Category: Shopping List

Alright, I'm a sucker.  Yesterday I met Yuka at Astor Wines for a little taste of Krug champagne.  Ah, Krug, my new love, champ of "shamps," as my roommate so charmingly refers to bubbly.  How can I describe the flavor of Krug Grande Cuvee without sounding like one of those pretentious oenophiles? 

It's crisp, Meyer lemony, not too sweet, with a lovely tingly aftertaste of yummy sunshine.  The salesman, doing his job, said, "It's on sale during the tasting, for $110."  And after looking at $200 bottles of Cristal and $350 bottles of vintage Bollinger, it seemed like a good deal.  So I decided, what the hell, I never drink, really, so I'm going to treat myself to something special on New Year's.  New Yorkers my age probably spend, on average, $50/wk on drinks (alcoholics!), so really, spread out over the course of the entire year, that's only $2/wk. 

But now that I've got it, I have this sudden covetous impulse to not share it.  I want to be a snorting little Golem with my Precious, and hide in my closet with my cold, sweaty green bottle and a Cartier flute swiped from my roommate. 

But I won't.

Sarabeth's At least two locations in Manhattan -- upper east side and chelsea market. Pumpkin, blueberry banana, corn, and bran. Bran is my favorite -- impossibly light, rich with butter and plump rehydrated raisins. Always excellent with Sarabeth's preserves if you're at the upper east side sit down.

Veselka They have a surprisingly good raspberry crumb muffin and whole wheat blueberry muffin -- definitely not low fat or low carb, a little on the heavy side, but good with a hot cup of tea.

Mud Coffee Shop Two types -- blueberry and choco chip banana. Greasy, heavy lumps. taste like those greasy hostess mini muffins. only bigger. (*please note, the astor place mud truck sells delicious sarabeth's muffins. why the mud coffee shop does not follow suit is a mystery)

Panya Best fucking muffins ever. One caveat, they are only available Mon-Fri after 10 am, and often sell out by noon. Delicious, floating crumb, super soft, not dense at all, comes in delicious flavors that change daily. I love them all -- pear coconut, choco banana, blueberry...the only one I didn't like was pumpkin spice which was too heavy on the nutmeg and molasses.

Whole Foods Whole Foods Chelsea has better muffins than WF TWC. I don't know why. The WFC has the best pumpkin muffins ever -- light, moist, crisp on the outside, soft on the inside, topped with toasted pumpkin seeds. They also had an incredible choco chip muffin with hints of cinnamon and a super light crumb. WF TWC's muffins are much denser and spiced with a heavier hand.

Magnolia Bakery Magnolia once had an Apple Breakfast Bun which I have never forgotten -- sweet, golden cakelike, buttery, tender crumb with a warm applesauce filling. It was heavenly. And then they never had it again. I always asked for it and it never came back. The counter people always tried to shoo me away with the old "whatever's in season" line.

*Best overall: Panya or The elusive Magnolia Apple Breakfast Bun
*Best pumpkin: Whole Foods Chelsea
*Best bran: Sarabeth's