NYC - Food Edition

I’m back!! Back from the magical land of pizza and cupcakes – because that’s pretty much all I ate in New York City. I wouldn’t even know where to begin describing my adventure – nor would words do it any justice – so for now, please enjoy a small sampling of some of the delicious things I consumed while in the Big Apple. I’ll have a more extensive entry up later this week, with reviews of all the shows I saw…because next to eating, all I wanted to do was cram in as many Broadway shows as I could.


New York pizza is unlike any pizza I’ve ever had in my life. It’s huge, the crust is super thin and they have the craziest and biggest selections of flavors. I loved it so much. I ate pizza almost every day…sometimes twice a day.


Of course I had to have a New York hot dog…this one was from the take-out window of The Boathouse in Central Park. I wanted to eat in the actual restaurant, but we just didn’t have enough time…the hot dog, however, was pretty standard, but it was somehow more magical considering I was eating in Central Park.


NYC is pretty much the land of cupcakes. Every corner has a bakery and generally, that bakery has cupcakes.


Of course, I HAD to go to Magnolia Bakery – I’d only been fantasizing about it since I first fell in love with cupcakes. However, the cupcakes unfortunately really weren’t much to write home about…they were good, but there was nothing really distinct about them. I had the vanilla and red velvet, and while the red velvet was pretty good, the vanilla was very disappointing. It was too sweet (which is rare for me) and not very vanilla-y (if that makes any sense).


I accidently stumbled upon Crumbs bakery a few days after I went to Magnolia and I have to admit that their vanilla cupcake was superior to Magnolia’s, in both size and taste. However, it did taste a bit like a boxed cake mix…but at least a good one!


One of the places that was a must-see for me was the Chelsea Market. I went a little crazy buying all these unique spices and salts…but what really made an impression on me was the actual grocery market they had there. The herbs were INSANE! Look at that rosemary! Everything was so big and fresh, I wish I could do my grocery shopping there all the time…


I had the best veggie burger of my life in NYC. Hands down. There really is nothing more to say.



One of the places we were recommended to go by our frequent NYC-travelling Italian friends was Tony Di Napoli’s. And it was amazing. All the portions were family-sized so they fed 2-3 people and you therefore had to share (why aren’t more restaurants like this?) and the food was just beyond delicious. I wanted to take a bath in the chicken marsala sauce. That’s how good it was.




We went out one night to a restaurant called Swing 46, which was on this street of restaurants all with prix-fixe menus. I had the tomato and mozzarella salad, roast chicken entrée and chocolate brownie for dessert and although all 3 sound pretty basic…they were all incredible. Especially that brownie. It literally melted in my mouth and was by far the best brownie I’d ever had in my life.


Went to a crepe joint one night after the theatre and they had the cutest names for all their crepes. I had the “Joie de Vivre” – a PB&J crepe. Needless to say, it was excellent.


Obligatory New York cosmo – and it was fabulous!

Wedding Cake Consultations - 3 Ways

So, the first girlfriend from my high school group of friends is getting married this year. Her name is Char. She is girly, blonde and classy. We’re all very excited.

Today, I was fortunate enough to accompany her on her wedding cake consultations. I figured it would be a good chance to not only help her with her own cake, but also get some ideas for the cupcakes I’m doing for my cousin’s wedding in September.

Since we went to 3 very different places, I felt I needed to do some sort of blog post on the entire ordeal. Partially as a mini cake shop review, but also as an insight in case anyone reading this is looking into any 3 of these places to get their own wedding cake done.

Stop #1 – Delish Custom Cakes & Sweets

I fell in love with this place as soon as we walked in. It smelled absolutely divine and there were so many cupcake flavors as well as the most colorful and delicious-looking icing choices. You could also see right into the bakery from the entrance, which I always like. And after clearing up a minor scheduling issue, we got to pick a number of cupcakes to try and were whisked into the back room (an undeveloped half of the shop that the owner told us was being turned into a café) to do the consultation.

As far as the cupcakes go, theirs were my favorite. All the cupcakes were moist, just dense enough and filled with flavor. We tried Vanilla w/ Vanilla Buttercream, Hazelnut w/ Hazelnut Buttercream, Apple Spice w/ Cinnamon Buttercream and Black Forest w/ Whipped Cream. Being a vanilla girl, the vanilla cupcake was definitely my favorite. We also both fell in love with the hazelnut – the icing was incredible – and the black forest was really good too (plus it was Char’s favorite). The apple spice was nice, but we decided it was too “autumn-y” for a summer wedding.

In terms of the service, the girl who helped us was really sweet and patient with us, as Char came very prepared though we ended up making a lot of changes and coming up with an entirely new idea in the process. She was also just very eager and excited to take on Char’s wedding cake vision (which is magnificent but challenging). All in all, it was a really good experience, and they were able to keep it all within Char’s budget. So that was a bonus.

Stop #2 – Cake Couture

The first thing that put me off of Cake Couture was that there were no cupcakes on display or even for immediate purchase (it also didn’t smell like a bakery). They did, however, have a nice selection of absolutely beautiful and unique wedding cakes on display, as well as a few cakes they were finishing up (one was shaped like a frog prince and it was absolutely adorable). There was also a big window where you could see into the bakery to see them at work.

It was a very professional atmosphere though, and the woman who helped us was a lot more serious and analytical than the one at Delish. She was knowledgeable and right to the point, which was nice, but I just didn’t get the same vibe from them. Not to mention the fact that the quote they gave us for the cake was more than double what Delish offered us, and we had to therefore make considerable alterations to keep it within budget.

