The Bruce Weiner Microcar Auction

Still don’t know what to get your Valentine's Day sweetheart? Maybe your gift should include two tickets to the Bruce Weiner Microcar Museum auction. You could pick up this super cute red 1955 Iso Isetta for your lovey. Toss a box of Kissing Games chocolates from Jacques Torres in the front seat and it’s like SCREAMING I want to go hang out with you on Lover's Lane - and hold hands since the seats don't recline. 

(News bite via Thrillist; image via The Bruce Weiner Microcar Museum)

A Chocolate Arrow

Valentine's Day is a comin'. Do you want to get the attention of someone you're pining for or do you want your loved one to know you're still love struck? Either way, this should get your message across: A sculpted Valrhona dark chocolate arrow from Dominique Ansel Bakery. Yes, the same brilliant chef who brought the kouign amann to New York City. A life size arrow that can have a personalized message on it.

And you thought Cupid wasn't real.

(News bite via UrbanDaddy)

Valentine's Day Strawberry-Flavored Mallomars

One of the products I thought about making towards the tail end of my business was a s’mores kit. Who doesn’t love reminiscing about huddling around a beach bonfire or a crackling campfire? Young or old, it’s a primal pleasure.

As Valentine’s Day approached, I planned on making s’mores for Mr. Mari but what I was craving was Mallomars: An all-in-one s’more. It’s a no-fuss, no-muss, no need to get out the blowtorch or broil it in a toaster oven marshmallow treat. I think what I love about Mallomars is its layer cake of textures. Your teeth snap through a thin chocolate-y crust, hit a spongy marshmallow filling and end up chomping through a good crunchy cookie base. Plus truth be told, I’d be the one making the s’mores not Mr. Mari. To make it more Valentine-y, I made these with a strawberry-flavored marshmallow filling. They're kinda like chocolate dipped strawberries but in cookie form - and Mr. Mari loves cookies.

Click to read more ...

Canstruction

Ms. Erin, sent me a link to a submission she worked on for Canstruction, a 20-year old "international charity competition where architects, engineers, contractors and students they mentor, compete to design and build giant structures made entirely from full cans of food. At the close of the competition all of the food from the New York City competition will be donated to City Harvest." Fantastic! The exhibition is open to the public through February 11th and is placed in several different locations throughout the World Financial Center Complex at 220 Vesey Street. Although free to see, the suggested price of admission is a can of food. Seems fair, eh? 

It's hard to get a sense of how large these structures are so I included one of the set up images. That's a whole lotta tuna! 

When I started my brownie company, I wanted to combine my two passions: food and design. I now see there are multiple ways one "can" achieve this goal. Get it? Yeah, okay. Lame joke. 

Top image: CH2M HILL Yolles (Holla for Ms. Erin!) - Keeping an Eye on Hunger, 'The Staten Island 'Eye'; Middle Image: Team WSP Flack+ Kurtz / Gensler - CAN's Best Friend; Bottom Image: teams setting up their can sculptures. All images by Kevin Wick

Kyo Ya - a Quiet Oasis in the East Village

Mr. Mari and I don't eat at many fine Japanese restaurants since we eat so well when we go to my parents' home but I make an exception for Kyo Ya. Tucked in a basement space in the East Village, Kyo Ya is probably one of the best not-kept secret restaurants in New York. Like their understated signage, they are technologically quiet as well. They don’t tweet, Like or even have an active website. Chef Chikara Sono is just focused on producing really amazing, subtly flavored and gorgeous foods.

Click to read more ...

Dining Alone No More

This ramen bowl has a convenient iPhone slot built in. Other than the splashing broth, it's a pretty awesome and hilarious concept. Terrific for getting your morning news over a bowl of cereal but definitely not for video chatting. ("You've got something green stuck in-between your teeth...")

(News bite via Khoi Vinh; Image via Spoon & Tamago)

A Hoarderette is Purging

My name is Mari and I'm a hoarder. Well, not in the TV sense. I don't have mountains of ten-month old milk cartons or empty cat food cans but I do hold onto things. A LOT of things. Bits of ribbon that are long enough to tie around a box; nice shopping bags of various sizes (you might have to send someone home with dinner leftovers); 100 or so Saveur magazines I haven't looked through since they were printed; clothes that I haven't worn in YEARS but still love and can't bear to part with, etc., etc.

The above sounds normal-ish (right?) but then there's all my Mari's New York shtuff. Yeah, shtuff. Business cards, paper inserts; shipping boxes; catalogs; refrigerators; a MICROS system; butcher block counters; signage from my Fancy Food Show booth; brochures; paper samples; and custom ribbon, boxes and labels. I have enough shtuff to fill two IKEA Pax wardrobes at home as well as half a 10' x 10' storage locker. I haven't been able to let go. It's not like I'm going to start my business back up again but I like stumbling over my memories with visual cues.

However, since I'm moving completely across country, I need to be practical about my belongings. The cost of shipping my shtuff 3,000 miles just to sit idle in another storage locker doesn't seem prudent. So I'm purging. I'm dumping as much stuff as I can bear. I'm hauling things to my local Salvation Army; trying to get some pennies for things on Craigslist and consignment shops since if I think it's valuable, someone else probably does too! It's not fun, it's a whole lotta painful and I'm running out of time but I know I'll be happier when I get to LA and don't have to wonder where those five rolls of Caramel Sea Salt labels will live. 

Golden Shopping Mall

Look at the above image - you're going to go eat there. You probably have the same expression on your face that I had when I saw the building from across the street. With zero curb appeal and the building's name only discernable by the city soot clinging to its façade, Golden Shopping Mall in Flushing, Queens houses some stellar and extremely affordable eats behind its not too polished mask.

Click to read more ...