Salted Caramels at Dean & Deluca

Okay, we all love the salted caramel trend that hit the nation a few years ago, but have you tried the salted caramels at Dean & Deluca yet?! They are truly out of this world.

Check out Bon Appetit's December 2013 Bourbon-Sea Salt Caramel recipe. My friend made some and they are divine.

The US Open "serving up bagels"

Nothing beats a New York bagel.  They say it's in the water, and it truly has to be. Really any New York bagel beats every other bagel, but my favorite in the Big Apple is Ess-A-Bagel.

Finagle a Bagel in Boston does run a close second, and in DC, I like to hit up Bagels, Etc in Dupont Circle, pretty legit.

But what cracks me up these days are the Announcers at the US Open calling out Serena Williams, Rafael Nadal, and Andy Murray, just to name a few, for "Serving up bagels" meaning a scoreless set for their opponent, 6-0.

Classic New York.

Ice Skating in Central Park

A couple of years ago we spent New Year's Eve in New York City. And while we didn't brave it through the ball drop in Times Square, it was of course the perfect place to ring in the new year.  We dined at one of Manhattan's many fine restaurants and took in all of the ambiance NYC has to offer.

We went skating in Central Park on New Year's Day.  Yes, it was a bit cliché, but it was so fun!

And those views!  How cool is that background?!

We had to be kids again, ordering up some hot chocolate (with whip!) and caramel apples.

Eataly in NYC

So what exactly is this Eataly? It's pretty much heaven to all Foodies.  Rooting originally from Turin, Italy, a couple of famous chefs and restaurateurs, including Mario Batali, joined together to bring this dreamland to reality in the Big Apple. And so, speaking of apples...

Fresh fruit, fresh vegetables, fresh meats and cheeses... local when it can be, imported from Italy when it needs to be. Made in house when it should be. All in season. Quality ingredients for quality products. That's Eataly.

When it comes to pasta, the motto is "Keep it simple to keep it right". The selection of fresh, house made pasta is endless. They also carry almost every kind of quality dry pasta brand known to mankind, mostly imported directly from Italy. We happened to stumble upon some of the guys hard at work:

Ivy Style @ FIT

The much anticipated Ivy Style Exhibition at the Museum at FIT in NYC is running now through January 5^th. Check it out while you still can. Some highlights from our recent visit below:

For starters, the “Ivy” reference is not due to the green plant that climbs the prestigious University buildings, as lovely as it may be, but rather it is literally the Roman numerals IV, meaning four, representing the four Universities – Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Columbia – that made up the initial League conference.

 

When it comes to style, Ivy has become synonymous with Preppy, likely due to many of the private Prep schools filtering their students into Ivy League schools, and thus the stylish attire was being introduced at an even riper age with the young gents getting ready for the big Leagues.

In the original Ivy Style, the slacks did not come with pleats, but they did indeed come with cuffs. And as far as suit coats, you won’t be seeing any darts here…

Of course, J.Press was everywhere in the Exhibit. What cracked me up was that the style and make of the Suits, Tweeds, and Blazers of the ‘60s and ‘70s are the exact same as what you can buy in J.Press today. There is something wonderful to be said for this. J.Press makes clothes that both fit well and comfortably. Why change a good thing? They know not to.

Speaking of Blazers, did you know the name comes from the Cambridge University Boat Club’s originally designed jacket, which was a coat made of “blazing” red fabric? The style of the jacket – its piping, pocket patch, and nautical metal buttons – was soon adopted by the U.S. Though the Navy color became more popular, replacing the British Red, the name of the sports jacket still did stick.