Alice's Tea Cup, Chapter II, 156 E 64th St, Manhattan, NY 10065
Savannah: Back in the Day Bakery
Location:
2403 Bull Street
Savannah, GA
31401
One thing at the very top of my Savannah list of places to visit was the Back in the Day Bakery. I'd seen it on Jamie Beck's blog and she highly recommended it on the list of must-sees she gave me.
On a rainy day it was an amazing, indulging breakfast pit stop.
I mean, biscuits and jam? I could have those every day.
(Also, who knew that I could have been sitting so close to one of my Instagram connections - wow, small world!)
TEA WITH: Ana + Alaina at Tatte
Location:
318 3rd St, Cambridge, MAI had the pleasure of having tea with these two lovelies recently, after a wonderful afternoon at this place.
Here we are at Tatte Bakery, one of the cutest bakeries in Kendall Square. A bakery that is not new to my Instagram feed!
As part of a new series, here I am having tea withAna and Alaina.
Vermont: Stowe, Black Cap Coffee
Location:
144 Main St
Stowe, VT05672
On Main Street, is the Black Cap Coffee shop, a quaint, picturesque coffee house, exactly how you would imagine there to be in a ski town.
For coffee, teas, hot chocolates, you can't go wrong. I didn't try any of there delectable delights, although the Easter sugar cookies were calling my name...
A tea to go and ready to explore a bit, although everything was closed for Easter...except Shaw's General Store...still, it made it easy to go back to our hotel.
This is London: Harrods
Location:
Harrods, 87-135 Brompton Rd, Knightsbridge, London SW1X 0NA, United Kingdom
An afternoon at Harrods means afternon tea at Harrods, which is something to be savoured, not devoured. Macarons from Laduree were the best part, much better than the first time I had the french confectionery.
As elegant and sohpisticated as the dining experience was, something (perhaps the lobster rolls or salmon sandwiches?) didn't sit quite right afterwards with us and I realize it's not "proper" to say so, but there it is.
A feast for the senses, I especially liked the food halls on the ground floor, which we couldn't leave without buying armfuls of marmalade (how could you not?)
Christmas time at Harrods can't be missed, if only to take in the beautiful window displays outside, which Liberty London also does so well!
Here, a glimpse into the flurry that is Harrods starting, of course, with tea...
NYC: Baked by Melissa with Stilettos & Sequins
It sounds like I stopped by Baked by Melissa in NYC wearing stilettos and sequins, but rather I had Dhruvi, the queen of "Stilettos & Sequins" take me to the delightful cupcake shoppe.
After a trip to the Guggenheim, I met up with Dhruves at Qi (both beautifully decorated and delish, btw), followed by an exploration of the racks at Loehmann's, finally making our way to Baked by Melissa.
The bite-sized cupcakes are the perfect quantity of sweet and each is filled with the exact flavor of their names. Take "Peanut Butter and Jelly" for example, it tastes exactly like a PB&J sandwich, except maybe better. My favorite was the red velvet, but *ahem* I did try them all.....
Cambridge: Helmand
Location:
143 1st Street Cambridge, MA
Finally! Something tasty in this city!
I've never tried Afghan cuisine, but it certainly has very distinct flavours. Mint to coriander to pumpkin to cardamom. Curries and rices but crispy pastries and soft breads.
We ordered Bowlawni, the pastries filled with veggies, the Qoremay Ma-He, sea bass that's pan fried and sauteed, and served with rice. Absolutely delicious! The vegetarian special which includes baked pumpkin (out of this world!) eggplant, spinach, okra, and rice.
The cardamom cake (called "our cake" on their menu) is a must try. I make a cardamom cake, too, although this was much more moist and soaked in the essence. Mine is more of a tea cake (also a must try!)
It was also fairly busy even on a weeknight, but the service was still attentive and beyond wonderful.
I can't recommend this place more!
Greece: Santorini, Zoto's
We visited Zoto's Family Pastry TWICE in three days, first, for this.
New York City: Magnolia Bakery
Location:
1240 6 Avenue, New York, NY
You knew it was coming (if you follow me on Instagram, that is). There are several locations of Magnolia in NYC, and although I never made it to the original location in West Village, this one at Bloomingdale's wasn't too shabby.
