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Showing posts with label ELENI NY. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ELENI NY. Show all posts
Monday, December 20, 2010
Like clockwork, every December I suffer from a severe case of Extreme Gingerbread Addiction (EGA)
It hit big time last week and I was ready to attack anything with the word 'Gingerbread' in sight. Fortunately I restrained myself from wolfing down 'gingerbread' dog biscuits at the Grand Central Xmas Fair....
Nor did I wolf down Whole Foods PC/natural/zero/trans fat 'Folk' gingerbread cookies. Would you?
Whole Foods has a DIY gingerbread 'chalet' too. Who cares. I like my gingerbread to be men and unadulterated.
I noticed Whole Foods' mistletoe nearby.'Not for human consumption'
Is someone expecting ET to show up? Is Santa an ET..?
I am not fond of French Pain d'Epice de Dijon either. This is a kind of soft honey bread/cake that is such a distant relative of gingerbread it hardly bears being in same category in my humble opinion.
A newish pastry chain in New York, La Financiere, fancies itself to be very Frenchie since they offer macarons. They admonished me for taking this picture, so perhaps they really ARE French? These look like standard issue gingerbread that could well be left over from last year and outsourced to boot. I was not impressed.
Union Square Farmers Market can be depended upon for the old fashioned ginger cookie.
And they had the 'brokens' on sale. These were not half-bad though a true ginger cookie should be break-your-teeth-hard and these were not sadly :( Tant pis.
Breezy Orchard Farms had practically life-sized gingerbread at the outrageous price of $5 bucks. I did not have the nerve to fork over the dough, but I did give them a gentle squeeze and they were sufficiently rock hard. No brokens or on sale yet malheureusement...
You can get a perfectly good cup of hot apple cider for a mere $2 at the Breezy Hill stand along with apples up the whazoo etc.
Chocolate 'gingerbread' men on a stick from NUNU in Brooklyn. Lately ANYTHING at all from Brooklyn is hot hot hot.
I looked for a possible substitute like a gingerbread men tree ornament but was not lucky at Union Square...
Eleni NYC does have gingerbread taxis if you're so inclined to contemporary shapes. My gingerbread history goes way back - to the days when I stood side-by-side with my mom baking. I helped cut out and decorate gingerbread cookies to go on our tree. Adding the strings was another favorite task. In addition I ate all broken, damaged gingerbread (when no one was looking of course) so they could be spared embarrassment on the tree. You can understand why my gingerbread addiction is longstanding...
One year Anita of Desserts First sent me a tin of gingerbread and I sent her a watercolor in deep gratitude. If any PBers gets the urge to follow her example do not resist!
Photo courtesy of SarabethI did find the gingerbread of my dreams last week. Hard as a rock and full of intense gingery flavor like the kind my mother made. At Sarabeth's Bakery! I didn't have my camera with me, but I found this picture on Sarabeth's blog. It turns out her utterly divine and quite spare icing is WHITE CHOCOLATE! Who knew? I wonder if the cookie recipe is in her fab cookbook? The icing recipe is on her blog so stop by. I'm not allowed to DYI my own gingerbread. I'm not safe around raw gingerbread dough - I will eat it without thinking twice. Would you? 
New Yorkers are out there running around like maniacs shopping till they drop. I am contemplating running back to Sarabeth's for more True Gingerbread.
New Yorkers are out there running around like maniacs shopping till they drop. I am contemplating running back to Sarabeth's for more True Gingerbread. Should I?
It only comes once a year.
You tell me :)
BONJOUR EXTREME GINGERBREAD LOVERS!
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
New York Memories, original watercolor, 9" x 12"
I'm back on the streets of New York, PB readers. I'm on assignment!
I'm researching cupcakes at MAGNOLIA BAKERY for a painting commission from PARIS!
I looked in the Magnolia Bakery window at 401 Bleecker Street, on the corner of West 11th Street. It was Bedlam. Hands grabbing at multi trays of cupcakes. Was a bake sale going on ?
Do they mark down their cuppies after 4PM like at Eleni's NY?
YIKES! I better get in there and get mine.
First you grab your box.
Then you have to choose.Decisions...decisions...
They brought out a fresh tray of cupcakes. YAYI asked someone...are they on sale?
They looked at me like if I was crazy :)
Magnolia Bakery is full of signs -CAKE RULES!
It's a little bit like going off to summer camp once you enter the bakery.
ONLY 12 CUPCAKES PER PERSON!
(Or off with your head)
ORDER WELL IN ADVANCE FOR HOLIDAYS!
BE MINDFUL.DO NOT REST YOUR PURSE OR CUPCAKE BOX IN THE CAKE DISPLAY WINDOW!
Of course that is my cupcake box with my one little cuppie sitting in the lower left of the CAKE DISPLAY WINDOW.
OUCH! Hey wait, these cakes are mighty pretty...
And Magnolia has very pretty Key lime cheesecakes...
AND chocolate pudding mini pies...
Not to forget this FAB peppermint icebox cake. WOWVery traditional American old fashioned cakery going on here.
And you can make all of these if you get The Magnolia Bakery Cookbook.
Back on the street I noticed the cupcake icer applying her pastry arts skillfully to each cuppie.When she saw me taking a picture, she shook her finger at me...just like in France. Hey, I'm out on the street? It's true that there are BIG cupcake wars in New York City. And everyone guards their secrets like diamonds.
My one beautiful cupcake... I don't even like cupcakes, cake or icing, but I must admit I gobbled it down later on after the sketches were done. J'adore Les Cupcakes! Temptation is rampant at Paris Breakfast. What's a girl to do? ? ?
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