It's a brand new year, a year when we're all resolving to do better, eat healthy, exercise more and skip dessert. So naturally Daughter2 and I did what all normal, determined, self disciplined people do post-Christmas holiday...
We headed to a bakery.
Not just any bakery mind you~
We headed to this bakery~
Carlo's Bakery
Here you can buy all manner of deliciousness along with merchandise like this talking Buddy...he says 'Holy Cannoli'.
Speaking of cannolis...
Oh my!
We brought this one home as a surprise for hubs. Right after he finished telling us how proud he was of himself for eating a light lunch consisting only of tuna fish we said, 'Oh by the way, we brought you a large cannoli from Carlo's Bakery but if you don't want it we can probably take it down to my mom.'
He wanted it.
It could have been worse.
For a second we considered bringing this home...
They call it a cannoli cake.
I cannot imagine the calories.
Nor do I want to.
Incidentally I read where they will have to change the name from Cake Boss to something else due to some copyright issues but I suspect people are still going to refer to Buddy as The Cake Boss.
If you haven't seen
The Cake Boss on TLC then you're probably scratching your head right about now. You'd be in the minority though, because thanks to the miracle of television everyone seems to know Carlo's Bakery.
This place hops!
We arrived about 11 am on Tuesday.
It was really cold so we were happy to discover the line had not begun to stretch outdoors and around the building and down the street.
Yet.
Most people I know who've made the trek here tell me they had to wait in a long line outside.
The place was packed so we had plenty of time to carefully consider our options before we had to commit...
In the end we chose cupcakes because we're all about the healthier option and believe it or not that seemed to be it.
Better than bringing home an entire cake, right?
See, we do have some self discipline!
The cupcakes were a good call...we chose one red velvet with cream cheese icing and one chocolate with peanut butter icing.
We also had to buy two of these ginormous chocolate covered strawberries.
Yes.
Had to.
Fruit is part of most healthy diet plans isn't it?
We didn't see Buddy but his sister Mary was in the shop.
She was in the back but she smiled and waved from around the corner.
If you watch the show you know she is a tough cookie.
We walked and window shopped and had lunch nearby in a little restaurant with definite shades of The Sopranos and that's all I'm gonna say about that.
You never know who reads your blog, right?
After lunch we browsed thru a gourmet food market we'd noticed earlier and what a find!
It's called
The Garden of Eden and there are several of these scattered around the NY City area.
It was too inviting not to go inside and we're so glad we did.
Big baskets hanging from the ceiling, produce of every kind beautifully displayed, a wonderful olive bar, deli and lots of European delights we recognized and have missed.
It felt a bit like Marks and Spencers meets Whole Foods.
No Marks and Spencers in our little town.
No Whole Foods either.
So sad.
Carlo's Bakery is just across the river from Manhattan in a town called Hoboken.
Hoboken is the birthplace of Frank Sinatra, home to the first recorded baseball game ever played and it used to be more of a rough industrial area.
It's had a renaissance of sorts in recent years and now its full of shops and great restaurants and lots of night life.
The view from the riverfront walkway is none too shabby either.
Daughter2 and I both love to cook and we've watched more than a little food programming this Christmas break.
As a rule I should not be hanging out in bakeries after all the holiday indulging...
But when daughters come home some rules are meant to be broken.