Spring Fever!

Now that Valentine's Day is over, Spring is right around the corner. And it couldn't come soon enough in my opinion! So, in honor of the upcoming day, I'm posting some of my favorite Spring Looks with a Looks For Less thrown in there for fun! Hope you enjoy!

Ok- you caught me! Some of the styles I posted pics of have been discontinued since I made these pages (Especially in the case of Forever 21. Those guys rotate their styles like they're ADD crack junkies!), but I've included links to looks that are very similar. So I hope you'll forgive me! And move fast if you intend to buy these! Places like Charlotte Russe and Forever 21 wont keep these styles for long!

1. Melody Dress, Kate Spade- $445, 2. Bonjour Knit Top- $16.90, 3. Mint Cardigan- $24.90, 4. J. Crew New Look 22- $N/A, 5.   Oval Earrings- $4.80

Love the ice-cream pastels in these looks! So fun! The touch of pink tights make a normally traditional dress very funky! I think this old-school bike is so cute! I've always loved the way J. Crew knows how to dress up everyday, casual fabrics with flashy sequins in a way that just works, and the different tints of blue are so cozy and calming. I've also been noticing this awesome makeup trend of having a soft, tonal style with a bright shot of lipstick thrown in to dress up a so-so look.

1. Lace Cuff Trench Coat- $39.50, 2. Western Corset Stretch Belt- $9.50, 3. Darling Daisy Shift Dress- $34.50, 4. Pins & Needles Lace Dress- $69

Lace! I'm loving this trend! I can't wait to pair this dress with a denim or short leather jacket.

1. Knit Waves Dress- $68 2. Chiffon Strappy Slip- $68, 3. Two Tone Tights- $14

Stripes! #1 is a great new take on the stripes trend going on right now. I like the 2nd dress because it has an old world/French/Gigi feel to it that brings me back to my childhood while still being modern- sexy and classic. When I first saw these two-tone tights I actually stopped the girl who was wearing them to ask where she got them! Of course, I immediately went and bought them! I wore them to work and everyone at the office was stopping me every few seconds to make me spin and show off my legs- I felt totally scandalous and way cooler than my usual self.

Gigi!

The Look: All Saints Look #91, For Less: Spring Break Wooden Wedge- $35.50

  Love the look of tight pants paired with tall sandals- it really elongates the legs and dresses up a typically casual look. BTW- the shoes pictured for All Saints are no longer on their website but these would normally sell for well into the $200 range. Which is why I'm all the more impressed with Charlotte Russe's shoe collection! They keep coming up with very modern, architectural looks that I'm totally falling for!

The Look: All Saints Look #90, For Less: Ruched Ankle Pants- $17.80

I just discovered All Saints, the amazing (and expensive!) British brand that's ultra modern, cool, and casual. So, of course, I'm obsessed with trying to recreate their looks at a price sane people can actually afford.

The Look: Counting Angles Dress- $168, For Less: Knit Abstract Dress- $13.80- again out of stock from Forever 21, but here's a close 2nd! (I was really proud of this find too!) Or try this: Ikat Chiffon Dress- $13.50!

The Look: Extended Shirt Dress- $198, For Less: Jersey Jumpsuit- $29.50

 Sigh. It seems that the original jersey jumpsuit I found on Forever 21 is now out of stock. Hopefully they will be re-stocking it soon, but until then, here's a jersey jumpsuit from Old Navy that's still pretty snazy!

The Look: BCBG Suede Cutout Wedge- $98, For Less: 1. Suedette Cage Wedge- $29.80, 2.  Runway Strapped Bootie- $32.50

Ok. I might be slightly obsessed with shoes right now. But you would be too if you'd been wearing the same boots all winter! I long for sandals and a pretty pedicure!

New Diet: Blogging?!

