Jen Bowles Design

NYC in a day: Christmas Edition, Part 1

A December Saturday in NYC with 3 teenage girls?  When you've got a persuasive daughter, an affinity for the Big Apple, and round trip bus tickets from Boston for only $32, the answer is yes.

Here's a quick peek at our timeline:

• Leave the house at 6:15am
• Leave South Station, Boston on the 7:30am Bolt Bus
• Arrive NYC (34th & 8th, near Macy's) at 11:10 ~ 35 minutes ahead of schedule!
• Walk the streets of Midtown Manhattan: 11:15am to 8pm
• Leave NYC on the 8:30pm Bolt Bus
• Arrive South Station at 12:45am (exactly on schedule, with a rest stop)
• Arrive home at 1:30am

With a loosely planned agenda, we were able to cover a lot of ground in not a lot of time.  Our stops...

1D World near Madison Square Garden

Pretty much a supersized concert souvenir stand selling all things One Direction.  The girls are big fans so it was a must see.  They added their grafitti to the walls but didn't make any purchases.

Macy's

The line for Santa was way too long but Mrs. Claus was just hanging out by some better sportswear.

We looked, but didn't touch, the dresses in the Bridal Salon.

 Ebby had done some research online and picked our lunch spot: LT Burger at Bryant Park.  On the way we checked out the ice skaters and the carousel. 

We got off to a rough start with the service at LT Burger (waitress mix-up meant it took 15 minutes for someone to take our order), but the food was delicious.  We all had The Standard burger, fries and a shake.  $22 per person with the tip, btw.

After lunch we walked by the lions in front of the NY Public Library and up 5th Avenue to Rockefeller Center. 

Last year when I came with Ebby it was too early for the tree to be fully decorated so this was her first time seeing it.  All the girls were pretty impressed.  I think.

 

Next up was my one requested stop for the day:  Anthropologie at Rockefeller Center.  I admired the windows and was duly impressed with the creativity and detail but they weren't my favorite.

Maybe it's because I'm jaded spoiled by the real Winter Wonderland animals we have in our backyard...

I found the interior displays to be more to my liking...

I thought this book page chevron wall was very clever:

 Inside of Anthro I did see what turned out to be my favorite display of the day ~ something so cool it deserves a separate post. Hint:  book wall...

 Onward up 5th Avenue we admired more windows and storefronts and general festive atmosphere.

 

I gazed longingly at Henri Bendel as we walked past.  I did take in the windows at Bergdorf, but again, I liked them but didn't love them--though I'm sure my boys woudld've loved the dog circus themed window!

Our next stop was the Plaza Hotel.  The girls were particularlyenchanted by the sight of Afternoon Tea at the Palm Court.  At $50-$60 per person that wasn't happening (this time), but we kept it classy by posing by the lobby Christmas tree instead.

Luckily you can get less expensive fare in the basement concourse level of the Plaza at the Plaza Food Hall.  It was my first visit here and except for the shortage of women's restrooms, it was a thumbs up.  We wandered around to get the lay of the land and ended up at the Billy's Bakery outpost. 

I've read good things about their cupcakes so when presented with the opportunity to sample, how could I resist??  For whatever reason, I overthought my flavor selection.  I should've gone with something classic like Vanilla or Red Velvet, instead I got Banana Nutella.  Don't get me wrong, it was good, but too banana bread-y for my taste.  Oh well, I'll try again next time.  Such a burden!

On the way to find a seat, this sign caught my eye at Three Tarts. 

They had a variety of flavored handcrafted marshmallows.  Making marshmallows has been on my list for years, but it has yet to happen.  For $1, I figured I'd see what the fuss was about.  I chose a raspberry marshmallow.  It was light & airy, with good raspberry taste.  It would've made a yummy s'more...

Before it got dark, we finished up at the Plaza and headed across the street to Central Park for photos and a brief bit of exploration.  Ah, nature!

After our stop in Central Park, it was around 4pm-- a little more than halfway through our day in the city!  This seems like a good spot to take a break the retelling of  our adventure.  Stop by tomorrow for Part 2 which includes hotspots such as FAO Schwartz and Times Square!

Thanks for stopping by,

Field Trip: Amelie's French Bakery, Charlotte, NC

There are really only two things you need to know about Amelie's:  it's a bakery and it's open 24 hours a day.  Add to that delicious pastries and the "Paris shabby-chic" interior decor and you've got a must-visit destination. 

