Highlights from New York and Florida

Thank you for all the lovely comments left when I was suffering on holiday. I'm pretty much better now though it has taken a long time and the combination of jet-lag and still feeling a bit weak hasn't really seen me much in the kitchen. Next week I plan to get right back into it (...as well as visiting all your blogs which I've thoroughly neglected over the past few weeks).

In the meantime, a few highlights from my stateside trip...

My beloved Key Lime Pie. As I've detailed before, I'm on a permanent quest to find a recipe that matches up to the fabulous pies I find in Florida. As yet, I am unfulfilled.

Perhaps it is for the best - if I found the 'ultimate' recipe then I might just eat my entire body weight in a Key lime frenzy and that would not be so good. My aunt (who lives in Florida and whom I was visiting) is fully aware of my quest for Key lime greatness and has even tried to find a way of sending real Key limes to me in the UK!

The New York bagel with Lox and cream cheese. I'm told that a proper NYC bagel tastes better due to the New York water. Who knows if this is true but this one was fairly delicious - stuffed with smoked salmon, cream cheese, onion, capers and (oddly, I think) tomato. Yum.

The doughnut plant. If you go to New York, you simply HAVE to go there. This is not a suggestion. It is an order. Sadly no pictures of the doughnuts - I gobbled them up before the camera made it out of my bag. The Meyer lemon glazed version was dreamy!

And, of course, no visit to NYC would be complete without a cursory visit to the famous Magnolia Bakery on Bleeker Street in Greenwich Village. The queue was snaking out of the door but it I went...

The cupcakes were certainly pretty but I was surprised not to see more flavours. Just vanilla, chocolate and red velvet. Lots of other goodies too but kind of hard to see them as the shop was so crowded.

I chose a chocolate and red velvet version. The chocolate was truly delicious but the red velvet? Just a bit... ordinary. Much better was the fabulously large slice of red velvet cake I enjoyed at Dean and Deluca the previous day.

I have to confess that I think those at Treacle on London's Columbia Road give those at Magnolia a run for their money. But maybe that's just me.

Talking of Dean and Deluca. Well worth a visit. A foodie paradise. I couldn't resist picking up a few gourmet treats!

There was so much more - the sights and smells of Chinatown, the fabulous restaurants in New York, the cocktails. New York is truly a terrific foodie destination.