of Ansell’s friends, Mitch, who is in art school and visited the Museum of Modern Art, or MoMA. We timed it to coincide with their free entry period and it was packed. Despite that we had a nice time looking around. I’m not a big fan of modern art and I really appreciated Mitch filling in some of the back-story and interesting details about certain paintings, styles of art, and artists. I also appreciated how low-key he was. He never came across as those artists who are so into themselves and what they’re doing that they’re a chore to be around. Instead he was refreshingly honest and down-to-earth. You can check out his artwork at www.mitchpaster.com.

After that we went to a cool divey diner and I got way too many pancakes. I downed those pancakes like I hadn’t eaten pancakes in months, which is kinda true.

Full on pancakes & happy from our time in New York we caught the bus home to DC.

We had such a wonderful time, Ansell got to visit some old friends and I met new ones, we saw amazing things, ate lots of food, drank lots of tea and overall had a great vacation. I can’t wait to go back!

See you soon New York!

NYC - Day 3 Thursday 8/16

Lower Manhattan here we come!

Thursday morning was spent exploring the Financial district. It’s a lot more interesting than I thought it would be!

We visited the Federal Reserve (boring) and the Stock Exchange first. It weirded me out because the Stock Exchange had the Chinese flag flying. We soon learned that they were having a summit or something there. All the Chinese businessmen and women seemed really excited. Yay for cultural exchange!

We walked down to the waterfront and saw the Brooklyn Bridge before stumbling upon this hidden restaurant alley. On either side of the alley were restaurants and the alley itself had been taken over by tables and hungry financers. It was wonderful.

I am constantly amazed at how well NY creates community spaces. You don’t go 10 blocks without seeing some kind of park or community area, which I think is really important in such a big area.

After eating we headed to Battery Park and saw the distant figure of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Then we walked over to the 9/11 Memorial but the area was totally sealed off and that was really disappointing. I really think it should be open to everyone. One day it will be but for now I understand they have to control the crowds.

The plans for the whole area, and the building of the new tower and the other towers, are very interesting and I can’t wait to see it all completed. It’s amazing that when I eventually take my kids to see it you’d never know that in the not so distant past there were two towers there.

After the Financial District we went to the West Village and hung out. Plenty of cool restaurants and stores. 

We relaxed (and people-watched) at an Italian Café, Olio e Piu, and I enjoyed a nice cup of tea and some Italian cheesecake while Ansell had beer and salmon.

The cheesecake wasn’t what I expected, in a good way. It wasn’t very sweet and was very dense. It was served with melted dark chocolate that was almost like ganache. It was something I wouldn’t have normally ordered but really enjoyed.

We then discovered the Village’s “High Line” which used to be train tracks that the city repurposed into a green, community walkway. This was hands-down my favorite place in New York.

It was so lush and it was great to get off of the street and up higher, where things seem clearer. It was such an unexpected space and I was delighted that the city had invested the money to make such a wonderful community space. I feel that DC and a lot of big cities really lack areas like this.

I thought a lot about my Aunt Carol when I walked along. I think she would have enjoyed it just as much as I did. I would like to one day walk arm in arm along the path and admire the greenery together. It’s such a peaceful place within the heart of all the hustle and bustle.

I want to go back so bad!

That evening Ansell and I met his friends at their apartment in Brookyln. As soon as I walked in I thought I had interrupted a TV show about New York artists. It literally looked exactly like one would expect a struggling artist apartment to look like. Nice!

They had set out a fantastic spread for us and it was great to meet Ansell’s friends from Barcelona. They were awesome people and I can’t wait to visit them again!

We got drunk then dragged ourselves home to Harlem. What a great, long, day!

Birthday Trifle

Birthday Trifle

     For my birthday I didn’t want the usual cake with the typical bunch of candles. I wanted something where everyone could blow out a candle. I find that moment of attention where everyone is waiting for you to attempt to blow out a ton of candles while your probably spitting all over the cake… awkward.

     So, I decided to make individual trifles, a staple in the British dessert arena and in keeping with my birthday theme.  I remember vividly the first time I ate trifle. It was a Marks & Spencer’s individual trifle cup and to this day it is still the best trifle I have ever had.

This is how I made my own variation.

     First, keep in mind that these are American British trifles. Other than the fruit every other ingredient, especially the custard, is different in America. Still good though (plus, other than me, who’s going to know?!)

     I did this over three days so I spent a minimal amount of time each night on it.

Makes 12 glass goblets

1st layer: 3 days out - Fruit mix: Cut the fruit and sprinkle with sugar a couple days ahead of time and refrigerate in Tupperware. I used Strawberries and blueberries. Raspberries would have been awesome they are super expensive.

2^nd layer: 2 days out – Custard. In America this is just vanilla pudding. I used instant vanilla pudding and one packet was good for one layer with ¼ cup in each goblet. Go ahead and make this ahead of time. It keeps well.

3^rd layer: 3 days out -Bake a cake, homemade or from a mix, and let it cool completely (overnight is good).

                  2 days out – Remove the hard crusts and crumble the soft inside of the cake in large chunks. If you are making a large trifle you can just cut the cake to fit.

    

     I then covered and let sit overnight. To keep cake soft make sure it’s sealed tightly.

4^th layer: Custard

5^th layer: Fruit

6^th layer: Immediately - Whipped cream. The closest to authentic is heavy whipped cream. 

NOTE: The cream will fall flat in minutes but cool whip is totally the wrong taste. So, put the whipped cream on at the last minute.

Ansell stopped me right after this picture to tell me about the whipped cream falling. So learned that lesson the hard way.

 

     You can layer fruit, custard, and cake as much as you want. A basic trifle is simply fruit, custard, cake, cream with one layer of each. If you do layer don’t make the layers too thick. The beauty of trifle is you should be able to get a bit of each layer in each bite.

     A big strawberry and candle is the finishing touch.

Delicious!!!

Cake Invasion!

I mentioned this briefly on the Izalia Laser Spa facebook page, ie the place I work at, that we had a wedding cake invasion.


However, I didn't get to show all the pics I took, thus this post!


Anyway, one morning before work Occasionally Cake, a wedding cake shop that also does cupcakes etc, photographed their beautiful cakes in our equally lovely spa. 

I know, it's almost too pretty to look at directly.

It was a marriage made in heaven and the sugar of it all was captured by local favorite photographer Paul Bohman.

They even have snazzy t-shirts!

I got to talk to the co-owner and cake creator Sabrina and she is super nice and passionate about her cakes and the decorating of her new store near the waterfront in Old Town Alexandria. I'm sure by the time it's open (sometime in March, fingers crossed) it will be gorgeous! Can't wait!

Until then, enjoy the eye candy!

My favorite cake!

Oooohh the colors!

Welcome to Art Deco!