Wednesday, January 5, 2011

The Cake Boss

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.

27 comments:

  1. I would be one of the six people in the entire US who do not know who the Cake Boss is. :-o

    But that cannoli and those cupcakes look absolutely DELICIOUS! As do the chocolate-covered strawberries! Yummy!

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  2. #1. Your daughter is beautiful. #2. That cannoli cake. Oh. my. #3. Haven't watched the show, but see if advertised often. #4. Must put that on my list of places to visit when I make it back to the big city. #5. Your cupcakes have officially ignited my sweet tooth. *sigh*

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  3. Lindsey has gone to the bakery! She did see the Cake boss!! Everything looks yummy!

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  4. Love the Cake Boss! and Cannoli omg....love them! Our Wegman Grocery store here make a awesome one!

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  5. Oh absolutely! And that cannoli cake would have come home with me and I would have given up all other food for a month! LOL!
    But then, I am off sweets now for the rest of the year!

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  6. I love how you begin and end with a picture of the daughter. ahaha. You're gonna miss her, I know. This bakery has an ATM. Those pastries must be some expensive. lol. Looks like a fabulous place to indulge. Thanks for sharing. Blessings, SusanD

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  7. I am SO jealous!!! They make some things on that show that have me absolutely drooling. I can't believe you stopped at cupcakes - your will power is astonishing!

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  8. OH BOY... those cupcakes!!!! I'm drooling and oh so jealous!

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  9. This is what memories are made of!

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  10. So loved reading about your day out with daughter2! AND I DO know the Cake Boss! Well, not personally BUT I have watched the show a few times. I loooove to hear him tooaawwwwk!! :-) Did you see him on Oprah when he made her a cake? He was soooo cute!!
    You are so fortunate to live close "enough" to NYC to make daytrips!

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  11. This post was a gastronomic feast. It sounds like you exercised lots of discipline in that environment. I would have for sure bought the cannoli cake.

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  12. I love watching The Cake Boss!! It is much better then Ace of Cakes. I've wanted to go to Carlos' Bakery for a while, and I really want to go on the day where there cannolis are only several cents, which I'm like "YES!". It seems so cool to be at this lovely bakery!! Having the covered strawberries just gave me a leg up on my mother :) Yes!!

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  13. Thank you for sharing your adventure here. I may never make it there, but it was so fun hearing about it and seeing the pictures.

    I love to "travel" along with you.

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  14. How cool to live so near such fun things to see! And thanks for sharing them with us! Around here? Ummm... you could see the SPAM Museum, the Jolly Green Giant and a Giant Ball of Twine. Yippee.

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  15. Oh, I love the Cake Boss and I'd love to live close enough to do all the fun things that you do in NYC and surrounding areas. That is just too cool! Loved the pictures and they succeeded in making me crave something sweet. But, I'll resist as I do at the beginning of each New Year. :o) Blessings!

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  16. Oh my gosh, I'm so jealous you went there!! We've watched his show, and we love everything he makes...especially the cannoli's!!!!!!!!!!! Wow!

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  17. I am so jealous. I love the Cake Boss. How neat that you saw his sister. I was just talking to my husband about cannoli! Honest, our son wants to go to this place for his birthday and I looked at the menu, they have cannoli. I bet that cake would have been awesome.

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  18. Wow, this post has my name all over it. I am a dessertaholic!!! I LOVE sweets! That place looks amazing! Glad you gals got to have such a fun day. What fun! Adelaide and I made sugar cookies on Wednesday night and decorated them tonight. We didn't get them done before Christmas, so better late, than never! I enjoy watching the cake boss and am always fascinated with the creations that are made. Love & blessings from NC!

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  19. Looks like a lot of fun, but I think I gained weight just looking at those pictures!

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  20. Your a better woman than I, because the cannoli cake certainly would have come home with me. So kudos to you:) I am also very jealous as I would love to go there. And I have no idea how there could be another "cake boss." I will get there one day. What a fun way to spend the day with your daughter.

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  21. How fun! I love that show. And I especially love all the sisters!

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  22. H-O-B-0-K-E-N That's my town! I grew up in that little one square mile town when it was mostly that industrial looking place. Washington St. was THE place to shop and my girlfriends and I loved walking there. We loved going to Benny Tudino's to have pizza. They have slices bigger than your head that are delicious! It is quite a place now that things have been built up and it's so quaint.

    Joyce, thanks for taking me back there for a little bit. I miss it, and seeing my family, but we'll be there soon I'm sure. And hopefully, yes hopefully, you and I will be able to meet.

    Carlos Bakery used to be in a different location in Hoboken, and there was a bakery called Shonings where Carlos now is. My sister, Cindy, worked there and would bring home the yummiest goodies.

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  23. I'll take one of those chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting, please?! Yum! And you can throw me a couple of strawberries, as well, since I'm eating healthy these days. Thanks so much for taking us with you on your adventure! It's looks like so much fun. Have a great weekend, Candace

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  24. You are right! Spoil them while they are home!
    But I have to laugh - marrying into an Italian family - they were all mortified when I announced I didn't like cannolis. I mean seriously mortified. My husbands grandmother looked at me like she could kick me out the back door and be done with it! Until that is - after Grandpa died, she married another man named Harry and he too announced he didn't like Cannolis. Needless to say - we were best buds!
    Love the view of New York. Some day I will get there ... I just know I will.
    Thank you for a great adventure! And I didn't eat a thing! :)
    Happy New Year! Karen

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  25. How fun! I watch that show all the time.
    The desserts look super yummy!
    So glad you and your daughter had such a fun day together.

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  26. When I saw this post, I said (outloud and probably too loudly!), "OH NO SHE DIDN'T!!" We LOVE Buddy! I've wondered if you've ever been there. I just can't believe you would torture us by posting about going.

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  27. But were they good? Sometimes bakery things are pretty but don't taste good.

    I'm PICKY about my bakery items.

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