Have you been? The cupcakes are divine - the red velvet cupcake was mighty tasty.
New York City: Bread
Location:
20 Spring Street, New York, NY
We celebrated N's cousin's birthday with her friend at Bread in Soho. Great venue for brunch and, well, bread.
A very cosy spot that was fully jam packed. The service was excellent as were all the dishes. They even threw in a tiramisu cake on the house.
New York City: Dos Caminos
Location:
825 3rd Avenue
New York, NY 10022
Came highly recommended. Didn't know it was a chain. And for someone who spent more than 8 hours at the Met without eating anything, I was, to say the least, starving. The service was top knotch, and because we said we were incredibly hungry they brought out everything in literally 10 minutes.
The rice and beans were unlimited, and we (mostly me) had about 5-6 refills.
The fish dish was spicy just as I ordered, just wonderful. Ah, to have it once more.
New York City: Brooklyn Diner
Location:
212 West 57th Street New York, NY
www.brooklyndiner.com/menu.htm
On our way to the hotel in NYC, we passed by the Brooklyn Diner and immediately decided to try it out sometime. Turned out our hotel was only a few blocks from it, so we walked back for lunch. The place was packed with what looked like business men with heavy mid-sections. After seeing the menu, then our dishes, it was easy to know why. The portions are massive, quite like their prices. $18 for a sandwich? Um. Okay. Tourist trap, likely.
I chose their "famous tuna sandwich", mainly for the Ezekiel bread which I've always wanted to try.
N got the turkey sandwich, which was basically Thanksgiving dinner in a sandwich.
The tuna sandwich was greasy, yes, but good. Ezekiel bread was delicious, although covered in butter, taking away it's health factor. The fries were perfect. I don't eat turkey, but the mashed potatoes and gravy were divine.
It's easy to see why this place is so popular, but if I were to eat here everyday, the Ezekiel bread won't help none.
Boston: Francesca's Cafe
Location:
564 Tremont St, Boston, MA
Everyone talks about the South End, so we made it there this past Sunday - it was cold you guys, and everything was closed! Why do they do that? Made it to Francesca's Cafe in a frozen state and thawed out nicely with a hot chocolate, tea and a tuna melt (apty named for this occasion). Oh, a pretty cupcake made the cut, too.
Recipe: Cake Pops
My sister and I (more her) made cake pops recently for a cookie swap we were invited to. She was telling me about these cake pop machines you can buy, but you really don't have to
My sister made the mix, I rolled the balls and stuck the sticks into them, sis dipped and dunked.
Et Voila! They were a huge hit at the cookie swap! (My sis also made Snowball cookies, recipe to come, soon!)
You can coat them however you like, which would make them wonderful little Holiday presents.
Boston: Tea at The Courtyard
Location:
700 Boylston Street, Boston
My sister, niece and I went to The Boston Public Library's The Courtyard for Tea after the the Fall Fashion presentation by Roopal Patel at Neiman Marcus.
The Courtyard restaurant is set within the gorgeous Boston Library courtyard, which is one of the most beautiful places to have lunch - quiet and serene, as if transported to another era.
It was before 2pm and tea hadn't officially started (Wed-Fri from 2-4pm) but they seated us graciously and even made vegetarian accomodations for my sister who is vegetarian (and I also don't eat chicken, but my niece does). They were able to switch out the smoked salmon canapes for more cucumber/cheese ones.
Our server was really sweet.
The teas were excellent - ranging from Earl Grey (who else?), Ceylon Indian and Raspberry Herbal.
Although the sandwiches were tasty, we were surprised at the quantity, which was very little. We each perhaps got 2.5 sandwiches (that's in the quarter size that it's cut into) and 2-3 tiny pastries each.
For $22.50 per person, we were expecting a bit more. Even the scones were small. My sister who has had afternoon tea all over Boston (and Toronto) and I, who's had it all over Ontario were not satisfied with the portions.
Might have worked well for someone like my niece and her friends and their doll-size proportions of high tea.
Seems like their lunch portions are much larger, but for a high tea experience, this is probably not the best place in Boston for it.
