Flavors: Wednesday, November 2nd
Well, Halloween has come and gone. But before I start bugging you all incessantly about placing your Thanksgiving orders as soon as possible, I need to be that parent who tells you about what happened to their kids on Halloween, because I'm still shaking my head over this one.
After school let out, we went to the Halloween party at the Museum of Natural History- totally awesome, probably the best thing ever. But this isn't about that. Nor is it about the part where Atticus decided to do some "fancy walking" on Central Park West and charged smack into Lewis Black, who was actually so cheerful I didn't even recognize him til Matt pointed out that our son had come within 3" of headbutting him square in the crotch.
This is about how after the party was over and we had taken the long subway ride home, we went to the Starbucks around the corner from our place, aka my office/second home. As I order my drink, our little boys give the baristas their best "Trick or Treat" and hold out their bags, and both receive THIS:
An unsharpened number two pencil! Not a special Starbucks branded one, not a green one- AN UNSHARPENED STAPLES BRAND PENCIL FROM A SACK OF PENCILS. And because we're regulars, MY kids get hooked up with TWO pencils a piece. That Starbucks Rewards Gold Card Status paid off yet again!
I made a crack about how we should have gotten there earlier before they had to resort to giving out office supplies, and that's when the baristas told me that the decision to give out pencils was from corporate.
Listen, I can understand not wanting to give out candy. But pencils? I thought for a minute maybe it's just a way to dissuade kids from ever trying to trick-or-treat at a Starbucks again, but everyone knows that if you want to do that, you hand out raisins. As bizarre as it was, I was highly amused, and happy that it made the toothbrushes and pretzels they got look AMAZING in comparison.
Now here's where it gets hilarious.
We go home, take off our costumes, and the kids go straight for their trick or treat bags. Is the first thing they take out the Oreos, or the chocolate? No- it's the freaking pencils. Toby starts trying to draw a picture with his, but nothing- it's unsharpened. He turns to me and asks for help, but there's nothing I can do as we don't own a pencil sharpener. I mean really, it's 2011- who has a pencil sharpener lying around besides my parents?
So despite the fact that they went to a Halloween party, got to trick-or-treat in the dinosaur museum, got to see a show from the Big Apple Circus, got to ride the subway, got to almost hit Lewis Black in the nuts, got to share custard from Shake Shack, got a giant sack of candy AND had pretty much the best Halloween two kids could possibly have, my kids ended the night hysterically crying in disappointment because of those damn unsharpened pencils.
Fortunately the next morning, they brought back the Gingerbread Latte so all is temporarily forgiven. Besides, it was better than getting a rock.
Clockwise from front: Brown Sugar Pumpkin, Liddabit, Twicks, Pecan French Toast
Brown Sugar Pumpkin: Brown sugar cake, chocolate pumpkin buttercream, ganache
Liddabit: Chocolate cake, salted caramel nougat buttercream, roasted peanuts, ganache and caramel
Twicks: Vanilla cookie cake, salted caramel buttercream, chocolate fudge, cookie crumbs
Pecan French Toast: Maple custard soaked cinnamon cake, maple cinnamon buttercream, maple glazed pecans
Available at:
Robicelli's at DeKalb Market: Corner of Flatbush Ave Extension & Willoughby, Downtown Brooklyn
Hom: 88th Street and Third Avenue, Bay Ridge
Cafe at Sam's Bakery: 94th Street off Third Avenue, Bay Ridge
Blue Apron Foods: Union Street off 7th Avenue, Park Slope
Tazza: Clark Street off Henry AND Henry off Atlantic, Brooklyn Heights
Radish: Bedford Avenue off North 8th, Williamsburg
Jem: Broadway off Franklin Street, TriBeCa
Battery Market: 77 Battery Place, Battery Park City
Joe at Columbia University: West 120th Street btwn Broadway and Amsterdam, Morningside Heights
Queen City Cupcakes: 62 Main Street, Patchogue, Long Island