And visit I did.  Twice in fact with My Cousin Laura while I was in Charlotte last month.  Our first visit was on a Friday night.  The moment I walked in the door I was charmed.  Those striped walls, the cozy yet sophisticated vibe, the colorful French macaroons...

We happily stood in line as directed and then sat down at a small table in the main room to enjoy our treats.  After dining, I took a stroll around the rest of the bakery.  First into a curtained room where I spied this bold chandelier with whimsical origami cranes hanging down.  

In the next room, there was a group of friends gathered around a large round table playing cards.  Other folks sat on couches next to bookshelves filled with games and books.  Oh so inviting.

And just in case you need to make a call...

I loved the artwork, especially this framed French word art.   

And this mosaic sign, lest you forget where you are ;-)

Not to worry Amelie's, I shall return!    

Cupcake Week: Whoopie Pies!

To celebrate the end of Cupcake Week, I thought I might post a delicious recipe for {one of} the Next Big Things at the bakery:  Whoopie Pies.

Whoopie pies are becoming more popular, popping up everywhere from bakeries to bookstores  {click here to visit this yummy looking title on Amazon}.  Whoopie pies are fun, allow for endless creative flavor combinations just like cupcakes, and are portable and easy to eat.   Sounds like a winner to me.

I've been wanting to make Whoopie Pies since last Christmas, but never got around to it until last weekend.  We were going to a 4th of July cookout and I wanted to bring a dessert.  I had a recipe and started gathering my ingredients.  However, I was stopped in my tracks when I realized I didn't have nearly enough cocoa powder.  Kind of a key ingredient in a chocolate based whoopie pie recipe...No problem, I took to the trusty internet.  After reading several recipes, this is what I came up with.  The secret save-the-day ingredient?  Boxed cake mix.

Whoopie Pies (traditional flavors)

Yields 18-20

For the cake (or are they cookies??):

1 box chocolate or Devil's Food cake mix

scant 1/2 c. vegetable oil

3 eggs

1/2 c. water

Mix well with a stand or hand mixer.  Drop by tablespoons* onto parchment paper lined cookie sheets allowing generous amount of room between cookies.  Bake 10-12 minutes at 400 degrees until centers spring back when touched lightly with finger.  Let sit on baking sheets for a minute or two, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

*I used a cookie scoop (like a small ice cream scoop) coated with nonstick spray.  Makes a great, uniform size cake.  Or cookie.  Whatever you want to call it ;-)

Filling:

3/4 c. shortening

2 c. powdered sugar

1 1/2 t. vanilla

1 1/2 c. Fluff (marshmallow creme)

1-2 T. milk

Combine all ingredients except milk in bowl of stand mixer.  Mix well and then add enough milk to make creamy (I used closer to 1 T. than 2).  Mix until light and fluffy.

Assemble whoopie pies by spreading filling on one cookie and topping with another.  I found a tablespoon from the silverware drawer actually worked pretty well for scooping up the filling and spreading it. 

Arrange completed whoopie pies on a plate and watch children devour them.  And have them try to convince you that 4 whoopie pies = dinner.

Enjoy!

Store any extra whoopie pies in the fridge.

I also read that these freeze well.  I put 4 of them in a ziploc bag in the freezer and took them out to defrost last night in the fridge.  Cuyler will be so excited that there are whoopie pies available for breakfast!

Book du Jour: Babycakes

Now that Ebby is volunteering at the library, I have an excuse to visit there every week.

I'm like a kid in a candy store.  All those books!  I can take home as many as I want?? Yes please!

Currently I have 19 books checked out of 2 different libraries.  As I see it, I could have worse addictions.

Like say...baking.

My favorite of my current batch is, for sure, Babycakes by Erin McKenna.

As you can see from the cover, it's a cookbook with "Vegan, Gluten-Free, and (Mostly) Sugar-Free Recipes from New York's Most Talked-About Bakery".  Truth be told, the picture of the cupcakes drew me in.  The fact that the recipes are somewhat healthy?  All the better.

This may be the first cookbook I've read from cover to cover.  The photography is beautiful, the subject matter enticing, the writing & anecdotes entertaining and the recipes are totally different than anything I usually bake.  But I'm up for the challenge.

