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New York City, Day 2: Doughnuts, Cupcakes & Gelato Milkshakes!

New York City Summer 2010

Good morning, friends! This is a pic of me and Jenny bright and early on Friday morning in the hotel lobby. Our first full day in NYC! Unilever invited us to stay at the Royalton during the big blogging conference that was going on in NYC that weekend, BlogHer ’10. But Jenny and I didn’t have tickets to the conference, so we just got to run around Manhattan all day! We shopped, did some sight-seeing, and ate a whole lot! :) In the morning and evenings, Unilever had their very cool events going on in the penthouse suite that we could attend. Everyone at BlogHer was talking about them! In the morning they had celebrity hairstylists and makeup artists that they *flew in* from LA that would style your hair and get you ready for the day. And in the evenings, they had reflexology massage therapists who would massage your feet and arms after a long day of walking! There were also some really cool people there. I got to meet Rosalind Wiseman, author of Queen Bees and Wannabes. That’s the book the movie Mean Girls was based on! Oh, and of course the events were catered! :) Oh my goodness, there was so much food, I can’t even remember what all we had! I definitely remember the blueberry muffins and scones in the morning, and the lavender chocolate truffles we had during our foot massages! Oh, and PF Changs was there!

But more on that later! :)

New York City Summer 2010

Our first stop was the Lower East Side for breakfast at Doughnut Plant!

BTW, why do I always type doughBUT when I mean doughnut? Is my keyboard trying to tell me something??

New York City Summer 2010

Nevermind that. Look at this cute sign with their fresh “doughnuts du jour“…

New York City Summer 2010
Photo via Jenny

Oh yeah, you know we had to try a bunch. I love traveling with friends who have excellent taste and will split everything with you. :D

New York City Summer 2010

Oh my gosh. The Peanut Butter & Jelly doughnut. The doughnut was peanut butter. Yes. A peanut butter doughnut. With an incredible, peanut-buttery glaze. And blackberry jam piped throughout the square shaped doughnut. Perfect!

New York City Summer 2010

Oh, the Carrot Cake Doughnut with cream cheese icing filling. I loved this one! And I’m not even a huge carrot cake or cream cheese frosting fan. What is up with that?? And the sweet little doughnut man accidentally gave us two instead of one. Score!

New York City Summer 2010

The Tres Leches Cake Doughnut was sweet, buttery, and extremely indulgent. Loved it!

New York City Summer 2010
Photo via Jenny

And the tiiiiny Créme Brûlée Doughnut. Sorry! I snarfed it down too quickly to get a pic of the silky vanilla custard inside. You’ll just have to take my word for it. :D But just look at that incredible, crackly, sugary crust! *crunch!*

New York City Summer 2010

After completely filling up on doughnuts, what do you think we wanted to do next? Eat cupcakes of course! ;)

Just kidding! We headed over to Chelsea Market and shopped off all our doughnuts first! :) The had the most incredible Anthropologie store there and I wanted to buy one of every. single. thing. I refrained. But since I’m addicted to strawberry jam, I definitely picked up this yummy-sounding Strawberry Raspberry jam from Sarabeth’s Kitchen.

New York City Summer 2010

But eventually the cupcakes from Eleni’s were calling out to us!

New York City Summer 2010
Photo via Jenny

How could we not stop in this adorable bakery?? :)

New York City Summer 2010

We decided on the Oreo Cookie Madness Cupcake… (look at those tiny toasted marshmallows!)

New York City Summer 2010

And the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Cupcake.

New York City Summer 2010

Okay, first let me say, we went to 2 other well-known cupcake bakeries while in NYC, including Magnolia Bakery. Should I tell you the Battle of the Cupcakes verdict now or wait until the end to announce the winner??! :)

Okay, I will at least tell you this! :D Oh my gosh. This icing? Was incredible. Unlike anything I have ever tasted. All icing will now be held to this standard, and I’m afraid I’m going to be very, very disappointed from now on! :) The vanilla buttercream on the Oreo cookie cupcake was just totally outta this world. And the peanut butter buttercream on the Reese’s cupcake??

I think my mouth is watering right now.

New York City Summer 2010

So, after doughnuts and cupcakes, what do you think we chose to finish off our trifecta of sweetness?? Gelato Milkshakes from Stand of course! Okay, I promise we had a real lunch and did lots of walking in between all these sugary confections! :D And look how tiny they are… they did have a larger sizes available. We totally could’ve gotten much larger gelato shakes. But it’s all about making healthy choices. Right?? ;) Jenny had the honey lavender milkshake, and let me just say it tasted *just* like lavender smells. Just in case you have ever wondered what this new honey-lavender thing is about?? It tastes just like lavender! lol! :) And I had the famous toasted marshmallow gelato milkshake. Delish!

