Foodie Destination: Magnolia Bakery – New York City

For the love of banana pudding

photo credit Mangolia Bakery

Whenever I am in New York City, I make sure to stop by the Magnolia Bakery and get their Banana Pudding.

How can I describe it? Let’s see, savoring a spoonful of their pudding is like sitting at your grandmother’s kitchen table eating something obviously made with love – banana flavored love at that. I mean truly, they don’t mess around, their banana pudding is classic – not a desert that is trying to be anything other then what it is, simple perfection. Need more convincing? Imagine layers of vanilla wafers, fresh bananas and creamy vanilla pudding.

The Bakery

Photo Credit Magnolia Bakery

The original Magnolia Bakery, is situated on a street corner in New York City’s Greenwich Village and is a great destination if you are a foodie (especially of the sweet loving ilk). Eat vanilla cupcakes with pink frosting just like Carrie and Miranda of Sex in the City did or simply enjoy the sweet colors and yummy smells that fill the bakery.

While Magnolia is famous for it’s cupcakes they have a ton of treats for the desert lover. I’m thinking next I’m in town, I’m going to have to try the Snickers Icebox Pie or the Black Bottom Pecan Pie. If I can turn my back on their Banana Pudding that is. Um…maybe multiple visits are in order?

Location

401 Bleecker St, New York, NY

What to do in the area

The surrounding area is full of small shops and 19th century brownstones. It really does feel like a village, not quite like other parts of Manhattan. Wandering around, window shopping and taking in the Greenwich Village atmosphere is a great way to spend the afternoon. While you are at it, take your treats to Washington Square Park and listen to some live music and people watch.

If you can’t make it to to the New York store

1. Order Online. You can order cupcakes, brownies, bars and cookies from their online store.
2. Buy The Complete Magnolia Bakery Cookbook(includes Magnolia’s Famous Banana Pudding recipe).
3. Visit another location. They now have locations in Los Angeles, Dubai and Chicago.

Have you been to Magnolia Bakery? What was your favorite desert? Where did you eat it?

What is your very first memory of wanting to travel?

Travel Truths is an ongoing question series for travel lovers. I ask and answer a travel related question every week and invite you to answer the question on your blog or on in the comments below. Travel is more then just destinations and experiences, it is a metaphor for life, a state of being, something the heart longs for. Join me as we explore the depths of our relationships with exploration and travel.

What is your very first memory of wanting to travel?

For many of us, there was a moment where we realized that exploring the world was a good and worthy goal. What sparked your interest in travel? Was it a book, a person, a song? Where was your travel heart born?

I can still remember every stone on it. My uncle had returned from a trip to Japan with a gift for me. I was probably around 6 years old and the word Japan meant nothing to me. But the gift did. It was a bracelet made of stones his friend had picked up on a beach in Japan. I remember the weight of it, the cheap fake gold chain link that connected gold squares with glued on stones, the feeling of something precious in my hands.

I looked at each stone closely noting the way the patterns varied from serene to intensely chaotic, how their colors were familiar but not quite the same as the stones in my backyard, how each one had been worn smooth by an ocean who’s name I did not know. I could almost feel the waves as they rushed up onto the sands of this unknown beach. It was in that moment that I realized that the world was big, that it wasn’t 30 minute drive across town big, that it was so vast I could never know it all. I did not understand the yearning that sprung up inside of me at that moment, but I now recognize that this was the moment when my heart opened to travel, when it opened to the unknown.

The bracelet is too small for my wrist now and the colors and patterns no longer surprise me, but I still carry that moment with me, pushing me forward, daring me to explore.

Answer this Travel Truths Question: What is your very first memory of wanting to travel?

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OR Leave your answer in the comments below.

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Why I Trust Vincent Van Gogh

A few years ago, I took my mother on a trip to France. It was the perfect trip. Perfect. We drove through the beautiful French countryside and stayed in a few different regions of the country. We saw oceans and caves, lemon trees and churches, tiny cups of coffee and restaurants that enabled people watching. I loved it. With no expectations (because this was not a trip I really wanted for myself) I found something perfect.

During part of our trip we stayed in St.Rémy de Provence. On the outskirts of St. Remy is the asylum that Van Gogh lived in. To get there, you walk through back ally ways of the town and up well worn paths. If you go a certain way, you can see the ruins of an ancient city that Van Gogh never saw, yet was buried within a short walking distance from the asylum. But what really struck me was how much of Van Gogh I could see in the landscape. All those beautiful paintings…he didn’t make those up, they are there, real. You can see fields of olive trees, their strange knobby shapes forming their own art out of the landscape. You see those tall, striking cypress trees popping out against the sky. You see the colors and the swirls and the smells and the feelings. It is real, what Van Gogh painted. He tells the truth.

