Dessert
Butter Lane partners up with Divanee for Ramadan cupcakes!
Butter Lane cupcakes for Divanee
Here’s one way to get into the Ramadan spirit (and for a good cause too!): South Asian webzine, Divanee, has partnered up with NYC-bakery, Butter Lane Cupcakes, to create these Ramadan-inspired treats (available from now until August 29th). They cost $4 each of which $1 will go straight to benefiting Save A Mother, a nonprofit dedicated to maternal health.
Hope you consider ordering some for those iftar (fast breaking) dinners you may be hosting — or for your favorite fasting friend (pick me!). Trust me, after a 16-hour fast, it’d be considered one exceptionally sweet gesture.
My trip to Georgetown, by way of food
I recently spent a weekend in DC to attend my friend Ritu’s gorgeous wedding in Potomac, but also to visit another friend, Anum, and her hubby in their new digs (which HAPPENS to be only a mile away from Georgetown). I’ve passed by the area before by car (doesn’t count), but never really wandered around. On a pretty scorching Sunday, we decided to make a day of it. And also because Anum still doesn’t have a couch. First stop: Zenobia Lounge for lunch.
Zenobia Lounge
It’s so refreshing to get out of NYC sometimes, because the restaurants EVERYWHERE else have so much more room. This Middle Eastern restaurant is interesting because it calls itself a “multicultural cafe and bookshop.” It has loads of literature on all the different Arab countries, and even a small gift shop by the entrance. They also host Arabic classes and other workshops year round.
Inside Zenobia
We made our way to the back garden, where people were already smoking hookah in the afternoon. We ordered the mint lemonade which is the “mintiest” you’ll probably find on this side of town — so much so, it’s actually GREEN.
Mint Lemonade
Happy Fourth of July!
Happy Fourth of July!
The cake at our family BBQ
Hope everyone’s having a relaxing holiday…have a safe and happy 4th!
x
Shy
Cooking brunch for dinner with Simply Orange
Simply Orange ambassadors
Last week, I was invited to cook “Brunch for Dinner” at an event hosted by Simply Orange. I already think brunch is the best meal ever, but to have it for dinner was a first (spoiler alert: it totally works!). Simply had the right idea by setting up a communal table out in front so we can first cook, then all sit together right after to enjoy our food.
Dinner table
Pre-cooking fruit and cheese
Buena Vista Bistro in the Design District – Miami
Faraz's Orangina-slash-contribution to my Buena Vista post
My trip to Miami a few weeks ago was a whirlwind, but I still managed to squeeze in brunch at Buena Vista Bistro before I left with my friends Shahla and Faraz. I think Paris was still on their minds (they came back from there just the evening before!), because Buena is a pocket-sized French bistro on a street that doesn’t have much else in the immediate vicinity.
Buena Vista Bistro - Miami
Buena Vista inside
The inside has a very 50s aesthetic — black tables and chairs, mirrors making up half the wall and the entire menu written on a chalkboard behind the counter. But on that warm day, we decided to take it outside under the shade of bright yellow umbrellas.
Eggs Benedict
Why today is a very happy day
I’m feeling particularly lucky today. For one, the grill special at my work cafeteria is quesadillas with mushrooms, avocado and goat cheese. Everytime they have quesadillas downstairs, I always manage to get there right when they run out. And no amount of eyelash fluttering, pouting, and cute “but whyyyy’s” will bring them back (I have, indeed, tried). But today folks, I got the very last one. When the chef told me that, I even let out a little ‘YES!’ like you do in grade school (I had a teacher in 4th grade that didn’t allow us to say that when we were happy about something for some reason…random memory tangent). I leaned over to the girl standing in line next to me and said, “This is the first time I’m actually getting my quesadilla!” She didn’t know me, totally didn’t care (or even reply). But her apathy won’t bring me down. Because right before THAT, I came across a stand in front of the Hearst cafeteria serving cupcakes from SPRINKLES!
Sprinkles red velvet cupcakes
Ever since Summar did her post on Sprinkles’ cupcakes in Chicago, I’ve been dying to try them. I kept thinking, “MAN why doesn’t New York have an outpost here? I thought we had this cupcake thing on lock!” (yes, that’s also exactly how thoughts sound in my head). Well, the lady behind the stand just told me they literally JUST opened a Sprinkles store last Friday on Lexington Ave., between 60th and 61st. That’s right NY, represent! I tried a sample of their strawberry, and it was moist almost to a flaw (my friends are going to make fun of me for using that word…I generally don’t like to use it to describe food because I think it sounds gross…but I don’t know how else to describe this one!). I then bought a red velvet. I’m sitting at my desk right now and could just smell the sugary goodness…Ok and now I took a bite and I’m pretty sure I’m going to encounter a ridiculous sugar high. I know I really shouldn’t be having one, after an extended dessert session at the Little Cupcake Bakeshop last night. But you know, I can always make an exception.
Bakery Info:
Sprinkles Cupcakes
780 Lexington Ave.
between 60th and 61st streets
New York, NY 10065
212-207-8375
Midtown East
x
Shy
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