The other day I read a Yahoo article about people who had blogged their way slimmer! According to an article on WebMD, people who record what they eat keep more weight off than people who don’t. A lot of these people in the Yahoo article lost substantial weight too! Around 100-150 lbs! Some even took it a step further by taking photographs of every meal. The idea is that having a group of people to be accountable to will make it more likely to stick to our goals. So, of course I have to ask myself if this would work for me.

Of course it’s easy to contemplate a diet on a full stomach. It’s not so easy when you’re ravenous and ready to eat your own telephone just to have something to take up space in the vast cavern that is your belly.

Making the right choices and practicing ‘thoughtful eating’ is what separates us from our more animistic urges. What is ‘thoughtful eating’? That’s when we carefully gauge our hunger and then make a deliberate decision to eat according to that hunger, taking small bites and savoring the food allows our bodies to digest. Then you re-measure your hunger levels at regular intervals. We must control our beasts!

Some Ground Rules:

1. No eating 3 hours before bed.
2. Carry a healthy snack at all times (in case of the munchies).
3. No soda.
4. More protein, veg, & fruit. Less bread.
5. The only bread allowed is whole-grain.
6. The only candy allowed is dark chocolate.
7. The only alcohol allowed is red wine.
8. Start a journal to keep track of what I eat.

So far, I kept a strict record for 2 weeks and even managed to do a little exercising via SparkPeople’s online video workouts. (Very cool by the way- who knew one little move could have me aching for a week?! The Plank Move is Eeeeviilllll) But the third week saw me slowly straying from my path. One weekend I pigged out on a bag of Godiva Dark Chocolates and the next weekend I was sharing TWO pizzas with my boyfriend! Not. Good.

But I have managed to learn a few interesting nutritional tid-bits! For instance: beef jerky has twice the protein and half the calories of peanut butter, cheese isn’t as good for me as I thought, and eggs are actually better than I thought!

So far, I have managed to loose 4 lbs in 3 weeks. Not great, but not terrible… what can I say? Here at Hiccups and Picnics, we strive for mediocre!

Coffee Round-Up!

This is a long overdue Coffee Round-Up from one of my favorite-ist sites in the world, NotCot.org! (Seriously, I'm on there everyday.)

This one deserved it's own vid.  Coffee and Cream ~ Modernist Cuisine shares a little sneak peak of their upcoming book and some fun high-speed video of creamer hitting coffee.

 1. Re-purposed and re-imagined, Starbucks has gone back to basics with the launch of their 15th Avenue E Coffee and Tea store in Seattle. Designed to be eco-friendly. Interesting concept but it seems a little too cookie-cutter for my tastes. You can see more pics and read the rest of the post at Furfin.


2.  From Dung to Coffee Brew With No Aftertaste. Great NY Times article on civet coffee (Kopi luwak). Or, as my family would call it, Cat Poo Coffee! I've never had the opportunity to try this, but I remember when this came out and it was all the rage. Has anyone tried this and would like to comment on it?? Is anyone pro Cat Poo Coffee? Or against?


3.  With the bike sharing scheme happening, London’s Cycle Cafe’s are becoming even more popular as the hangout of choice for café and coffee lovers on two wheels. I'm not a huge cycling fan, but I like the idea of combining the bike sharing trend happening in Europe with coffee, and creating a bike friendly space. Maybe this bike sharing thing will catch on here in NY soon??? Dare to dream... Read the article at Your Studio.


4. Maple Bacon Coffee. Ok- I'm including this just to address the food trend going on that seems to include bacon or beer into everything these days. I haven't actually tried this but you can read more about it at The Hungry Southerner. They seemed to give it a so-so review with 1 out of 5 strips of bacon.


5.  Venezuelan designer Enrique Luis Sardi has teamed up with Italian coffee company Lavazza to create a master piece of green design: Cookie cup. Apparently this design goes back to 2003, but I still think it's awesome. As a pastry cook and as a coffee drinker, I'm intrigued... Has anyone tried this? I'm curious to know if the icing interior really is water-proof or if it would eventually dissolve into your coffee. Although I suppose that should be the least of my worries at that point.