New York City Summer 2010

Okay. Real food time! :) Jenny had been telling me about Artisanal Fromagerie and Bistro and their life-changing mac and cheese for weeks before our trip.

New York City Summer 2010

I was pumped. We started off with some very yummy fondue…

New York City Summer 2010

My gracious, look at that bubbly goodness!

New York City Summer 2010

New York City Summer 2010

And the Salade Frisée. Let me tell you about this salad. If I could only have salad for the rest of my life, I think I could handle it. I would totally eat this salad every day for the rest of my life! Oh, the bacon. It had super thick crumbles of bacon- see that bite right in the middle?? That’s not a crouton.. that’s bacon!! :) And that beautiful white dollop in the middle is not sour cream… it’s a poached egg, folks. Oh yes. Indeed.

New York City Summer 2010

The mac & cheese was definitely the star of the show.

New York City Summer 2010

So smooth & creamy, with a buttery panko crust. And guess what! Jenny has this famous gourmet mac and cheese recipe from Chef Brennan himself up on her blog! Artisanal mac and cheese at home? I will totally be trying this.

New York City Summer 2010

Can’t forget our side of pomme frites. :)

New York City Summer 2010

After dinner we walked around Times Square before heading back to the hotel. So gorgeous and magical at night! It was about 11 o’clock at night and everything was still open and packed with people!

New York City Summer 2010

More soon!

Kevin has the day off so we’re starting our weekend early. Woohoo!

Definitely check out this super sweet post from Jenny on our adventures in NYC.

See you Monday! :)

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42 Responses
  1. Dessert Darling

    Ohmygosh! Doughnuts, Cupcakes, Fondue!?? This is MY kind of day!! I gave the Marshmallow Milkshake at the Stand 4-cherries here: http://tinyurl.com/4mfyoqc

    But I haven’t tried Eleni’s cupcakes yet! MUST try that frosting… oh how exciting. A mission for my next NY trip :)

  2. Amy

    I have to tell you that yesterday myself and two of my girlfriends did our own little best treats of the city tasting. We each got to pick a place to go, and my pick was Eleni’s! I had to try the cupcakes after your great review! They did not dissappoint! I originally was going for the Peanut Butter Cup but they didn’t have it that day, so I went with the Oreo Cookie Madness. Delicious sugar! Thanks for the reccomendation!

  3. Becky

    OMG !!!! I would be in heaven if I were there eating all those goodies. I’m gaining weight just looking at the pics. LOL. No really I am. Looks like you are having a blast. You go girl. Have fun and soak it all in. Thanks for sharing your wonderful pics. Later, Becky

  4. Tracy Eau Claire

    Amanda,

    Thank you SO much for answering my lens question! It made me especially happy to know that even though I’m still shooting on an xsi, I do have the 24-70 2.8 and a 50 1.4!! My dh is slightly in the dark about the 24-70 purchase so it’s only been on my camera twice in the last two months! As soon as I have it completly paid off (thanks Amazon no finance changes for 12 months!) I’ll be playing a lot more with it!

    Now I’m trying to decide how badly I need an 85mm 1.8??? Do you still use yours now that you have the 24-70?

    Thanks again!

    Tracy

  5. Brooke

    Owh man! I think I’ve commented with “very jealous” on almost all of your posts lately. Let’s not let it stop today – jealous, jealous, jealous!! = )

  6. Lindsey

    Totally off subject, but you are just too cute and I love your taste in clothes! Great pictures, I can’t wait to see more from your trip!

  7. Michele McGraw

    Now I am hungry and seeing the reese’s PB cupcakes make me wish I had skipped the conference and headed into NYC for cupcakes.

  8. Jessica

    Love all the excitement you had, but just gotta ask where those shirts come from in both the very first pic you posted of you and the very last one? just love them!

  9. AshleyD

    Love all the pictures!!

    Looks like you’ll have to do another post of “What I Wore” once you’re done with all the posts! I love all your outfits!

  10. Jenny M

    Ok between your pictures today, and David Lebovitz’s pictures a couple days ago of Doughnut Plant, I officially want a tres leches doughnut, and a chocolate one…maybe chase it down with a cupcake. Now if you’ll excuse me I think the button on my jeans popped just thinking about it all.

  11. Elysia

    Ok. So . . . you’re waiting till ‘THE END’ (of your trip) the end to say who had the best cupcakes or do we just assume that the pictured place is the winner!?!?

  12. Amy C.

    When you gave the doughnuts teaser yesterday, I was hoping you were going to the Doughnut Plant!!! I saw these on Food Network, and I am dying to try the PB & J one!!! Very jealous!!! And you and Jenny take some of the most gorgeous food photos that I’ve ever seen! You really rival anything I’ve seen in any magazine. If you haven’t had an offer from a magazine or cookbook publisher before these entries, you should now!