Whereas we don't (currently) have any wheat or dairy allergies in our house, stocking the pantry to try out some of Erin's delectable sounding recipes has been an adventure in itself.  I did have agave nectar, but had never even heard of and/or seen ingredients such as coconut oil, garbanzo-fava bean flour and xanthan gum.  After trips to both Ocean State Job Lot (they have nice selection of Bob's Red Mill products at closeout prices) and Whole Foods, I was armed with enough ingredients to attempt the Chocolate Chip cookie recipe on page 68. 

Despite a few issues with the coconut oil (mine was solid, it works much better as a liquid--as I found out for batch #2), the cookies turned out to be...delicious.  As in better than Toll House.  Crispy on the edges and chewy in the center.  Mmmm.  The proof for me that the cookies were really good was that 2 of the 4 other members of our household also approved.  I'm so happy that Ebby is eating flax meal now ;-).

I'm still gathering (and now even replenishing) ingredients, hopefully I'll have everything I need to make the vanilla frosting for the cookie sandwiches very soon.  Oh, and the cupcakes.  Mustn't forget about the gingerbread.  It all sounds soooo good.

Even if I never make another recipe out of this book again, I'm going to treasure Erin's recipe for homemade applesauce.  It involves roasting Granny Smith apples, agave nectar and...hot water.  Hands down, the best applesauce I've ever had.

I must say, I highly recommend this book--no matter whether food allergies are an issue or not.  Unfortunately, my copy is due tomorrow at the library. I may have to renew it--or better yet, buy my own copy.

Tastes of Savannah

Yes, another Savannah post.
You know you love them ; )

Over the 4 days we were in Savannah, we sampled a kaleidoscope of different foods.
Morrocan on Friday night, Southern food at Mrs. Wilkes on Monday, ice cream at Leopold's, and even a cupcake (or two...).

When I thought about it, I found that 3 flavors stood out as being the 'signature' flavors of my trip:  peach, pecan and honey.

#1 Peach
Not surprising, since Georgia's nickname is the Peach state.  The first food I had in Savannah (at the aptly named smooth) was a Savannah Sunrise smoothie, a delicious blend of pear, apricot, mango and of course, peaches.  It totally hit the spot.

#2 Pecan
Another big Georgia export and one of my favorite nuts.  I sampled some pecan pralines along the river (warm, buttery and oh so good) and at afternoon tea on Saturday one of the cake slices was topped with a pecan half dipped in chocolate and mounted on a dried apricot.  Hmmm, my mouth is watering.  My most defining pecan dish was a baked sweet potato topped with cinnamon butter and pecans at the Express Bakery and Cafe.  Sublime.

#3  Honey
This one was a bit unexpected. I did have the Savannah Bee Company store on my list of places to visit.  I just didn't know how good is was going to... bee : )
Artisanal honey in so many unique and varied flavors--and a honey bar where you could sample several of them including Tupelo, Sourwood, Black Sage and Orange Blossom.  Then they had the so-called dessert honeys:  Creamed Raspberry and Winter White.  So, so delicious.  Finally they had a plate with honeycomb, Granny Smith apples and sharp cheese.  Again, heavenly.
Conviently, they sell 3oz jars of honey, perfect for your carry-on luggage.  It took me a while to decide between the Winter White and the Creamed Raspberry.  I finally chose the Winter White (after a couple of follow-up sample tastes...).  What I should've done is trashed my tube of travel toothpaste and bought both!  Oh well, there's always mail order...
But the best taste of honey I had, and indeed my tastiest memory of my whole Savannah sojourn, was the SCAD/Savannah Bee Honey Almond  ice cream at Leopold's.  To. Die. For.
Truly.   

So there you have it, Jen's Tastes of Savannah.  Nothing from Paula Deen,  nothing fried, not even any grits.  Of course if you go, you should certainly try all of that fare. And then head over to Leopold's for some Honey Almond to clear your palette!

 

Yarn, Birds & Starbucks

I am not particularly a fan of Starbucks.  Mostly because I don't drink coffee.
 I don't seek Starbucks out, have to stop there every single time I leave the house, or have a wallet full of Starbucks gift cards (BGD...).  And I don't own stock in Starbucks (BGD, again).
There are some things I do like at Starbucks though.  The glazed lemon loaf, the collage-style artwork on the walls, the free stickers.  And then there are the holiday decorations.
They always the coolest decorations.  Last year they had the curled paper trees (I'm still hoping to make one of those someday).  This year's theme:  birds and yarn.
At least that's what I took away from it.  So yummy and striking that I got out of the car so I could take some pictures with my phone.  Very Anthropologie meets...Starbucks. 
Hey, that's not a bad idea.  Starbucks should start a line of home decor products.  They could sell them in their stores.  Yeah, yeah, that's the ticket.
Maybe I'd better head over to the Starbucks website and tell them my great idea.  Then they could hire me to be a part time visual merchandising apprentice.
Or maybe I could just put the yarn ball & ornament ball  wreath project on my to do list.

