"I'm taking this home and doing it"

Checkout the cupcakes we entered for Ogilvy's inaugural cupcake contest. Among the fourteen cupcakes entered were The burning sensation, a jalapeno cupcake with mango cream cheese frosting, The urban lumberjack, a breakfast cupcake with bacon, french toast and maple syrup, and Sweet and salty, a triple caramel threat garnished with a salted caramel halo.

My friends and I baked Sweet, summer s'mores: a chocolate cupcake filled with marshmallow buttercream, topped with chocolate buttercream frosting and sprinkled with graham cracker crumbs. The funny thing is I don't like marshmallows, graham crackers or hershey's milk chocolate individually, but all together this cupcake transported me to summer camp bliss.

Sandra Lee from the Food Network announced the winners today. I'm proud to say our cupcake won an honorable mention, but the best part was Sandra's colorful commentary afterwards when we met her. Sandra Lee on our s'mores cupcake "Oh my god, when I bit into it, I was like I'm taking this home and doing it".

sweet + savory, the only way to do brunch

Brunch is a meal best enjoyed with friends and in particular with friends who have an appreciation for both sweet and savory items. Beverly and I went to brunch at Buttermilk Channel in Brooklyn a few weeks ago after falling in love with their darling and immaculately designed website.

Upon looking at their menu, we knew that there was only one way to satisfy our cravings, by ordering one sweet dish and one savory option. For sweet we opted for the pecan pie french toast and for savory the ABC (apple, bacon and cheddar) grilled cheese.

The pecan pie french toast was to die for, the bourbon added a nice touch without being too sweet and the pecans were toasted to a crisp.

The ABC grilled cheese was good, but the bread was a slightly too hard. I like my grilled cheese to be crispy, chewy, and gooey all at the same time. The salad accompanying it was great and tossed in a perfect vinaigrette.

Overall, we were charmed by the Buttermilk Channel and can't wait to go back for dinner. (3 course dinner on Mondays for $25!)