Times Square

After dinner at the Brooklyn Diner, we went to a few stores at Times Square. Mostly the novelty ones, because where else do you get the chance to see a ferris wheel inside Toys "R" Us?

Something is brewing as there is a construction sign inside the store. The only clue that I have is that the sign said Wonka. Yes. Meaning the Willy Wonka of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Well, to compensate, they did have Candy Land:

Err, I don't like the way that King is eyeing us.

With lots of New York Sweets:

As if Candy Land wasn't enough, we went to M&M's World after Toys "R" Us:

I have to say, Green looks really nice as the Statue of Liberty.

And what do you think of the M&M's wall over here?

Look at all those colours! Aqua! Gold! Teal! Silver! Black!

One more sweet stop, Hershey's! Did you know that they once had a Project Runway challenge there?

Brooklyn Diner

Brooklyn Diner
155 W 43rd Street
New York, NY 10036
(212) 265-5400

Before our trip to New York, Howard and I were watching Throwdown! with Bobby Flay on the Food Network. That episode, Bobby went to Melba's to challenge Melba Wilson on her chicken and waffle dish.

I have to make a confession here. Before watching the show, I had never heard of chicken and waffles (as one dish) before. My first thought was, that's weird! Why would you combine the two?

The episode explained the origin and Howard said it would actually be a good dish for someone like me. I always have to decide between ordering an entree versus a dessert at a restaurant. An entree makes me too full to eat dessert. A dessert isn't an adequate meal (according to some).

So, ever since we watched that episode, I wanted to order chicken and waffle.

While we didn't go to Melba's, we did stop at the Brooklyn Diner at Times Square for dinner. The service was very nice and they have cakes and dessert trays on display. Best of all, they have chicken and waffles on their menu!!

I ordered Henry’s Fried Chicken and Waffles with Vermont maple syrup. When my plate arrived, I noticed newly seated customers eyeing my dish. I overheard them telling that waiter that they just had to order the chicken and waffles too! =)

First thing I did was place the giant ball of butter to the side. Sorry, I only need maple syrup with my waffles! The waffle was really good, sweet, but not overly sweet, which made it a good companion to the syrup. The chicken, also very good, with no special seasoning as far as I can tell. Just good fashioned fried chicken. I can see myself getting addicted to this dish. I had a meal and dessert in one. It was very filling but that didn't stop me from trying Howard's dish.

Howard ordered the Three Cheese Chicken Parmigiana served with spaghetti pomodoro. Wow. We do not get portions like this in Toronto. The chicken was on one giant serving plate!

The spaghetti was served on a small separate plate. When we order chicken parmigiana here, it is usually the opposite. The spaghetti comes in a larger heap!

My brother ordered the Cuban Chicken (Pollo Cubano), a pan roasted chicken breast with vidalia onions, cilantro, lime, served with plantain chips and rice & beans!

Enjoying Times Square at night! =)

Deep-Fried Butter and Mars Bar

Are you shuddering from the post title? I know that I would be.

This long weekend, Howard and I went to the Canadian National Exhibition with our friends. We had all heard about the deep-fried butter treat from various outlets (Click here, here, and here for more back story). Yet, I didn't think we would have tried it.

After looking at the concession stand dubiously and seeing the long line-up. We were intrigued enough to join the line at Sweet Treats. There in line, we discussed and guessed how the deep-fried butter would taste. We also decided that we would try the deep-fried Mars bars.

As you can see from their sign, Sweet Treats also sells bacon covered in chocolate and Twinkie logs. We weren't too intrigued by those, since we had already heard of bacon cupcakes. The Twinkies also didn't look that crazy.

But, we don't deep-fry things at home (thank goodness), but we were gamed to try.

Well, here they are! Deep-fried butter balls. Thank you Diana for being our hand model (an excellent tilt for my camera to get as much lighting as possible).

I tried the one with chocolate sauce. I first took a bite of the batter - not bad. Then I popped the whole thing in my mouth and bit down. Ugh! The butter just popped in my mouth and oozed around. Not my favourite experience there. Diana and I didn't like it that much. Howard and Kurt found it tolerable and said it wasn't bad. Wasn't bad!