On second thought, does anybody know where all the old Starbucks holiday decorations go?  It's not like they re-use them or anything.  Gotta keep it fresh.  Do they have an annual warehouse sale  in Seattle?? Maybe Craig's List? 

So many questions.  So many other things to do ; )

{Don't forget about the giveaway, deadline is tomorrow at 3pm.  See the post from 12/2!}

Izze at the beach

We both had a very nice time.

Sunday Afternoon Tea Party

Welcome to my Sunday afternoon tea party!  Sweet Little Miss Crafty (Juliet)  is hosting a 3 day tea party over on her Altered Art Appreciation Society blog.  She made the most adorable invitation so really, how could I refuse? 
My tea party this afternoon is somewhat of a hybrid--real cupcakes and paper mache tea set.  As soon as I read Juliet's invitation I started thinking about making something out of paper mache.  I picked up 2 tea cups and 2 saucers at the 50% thrift store sale and used them as bases.  I had some help early in the week from Ebby and her friend.  They each covered a saucer with Vaseline (for easy release) and then glue & water soaked newspaper.  I was in charge of the cups and the teapot.  The teapot started as a pink balloon.  We didn't do too many layers of newspaper, as evidenced by the wonky, warped nature of the tea set.  I must say though--I like it.  Especially the way the tea pot lid is all curled up on itself.
Decorating the paper mache was, of course, the best part.  Followed closely by decorating the cupcakes (sure, the mix and frosting are store bought but I didn't watch Martha's Cupcake Week for nothing!).  First I gessoed all the pieces, then painted with regular acrylic craft paint.  I freehanded the swirl design on the teapot and saucer.  The dots on the tea cups are punched out of cardstock.  I also went dot crazy with my black Stickles for a touch of sparkle.  Speaking of sparkle, I love how the pipe cleaner handles turned out!  Silver was the only color of pipe cleaner I had in the house and my refusal to go to Michael's when I have an entire room full of craft supplies, dictated that I use them.    My little surprise is the pair of wee birds peeking out from the bottom of the teacups (also had them on hand).  The final touch was cutting out the letters and placing the words on each object.  I love those letters, they're from a  1940s children's magazine.
So here we are, my tea set and me holding down the fort in my studio.  I'm just waiting for some lovely little girls to come by to drink some tea and nibble on pink sugared cupcakes...

Art at the Airport

Last week when I was dropping my mom off at the airport for her flight  home, I came across some cool doodle art at Starbucks inside the main (ok, only) terminal.  For whatever reason, I had my camera so I was able to snap a few pictures.
I don't like coffee but I do enjoy the art and graphic design at Starbucks.
Maybe if I keep up  my art journal and invest in an Italian dictionary, my next job could be as a Starbucks barista/doodler.

Hmmm....

Holy Whole Foods, Batman!

Whole Foods Market opened up at the Derby Shoppes in Hingham before we moved to North Carolina.  However I never made it through the doors while we lived in Massachusetts.  This is at least our 5th trip back to Hingham since 2005 and prior to tonight, I'd still never made it inside.

However, this evening while Bubbe had the children occupied in the children's section of Barnes & Noble (love that place), I was able to sneak away and browse.  After a few other stops, I finally did walk through the Whole Foods doors at 8:44pm.  It smelled so fresh.  And good.  And expensive.  And special.  I perused up and down a few aisles, briefly considered buying some bulk dried lemon rind, and eventually ended up in the bakery section.

Oh.  My.  SoMuchGoodness!!  It was beautiful!  The delights in the bakery case didn't so much make me hungry as got me thinking 'eye candy red alert'.  Good thing I had my camera.  If you've been there before, these photos may not be a big deal.  But for me, it was like I was finally admitted into a secret club--The Whole Foods Bakery.

And I'm sure I won't have to twist the kids' arms to get them to go back there with me to actually taste a few of the wonderful treats.  For the photo ops of course.  Solely for the photo ops...