New York City - A Culinary Peek

Whew! What a couple of weeks it has been! And it doesn't seem to be letting up. Besides baking up a storm in the past two weeks, I had the wonderful opportunity to visit the fabulous NYC with my son and all of his classmates who also each brought one parent along. We had a jam-packed schedule including visiting Ellis Island, Rockefeller Center, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The United Nations, and seeing the Broadway Musical "Wicked".
Those tourist attractions were great, but I have to say that I loved happening upon the terrific bakeries and delis along the way. In the financial district, we came upon this huge deli called Oliva. They had a case full of pastries,

a case full of wraps and paninis,

and case full of kabobs and the makings for a delicious vegetarian quesedilla. They even had sushi, a salad bar, pizzas and soups to choose from. We thought that if this store was close to where we worked or lived, we might never cook again!
Closer to our hotel near central park on 7th Avenue we stopped for tea and a sweet bite to eat at Le Pain Quotidien. The apricot tart and pistachio Marzipan tarts were the perfect mid-afternoon treat.

There was an amazing bakery called Ferrara in Little Italy with such a large selection, it was hard to choose what to try. My son chose a cookie with raspberry filling and some elephant ears. I chose the sfogliatelle, a crispy phyllo-like dough with a not-too-sweet ricotta filling -- just don't ask me how to pronounce it!

Here's a closer look at some of their offerings...

If you've got a weak stomach, stop reading here, otherwise, read on...Just around the block we found these frogs for sale in Chinatown...

And squid...



and the entire block smelled like fish...we rushed out of there in search of the next pastry shop!