New York Treasures

Continuing with some of my latest finds in NYC, this trip I finally made it to Tinsel Trading Company. Located on West 37th St., just off 5th Ave., this shop is a treasure trove of trims and embellishments, both new and vintage.

Claiming Martha Stewart's recommendation as "my favorite store in all of the world,"

one can spend hours here looking at trinkets and trims. Treat yourself and find this shop the next time you're in town! In the meantime, check out their website.

Have you read Eloise at the Plaza? Then you'd probably love her shop that I found

on the lower level concourse at The Plaza Hotel.

Definitely a shop to suit any young girl's fancy,

along with a tea room, it's a big city escape for girls of all ages.

Santa was waiting for us!

My favorite find at The Plaza, also on the Lower Level Concourse was the Plaza Food Hall.  Twenty kiosks which opened this past year, in addition to the famous chef Todd English's Food Hall make for a unique dining or grazing experience with both counter style dining and seated table space.

Many NY food institutions are located here, including Tartinery, William Greenberg Desserts, Maison du Chocolat, 

Francois Payard Patisserie, Lady M, Pain d'Avignon,

Billy's Bakery and Kusmi Tea from Paris to name just a few.

So with so much to choose from, what was our dinner of choice that night???

Very hard to choose, but the reviews of Luke's Lobster convinced us

that a Lobster Roll was just what we needed.

Of course, there were cupcakes for dessert to take back to the hotel for a bed time treat!

Next time you find yourself in the area of the Plaza where affordable and fun food options are sometimes hard to find, pop into the Plaza and treat yourself. 

I'm sure that you and Eloise will have a smashing time!

New Beginnings

Happy New Year to everyone! I've enjoyed reading your comments and blogs over the holidays, but I've been pretty silent here, as I process what this new year holds. My husband is starting a new job today, based here in Houston, so the dual life we've been living for 5 years with his previous job that took us back and forth between London and Houston, has now come to a close. All good things must come to an end, I suppose.

But I'm excited that this does mean more time here in Houston with my family and friends, and perhaps more adventures traveling to new and exciting places. For the next 6 months, however, and until my London based son and daughter-in-law also move back to Houston sometime this summer, I've going to be taking advantage of my "bedroom" there in England, and traveling back and forth to be with them and to see friends.

London will always be in my heart, and the memories and the friendships that we've made there will be cherished forever. What to do about the blog now, I've pondered. Since I know I've still got some London blog material that I haven't shared yet, and since I know I'll be traveling back and forth for some time to come, you'll still find me writing here for a bit longer. There will be time for a decision about going forward after this season of time.

So how about a bit of change of pace for today? We recently went to New York for a short trip, and I enjoyed a few places that I thought I would share with you, that may or may not be on your radar.

Have you been to Eataly?

You can find Eataly on 5th Ave. between 23rd and 24th.

If you fancy Italian products and quality food, then Eataly is the place for you, a huge market featuring the best Italy has to offer,

where you can spend a couple of hours shopping, as well as eating.  

The selection of cheeses

are abundant, and the staff is quite helpful as you try to narrow down your choices.

Chocolates, gelato,

and Italian pastries will make it hard to keep those good New Year's Resolutions.

If you are in the mood for a panini,

or a selection of focaccia

and fresh breads, then Eataly should be on your list.

Pasta in all shapes and sizes, both dried

and fresh, make for a yummy dinner if you're cooking that night.

Oils and vinegars from all regions of Italy, as well as other condiments, will enhance your dinner preparations

or you may decide to eat in house where there are close to a dozen restaurants and cafes

serving everything from pizza, pastas, coffee, paninis, gelato, charcuterie and desserts, as well as several fine dining restaurants where you should make advance reservations. 

It's on our list for our return trip and I highly recommend it as a mecca of Italian food and products, unlike anything I've seen outside of Italy.

I've been to Fishs Eddy before, located diagonally from ABC Carpet and Home, but this time it seemed even more fun and whimsical.

Good prices on all sorts of crockery and glassware

if you like digging a bit!

There's something here for everyone, I would imagine, from these cow creamers

to fancy cake stands.

How fun are all these glasses!

Plenty of white dishes in the Shape Shack

and you might find grandmother's china if you get lucky enough.

I'll wave good bye for now, and come back soon with another place that we found on our last NY trip, that might interest you as well. Until then, Happy Shopping!

A Big Apple Christmas Break

Mr. Gingerbread and I got away to enjoy a little Christmas spirit in the Big Apple last weekend.

While there, we saw the beautiful Christmas windows, of course,

waved at the NYFD who were all decked out and caught up in the excitement of Christmas coming soon,

and visited some exceptional shops that were iced and decorated in 

Christmas cookie colors. We stopped in at Mackenzie Childs,

ABC Carpet and Home, 

and Tinsel Trading Company to name a few.

We enjoyed strolling through the Christmas market at Union Square,

which is the closest I got to a real German Christmas market this year.

It was the weekend of Santacon, where the annual bar hopping Santa Clauses prowl the town

looking for fun, drinks, and a portion of the proceeds go to Toys for Tots. About 30,000 Santas, elves and Mrs. Claus's were expected to participate. The city was a sea of red everywhere we went that day.

We made sure to take a moment to take in the view of Bryant Park where the skaters were enjoying the sunny, cold weather.

We caught two plays that weekend, The Heiress, with Dan Stevens of Downton Abbey fame, and then A Christmas Story. Both were excellent,

and if you need a last minute gift idea. I happen to know where you can buy a very attractive leg lamp from the show!

Finally, one of my favorite stops was the station for letter writing to Santa at Macy's on Herald Square. Just under the Believe meter, children were writing their requests to Santa in eager anticipation, and then dropping them in the mail box, where for every letter written to Ol' St. Nick, the Believe meter inches up and up.

So to all my readers, whom I consider friends, I take pause at this time to wish you and your families a joy-filled Christmas and a blessed new year.

Believe!