6.  Grumpy Bean Plushes~ "Artist Andrew Bell and plush master Lana Crooks bring our Cafe Grumpy coffee bean logo to life!" I just really have to visit and review this place soon!


7.  An info-graphic on how to make the perfect cup of coffee by Plaid-creative. Cool idea, now to try them all! Seriously, I should carry this with me at all times!


8.  I was originally including this article to address the retail coffee trend changing from espresso to drip coffee but now I want to showcase the trend of Dis-Loyalty Cards. This started in East London as a way to market the burgeoning coffee scene. If you visit each of the shops listed on the card, you get a free cup of coffee made for you by the World Barista Champion. Now, this also seems to be a trend catching on in San Francisco, Seattle, and Toronto except that you get a free cup of coffee from the last place you visit. I think it's a very friendly and creative way to encourage the coffee community and I hope it will come to NY soon!

9th St Espresso

Minimalist is the word. And the word is good.

We managed to find 9th St Espresso around 5 o'clock at the Tompkins Square location and, just like the logo, this place is sparse! 

9th St. Espresso Logo

They proudly displayed their A rating and Zagat recommendation. Their only splash of color in a black, white, and chrome world coming from a framed coffee flavor wheel and one piece of art. 

Wheel. Of. Flavor!

Barista Doin' Her Thang

Even the blackboard menu contained only six items. There were people scattered around the interior, quietly reading or working on their computers (Be warned- the wi-fi is free, the seat is not.) The Smiths played quietly in the background. The barista was a study in Parisian cool in a black t-shirt, jeans, a black crochet barret, and a single braid casually thrown over one shoulder. I expected a mime to appear at any moment.


Other than the slight over-the-top atmosphere, I was pleasantly surprised by this place! I ordered a macchiato and the foam art was beautiful. The flavor was quite nice too! I tried sipping it straight, without sugar, and while it was a little too bitter to last for long, it was surprisingly smooth with very little sourness, or acidity, to it! Once I added a little sugar, it was perfect!

Yummy Macchiato!

It seems like a great place to go to enjoy a bit of quiet and caffeine. I loved the tin ceiling tiles and (for all you native New Yorkers) the bathroom was fully stocked and pristine. (A true Rare Find in New York City.) I also bought some Alphabet City Roast, ground perfectly for my pour-over. Again, a little bitter, but I'm trying to branch away from my beloved French roast and Columbia Finca. I think with a little tinkering, I could come to love it. As I found out in my Cupping Lab, there's no wrong way, it's all about your personal preference and what you enjoy. I usually like mine rich with a lot of milk and a little sugar, but I've found that for me the Alphabet City blend tastes best with my usual sugar and just a splash of milk.

Display O'Stuff

Their baked goods are from Balthazar Bakery, but, being late in the day, I was a little afraid to try any. I think if they had had more in their case, I would have been a little more tempted to try. As it was, the cookies looked cold and lonely in their half-filled case. Maybe next time.

Lonely Cookies

Over-all, the atmosphere wasn't really my style, but it might be worth it to go back just for the great coffee and space to think.

Cupping Lab

If anyone recalls my previous post regarding a coffee shop review of Joe & the Art of Coffee, you may remember me mentioning the classes they offer there. Well, I finally did it and went to one of their free Cupping Labs!