I can’t really review the taste of the cakes there as we weren’t given any to try – apparently that is the next step with them after you’ve solidified a design. All in all, I got the impression that Cake Couture is more about the aesthetic of the cake. Don’t get me wrong, they do beautiful cakes and I have no doubt that they could give Char exactly what she wanted, however they were very pricey for what we wanted and I personally just didn’t get a good vibe from them.

Stop #2.5 – Fife n’ Dekel

I know this isn’t a cake place but I just wanted to mention that we stopped at Fife n’ Dekel for lunch…Char had never been and we were both craving something somewhat wholesome to balance out the cake so we went and had sandwiches. And there isn’t a better place in the city for that than Fife n’ Dekel. I absolutely love going there, partially because all their bread and ingredients are so fresh and delicious, but also because you can go in the height of the lunch hour rush on a Friday and still be out of there in a surprisingly short amount of time. It is a well-oiled machine. And so delicious. Plus – their strawberry-rhubarb pie is the best in the city. At least, in my opinion.

Stop #3 – Cakes by Trina

Our final stop was Cakes by Trina, which is actually run out of the owner Trina’s home. As soon as we got there, she brought us down to the commercial kitchen in her basement and I felt as if I had died and gone to heaven. Shelves upon shelves of cake pans, sprinkles, flour, vanilla…you name it. It was paradise.

I also immediately liked her as she offered us tea and coffee with our cake. We then went to try 4 of the flavors she had on hand; Vanilla, Chocolate, Raspberry and Lemon Poppyseed – all with a vanilla buttercream. The cakes were all very good, they definitely tasted like they were made from scratch, and I have to say that the Lemon Poppyseed was my favorite. I’m not even a huge fan of Lemon Poppyseed, but hers was just perfect and I couldn’t stop eating it.

I also got a really good vibe from her. She had a real love of baking and creating, “edible art” (as she calls it). She had a strong distaste for having fake Styrofoam tiers in cakes as she wants people to be able to eat what she creates. She was also very honest and knowledgeable about all things cake. She showed us a slideshow of numerous cakes she had done over the years (she said she’s made over a thousand cakes in her career) and the whole experience was just very personal. She also ended up helping Char meld her new cake vision with her original one into her perfect wedding cake, while keeping it within her budget. Kind of amazing.

I didn’t like her cake quite as much as Delish, but I really liked her. And I think she was my all-around favorite stop. Maybe because I want to be her...but that’s another story.

So yeah, 3 very different cake consultations and far too much free cake later…I think I have a much better handle on what’s out there in the wedding cake industry. And hopefully Char will have the cake of her dreams :)

(Char and I - back in our high school days before we even had thoughts of wedding cakes)

Restaurant Review: High Tea at Rutherford House

I wish I could say that I haven’t posted in a week because I wanted to lead up to this amazing post that I’m about to do…but the truth is, I’ve just been too busy to bake. My dessert intake last week mainly consisted of pretzels dipped in Nutella. And there isn’t much of a blog entry in that.

However, I’ve finally put together my very first restaurant review! And it’s one that is 100% appropriate for this blog. It’s cute and sweet and girly! I can’t believe I didn’t do it sooner.

My girlfriends and I have been dying to go for tea at the Rutherford House on the U of A campus for months now. We finally got ourselves organized though and made a reservation for yesterday as kind of a Valentine’s Day girls date. Not that we’re all single and bitter or anything…it’s just that we’ve accepted the fact that the men in our lives would never take us on such a cute date so we might as well just take each other instead. Makes perfect sense, right?

So we all wore girly dresses and spent the afternoon in the lovely Arbour Restaurant at Rutherford House. The “dining room” area where we were seated was much smaller than I expected (the picture on the website makes it look bigger) so I understood why reservations were needed. It’s was an intimate and beautiful space though, with one wall completely made of windows allowing for lots of natural light.

There were 6 of us, so we ended up pairing up and splitting 3 of the different “Afternoon Tea” options they had.

Krystyn and Sandi had The Arbour High Tea ($42 for two) which consisted of a choice of either cucumber or egg salad finger sandwiches followed by a turkey pot pie, a course of sweet scones and an assortment of cookies, dainties and fresh fruit for dessert. Lindz and I shared Mrs. Rutherford’s Tea ($34 for two) which consisted of herbed cream cheese pinwheels and a choice of either cucumber or egg salad finger sandwiches, sweet scones as well as an assortment of cookies, dainties and fresh fruit. Lastly, Steph and Karen shared Hazel’s Tea ($24 for two) which was sweet scones, cookies, dainties and fresh fruit.

Each pair also had a pot of the Rutherford House blend tea (included with the food) which was an earl grey tea with notes of jasmine.


Needless to say, everything was ridiculously delicious. The tea was sublime (I had about 8 cups…) and all the food was amazing. The herbed pinwheels and cucumber sandwiches were so cute and dainty, which was a good thing as there was so much food to try, it would be easy to get full too fast.


The turkey pot pies were probably the cutest things I had ever seen – and they smelled amazing! They also had huge sprigs of rosemary in them...and I’m a huge fan of rosemary.


The cookies and dainties were pretty standard, though the pink-topped squares were probably my favorite. They seemed to be a layer of gram crackers, a layer of walnuts and then a layer of pink icing to finish.


Finally, there were the scones…big, warm, delicious scones with a generous serving of raspberry butter and Devonshire cream. I couldn’t get enough. I actually think I love Devonshire cream more than I love most people in this world.



So all in all, it was a lovely afternoon – one I would definitely repeat. In fact, I may just go back there for more scones and tea…


The ladies (Sandi, Krystyn, Lindsey, myself, Steph & Karen).