The serenity of the ocean and lush greenery in our private parks and grounds is what we love most about this place called home. Apart from its accessibility to Manhattan, we also love the fact that we are living in a place that is very well maintained and secured. For where can we find a place in New York that is equipped with its own power plant. Remember that big brownout in the Northeast in August of 2003? The entire city was dark, everyone in the city and our neighborhood went dark but us. Yes, the five high rise buildings in our property was lit and the residents were in the comfort of their homes on that hot summer night except for my husband who decided to sleep the night in the comfort of his office equipped with generators instead of walking home from Wall Street. He decided to stay along with many employees who didn’t want to walk home. Emergency lights were aplenty and although, they would go on and off to conserve power, they provided enough lighting. Best of all, the people in their firm who decided to stay for the night were also fed courtesy of the firm.
But just like any system, the power plant right here where we live is not without glitches too. Of the almost nine years that I have been living here: four years in our first place and almost five years here in our current place, I can exactly say that there have been four instances that we have power outages. It’s good that each emergency lighting is strategically located in the public areas indoor and outdoor. Plus, during those four outages, the Security and Maintenance people are always ready to get into action and help people to evacuate if it’s needed.
I can just imagine how catastrophic it would be if a place is not equipped with reliable and quality emergency lighting that is ready to be used when the need arises. Call me paranoid, but I’m always on the look out for these emergency equipments when I’m outside, and that also include exit signs. There’s one thing I noticed though, right here in our own building. I’m not sure if it is equipped with braille exit signs. I have to look closely when I head out later today. If my memory is right, and I find out that it’s not equipped, I should call the attention of the Board to look into it. They should know the regulations of the State.
Alright, my curiosity was satisfied. We walked in to the quaint little bakeshop right by University Place on Union Square. That day, there was a street fair right by the whole stretch of University Place, the front of Crumbs was occupied by sellers of dry goods as well as food vendors. Yet, this little bakeshop still has its own client base going in and out of the bakery. Obviously, Crumbs has its own following. We were greeted by a friendly staff behind the counter. Even with our indecisiveness, not knowing which flavor to get, he didn’t show any hint of annoyance.
So we finally settled with these two:
We got two each of these flavors and had them for two nights. The verdict? We love the cakes, the Hostess most especially. The cakes are moist and they are not overly sweet, they are just right. The downside to the lemon is the fact that it was not lemony enough. I can’t seem to taste the real lemon flavor, I wonder if they used real lemons or the bottled lemon.
We will definitely go for more… Now, I can say, I love Crumbs, more than the sugary, overly sweet Magnolia cupcakes (from the Sex and the City fame) which I think has been overrated all these years. Sprinkles, when will I see you here?
At least for now. New York sizzled yesterday and today, with the temperature hitting the thermometer in the mid 80′s for the first time this season.
Now, I can safely say, that these beautiful blooms are here to stay for everyone to enjoy including me, of course. With these beauties abound, I hope to enjoy doing my walk right around our private parks right here where we live. If anything, I’m hoping that this will motivate me all the more to hit the parks so I can either run or do some brisk walking. I figured, this Spring is a good time for me to be outside walking and or running. When summer hits, I doubt it if I will still want to be outside for a walk, more so, when our temps reach the 90′s. As you know, we get extreme temps (extreme hot and extreme cold) here. When that happens, I will probably go to the gym or when laziness strikes, I will just be content sitting out in our balcony, sipping iced tea or lemonade in the company of a good book. I have quite a few books un-opened. They’re actually begging for my attention.
When my favorite Italian Bakeshop: Angelo’s, closed a few months ago, it was not easy for us to search for another bakeshop that offers the same decadent and quality baked goodies. Cinnabon and a couple of other bakeshops in the Village have always been a staple ever since, and with Angelo’s gone, my husband had to look for other alternatives. That’s when he found FayDa, a Chinese bakery in Midtown. I have been familiar with the baked goods from this bakery because when I still lived in Long Island (Valley Stream), a trip to Flushing in Queens won’t be complete without dropping by their branch there.
