Bittersweet Pastry Cafe

While Ken and I were in Chicago for Thanksgiving, we completed a lot of wedding planning tasks. One of the fun tasks was to do our cake tasting at Bittersweet Pastry Cafe! Our venue outsources the cake baking to the professionals so we were able to set up an appointment during Thanksgiving and do our tasting at the pastry shop with our moms. Bittersweet is a super cute pastry shop that sells all kinds of desserts:

and dessert-related gifts:

We sat down and talked to the cake designer about our wedding; how we met, our favorite restaurants, our wedding colors, how many bridesmaids and groomsmen there are, and any other details that might be interesting. After getting a little background about us, she went to the back of the bakery and brought back some cakes for each of us:

We had lots of different pastry creams to taste with our cakes:

Our designer’s advice: cut a piece of the cake, then scoop up a few of the pastry creams, put it back on the cake, and add any fruit or preserves and take a bite. The cakes are all very moist and have a great texture – the pastry creams were also all amazingly delicious; not too sweet and a very smooth texture (especially the lemon and passionfruit curds!)

Picking a design for the cake was difficult but we had lots of photographs to look over – we picked a great cake that I can’t wait to share with all of our guests at our wedding!

Me and Ken after eating way too much delicious cake:

Bacchanal Buffet at Caesar’s Palace

I just returned from my friend’s bachelorette party in Las Vegas and the highlight of the trip (besides Chippendales, staying with 6 other girls and celebrating Rebecca’s last fling before the ring) was the buffet at Caesar’s Palace. The buffet, Bacchanal, opened less than 6 months ago and I read about it when I was researching our trip to Las Vegas. The lines get really long and there’s even an express line if you pay an additional $15! Only in Las Vegas, right?

We arrived pretty early on Saturday (around 10:30) and luckily there was no line. You stand in line, pay at the register, and then stand in another line so they can seat you. Most people receive stars at their table to designate where they sit but heavy gamblers are considered diamonds and they get seated closer to the food. The entrance of Bacchanal:

We were seated in the back because none of us gamble and have no status at Caesar’s, but we were perfectly happy in the back with the plush high-backed chairs. We started at the back of the gigantic restaurant with the Chinese food. I wanted to walk around first to see all of the options (and to take photos!), so here are some shots of all the options:

An assortment of dumplings (soup dumplings, BBQ steamed dumplings, and shrimp dumplings):

A congee station with preserved duck eggs and fried dough:

Chinese stir fry:

Wonton soup with your pick of noodles made-to-order:

The different types of rice and grains they use + dessert below:

Next to the Asian area was an Italian area where they imported cheeses from Murray’s and had lots of different types of charcuterie:

Pastas and pizzas:

And pasta made-to-order:

Separating the Italian area from the breakfast food area were different types of condiments:

And this dragon:

The breakfast area had different mini-plates of food, including chicken and waffles, corned beef hash and truffled potatoes:

A table of scrambled eggs:

Red velvet pancakes next to eggs made-to-order:

More breakfast foods – croque madames:

Different types of bacon (crispy vs. flimsy):

And then it got a little healthier – seafood and juices:

Freshly pressed juices, including cucumber, watermelon, carrot, orange and tropical:

Yogurt parfaits:

All of us before brunch:

And my first plate of food:

The food was actually not *amazing* but there was a ton of variety that was being made throughout our visit. I felt really wasteful because I didn’t eat the majority of the options on the plate (although the shrimp and crab legs were okay…but how can you go wrong with cold seafood?) I also had a bit of brisket that was very good – even the girls from Texas agreed! They also brought out sushi after 11am (I didn’t get a chance to try it because it didn’t really excite me but there was a little variety).

A little bit of a photo overload today so I’ll post the desserts later this week!

AKT in Motion update

I just finished my first month with AKT in Motion and I’ve already lost a few inches all around! I was a little derailed during Hurricane Sandy because I didn’t take class all week (I didn’t even shower so working out was the last thing on my mind!) Luckily, I got back on the wagon the week after and have been going religiously. Classes are every Tuesday – Saturday with off days on Sunday and Monday. The Wednesday and Friday 7AM morning class is really difficult to do, especially when I wake up at 6 and it’s still semi-dark outside! I really look forward to attending the classes and seeing the trainers there everyday. Suzanne, the instructor that teaches every Tuesday and Thursday night, even said that my flexibility is improving.

