Dylan's Candy Bar

Dylan's Candy Bar
1011 Third Ave
New York, NY 10021
(646) 735-0078

Yup, facebook and twitter too!

This wasn't planned! I mean, we were already stopping at every bakery we found, but a giant candy store? Three floors of sweets? Come on!

Dylan's Candy Bar is just full of... well, candy! There is candy everywhere! There are lots of novelty items, apparels, cosmetics, and sweet related merchandises of course. I managed to find a little section that had lots of cupcake things - earrings, candles, books, bags, and boxes.

The very neat thing about Dylan's is that everyone can leave with their favourite candy or make their own mixed selection. They have cute little pails, tins, boxes - basically anything that can be used to carry things. As for another neat feature, they have a display case showing celebrity picks! Here, we have the lovely Nigella Lawson. She seems to prefer black and white M&Ms. I love how each candy box is signed too!!

Hey! It's Buddy from Cakeboss! His favourite candies seem to be various sorts of gummies.

Now, if you continue to the top floor, Dylan's has a cafe and private party rooms (really, a fantastic place to hold a kid's birthday part).

I went up there because there was a sign saying "Cupcakes." They do sell cupcakes at the cafe! I checked the cupcake wrappers and it looks like Crumbs supplies them here. Mmmm, they have cold treats here too!

This was a nice quiet spot to relax. The rush on the main and bottom floors is overwhelming. There are lots of children filling their buckets with candy. Parents in awe of the amount of candy and in turn, chasing after their children. To add to the excitement, there was a giant chocolate fountain on the main floor too. For a price, you can pick an item and dip it in the fountain!

PS: I just found out that Dylan Lauren (the daughter of Ralph Lauren) also has a book coming out this year. Now, wouldn't her Candy Bar be the best place for a book launch? And from the looks of it, her father favours twizzlers!

Junior's

Junior's
386 Flatbush Avenue
Brooklyn, New York 11201
(718) 852-5257

Yup. We went to Junior's for cheesecake. While Howard and my brother aren't all that crazy about sweets, they won't turn down cheesecake. Especially if it is cheesecake that everyone recommends.

Look at all that press!

My aunt and uncle drove us to Junior's Brooklyn location just so we could buy cheesecake. They sell cheesecakes and cakes at Junior's whole and by the slice. They are also a restaurant with a few locations in New York City.

The dessert list goes on for awhile...

But let's focus on those cheesecakes. They just pile the fruits on...

And on...

The cupcakes here were gigantic! Just look at them compared to the size of the cheesecakes! The cakes here at 6" so those cupcakes must be reaching 4"!

Clown-head cupcakes anyone?

We ended up getting one of their swirled cheesecakes!

No this isn't Brooklyn anymore. Just thought I would share the view from Queens. I love how the Manhattan skyline looks. =)

Tu-Lu's Gluten-Free Bakery

Tu-Lu's Gluten-Free Bakery
338 E 11th Street
New York, NY 10003
(212) 777-2227

They are on twitter and facebook too!

Tu-Lu's Gluten-Free Bakery was another of those I-happened-to-stumble-upon bakeries. We were walking to a shop on the same street when I saw the sign above the door. Yes, a spatula and the colour pink will always catch my eye. I was very lucky that I didn't just walk into the blackboard sign.

Mini cupcakes! Chocolate with chocolate, chocolate with peanut butter, and vanilla with chocolate. What to pick, what to pick?

Chocolate with peanut butter icing will do!

Eeee! The art on their wall is so adorable!!

Momofuku Noodle Bar

We almost missed it.

We almost couldn't find it!

We actually had an outdated map (in our defense, we thought it was up-to-date) on this trip. Some of the stores and shops listed were no longer in business or had moved just a couple of blocks down. So, we found the spot were our map said Momofuku would be and after looking up and down the street, we decided to ask a taxi driver.

Howard: Hi, do you know where Momofuku is?
Taxi Driver: What?
Howard: Momofuku.
Taxi Drive: Momo...?
Howard: Momofuku
Taxi Driver: What's that?
Howard: A restaurant...
Taxi Driver: No, sorry.

I was in the middle of searching for free wifi with my iPod, when we were saved! A very nice pair were just turning the corner and overheard Howard's conversation with the Taxi Driver. They told us that they were actually on their way to Momofuku and we were welcomed to follow them.

Yes, please!

We thanked them and scurried after the quick walking pair. The guy was from California visiting the girl. She was currently living in New York, but was originally from the same part of Toronto as us! Unbelievable!

Here, we made it:

Momofuku Noodle Bar
171 First Avenue
New York City, NY 10003
(212) 777-7773

We parted ways with the friendly pair in Momofuku as they were actually seated at the bar (lucky). We squeezed in to share a table in the middle of the restaurant with another group who were already enjoying their appetizers.

