Cosi and Crumbs

After several months of walking wistfully by Crumbs Bakeshop and gazing longingly at the cupcakes during Lent, tonight I finally got my fix.

But first, dinner! I met my friend Jillian at Cosi for a casual sandwich meal. I'd ordered their hummus and veggie sandwich, but my order was written down wrong and they brought me a roasted-veggie sandwich instead. I didn't feel like waiting for another sandwich to be made, so I just rolled with it.

Red & yellow peppers, eggplant, artichoke hearts, zucchini, squash and red onions, topped with romaine and creamy feta cheese spread.

Still pretty good, though I definitely prefer the hummus and veggie! My sandwich came on their amazing white bread with a side of baby carrots.

Cosi is just a few doors down from Crumbs, so after our sandwiches we wandered over to the bakery for cupcakes! I got the "Chocolate Pretty as a Rose" cupcake, a special for mother's day: chocolate cake filled with chocolate buttercream frosting, topped with chocolate cream cheese frosting, edged in chocolate sprinkles and finished with buttercream rosettes.

Um, yes. It was amazing. As usual, I scraped all the frosting off and left most of the cake part; what I love most about Crumbs is that there's as much frosting per cupcake as there is actual cake.

Jillian got the "Almond Joy," which must be a new flavor since it's not on their site yet! It was a chocolate cake with almond-flavored buttercream, studded with almonds and finished with chocolate ganache and shredded coconut.

Over our cupcakes, we talked about how much work we both have to do before the end of the semester- hence why I am staying in tonight. I'm determined to knock out the paper and take-home final I have before the end of this weekend.

Let the writing commence- hope your Saturday night is more exciting than mine!

I'm curious- what do you do when a restaurant gets your order wrong? I'm impatient and also don't like to make a big deal out of things, so unless there's meat or it's something completely different or more expensive from what I ordered, I usually just go with the flow. The sandwich mix-up was pretty innocuous, though!

Candle and Crumbs

After introducing her to the glory of Candle 79 a few months ago, I wasn't surprised when Gracie told me recently that she wanted to take a trip back there. However, since 79 is a pretty pricey place, this evening we opted for dinner at Candle Cafe, the vegan restaurant's more casual older sister. Similar food with bigger portions and cheaper prices, but less elegant in presentation and atmosphere. You win some, you lose some ;)

The two of us were immediately drawn to the Mezze Plate appetizer, so we split it to start: hummus, quinoa tabbouli, lemon-date chutney, marinated olives, parata bread and zaatar.

The parata was flaky and doughy, almost like phyllo dough. I swear it tasted like pie when topped with the lemon-date chutney- although maybe that's my recent lack of desserts speaking.

For my entree, I got my favorite Candle Cafe dish: the "Good Food" plate, in which you get to choose among four of their many sides and two of their sauces to create your own plate.

I rolled with caramelized onions, steamed broccoli, roasted beets and sea vegetable salad with carrot ginger and roasted garlic tomato sauces. Also known as a the fiber baby plate.

The caramelized onions and roasted beets were my favorites, though the broccoli was also particularly amazing dipped in the carrot ginger dressing.

Gracie ordered the Tuscan Lasagna: grilled zucchini, peppers and onions, tofu basil ricotta, tapioca cheese and seitan ragout topped with tomato sauce and served with sauteed greens. She raved about it!

Speaking of delicious restaurants, I spent awhile this afternoon revamping my NYC Restaurant Reviews page, so if you're ever visiting the city, definitely check it out!

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After dinner, Gracie was craving a Crumbs cupcake, so we walked a few blocks to one on 79th and 3rd. Apparently I've been missing out when I go to their downtown locations, because this bakery was stocked with some flavors I'd never seen or heard of!

Gracie selected a caramel apple flavor for her train ride home, while I cursed my Lenten resolution. One week until I'm on a mission to track down the most heavily frosted cupcake in the city.

Instead, I had a plate of frozen grapes and two slices of banana bread when I got home, as well as some unpictured cashews.

I've been looking forward to an early bedtime all day. This weekend has really taken it out of me! Enjoy your evening!

If you could create your perfect cupcake, what would it be? Mine would be chocolate mousse cake on the bottom, filled with fudge and topped with a mountain of buttercream, then decorated with chocolate chips and sprinkles. And the frosting-to-cake ratio would be an even 1:1. (Can you tell I'm ready for Lent to be over?)

Triple Date

I was lucky enough to have not just one, but two dates tonight :)

The first was this gorgeous girl (meets life):

And the second was this little guy.

But keep your pants on, that's coming later.

Though Gracie and I had a reservation at v-note, a new vegan restaurant on the Upper East Side, we decided to change our plans at the last minute when we realized that they were only offering a $60 prix fixe menu. A bit steep for a casual girls' night! Instead, we opted for Indian, and headed to Baluchi's in Soho.

Usually I'm all about the baigan bhartha, but I went for something different tonight and got the vegetable jalfrezi.

It was good- not too spicy, but still a decent amount of kick. There was also plenty of ginger, which I loved.

Ironically enough, Gracie ended up ordering the bhartha. Good call on her part!

We split an order of roti:

And a mammoth dish of rice, which I didn't try. Rice is just so bland to me!

I was pleased with myself for eating until I was satisfied, not stuffed. Otherwise, I wouldn't have had room for the second stop on our date: Crumbs, for a gourmet cupcake.

The bakery was almost completely cleaned out. Though they usually carry about twenty flavors, it was down to just a handful. Fortunately, one of my favorites was still in stock- the grasshopper.

Rich chocolate cake filled with chocolate fudge and topped with mint flavored cream cheese frosting with chocolate cake crumbs, edged in mini chocolate chips and finished with a buttercream rosette.

Oh yes.

While the frosting was amazing as usual, the cake was actually super stale and dry, which I've never experienced before at Crumbs. In their defense, it's hard to keep cupcakes fresh when you're making enough for a dessert-centric holiday...and I only usually eat the frosting anyway, so it wasn't a total fail.

Meanwhile, Gracie fell head over heels for her Fluffernutter cupcake: moist vanilla cake, filled with peanut butter buttercream and topped with marshmallow fluff frosting with a peanut butter swirl and sprinkles.

She said it was incredible, cake part included. I'm just glad the Crumbs standards aren't slipping across the board!

I'm glad I got out to celebrate the love tonight- both of the friend and food variety. Though I have to say, Gracie was the better of my two dates :)

Happy Valentine's Day to you all!!