Rise & Shine

This weekend, I accidentally spent an afternoon devoted to myself. First, I went to Via Quadronno, an Italian café in the heart of the Upper East Side that features delicious paninis and the best cappuccinos ever. It cost me a mint (or let's be honest, about eight mints), but the wild boar prosciutto panini was worth it. The cappuccino was light, foamy and rich. It completely lived up to my expectations, and I'm probably going to dream about it for the rest of my life.

It didn't stop there (of course not). I went to Ladurée. Duh. About every other word on this blog is about macarons. During the forty minutes waiting outside on line, I steeled myself to resist temptation and only get five. Once I got inside the actual shop, I gave myself a break and bumped that up to six. And then, when I reached the counter, I ordered eight. One chocolate, one caramel salted butter, and six raspberry macarons later, my bank account is empty and my appetite, satiated. They too lived up to my expectations: melt-in-your-mouth and perfectly sweet.

How was your weekend? Please tell me it was as good as mine or I'll feel awful for having devoted this post to gloating.


[photo cred here and there]

Throwdown: Macarons vs Cupcakes

"The macaron is the anti-cupcake.A cupcake comforts. A macaron teases. Dainty, nearly weightless, it leaves you hungrier than you were before. It is but a prelude to other pleasures. Your slacker boyfriend gives you a cupcake; your lover gives you macarons."

— NYTimes.com







The New York Times wrote a dainty little piece about macarons, in which I learned that I live four blocks from Ladurée and then kicked myself repeatedly with my satin Marc by Marc boat shoes for even finding this out in the first place. Au revoir, waistline. Bonne chance! I'm not the biggest fan of jasmine macarons, but I'll snarf down the raspberry jam-filled kind faster than you can count them. What's your favorite kind? Would you even go so far as to place macarons higher than cupcakes on the saccharine totem pole of drool-inducing yum?


[photo cred here]