I rushed over to their 13th St. location after work and barely managed to make it. By the way, they do offer seating at this location! Hallelujah! Although, all of said seating seemed to be taken at that moment. It was a very lively Friday night and the caffeinated patrons were definitely buzzing. After asking the barista where the class was, she informed me that everyone was waiting until the manager was ready and then she would announce the class. While I waited, I looked at the art on the walls from local artists and the ginormous blackboard behind the counter. I was marveling at the lofty position of the manager's office, which you had to reach by ladder into a whole in the wall, when the manager popped out of the office whole, climbed halfway down the ladder, stopped, turned around, and with a Japanese teakettle in one hand and the other clinging to the ladder she made the announcement of  the beginning of the lab. She looked like a jaunty coffee pirate. She had short black hair in a pixy cut, a plaid shirt, jeans, a grey sailors cap, 2 lip rings at the left corner of her mouth and a crystal stud sparkling from her right cheekbone. We all followed our fearless leader past a tall fridge crammed with milk, squeezed past a couple of trashcans and walked down a narrow staircase into the basement. The first thing I noticed was the smell of coffee everywhere. Heaven. It was a room filled with sinks and shelves of coffee machines and coffee paraphernalia, so I wont describe every little detail. It was amazing though.

Buono Coffee Drip Kettle $59

Everyone who showed up for the class was very friendly and eager to learn. There were people from Spain, Greece, Japan, and NY (of course). Most of the 10 person crowd seemed middle aged, but we were all newbies to the cupping experience and we were told that we would not be doing a blind cupping today because of that.

Our pirate queen led us through the ritual as precise as any Japanese tea ceremony. She seemed to be very knowledgeable and told us how she had started in Seattle (the coffee capitol of the US) and had helped to test some of the first of the elusive Clover machines!


We learned how to experience the coffee in its many forms, with all of our senses. We had three regions to test from:  Brazil, El Salvador and Rwanda. We smelled it dry, we smelled it wet, we broke the crust and smelled it again, we tasted it hot, we tasted it cold. We tried to identify all the different nuances of flavor, acidity, mouth-feel, and aftertaste. (Interesting Tip- you taste so much more of the flavor when it's cold than when it's hot!)

In the end, I decided my favorite was Brazil and, a close second, was Rwanda. All in all, it lasted an hour and I was sad to see it end. It was nice to be around so many people who shared the same passion as me. I thought it was a great experience and would definitely recommend more classes.

Has anyone else been to one of these classes? How was your class compared to mine? I'd love to hear your story!

Once More Into The Breach!

Well, I've been good and lazy for long enough! The time has come to get back in the game and start cooking again.  I have to start looking for a weekend job asap! Either at a bakery or as a barrista at a coffee shop. I'm not happy about working seven days a week but it's a necessary evil.

After several months of saving, my savings account is a whopping $15, I need some clothing essentials, I really should go to the dentist, I must find a new apt., and I really miss cooking. Sigh.


Sometimes I just want everything all at once. And then, trying to do everything at once ends up just making me more exhausted and I end up right where I started. It's so frustrating. But I have to look at the big picture and remember my plan. Taking 3 months to recoup and relax was part of the plan and now that that time is over, it's time to find a weekend job where I can keep learning about cooking and save money at the same time! In theory.

Now all I have to do is find that perfect job in a less than perfect economy.
Baby steps.

And I have to admit that ever since Winter hit, I haven't been exercising at all. The idea of running in the cold night with all that Winter air rushing through my lungs like sandpaper is not appealing. At one point I had gotten down to around 142 lbs! But changing jobs, not exercising, and holiday munchies etc, means I've somehow managed to get up to 158 lbs!! I'm not proud of this at all. I'm still reeling from the shock of it actually. How did I manage to gain almost 20 lbs in 3 months?!

And so, like many people at this time of year, I started looking into detox cleanses and diets etc. Everyone seems to think detox diets are a great way to cleanse your colon, liver, skin, and your body in general. You lose weight, gain energy, the birds are chirping and rainbows are everywhere. However, I did a little research and, according to the nutritionist at Spark, there are not many facts to support these claims. According to her, our bodies are already made to be an efficient cleansing machine. And our bodies are perfectly capable of handling the amounts of toxins etc in the average diet. Any claims of elevated energy and so on are probably a placebo affect (I.E.- our bodies are tricking us). Now there isn't anything that harmful about the juice cleanses, so long as you stay hydrated and get all your vitamins,  but they don't really help you that much either.
Instead, she suggests just eating foods that are more natural (I.E.- there should be only 4 ingredients on the package label), if it can go bad, it's good for you, cut out the alcohol & smoking, and cut back on sodas.