You would think I would hold off eating the deep-fried Mars bar then. Nope. We split it into quarters and each had our bite. This was much better! The fried batter with chocolate and caramel went really well together. There was the "crunch" and the warm gooey bar. We all agreed that this would be a treat we would have again.

Upside-Down Pear Cake

My goodness, it feels like summer has just slipped away. I don't know about the weather in your area, but the temperatures have dropped to the point that I wore a scarf yesterday. A scarf!

I hope you're not all sick of my New York City trip posts. I haven't even finished posting all of the wonderful things we saw and ate! To be continued after Labour Day...

To usher in the chill of autumn, how about an upside-down pear cake? It has that nice rustic feel to it and tastes wonderfully sweet as you reminisce about the summer of 2010.

Upside-Down Pear Cake
(Makes about 1 8x8 square cake)

4-5 pears (depends on how thick/thin you slice it)
1 1/4 stick of unsalted butter
1/2 cup of brown sugar
1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/4 teaspoon of baking soda
1/4 teaspoon of baking powder
1/4 cup of sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1/4 cup of yogurt

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F) and have all ingredients at room temperature. Also have your cake pan ready.
2. Peel and slice your pears. Cut them in a way so that the pear shape remains intact. We like our pears and made them pretty thick.
   
3. Place the cut pears in a sieve to drain any juices.
4. Using an electric mixer, beat 2 tablespoons of butter with the brown sugar until light and fluffy. Take the mixture out and using a spoon, create an even base on your cake pan. Set aside.
5. Take the remaining butter and beat with the 1/4 cup of sugar until light and fluffy.
6. Add in the eggs, one at a time. Beat in the vanilla extract.
   
7. Sift together the flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder.
8. Alternatively add in the dry mixture with the yogurt. Mix until combined.
   
9. Place your pear slices on top of the brown sugar and butter mixture in the pan. Nicely space the pears. Then, pour in the cake batter.
   
   
   
10. Bake for about 40-45 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Take the cake out and let it cool upside down. The cake pan should come off easily because of the delicious caramel pears. Set the cake aside and watch the sweet juices dribble through the cake. Quickly eat and savour.

Enjoy! Autumn doesn't officially arrive until September 23rd!

Dylan's Candy Bar

Dylan's Candy Bar
1011 Third Ave
New York, NY 10021
(646) 735-0078

Yup, facebook and twitter too!

This wasn't planned! I mean, we were already stopping at every bakery we found, but a giant candy store? Three floors of sweets? Come on!

Dylan's Candy Bar is just full of... well, candy! There is candy everywhere! There are lots of novelty items, apparels, cosmetics, and sweet related merchandises of course. I managed to find a little section that had lots of cupcake things - earrings, candles, books, bags, and boxes.

The very neat thing about Dylan's is that everyone can leave with their favourite candy or make their own mixed selection. They have cute little pails, tins, boxes - basically anything that can be used to carry things. As for another neat feature, they have a display case showing celebrity picks! Here, we have the lovely Nigella Lawson. She seems to prefer black and white M&Ms. I love how each candy box is signed too!!

Hey! It's Buddy from Cakeboss! His favourite candies seem to be various sorts of gummies.

Now, if you continue to the top floor, Dylan's has a cafe and private party rooms (really, a fantastic place to hold a kid's birthday part).

I went up there because there was a sign saying "Cupcakes." They do sell cupcakes at the cafe! I checked the cupcake wrappers and it looks like Crumbs supplies them here. Mmmm, they have cold treats here too!

This was a nice quiet spot to relax. The rush on the main and bottom floors is overwhelming. There are lots of children filling their buckets with candy. Parents in awe of the amount of candy and in turn, chasing after their children. To add to the excitement, there was a giant chocolate fountain on the main floor too. For a price, you can pick an item and dip it in the fountain!

PS: I just found out that Dylan Lauren (the daughter of Ralph Lauren) also has a book coming out this year. Now, wouldn't her Candy Bar be the best place for a book launch? And from the looks of it, her father favours twizzlers!