March 21, 2015: Tanya's Trip to the Azores: Day 1 - Boston

Elisa's Daily Blog

Reflections of Macaron Day NYC 2015...

Snowy and Saturday!  Can you believe we got hit with yet another snow storm, yesterday - the first day of Spring!!!!

Getting ready for the Fun Run

Up bright and early today as we head over to the Fun Run to celebrate the 75th Anniversary of my girls' elementary school.

Not only is there snow all over, but the temperature is 20 degrees!! I am surprised this event has not been cancelled!

Macaron Day NYC 2015...

Our first stop of the Macaron Crawl - Mad Mac Macarons at Bernardaud

I couldn't wait to tell you all about the Macaron Day 2015 Crawl yesterday! And what an apropos way to spend a Travelin' Cousins' Foodie Friday!!

I took some cool pics AND VLOGGED my way through the Crawl. We will be editing a compilation of this day and uploading to YouTube soon, but for now, I've added individual clips to this blog for each of the six bakeries we visited.

Our day began at 11:00AM yesterday when I picked up the girls from school.  They had a half-day, which couldn't have worked out more perfectly, considering this annual event was happening!

Heading to Macaron Day NYC 2015

After a quick pit-stop home for them to change out of their school uniforms and dress warmly, Rebecca took me and my girls, along with my friend Alycia and her daughter Eileen to the train station. 

We made it into the city by 12:15, at which point, we all hopped on the subway uptown to begin a mapped out route (complements of Alycia!) to seven of the fourteen bakery participants in this, the 6th Annual Macaron Day NYC.

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Gianna with Mad Mac Macaron owner, Florian Bellanger

Thank goodness for Alycia, because I am not a subway expert in the least, and she did an amazing job as our navigator for the entire day!!

After arriving at 59th Street, it was a quick walk to Bernardaud where Mad Mac Macarons had a full display of macarons.  Gianna, Kelsey and I were taken completely by surprise to see Florian Bellanger, famous pastry chef, seen regularly on Cupcake Wars. 

At Macaron Cafe

Heading inside to Sugar & Plumm for more macarons

As co-owner of Mad Mac Macarons, he was happily handing out macarons and graciously took a picture with Gianna! I tried a pistachio macaron which was dee-lish.  

My Macarons from Macaron Cafe - all proceeds Macaron Day NYC went to City Harvest

We continued on our "Macaron Crawl" to Macaron Cafe, where we found the sweet delights to be a bit larger.  Here, I tried a Nutella Macaron - total thumbs up!  Kelsey selected passionfruit, but didn't care for it - so I finished it. I found it very tasty.

Sugar & Plumm inside FAO Schwarz

Onward and upward, we made our way, battling the downpour of snow - no umbrellas - I didn't even have a hood! Next stop was FAO Schwarz Toy Store, where Sugar and Plumm is located. 

With three flavors to choose from, most of our little crowd tried the Salted Caramel.  I had mixed feelings - it was tasty, but would not be a flavor I would necessarily try again.  
(We did make note, that FAO Schwarz was worth a NYC excursion at a later date, with a possible walk through Central Park!)

Lovely display of macarons at Patisserie in The Plaza Food Hall

The Plaza Hotel Food Hall was our next stop.  By this time, we were all pretty soaked from the blowing snow! In the lower level gourmet food hall, which I had never been and with which I was VERY impressed - we found three bakeries participating on the Crawl.

That's right, three macaron shops! Todd English, Epicerie Boulud and Patisserie.

Todd English had only one option for free macarons - Chocolate Mint.  I didn't really enjoy it, though, it was very fresh with a lovely texture.  At Patisserie I tried a very unusual flavor - Violet.  And just as the name infer, it tasted like a flower - actually, it tasted the way perfume smelled.  I think people either loved it or hated it.  My gang of three didn't really like the flavor. 

Epicerie Boulud, across the hall gave us a choice of three - raspberry, chocolate or peanut butter.  I went for the peanut butter and really enjoyed it!

Final stop - Starbucks in Penn Station

Leaving The Plaza, we walked west on 59th Street towards Columbus Circle to Bouchon Bakery.  They only offered one flavor for sampling, Chocolate Salted Caramel.  It was tasty but very salty.

By the time we arrived at Bouchon at the indoor mall, we were literally soaked!  The snow was hitting all of us in the face and my kids were complaining about being tired.  

We jumped on the subway, headed back to Penn Station and with some time to spare, hit Starbucks.  
I cannot tell you what a great day it was!! The weather was not the most ideal, but it did not take away from the fun of the Macaron Crawl. 
Thanks Alycia for inviting us to share the day with you!

