In Search Of The Perfect Cannoli

Before I get started, let me share a quote I am finding all-to familiar these days.

Sara - "Can you Yelp me a Chase?"

*Translation - Will you use the Yelp.com app on your iPhone to find the nearest Chase bank?

Yelp is definitely our friend in the city.

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SO...Saturday, Sara and I decided to go to Hoboken, NJ.

I randomly stumbled across Hoboken when I came to NY last January. We were staying in Jersey, and had scheduled Shahla's hair appointment in Hoboken before we went and took her wedding pictures in the city. As we were walking down the main street of Hoboken, we saw a crowd of people outside this bakery. Once we got closer, Shahla realized that it was Carlo's Bakery, otherwise known as Buddy, "The Cake Boss"'s bakery. And he just so happened to be there. We didn't actually stop at that point, but later that day, we came back by, got some amazing treats, and Buddy even came and took pictures with all of us. It was really cool, and we LOVED the whole city of Hoboken. There is this awesome park that has a great view of the city, and it is really just a beautiful place.

Anyway, so Sara had never been and I thought it would be a good day to go check it out and get something yummy from Carlo's. What I didn't think about was that it was Saturday afternoon (and spring break, nonetheless). The line to the bakery actually took up 2, almost 3 entire blocks.

Yes, I realize you cannot even see the bakery in this picture. Neither could I.

After hearing that the wait was going to be TWO HOURS, we decided Carlo's and Buddy could wait for another day. But the trip to Hoboken was not a total wash, because we did find a Panera Bread there and enjoyed an awesome lunch. Love that place.

We set off back towards the city, but I was not satisfied. I had it in my head that I was going to have a really tasty cannoli that day, and I was not giving up that easily. So we used Yelp to find a place called Stuffed Artisan Cannolis in the Lower East Side. These are not just any cannolis. They have specialty flavors that change from day to day. On this particular day, some of our choices were Girl Scout Cookie (tastes like a Samoa), Birthday Cake, Peanut Butter Cup, Salted Margarita, Mint Chocolate Chip, Banana Daiquiri, Pina Colada, Coco Loco, and a few others I can't remember. We couldn't decide on just one, so we ended up getting 6 altogether (don't worry, we didn't eat them all at once. :-)

Looks good, right?

So I suppose the lesson in all of this is something along the lines of "When God closes a door, He opens a window." Haha. If it hadn't been for the ridiculously long line a Carlo's, we never would have found this little gem. And that would have been a shame. :-) Now don't get me wrong, I will definitely be heading back to Hoboken for some of Buddy's famous pastries, but I'll just stick to the weekdays for that.

On Sunday, I met up with my friend Jason from back home in Highlands. He has been living in New York for over 5 years, and he works in the food/restaurant industry. We ended up walking around the city down near Union Square, and saw some pretty interesting things.

This is the police department. Pretty gorgeous.

Grace Church - we saw it from the street and decided to walk inside. One of the most beautiful buildings I have ever seen.

Artist in Union Square - if you look closely, you'll notice that is not chalk. It's SAND. He had little bags of sand he was using to create this. WOW.

Sunday night, I went to church at Apostles NYC, a church started by J.R. Vassar (fellow Texan!). It was a very special time of worship, and I really love what this church is doing in NYC. Check them out at www.apostlesnyc.com.

Well, that's all I got for now, and I should really be getting back to the job search. Wish me luck!

Oh, one more thing...I have decided to make it my mission to actually see if there is decent Tex-Mex in New York. So, I will be trying every place that has Tex-Mex in the title (and there are actually quite a few) and reporting back with my findings. Get excited.