Jan 31 - One month down ...

Cant believe I made it thru January, minus the first few days which I will complete in 2018!!


My original plan was a trip to the museum to celebrate National Inspire Your Heart with Art Day.
Possibly to Neue Galerie on Fifth Ave ( http://www.neuegalerie.org/)  that still has the painting Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I (1907) by Gustav Klimt on display but nope that is closed today.

So maybe the Museum of the City of New York ( http://www.mcny.org/ ) which is open today and until 6pm but instead it started snowing making for a miserable commute and not sure leaving work early to do a blog is such a good idea!!!!


So I am ending the month the way I started hot chocolate & whipped cream but this time it is for National Hot Chocolate Day and it couldn't be a better day for it:)

Jan 30 - Hmm Paris

Great way to start the week by pretending I am in Paris - it is happily National Croissant Day !!

Had my breakfast with a view this morning and discovered that it is not France that they originated from but Austria. Seems the croissant as we know it today was made by an Austrian military officer, August Zang. In 1939 he opened a Viennese bakery in Paris introducing France to his baking techniques.


So I don't feel so bad now about getting mine in an Italian place across the road from work:  Masseria Caffe' & Bakery  :)

Jan 29 - Puzzles

Today is National Puzzle Day :) Great excuse to get started on my jigsaw - problem is I started a little later than planned and lets say that metallic jigsaw pieces in this light is not the best idea?? But least I have started now lets see if I am done before the year is !!!!

According to the national day calendar website it was started in 2002 by Jodi Jill. She was a syndicated newspaper puzzle maker and professional quiz maker, Jodi Jill developed classroom lesson plans especially for puzzle day.

Jan 28 - Blueberries

Well maybe not just blueberries :) It's National Blueberry Pancake Day today..... After a quick search one option was Radegast Hall & Biergarten in Williamsburg and was very close to going but was a cold miserable day today and there are so many other places in that area I want to see so I will save it  for another day that hopefully involves bratwurst & very large glasses of beer.

Instead we settled on the next on the list and am so glad we did as have a new great brunch spot to visit and I will def be back - Community Food & Juice on Broadway bet 112 & 113.

I don't usually order pancakes for breakfast though whenever I see them I always want to try them but these were so good and served with an amazing warm maple butter.

The rest of the food was so tasty and next time I will definitely be getting Kirsty's order of a biscuit sandwich made up of eggs, chicken apple sausage, cheddar on a whole wheat biscuit with tomato jam & carrot hash, which she kindly shared - maybe a few people will join and we can do the pancakes as appetizer :)

Jan 27 - Cake

Cake day but not just any cake, happy National Chocolate Cake Day.

I was surprised that the places I went didn't have chocolate cake or know of the national holiday, and yes as it was pointed out at one place, it isn't a big deal, the banks aren't closed!!  But if I had a business especially in baking these are the fun days to push there are so many of them you could do but I am not so what do I know.

I did however find a yummy chocolate one surprisingly at the Amish Market in my neighborhood:

It is actually a small cake which my work mates were pleased to see I think !!!! And my work neighbor, shoutout to Ginger, has decided I may need to start a go fund me account in order to get thru the year but I am hopeful I will mange :)

It really was a good cake ......

Jan 26 - Feeling Green

Now I am not sure who thought putting National Green Juice day after Irish Coffee day was a good idea but it is done and will be put out of my mind forever .....

A yummy blend of Kale, Spinach, Cucumber, Celery & Apple !!!!!!

Jan 25 - Coffee: the good kind

Today's holiday was going to be bar based with an amazing friend, Patrick, to celebrate his birthday and am pretty sure he would love this national holiday but life gets in the way and it is only Wednesday but I did partake and bought all the fixin's to celebrate National Irish Coffee Day, though maybe not quite following the original recipe......

I will be honest not a big whiskey fan, I prefer a hot whiskey / toddy and my coffee with baileys but it was pretty good though I am guessing my pour was a lot smaller that the bars around here which is why I liked it - many would disagree that I got this the wrong way around :)

 A little history on this - it was first made by Limerick bartender Joseph Sheridan in 1942 in an airport  now known as Shannon Airport.

And if you are looking for the original recipe, here it is in Joe's words: 

"cream as rich as an Irish brogue; coffee as strong as an Irish hand; sugar sweet as the tongue of a rouge; and whiskey smooth as the wit of the land.

Enjoy