I Scream, You Scream

Remember the feeling the ice cream truck brought when you were a kid? Ice cream has always been one of my favorite foods, and I would get excited as soon as I heard the music of the truck turning on to my block, heralding a sticky sweet treat to liven up hot summer days...

Adulthood, and a couple of trips to Italy have severely diminished my enjoyment of the good old-fashioned ice cream truck. Soft-serve and creamsicles just don't cut it anymore. But adulthood brings special joys of its own. Like the Van Leeuwen's ice cream truck:

If you're sauntering through Soho, Chelsea, or one of its other haunts and happen to see this magical vehicle parked by the side of the road, run--do not walk--to get in line. Van Leeuwen's is the best of both worlds: a refined sweet treat that will brighten up even the most grown-up of days. I highly recommend the earl grey ice cream. And the ginger. And the cinnamon. And the strawberry. These very adult flavors are oh-so-good they will make you feel like:

Photos via unknown, van leeuwen, bits of beauty.

Saturday Delights

Sunshine and cupcakes and flowers, oh my! The Brooklyn Botanic Garden is filled with blooms, and although it was packed this weekend I thoroughly enjoyed my first official in-person cherry blossom viewing. With dozens of trees and hundreds of blossoms, there's more than enough marvel to share with the masses! I also discovered that I love wisteria - the little violet drops hanging like bells from so many trees and shrubs throughout the garden. And the Japanese hill and pond garden, always my favorite, looked especially colorful and lush in full spring bloom! As an urban girl, it's nice to be reminded of the pure and simple joy of spending an afternoon sitting on a bench surrounded by sunshine and flowers with the boy you love....

Especially when that boy takes you for cupcakes afterward! We stopped by Chikalicious Dessert Bar on the way home to sample the wares and we were delighted by small, fluffy cupcakes with concentrated raspberry and chocolate flavor. Though they didn't top my NYC favorites, the cupcakes at Chikalicious are fresh and lovely with unusually soft and creamy frostings. Definitely worth stopping if you're in the neighborhood, or looking for a little treat to top off a perfect day!

Lady Mmmmmm.....

What better way to cap off a lovely gray afternoon of gallery browsing and window shopping than a trip to Lady M? Judging by the crowd today, this hidden Upper East Side gem has finally earned a much-deserved following, and it's no wonder: the Cake Boutique on E. 78th street pairs an elegant and light-filled modern interior with delectable traditional French pastries and teas. I was introduced to Lady M by a very handsome boy, just a week or so after we started dating....and about a year later, we were married. Coincidence? Or cake?

Though tempted by the gorgeous gâteau au chocolat, miroir caramel, choux à la creme, tartes aux fruits....today he and I went with our old standby: the signature mille crêpes cake. Layers of fluffly, white, lightly sweetened cream are sandwiched between at least twenty paper-thin, perfectly airy, eggy crepes with an oh-so-slight patina of carmelization over the top. Although I'm not usually such a sucker for vanilla sweets, this one is like biting into layers of French heaven.