Chocolate Month!!!

In the quest for an unsuccessful chocolate week in NYC, I ended up in these places drinking for what seems the best hot chocolate. When I go to New York I always try to find events or activities that the city hosts at a very affordable price, specially the ones about food; so I did some research and because of Valentines Day, some restaurants offer a week of amazing chocolate desserts with champaign, tea, or hot chocolate pairings. The thing is that I didn’t realize that they only did it last year, nevertheless I decided to try their hot chocolate. I went to The Pain Quotidien, and it was my favorite!!! I ordered the regular Belgian Hot Chocolate, and the waitress arrived with a hot bubbly cup of milk with cocoa powder sprinkled on top and a small pot of melted chocolate. I loved this idea, you can pour as much or as little chocolate as you want and enjoy a true hot chocolate just the way you want it. I almost pour all of it and even though it was not overwhelming nor sickly sweet, it was just perfect.
Afterwards I went to The City Bakery, “… home of New York’s favorite hot chocolate…” The place is really big, lots of space to sit down, and so versatile; it has a bakery, a coffee shop, a juice bar, a buffet with salads, soups, pastas, and sandwiches, and a chocolate room. What I thought was interesting about this place, is that every ingredient they use is locally produced, they all come form the farmers market at Union Square just blocks away. I only tried the hot chocolate, because it was February and Valentines Day around the corner, they held a calendar featuring different flavors of hot chocolate every day during the month. That day they were having a lemon hot chocolate, they served it with a gigantic marshmallow on top, the flavors were interesting but good; however, for me, it was a little strong and overpowering. I couldn’t finish it all, it was too sweet, specially because of the marshmallow, but if you really like things too sweet, this is the perfect hot chocolate for you. Also they have the one and only “Pretzel Croissant,” a sweet, salty, and buttery pastry slightly crunchy on the outside but flaky and soft on the inside. Everything about this place makes it the favorite for many locals to have a delicious and fulfilling lunch.
Hope you like them, thanks for reading!!!

Ratings for both:
Price: $$
Staff: Friendly
Ambiance: Casual, cozy and comfy.

Strawberry Land…

I went to my hometown Irapuato this weekend because I had my annual rendez-vous with my high school friends. It was really fun specially because we realized we are growing up so quickly, there were 4 children and one is coming our way. So while I was here, I wanted to show you THE place to buy the best strawberries in town. As I told you before, Irapuato is known as “The World Capital of the Strawberries,” because of its massive local production. You can enjoy them fresh every season.

This place is called “La Casa de las Fresas” (The Strawberries’ House) an artisanal shop where you can find handmade crystallized strawberries, at least that is what they called them. They are strawberries that are passed through a syrup with a little bit of lemon and then put to the sun to dry for 8 hours until they are tender and sweet on the inside. After this process, they are covered with sugar, dried chili, milk chocolate, dark chocolate or white chocolate. It is a traditional candy from Irapuato.

In this store you can find fresh strawberries as well and some local handmade crafts. I really recommend this place and most of all their candy, it is something you’ve never tried before.

Here are some pictures of my high school rendez-vous.

I was wearing Jeans: Zara, Shirt: Zara, Shoes: Steve Madden

Este fin de semana me fui a lugar de origen Irapuato, porque tuve mi comida anual con mis amigos de la preparatoria. Estuvo muy divertido, especialmente porque nos dimos cuenta como hemos crecido, había 4 niños y una bebé viene en camino. Así que, mientras estaba en la ciudad quiero enseñarles EL lugar para comprar las mejores fresas del pueblo. Como les dije antes, Irapuato, es conocida como “La Capital Mundial de las Fresas” por su masiva producción. Las podemos disfrutar frescas todo el año.

Este lugar se llama “La Casa de las Fresas,” una tienda artesanal donde puedes encontrar fresas cristalizadas, al menos así es como les llaman. Éstas son fresas que se sumergen en un jarabe con un poco de limón y luego son expuestas al sol para secarse durante 8 horas hasta que estén dulces y suaves por dentro. Después de este proceso, son cubiertas en azúcar, chile en polvo, chocolate oscuro, chocolate blanco o chocolate con leche. Es un dulce tradicional de Irapuato.

En esta tienda también puedes encontrar fresas frescas y algunas artesanías. Realmente recomiendo este lugar, en especial los dulces, de verdad es algo que nunca antes han probado.

Ratings:

Price: $$

Staff: Friendly

Quality: Excellent, specially because they are handmade.