It was not a surprise to me at all when one evening, my husband came home with this.
Since then, this light, fluffy checkerboard cake has been a staple whenever I can’t bake. We had this Friday night last week, when I was lazy to bake. And yes, this is the size for one slice (for each of us). That tells you how light this cake is. Yum!
I’m not a techie kind of gal. In fact, as far as technology is concerned, I always find myself lagging behind and always the last to acquire those awesome ‘toys’ a.k.a. gadgets. I know how pricey those toys could be when they first come out and somehow, there’s always that bargain hunter in me and hope against hope that the new cool gadget is going to be on sale sooner than later.
That’s why, I’m always the last to have those ‘it’ gadgets such as the iPhone. If you ask me now, I still don’t own one. I just got a new mobile unit but sad to say, it’s just a second rate iPhone clone. The apps on the iPhone are to drool for. It’s really loaded, and anyone that owns an iPhone must be contented. After iPhone, I wonder what is going to be next?
Absolutely! And please believe me because not all Crumbs are the same. At least, not these crumbs. I may have been a little delayed on taking a trek to a Crumbs Bake Shop, but at least, now I know that I will no longer be under the mercy and be dependent on my friend’s assistance on sending me some Sprinkles Cupcakes – the cupcake store in Beverly Hills that we discovered when we stayed at the Four Season’s Hotel in 2006. Yes, I used to get Sprinkles cupcakes shipped by my friend to me via UPS same day service. This is something that I haven’t done for a long time because I thought that it was already becoming a burden on my friend.
As I mentioned in my previous post, a visit to Crumbs was on our itinerary last Saturday. They have several branches in Manhattan, and although, the store front is quaint and tiny, it was loaded with yummy treats inside.
I was very excited to finally ‘test drive’ these cupcakes. Since, I didn’t bake last Friday, Saturday and Sunday night’s after dinner treat was of course, two flavors of these cupcakes (one each for us for the two nights). They offer a lot of flavors, it was not easy to decide which ones to try first.
I will let you know which flavors we picked on my next post. Of course, I assume you are also curious to know how we rate these treats based on our tastes. I’m just thankful that there is no branch right within our vicinity because I doubt it if I can control my cravings for these cupcakes if they are available close by. I don’t want to be dependent on the best weight loss pills available in the market just yet, or should I say not ever. But at the rate I’m going (stuffing myself with all these decadent treats) it won’t be a surprise if I find myself retracting that statement “not ever” in the near future.
Heavy downpour, very gusty winds and the temperature is in the lower 40′s. A very nasty day indeed! This same condition will continue into tomorrow, and I doubt very well if these beauties will live through these string of stormy days.
Our neighborhood is finally starting to look a lot like Spring with these Spring blooms slowly sprouting. I had a field day taking photos of them over the weekend. If I were to bank on the weathermen, the outlook for the next three days is not that conducive for these blooms to thrive on. It’s not so much about the rain, but it’s the strong wind gusts that can really destroy them. Because of our proximity to the ocean, we do get strong winds whenever there are disturbances in the weather.
I didn’t venture out at all today. Not even to head down to the mail box or to the parking lot to start up the car. I figured, my husband can do all that on his way home. To say that I was in my jammies all day is not an exaggeration. I was so immersed on reading up and understanding how conversion rate optimization works. Before I knew it, the day was gone and it was time to head on to the kitchen. That deep fryer was waiting for me. Guess what was on the menu? Fried chicken, pasta with garlic and anchovies and boiled edamame pods .
I was simply lazy yesterday, I didn’t have my usual baking enthusiasm. That means, I won’t be able to share with you my baking activity for the week. When I knew for sure that I will finally be able to try something that I have been wanting to get, I decided not to bake at all.
I’m excited to say the least. I will be writing about it in details when I finally try them. Not for long… It will be this weekend. What am I talking about, you may want to know. I’ll keep you guessing for now. It’s nothing big, they’re just something pretty and s…w…e…e…t.
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