By now, you know I love cupcakes. Sometimes, I lay awake at night wondering if I should’ve named my blog Stickers & Cupcakes. I always get angry when my Ziploc-enclosed cupcake gets (a) smooshed, (b) icing all over the bag (yes, I turn the bag inside out and lick, is that gross?).
Anyway, despite Cup-A-Cake’s shameless use of Comic Sans on its web-page, I’m really exited about the no-smash containers they created. Apparently, you can turn these $3 suckers upside down and the icing still won’t get all over the place. Magic? I think so.
If you are much fancier than the Cup-A-Cake, don’t travel, and just found $60 under your couch, you can get a fabulously fancy cupcake stand from Fred Flare. Obviously, you will also need a fancy Alice-in-Wonderland-esque tea party dress to eat off of this plate.
I’ve been pretty obsessed with cupcakes lately, so I was thrilled to see these ice-cream-cone-filled cupcakes on New York Magazine’s “Grub Street” blog. (The inside scoop was originally from Blondie & Brownie’s food blog.) And the food itself? $3.50 at the Treats Truck, which I visited when I was at the Renegade Craft Fair in Brooklyn this past year.
I was so excited about last week’s NY Times article called Finding Beijing in Flushing (which includes an interactive map and a printable “best food in flushing” cheatsheet) that I myself went over to Flushing, Queens (…which happens to be only 3 miles away) to try some of the food myself. For those of you who are Manhattanites, I wouldn’t poo-poo hiking out to Queens for what some consider the true Chinatown of NYC (take the 7 train out to Flushing or hop on the Port Washington line of the LIRR from Penn Station).
So, since the Olympics are in Beijing, and I got such pretty pictures of the food, I figured I’d give you my own (albeit, brief) food-tour of Flushing. Yum!
I had to start with my favorite drink. Bubble Tea can be made wrong, but they do it to perfection at Quickly (40-41 Kissena Blvd, pretty close to the train station). The taro (my favorite flavor — tastes a little like the milk at the bottom of your cereal bowl after Lucky Charms) milk tea with tapioca pearls cost only $2.50 (a good price for bubble tea)!
If you haven’t had Bubble Tea, those black balls above are the Boba, my favorite part of Bubble Tea. These little balls of tapioca are chewy, gummy-like, and nearly tasteless. They come up through a fat straw as you drink your tea and should be soft but not mushy.
Also near the train station is a little cart with meat on a stick. This stuff is seasoned to perfection and only $1 (cart on 41st near Kissena). The NY Times article recommends the lamb, and I agree!
These pork buns are everywhere in Flushing, mostly at bakeries. The sweet bread is steamed (there is also a baked version) with a BBQ-tasting pork mixture inside. Sounds weird? Tastes great!
While you’re in Flushing be sure to stop by some grocery or fruit stands. Not only do they have more eccentric fruits than are often available at your local grocery (lychee on left — don’t eat the shell, just the jelly-like stuff inside, and figs on right), but everything is much cheaper than the regular NYC prices (if you go a bit further from the train, they get cheaper)!
Finally, try some Asian desserts! (For this and other groceries, I went to the Hong Kong Supermarket on 37-11 Main St in Flushing, about a half of a dozen blocks from the train). I love the Milk Candies (right)!
Sometimes, you want the icing and the cupcakes… and an art project. If so, crazyaboutcupcakes.com has inspiration images that will make you drool!
If you want to torture yourself with more sweet snacks, check out Oh Joy’s recent post on magical looking icy pops from icypops.com.
In my most recent edition of Currently Obsessed , I mentioned that a recent thrill has come from eating vanilla frosting directly from the can, no cupcake or cake required (or none availible, as it may be). Upon seeing this post a friend recently mentioned that there is a new fad for frosting eaters — frosting shots. It is said that these little guys take the middleman out of frosting enjoyment.
One of the places offering such deliciously calorie-filled snacks is Babycakes, a popular place for vegan cupcake eatery in lower Manhattan. According to The Arizona Republic, Babycakes tried to rid itself of the $1.50 frosting shots, but people just kept coming back for more. Now, they’re served in vintage shot glasses and people who want to add a twist to their evenings often stop by before going out to the bars
And, in case you are health conscious, even Oprah magazine thinks Babycakes, in all of their vegan, gluten-free glory, are pretty good for you, and pretty good tasting, too.
I was chatting with a friend the other day and claimed that my hypothetical wedding (in a galaxy far, far away) would include my unique candy buffet, set-up with colorful candies in jars like a candy store. I thought I was pretty brilliant.
Apparently, other people have already been this brilliant. My friend immediately directed me to Style Me Pretty (a wedding blog) and soon I was venturing through tons of candy jar pictures, including a delicious post about Wedding Cake Alternatives.
My favorite candy jar set-up is from this post, and is shown in the upper left-hand corner of my collage.
I am super-excited about the Donut of the Week from MarthaStewart.com’s section on Unique Wedding Cakes. If you really want to make this tower of yummy-ness visit the web-site for tips on how to make it perfect.
Chocolate (my favorite, btw)! In beta (what?!)! With cute packaging (yeah, I’m a sucker for that, too)!
I can’t wait to get my tongue all over this piece of crafty genius I saw at trendwatching.com. While Tollhouse or Hershey’s pride themselves on using really old recipes that have been around the block, Tcho has chosen a different route wfor creating their specialty chocolates (read: not the same as the stuff you by for 85 cents at Rite Aid).
Tcho crafts and re-crafts their chocolate with all the feedback they get along the way. They’ve been releasing “beta” versions of their chocolate bars (available for purchase online only) and eventually they’ll release the chocolate in version 1.0.
“From our first batch, we’ve improved every aspect of “Chocolatey” again and again, including the progression of taste over time (attack, sustain, and decay), the sweetness, and the mouthfeel” (Tcho).
They’re in version .99 right now, so the chocolate has got to be pretty awesome, plus you can send Tacho your feedback right away to help create version 1.0.
The chocolate is a little price-y ($10 for a two pack), but you’ve to remember this is specialty chocolate, and from all the reviews I’ve read online, it’s delicious.
Bonus: look at that pretty packaging! The earthy brown suggests natural flavors and the simple typography with a single splash of color indicates an elevated design-sense above and beyond that lowly pop chocolate I’ve been buying at the supermarket.
Oh-la-la! Hungry now?
A little ramble on food and fashion.
I’ve been shifting through old magazines and clipping pictures of foods that look pretty and yummy (making a little inspiration book), but, unfortunately, the recipes are often complicated and require lots of ingredients, some only available at specialty stores, so I decided to create my own special, pretty food.
It suddenly occurred to me that making meals is a lot like putting together an outfit. You add and subtract until it all “matches.” Often, you need a central piece or idea that holds the concept together, and “food porn” — ie pretty pictures in cooking magazines and the like — is a good way to jumpstart your brain into creating a new and exciting dish, the same way fashion magazines don’t suggest you go out and buy that $500 Marc Jacobs top, but that you find a few things in your wardrobe that can be put together in a similar way. (more…)
I was recently catching up on a (very) old issue of In Style, and, being perpetually drawn to pretty colors and sugar, noticed the cupcake in Katie Holmes’ hand before I noticed Katie herself.
The article is so old that it’s from a time when Katie lived alone in NYC, and visited Billy’s Bakery, on 9th Ave between 21st and 22nd Streets, once a week.
I’ve never eaten there, but if their cupcakes look this yummy and all of the magazines are raving about them, I’m sure they’re good and will be sure to stop by soon.
Another plus? The shop has the charm of a 1940s kitchen. Sweet!