The lunch menu for August 17, 2010. They have prix fixe meals, very tempting (chocolate chip cake truffles!), but a bit out of our lunch budget for 3 people...

The customer service there was really good. They understood that they had lots of customers and did their best to be quick, clever, and courteous.

At first, all three of us wanted the Momofuku Ramen, but I persuaded the guys that we should try all three noodles on the menu. Dispite their whining, my brother listened and ordered the Ginger Scallion Noodles that had pickled shiitakes, cucumber, and menma.

It was really good! Something that I would order again because it was perfect for a hot summer day. The combination of the ingredients made the noodles taste very fresh and spring-like.

In the end my brother prefered his noodles over mine! See? It all worked out to everyone's favour!

Howard can handle the heat. So he got the Chilled Spicy Noodles that contained Sichuan spiced sausage, spinach, and cashews.

I tried one small strand of noodle and it was spicy!! But so good. So I only recommend it if you can handle it. Our very clever waitress came by many times to refill our glasses of water. =)

Again, in the end, Howard preferred his order to mine!

Finally, the Momofuku Ramen with pork belly, pork shoulder, and a poached egg. Picture perfect of what I expect when I think ramen.

Howard wanted to go back for the rest of the week. Ever since we've been home, he's whined for Momofuku at least 5 times this week. You know Howard, we do have the cookbook if you want to try your hand at making it yourself. =P

Blueberry Pie

We had ordered some products (we got mini pans and a zester) from CSN Stores for review. I want to say that their website is easy to use and ordering was quite simple. They ship pretty fast and keep you updated on each item's transit!

To test our new products, I had thought it would be fun for Howard to make some pies:

Wow. The perfect pie dough is hard to make! Howard and I were pretty sad about the way ours turned out, I think we may need to learn the techniques and practice more. With that being said, this is no reflection of the recipe we tried, we're pretty sure we messed up because the dough didn't turn out as flaky as it should. We will keep practicing in order to add pies to our repertoire!

Pie Dough
Adopted from The Grand Central Baking Book
(Makes one 10- to 12-ounce disk)

1 1/4 cup of all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon of granulated sugar
1 teaspoon of salt
1 stick of cold unsalted butter
3 tablespoons of cold water
Omitted 1 1/2 teaspoon of lemon juice (maybe this is where we went wrong?)

1. Measure out your flour, sugar, and salt in a bowl. Let is refrigerate for at least two hours or overnight.
2. Dice the cold butter into 1/2 inch cubes and toss them with the flour mixture.
   
   
3. Add in your cold water. (But don't. This is where you're suppose to add the cold water to the lemon juice, so do that instead.)
4. We mixed our dough by hand, move quickly so that your hands don't warm up the butter. Use your fingertips and thumbs to rub the butter together with the dry ingredients. The butter should be cold enough that you're coating the butter cubes with the flour.
5. Stop mixing when the texture of the flour changes from silky to measly.
6. You can hydrate your dough with the cold water and lemon juice mixture, one tablespoon at a time.
   
7. Check your dough, if it holds together, it's ready. If it's dry and crumbly, mix a little longer before adding more water.
8. When the dough has the proper amount of water, it will come together with minimal effort and no deliberate packing.
9. Wrap the dough tightly and chill it (don't roll it out, it isn't ready to be used yet) for at least 1 to 2 hours or overnight (we left it overnight).
   

Blueberry Filling
Adopted from The Grand Central Baking Book
(Makes about 3 to 4 servings)

2 cups of blueberries
1/2 cup of sugar
2 tablespoons of lemon zest
2 tablespoons of cornstarch
1 tablespoon of lemon juice

1. Preheat the oven to 190°C (375°F).
2. Begin by zesting your lemon and squeezing out the lemon juice.
   
   The Microplane zester was easy to use and easy to clean. Look at how quick Howard is zesting!
   
   
3. Toss the blueberries with the sugar and lemon zest.
   
   
   
4. Combine the cornstarch and lemon juice, stir it a little.
5. Roll out your pie dough, work quickly so that the dough doesn't soften. If it becomes too soft or sticky, cover it and refrigerate until firm.
6. Place your rolled out pie dough in your pan and trim off the excess sides.
   
   
7. Pour your blueberry filling in.
   
   
8. Bake for 20 minutes until the crust is a rich golden brown and the filling is bubbling. Funny note: our crust remained quite pale and did not reach a golden brown colour. =(
   
   

The blueberry filling was really good, so we just have to work on creating flaky, buttery pie crust. The pans we tested out are non-stick and do just as they say. The pies popped out of the pan with ease and were easy to clean (since nothing stuck to it).