Last Thursday, I took class with a bunch of other people and I was actually one of the people that knew the entire dance routine! I’ve never religiously attended any kind of workout class so I’m usually a few steps behind everyone, but this time, I was actually one of the few people that was in the first group of dancers because the other people were watching my moves! What an amazing and empowering feeling. We’ve also started videotaping some of the dances (mostly embarrassing because my moves are not amazing) but it really makes me feel accountable – when I’m being filmed, I want to jump a little higher, make my steps a little cleaner, and dance to the beat just a little more.

I’m really sad that I am going to miss another week of class because of Thanksgiving, but I am really excited to go back after this break! I also felt a lot better when I was trying on wedding dresses last weekend – things looked a little better and my shoulders are starting to look much more toned – hopefully this will help me find the right dress and I will look great in July when we get married!

Williams-Sonoma Wedding Registry

A few weeks back, Ken and I spent Sunday morning at the Columbus Circle Williams-Sonoma with a wedding registry expert, James, learning all about how to register for our upcoming nuptials. Williams-Sonoma makes it a really fun experience for brides and grooms; they open the store at 9AM to the couples, serve breakfast and coffee using the pots, pans and utensils you can register for, and then walk you around the store telling you all about the things you should register for and give you ideas of how much you should register for based on how many guests you’re inviting. Ken and I missed the breakfast portion because he had a Sunday morning conference call, but we made it in time for the walk around the store. Columbus Circle has a great open kitchen area that has all kinds of demonstrations. Look how well organized their kitchen is:

We wanted to register for a few things like everyday china, pots and pans and maybe some linens. Here’s Ken with the registry gun:

We spent a lot of time in the everyday china area – I like to pick the everyday china based on the cups:

We already have a lot of appliances like a mixer, food processer and an awesome blender, but we don’t have a blender, so we registered for a pretty great toaster/oven:

The second floor of the Columbus Circle Williams-Sonoma has a lot of linens and bedding to choose from – this bed had great thread count:

Their towels are also really soft – we were luckily gifted towels from David and Laura after we got engaged and now we have a really great set of monogrammed towels in our bathroom. It’s difficult to register when you live in New York because you really don’t have space – we only have one bathroom we have to put towels in! Some day, when we own a larger apartment (with possibly two bathrooms!), we’ll have a need for more towels:

Williams-Sonoma also has a great collection of one-of-a-kind vintage finds that they sell:

Buyers from Williams-Sonoma travel all around the world looking for things to put into Williams-Sonoma and sometimes they find vintage goods that they’ll add to the larger stores. The Williams-Sonoma in San Francisco also has a large collection of vintage finds.

Registering was actually a really fun activity and we are able to manage everything online now. Ken and I are really excited to cook with our All-Clad cookware and eat on our matching plates – one of the many perks of registering!

Airplane Food

On Saturday, Ken and I flew from New York to Chicago using Delta Shuttle. I usually hate flying Delta because they never write down which terminal you’re located when you fly out of La Guardia (sometimes you might fly from the regular Delta Terminal and sometimes you fly from the shuttle terminal…we’ve gotten out of the cab just to realize we need to jump back into one because we’re at the terminal multiple times). This time, however, we saw on our phones that they actually write down the terminal you’re supposed to go to (thank goodness!) and we arrived a little early so we were able to sit down and rest before our flight. Ken upgraded us to first class (yay!) and we were able to eat a little lunch while flying. Their lunches were actually really good – I ordered the pasta salad with chicken and fresh fruit:

They also took our drink orders while we were waiting to fly AND they brought around baskets filled with bananas, fruit, chips and all kinds of yummy snacks! The pasta salad had raw garlic (not recommended for a flight!) but otherwise, the pasta was well cooked and the chicken was really flavorful and not too salty. Go, Delta!