    Amy

  13. Lindsey

    *nom nom* All this food looks so good! Peanut butter is an entire food group in my pyramid, so that pb&j doughnut had me wiping drool off my keyboard!!

  14. Lauren

    NYC is so much fun! My husband and I can’t wait to go back… we went in December, though… you chose a much better time of year!

  15. HeatherB

    Yum yum! I agree with the above poster – how can you possibly stay so skinny with all these treats around?! Fabulous photos – I’m enjoying your trip vicariously!

  16. Mandy Ford

    I’m drooling over all of that food – definitely has my sweet tooth working overtime. :) And I absolutely love the top you are wearing in the first photo! Are the embellishments handmade?

  17. Sarah

    How fun!? Looks like a great time & i’m hungry now…- and that 1st pic: the gray top with rosettes is sooo adorable, where did you find that ?

    1. Amanda

      Thanks girls!! :) I got it from the *cutest* little store in Panama City called Deja Vu. It is my new favorite store ever!! They make and sell all their clothes right there in Panama City. The tag in the back says “Deja Vu”. The designer also has another clothing line called Judith March. Love that line too! Here’s a link to the top on their site:

      Shop with Deja Vu

  18. mary gendron

    Such a cute top in the first picture…I almost bought it for our family pictures. I’m going to have to try that Mac n cheese! Yum!

  19. Tracy Eau Claire

    Hi Amanda,

    Looks like you are having a fab time. Can I ask you a quick question? Could you pretty please tell me what lens was used for these pics?

    Thank you!!!
    Tracy

    1. Amanda

      Hi Tracy! :) I used the Canon 7D with the 24-70mm f/2.8 lens. Just got that new camera and I have been very pleased with it. The white balance is excellent! We took a bunch of pictures at Levain Bakery that I will be posting next week, and I am going post them unedited, SOOC (straight out of the camera). I *never* do that. But these pics turned out so good, when I did my normal quick edit (Fresh & Colorful from The Pioneer Woman actions) they didn’t need it!

      The 24-70mm is definitely my favorite, go-to lens. It’s a beast, weighing in at 3 whole pounds, but believe me, after carrying it all day it feels like 500! :) But I always take it with me because of the versatile focal length, it performs great in low light, and it allows you to zoom in really close to the subject and still be able to focus on it. With my 50mm lens, you can’t get too close or it’s not able to focus.

      Jenny’s pics were taken with the Canon 50D and the 50mm 1.4 lens.

      We swapped lenses back and forth several times over the weekend. The Artisanal pics were taken with my camera and her lens. I think we both wanted to go home and buy each others lenses! :)

    2. Katy McGuffey

      I was going to ask the same question! I have a 28-80 lens, but it won’t let me get that close up and I’ve been wanting to get another lens. I also have a Canon, but a Rebel XT.

  20. MK

    LOVE the last pic of you two! Ah, NYC is so magical :) I need to make another trip soon! It is a short train ride away so I have no excuse not to go. Looks like you had a great time!

  21. Jada Caniford Enochs

    Thats the problem Amanda, u get the best and the mundane will never be the same again. I tend to cook like that now and my hubby reaks the rewards. He doesnt even like to go out and eat anymore. Oh no, what did I do??? LOL I enjoy this blog so much and now u have me reading Picky Palate’s blog too!!! Have been waiting on the pictures and as usual u have outdone yourself again. Keep em comin and have a great weekend with Kevin..

  22. Baby

    Haha, I was reading it and then when I came down to the “comments section” I gasped… I’m actually one of the first people to read this, because there still weren’t any comments. And then I refreshed… and guess what! Well, I’ll be the second comment now. But still. It’s the first time for me here. Not only to be one of the first in comment section, but to comment at all! :-D
    Hm, I have actually been following this blog for almost 6 months and I’ve read almost EVERYTHING… /talking about madness/ :-D But I find it high time writing a comment. But don’t get relieved just yet! I’m preparing something quite special and it’s to come very soon! ^^ Think of it as a surprise! ;-)
    Many regards!
    Yana Koleva

    1. Karen

      Hi Amanda.Everything you had that day in New York would have been heaven to me.I have sent a link to my baking pal.I would love to know who took your photos for you,they were amazing.What camera etc were they with.

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Meet Kevin & Amanda

Kevin and Amanda

We love to travel and to eat! Here we share our favorite quick and easy recipes, plus travel tips and guides for our favorite places around the world. If you have any questions about what camera I use or how I edit my photos, check out my photography tutorials.

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