Scenes from the weekend.

The majority of our weekend was spent working. Brian recently started a new job and we are both so grateful and eager for the changes ahead. In between hours upon hours of work, we snuck in a few quick trips out to run errands around the city.

I drove for the first time in New York City over the weekend, which was both thrilling and terrifying. The city streets are a lot more challenging than the Minnesota roads I learned on! It only seemed appropriate that my first drive be to get doughnuts in Brooklyn. We loved the vegan donuts at Dun-Well Doughnuts in Williamsburg. The Boston Creme was absolutely amazing! Brian also really liked the lemon poppyseed. We can't wait to go back again soon for more treats! How was your weekend?

Black Betty.

If you are visiting Austin a trip to Gourdough's is necessary. I have somehow managed to go to their truck and pub locations four times during my past two trips to Austin to get their delicious donut creations. What can I say, I love donuts...

The Funky Monkey was my first Gourdough's love. Who can resist brown sugar, grilled bananas, and cream cheese icing?! But after trying the Black Betty I think I have a new favorite. The Black Betty has house made blackberry filling and is topped with cream cheese icing, cake mix (yes, cake mix!), cinnamon, sugar, and locally harvested honey butter. It is pure heaven.

Fingers crossed that Gourdough's opens a New York City location soon. I know I would be first in line!

Dough Loco

Flavors (from front left to front right): chocolate, maple miso, blood orange, cinnamon sugar, blueberry, and raspberry sriracha. 

Donuts are one of my favorite desserts, and New York City does not disappoint with bakeries that specialize in this classic treat. Although it didn't find a spot on my top three, I enjoyed my most recent donut venture: Dough Loco. I popped into the bakery with two girlfriends after a morning at the Museum of the City of New York, and we quickly decided to sample every flavor available. I loved the chocolate and cinnamon sugar donuts, and the maple miso was also quite tasty! From the looks of their website and Yelp page, it seems Dough Loco changes their daily flavors often. I am tempted to go back soon to try their cassis/peanut butter and banana/curry/dulce de leche combinations.

Dough Loco is located in East Harlem on Park Avenue. If you are exploring some of the museums uptown on Museum Mile, it is a great place to pop into to get your sugar fix. They also serve Blue Bottle Coffee- yum!

Scenes from the weekend.

I am still smiling from this weekend. We managed to pack a lot of fun into the past two days! On Saturday afternoon we took Emily to see Frozen. She had already seen it once, but wanted to see it again with us. We loved it and were so happy it won a Golden Globe last night! Saturday evening we continued our pizza and movie night tradition with a large pepperoni pie and the original Muppet Movie. After Emily was fast asleep and Brian was deep into the Patriots game I headed into Manhattan for my friend Allison's 30th birthday party. We sipped spiked cider and snacked on baskets of fries in our own little nook at the Hudson Lodge. A lot of friends from work came out for the party and we had a great time!

On Sunday morning we started our day off right with treats from Doughnut Plant. I always love their peanut butter donuts with banana filling and after trying their coconut cream donut, Brian claims it is the best donut he has ever had! Sunday afternoon Emily and I set up our very own spa (Brian was an excellent customer) and Sunday evening Emily had a Chamber violin concert. She is an amazing violinist and did such a wonderful job performing!

All in all a perfect weekend. How was yours?

Twelve dates of Christmas: On our eighth date of Christmas...

... we had breakfast at Peter Pan Bakery in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. 

Peter Pan has been our favorite donut spot for years and each and every trip is a special treat! I was super excited my favorite sour cream glazed old fashioned donuts were on the shelf (and still warm!) when we arrived. We also got a honey dip for Emily, a toasted coconut for Brian, and a bacon, egg, and cheese bagel sandwich to split. Yum! 

Scenes from the weekend.

Rental cars take our weekends to a whole new level. It's amazing how much you can pack into two days buzzing around the city in a car (if you have good luck finding parking, that is). After picking Emily up Saturday morning we had a delicious lunch at the LIC Flea. We were planning to spend the day playing at the parks along the water, but the insane wind gusts convinced us to change our plans. We treated ourselves to donuts from Peter Pan instead and then drove into Manhattan to check out the Halloween decor on the upper east side town homes.

Sunday morning we relaxed at home before bringing Emily back to her mom's house. Once we were back in Queens we made a stop at 5 Pointz and treated ourselves to a date night out at Enthaice Thai kitchen, a new restaurant in our neighborhood. Our meal was perfection! Our weekend concluded with a Red Sox win- bearded boys all the way! How was your weekend? 

Cronut Craze!

We all knew it was only a matter of time before I got my hands on a cronut. Half donut, half croissant, Dominique Ansel's unique pastry is all the rage in New York City. The famed cronut takes up to three days to make, and only 250 are sold each morning. I couldn't wait to get my hands on two of this month's featured blackberry flavor! 

My friend Jacqueline and I got in line at 6:20 am, and were 55 people back. We were relieved to know that our spot in line guaranteed us pastries! The line quickly grew and snaked around Thompson Street, and within an hour over a hundred people we waiting for the bakery to open. 

At 8:00 am sharp the bakery doors opened!

By 8:40 am we were welcomed into the bakery. Customers lined the counter and watched as Dominique Ansel toasted his new frozen s'more dessert. In addition to our four cronuts (each customer is limited to two cronuts per visit), we also splurged on a frozen s'more and a DKA (a flaky croissant-like dough with a caramelized crunchy crust).

After hours of anticipation, we were so excited to open those beautiful gold boxes and enjoy our cronuts! They were just as delicious as I imagined, and very deserving of the hype and fame. The s'more was also amazing!

If you are ever in SoHo before the sun rises and have a few hours to spare, hop in line at Dominique Ansel Bakery for a cronut (or two). You will not be disappointed!