Yesterday we got our first ever school portraits of our boys, and they are so adorable I totally cried. They’re both sitting at their little preschool desks with their hands folded, looking wide-eyed off into the distance…..really, there’s only one way it could have been better:

LASERS!!!!
I say this without an iota of facetiousness- whenever I see a laser background I get butterflies, because there will always be a little part of me that thinks that this truly was the coolest thing that has ever existed. I don’t know if this background has been discontinued, but if it has, I urge all of you to pester the School Portrait Photographers Council to reinstate the lasers. Truly, one of the things that makes America great.
This week we passed 12,000 direct subscribers to this blog, and have tens of thousands more visit us directly. When I started writing I honestly didn’t think anyone but my mother was reading this, so I am completely floored we’ve reached these numbers, and incredibly grateful for it. But the realization of how popular this blog has become and how it continues to grow bigger every day makes me think that as much as I am tempted to show you all the school pictures so you can all bask in how ridiculously good looking our kids are and how obvious it is that Matt and I have superior genetics, I’ve decided that for now I don’t want to share pictures of my kids. They’re going to hate me enough one day for sharing stories about them on the blog and my assorted writing- the least I can do is try to keep them somewhat anonymous so they’re not “internet famous” before they’re ready. If they decide they want to be a part of it one day that’s fine, but it will be their choice and not me Mama Rose-ing them.
Now I know I got your guys all psyched up for school pics, and you’re all just dying to see some right now! I mean, who wouldn’t be! I feel bad that I led you on a bit just to let you down, but I think I’ve come up with a great consolation.
My BFF Danny Macaroons with lasers AND lightning. It’s also his birthday today and I’m hoping this picture can count as his present, because I’m not buying him anything.
This is obviously the type of quality material that has brought us 12,000 Tumblr subscribers.
Thank you all for subscribing, following our adventures as we’ve grown, and supporting us. We’re happy you’re here.

Clockwise from front: S’Mores, Bananas Foster, Ebinger, Milk & Cookies
S’Mores: Chocolate cake, speculoos pudding, toasted marshmallow buttercream, ganache, graham cracker crumbs
Bananas Foster: Banana cake, rum-salted caramel buttercream & drizzle
Ebinger: Chocolate cake, chocolate custard buttercream, chocolate fudge, cake crumbs
Milk & Cookies: Brown sugar chocolate chip cake, mascarpone buttercream, crushed chocolate chip cookies
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Cupcakes Available at:
Cafe at Sam’s Bakery: 94th Street off 3rd Avenue, Bay Ridge
Aloha Grinds: 77th & 3rd Ave, Bay Ridge
Bagel Schmagel: 76th & 3rd Ave, Bay Ridge
Blue Apron Foods: Union Street off 7th Ave, Park Slope
Tazza: Clark St off Henry AND Henry St off Atlantic, Brooklyn Heights
Eastern District: Manhattan Ave off Eagle, Greenpoint
Brooklyn Standard: Nassau Street off Jewel, Greenpoint
Cake Shop: Ludlow btwn Stanton & Rivington, LES
Brooklyneer: 220 West Houston Street, West Village
Bar 5F at Bergdorf Goodman: 5th Avenue & 58th Street, 5th Floor, Manhattan
Queen City Cupcakes: Patchogue, Long Island
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Whoopie Pies Available At:
Red Hook Lobster Pound: 284 Van Brunt Street, Red Hook
Tazza: Clark St off Henry AND Henry St off Atlantic, Brooklyn Heights
Queen City Cupcakes: West Main Street, Patchogue, Long Island
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Brownies Available At:
Queen City Cupcakes: West Main Street, Patchogue, Long Island
Oaxaca Tacos: 250 4th Avenue- Park Slope Brooklyn; 251 Smith Street Cobble Hill Brooklyn; 16 Extra Place, LES Manhattan
Well here we are: OPENING DAY OF THE 2011 UNION SQUARE HOLIDAY MARKET!!!
We have soooo many exciting things we’ll be bringing out over the coming weeks, but I won’t tell you any just yet so I can save some material for upcoming blog posts (it is HARD thinking of stuff to write about three times a week when I’m exhausted). But here’s the first surprise: aside from our usual offerings, we’ll also have:


Salted caramel coconut macaroons from Danny Macaroons! If you follow me on Twitter you’d know that Dan & I are BFF 4evah+infinity, so this really isn’t shocking to you. We’ll also be carrying the macs at DeKalb soon, and gift bags of them as we get closer to the Holidays.
So now with the macaroons, the cupcakes, the brownies AND the whoopie pies, I bet you want to go down there RIGHT NOW. And I can’t wait to see you! But you need to be warned- this thing is huge. HUUUUUGE. I know Union Square doesn’t seem that big the rest of the year, but you put a labyrinth of booths down there and you’ll be surprised how many times you can get lost (my personal record: nine times in one day). We’re on the southeast part of the square, in the first row, close to the upside down elephant.
That makes sense, right?
For those of you without a compass or a seaman’s sense of direction, I drew you a map. Because it’s been a few weeks since I busted out my MS Paint skills for you guys, and I just know that you missed them real bad.
Print that out, stick it in your pocket and come see me! I’ll be waiting! With these cupcakes you see…….waaaaiiiittt a second……
HAVE YOU ORDERED YOUR THANKSGIVING CUPCAKES YET?!?!?!
And you guys thought for a second I was going to forget to nag you there, didn’t you? We’re taking orders through Monday, so this was going to be the second to last time for me to do it and I nearly missed it! This is what I get for switching from coffee to tea!
Ok, where were we. Come to Union Square! I’ll be waiting for you there with these!
Clockwise from front: Caramel Macchiato, Hazelnut Kiss, Pear Cardamom Ginger, Butternut Spice
Caramel Macchiato: Chocoalate espresso cake, caramel macchiato buttercream, crushed chocolate covered espresso beans, espresso ganache, caramel drizzle
Pear Cardamom Ginger: Pear cardamom cake, honey spice buttercream, candied ginger
Hazelnut Kiss: Chocolate hazelnut cake, Nutella buttercream, roasted hazelnuts
Butternut Spice: Butternut squash cake, vanilla buttercream, candied pumpkin seeds, butternut squash seed oil
Available at:
Robicelli’s at Union Square Holiday Market
Robicelli’s at DeKalb Market: Corner of Flatbush & Willoughby, Downtown Brooklyn
Cafe at Sam’s Bakery: 94th Street off Third Avenue, Bay Ridge
Aloha Grinds: 76th and Third Ave, Bay Ridge
Bagel Schmagel: 76th and Third Ave, Bay Ridge
Crespella: Seventh Ave off 9th Street, Park Slope
Tazza: Clark Street off Henry AND Henry off Atlantic, Brooklyn Heights
Blue Apron Foods: Union Street off 7th Avenue, Park Slope
Court Street Grocers: Court Street off Luquer, Carroll Gardens
Eastern District: Manhattan Ave off Eagle Street, Greenpoint
Brooklyn Standard: Nassau & Jewel, Greenpoint
The Brooklyneer: 220 West Houston St, West Village
JEM: Broadway off Franklin Street, TriBeCa
Cake Shop: Ludlow St btwn Stanton & Rivington, LES
Sons of Essex: Essex St btwn Stanton & Rivington, LES
Joe Columbia University: West 120th btwn Broadway & Amsterdam, Morningside Heights
Queen City Cupcakes: 62 West Main Street, Patchogue, Long Island
Red Hook Lobster Pound: Van Brunt Street, Red Hook; Brooklyn Flea; Smorgasburg; Roving Food Truck (Whoopie Pies Only)