12-07 Jackson Avenue, QueensOh, the macaroons at Little Oven are good. Really good. So good I almost forgot about that time I trekked up there with a 20 lb baby on me only to find it closed during their listed hours.
The flavors are creative – the Earl Grey and seasonal Spiced Pear were especially notable. The cookie is great but it’s the inside that counts and there’s is rich and wonderful.
Their pastries and cakes look equally yummy.
From Sage General Store, 24-20 Jackson Ave, Long Island CityOn my way to the doctor, taking the awkward and on this day, cold outdoor transfer to the 7 train, I often wonder about the adorably hip, quaint Sage General Store, a new-ish shop that reeks of old timey goodness but with a staff of tattooed transplants serving mouth watering comfort foods.
Since yesterday was the first snow (OK, so it didn’t accumulate, but there were flakes) I was even more tempted by the handmade snoballs in the window (choice pink or white) and just had to take one home to split with Jim for dessert.
It’s a hefty dense white cake (probably made denser by my putting it in the fridge) with sugary, yummy frosting both in and outside and big chunks of coconut. To compare with the store bought, processed version is unfair. It’s an entirely different beast – and, for the record, I still have a soft spot for that weird Hostess puck, at least in memory since I haven’t had one in a while, but I do know that it is nowhere near as tasty as this hand made decadence.
The store features all sorts of sweet and savory goodies and will now be the highlight of that train route for me, beating out the one hundred steps it takes to get to the train.
Socrates Sculpture Park is a testament to inventive urban reclamation and revitalization.
“Socrates Sculpture Park was an abandoned riverside landfill and illegal dumpsite until 1986 when a coalition of artists and community members, under the leadership of artist Mark di Suvero, transformed it into an open studio and exhibition space for artists and a neighborhood park for local residents”.
While it may not be the nation's most impressive park, it's a wonderful use of a once dismal plot of land and it also features workshops, great views of the city, and ever changing exhibitions. The city can only wish more projects like this set up in other areas.
The current sculpture exhibition is called State Fair and features some stuff I liked (my favorites were an unusual piece by Dana Sherwood and the Black Forrest Fancies and the huge metal barn by Bernard Williams) and some I didn't (for lack of a better word I found the Big Apple Show Down by Risa Puno – a put put golf caliber obstacle course with feat like “No Reservation Rally” to be dumb, and ditto for unnecessary inclusion of the word “herstory” on the otherwise fine Jeanine Oleson piece).
But hey, to each his own, and over all it's just a nice place to get some sun, take in the fragrance of the many flowers planted there, and scope out lots of strange individuals that seem particularly attracted to the park.