Mark your calendar for March 20, 2016 and join us for Macaron Day NYC 2016!!

VLOGS OF OUR DAY AT 
THE MACARON CRAWL
1) MAD MAC MACARONS
2) MACARON CAFE  
3) SUGAR & PLUMM
4) TODD ENGLISH
5) PATISSERIE
6) EPICERIE BOULUD
7) BOUCHON BAKERY

Click on any of the above links for the bakery website.

PLEASE FOLLOW TANYA ON HER TRIP TO THE AZORES!! SHE'LL BE BLOGGING EACH DAY!! --->>>--->>>--->>>--->>>>

Your votes are always appreciated!
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Here's to a very sweet day!

-E
xoxo

Tanya's Daily Blog

Oh yea...it's Saturday

Good Day from the very Historic City of Boston!

One of the oldest cities in the United States, Boston was founded on the Shawmut Peninsula in 1630 by Puritan settlers from England. It was the scene of several key events of the American Revolution, such as the Boston Massacre, the Boston Tea Party, the Battle of Bunker Hill, and the Siege of Boston. (Credit Wiki)

We arrived at 5am into Logan International from LAX this morning and have a very LONG day ahead of us...SO EXCITING!!! 
Honestly, I just love super long fun filled see it all days!

We flew in on Virgin America and on an A319 jet, which was pretty cool considering that 3/19 is my birthday and that THIS is a birthday trip!

The ground was dusted with snow and the temps were a very comfortable 28F.

Grabbed a taxi and bopped on over to our hotel. Now we are all checked in and ready to go!

Dave B has never been to Boston and I tend to frequent it quite regularly, so I'm very happy to show Dave around and do a little sight seeing for myself!

On the itinerary TODAY we have:
The Famous Freedom Trail - Boston Common, Old State House, Faneuil Hall Marketplace, the home of Paul Revere, Old North Church, the USS Constitution, Bunker Hill and more...

Not to mention plenty of great food finds:
Breakfast will be at - VEGGIE GALAXY - I eat here with the kids all the time.
Lunch at - AL DENTE - in the NORTH END (Little Italy). I luv luv luv the North End, IMO this is THE BEST representation of a "Little Italy" in all of North America!
And finally Dinner at - TRUE BISTRO - a restaurant that has been on my to try list for a while! I can't wait!!
Many of these finds will certainly be featured in my future FOODIE FRIDAY posts. 

Speaking of which, did you have a chance to read about MY LUCK AT AU LAC ?

My motto!

TOP 15 FACTS ABOUT BOSTON

1. The Boston Common has been around since 1634 and is the oldest public park in the country!
   
2. The Boston University Bridge is one of the only places in the world where a bat can sail under a train going under a car that is driving under a plane!
3. Fenway Park opened in 1912 and is the oldest original major league baseball stadium still in use.
4. Boston was the first city to have a police department (1838)
5. Boston had the first ever U.S. mail route (1692)
6. Boston also had the first library (1653)
7. Boston built the first subway ever in the U.S. (1897)
8. Alexander Graham Bell made the very first phone call in history (March 10, 1876) from his Boston machine shop.
9. The largest at theft in U.S. history occured in Boston on March 18th, 1990. When 12 paintings collectively worth $100 million were stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum by two thieves posing as police officers.
10. Dipping 90 feet below the earth’s surface, the Ted Williams Tunnel is the deepest in North America.
11. In 1967, race official Jock Semple attempted to forcefully remove Kathrine Switzer from the Boston Marathon because she was a woman. 5 Years later, women were officially allowed to participate.
12. Boston’s reputation as “the Athens of America” derives in large part from the teaching and research activities of more than 100 colleges and universities located in the Greater Boston Area, with more than 250,000 students attending college in Boston and Cambridge alone.
13. The population of Boston in 2013 was 645,966
14. Boston is the 4th most densly populated city in the country.
15. More than 18 million people visit Boston every year.

As for yesterday, I know that Cosette was quite the happy camper that I took her to both stables; But I gotta say that with all of hovering the flies (I HATE FLIES), and the sun beating down on me, I was pretty wiped and ready to get on with the rest of my chores before heading out to the airport.

Cosette did a fine job at exercising Lola. Both myself and her trainer were quite proud of her accomplishments!

I know that Cosette was pretty stoked once we got home and a package full of tack equipment had arrived for her. 
Just too bad that it came hours too late for the days activities.

And let me not forget to mention that we had Raviolis for dinner on the way to the airport in honor of National Ravioli Day - but in all honesty, Raviolis are good just about everyday!

Oh well, that's about it folks. It's time for us to get out there and rock this city!

Have a great one and I'll see ya tomorrow,
-T