Now when I see a painting by Van Gogh, I think…that existed. It was real.

50 States / 5 cities – Sweet Home Alabama

50 States / 5 cities is an ongoing series in which we hand-pick 5 cities in every state that we think make great places to vacation in. Explore the United States along with us!

With a coastline of white sand beaches, cities steeped in civil war history, and an area that birthed some of America’s most beloved books & authors, Alabama holds many treasures to be explored. Here are five cities that we think make great places to visit whether you are a science geek, a beach lover or a bookworm.

If you decide to visit Alabama, here are some Alabama travel books to help you plan your trip.

1. Birmingham, Alabama

Vulcan Park and Museum Photo credit: Greater Birmingham Convention & Visitors Bureau

Nestled in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, Birmingham is the largest city in Alabama. It is home to the largest cast iron statue in the world, Vulcan and is becoming increasingly known as a hot spot for foodies.

Highlights of Birmingham’s many attractions include the Barber Motorsports Museum, the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, the Birmingham Botanical Gardens and Vulcan Park & Museum. If you are looking to get a little nature along with your culture, Ruffner Mountain the second largest urban nature preserve in the country is just 10 minutes from downtown Birmingham.

Birmingham itineraries

Blogger’s Perspective: My Trip to Birmingham, Alabama

2. Gulf Shores, Alabama

Orange Beach: Red Snapper World Championship Credit: Alabama Tourism Department

White sand beaches made of quartz, sparkling emerald water, championship golf courses, deep sea fishing and more await you in coastal Alabama. Simple pleasures are a great way to go in the Gulf Shore area. Grab a bucket of peel and eat shrimp and a beer and lounge on the beach, go “treasure hunting” on the shoreline and look for sea glass or other relics swept up by the waves or spend a day fishing on the Gulf Sate Park Pier, the longest pier on the Gulf of Mexico at 1,540 feet long.

The Gulf Shores area hosts a number of special events every year, including the National Shrimp Festival in the fall, a seaside Mardi Gras celebration in February and March, the Orange Beach Red Snapper World Championship in April and the Southern Breeze Wine and Culinary Festival in May.

Blogger’s Perspective: Eating Our Way around Mobile Bay

3. Huntsville, Alabama

Huntsville: US Space And Rocket Credit: Alabama Tourism Department

Huntsville, located in the northernmost part of Alabama, is known as “Rocket City” because of its’ history with U.S space missions. It is a great city to visit if you have an interest in space or space technology. A team of scientists in Huntsville designed and tested the rockets that put man on the moon. It is also home to earth’s largest space museum and NASA’s first public location for visitors, the U.S. Space and Rocket Center.

Family’s visiting Huntsville can continue their Sci-tourism by visiting SCI-Quest, the ultimate techie museum for kids. You’ll leave Huntsville knowing more about of planets, rockets and the science behind space exploration!

Blogger’s Perspective: U.S. Space and Rocket Center

4. Monroeville, Alabama

Monroeville Courthouse Photo Credit: Monroe County Heritage Museum

Literature buffs, get thee to Monroeville. Known as the literary capital of Alabama, Monroeville was the home of Harper Lee, author of To Kill a Mockingbird. Truman Capote, author of In Cold Blood, visited in the summers during his childhood and formed a friendship with Harper Lee. And it gets better, the courthouse in the movie version of To Kill A Mockingbird was modeled directly off the courthouse in Monroeville.

You can sit in the jury box, explore the judges bench, or sit in the same balcony that Harper Lee used to sit in when she was a child watching her father practice law. In May the Mockingbird Players perform a play of Harper Lee’s novel inside the courthouse.

Blogger’s Perspective: Monroeville, Alabama and Back

5. Montgomery, Alabama

The Civil Rights Memorial, Montgomery, AL

Montgomery has played an important role in history from the Civil War to the Civil Rights movement. It is home to the Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church where Dr. Martin Luther King served as pastor and from where the Montgomery Bus Boycott was organized. If you are interested in exploring Montgomery’s role in the Civil Rights movement you can follow this Civil Rights Audio Tour of 20 historically significant sites.

Visitors interested in Civil War history can visit the First White House of the Confederacy, the site of Alabama’s Confederate Prison, and the Confederate Memorial that Jefferson Davis laid the cornerstone of.

Montgomery Area Itineraries

Blogger’s Perspective: A road trip to Montgomery Alabama