So I tried cutting out my morning milk and cereal or bagel and cream-cheese for a homemade fruit smoothie with flax seed and protein powder. (Supposedly, these will keep you full longer.) I would usually include: 1 banana, 1/2 cup Greek yogurt, 1/2 apple, 1/2 pear, 1-2 handfuls of spinach, 1 Tbsp of flax seeds, 1 scoop of protein powder, and 1/4 cup apple juice. Although maybe the protein powder was overkill considering I already had a good protein in the form of yogurt. It was more than enough for my trusty thermos and it would really keep me full! So full in fact, that I'm actually beginning to think it's making me gain weight! So now I'm conflicted and actually considering going back to my tried and true Slim Fast. It's definitely less hassle to prepare, you just grab a can and go! Though it's probably more expensive. Or maybe I should just eat less of the smoothie, and maybe cut out the protein powder?


What are your thoughts? Slim Fast vs. Au Naturale??

The Art of Coffee

This week I went to Joe and the Art of Coffee.

See! I did too go!

I went to the location at Grand Central Station, which was very difficult to find. (Tip: If you are looking for this location, use the entrance closest to the Strawberries clothing store, around the South-East side of Grand Central.) We also got there pretty late, and managed to slide in right before they closed the doors. There was no one in the store when we got there, except for the two exhausted looking baristas. The decor was a nice, soothing robin's egg blue, not unlike the signature blue of a Tiffany's gift box. They also had some neat coffee facts posted around the store.

Fact. It says so.

I had researched the place beforehand (of course), and was looking forward to taking home the Columbia Finca Santuario Micay blend advertised on their website. Unfortunately, they were out at the store, so I purchased the Kenya Kiunya blend instead. A little pricey at $18. I asked the girl behind the counter to grind it a little coarser than espresso grind, like the consistency of sugar (just right for my little pour-over). I should have known from the blank stare that she wouldn't get it right, but I'll chalk it up to working a long shift. Everyone makes mistakes. It turned out the grind was more like powder and brewed a very strong cup of coffee. I never really fell in love with this blend, but that could be because of the grind.


I ordered a latte and my boyfriend ordered a chai. My boyfriend was not impressed with either drink, but I thought they were great! I thought the chai had great body and flavor (though I usually like a little more spiciness to my chai) and the latte was so good I didn't even need to add sugar to it! Joe is known for having great foam art and for putting their baristas through a rigorous training process. I have to say the foam on my latte did not disappoint. It was beautiful and rich and light at the same time. By far, the best foam I've had yet!


Joe even offers classes on espresso making, foam art, the history of coffee, and much more to the general public! (Details are on their site.) Though classes are only offered at one of their locations and seating is limited (so be sure to RSVP) but many cost as little as $25 and some are even free! I also really liked the sense of community on their site. They even have a running club you can join with their baristas, and they offer free coffee afterwards to those who participate! Also, all of their baristas have a biography on the site (though that seems a little risky in this day and age).


Again, my complaint is the lack of seating. It's more of an in and out setup that doesn't encourage lingering. Their emphasis is more on the product than the experience. And there's nothing wrong with their product, but I'm looking for both. Although this could have been just because of that particular location being inside Grand Central Station. Their main location may be bigger.

Doot-di-doo, people wandered in.

Baristas in their native habitat! Oooh-aaaah.

Love the penny-tiles on the backsplash.

Like how her scarf matches the decor.

I hope you liked this latest review! I'm thinking of taking one of their classes so if you've been to one of Joe's lessons or to one of their locations, I hope you'll comment on your experience!