From NYC to BCN

I said I would post daily from NYC but had no time. The city never sleeps you know! I am back and busy working on some articles I had to finish. Just wanted to pop up to say hi! You can see most of the photos on my Flickr.

NYC Day 1

Small post today about the first day on NY. The pictures are a bit small, better tomorrow. Or today. We landed here yesterday at 1pm. The flight was long and the movies boring but I had the best plane food ever, I asked for the vegetarian tray in American Airlanes = my best plane lunch until now. I even took a picture!

We had a van waiting for us in the airport and headed to Manhattan, to the hotel. The driver was nice and he might take us too see some parts of the city. He booked us some tickets to see The Phantom of the Opera on Thursday!

Our Hotel is really nice, will post some pics another day. We stopped there to leave the bags and started to walk around the city. Lots of neck-cracking buildings! It was Marathon day, lots of people in sports clothes walking in all directions returning to their homes. We were a bit cold and wanted coffee, there is a Starbucks in every block so there was no way to hide. I had a Vanilla Skinny Latte, something we don't have in Barcelona, but after paying noticed the Xmas blackboard with the 3 special ones: peppermint, gingerbread and eggnog. So we will be back soon to taste any of them.

We made some shopping at Urban Outfitters, went to the NY public Library, walked Lexington and the 5th Avenue, pictured Cary Grant in the top of the Empire State... Then had dinner at Kunjip Restaurant, a small and busy Korean. It was packed and we were the only non-korean there so we thought it was a good quality sign.

Sitges times

The Film Festival was brilliant. We had a really great time in Sitges. These are some pictures of the town before we entered the cinema for the 8 hour marathon!

Weekend tea and films

After a week of too much work now it's time to relax. A hot cup of vanilla tea, a muffin and a good book. That's all I need for a perfect afternoon. But this Sunday I have more exciting plans. I am going with my brother and some friends to the Sitges Film Festival, we have tickets for the 8 hours marathon! These are the movies we are going to see:

• Red State
• La hora cero
• The Yellow Sea (Hwanghae)
• Attack the Block
• Inbred

Birthday MSP inspired cake

What can be better to celebrate a birthday than a themed cake? Even better if it's a Manic Street Preachers one. I made the inside pink and blue and covered the sides with marshmallows. There are two candles because I made it for a double birthday party (my friend Eva and my own).

Pear mini cakes

I had some pears in the fridge and wanted to do some fancy baking with them. The first idea was a crisp but I had no tray or anything besides those tiny baking bowls. So I used this recipe to make mini pear cakes. They looked a bit too brown because I used some cinnamon flavoured big granules sugar and it burnt. But tasted really delicious. That website has lots of great and easy recipes!

Sweetness

Yesterday I spent the morning shopping in a vintage street market. There was also a bakery stall with lots of homemade delicious cakes. They were quite pricey but I guess that's the way it goes when you want nice cakes under the sun by the sea while shopping around. The market was brilliant, I bought a clutch, a doctor bag, a street fashion memo card game and a book.

Vegan pancakes time!

Yesterday I was waiting for my friend Irene to come to my apartment to have a tea. I had a big bowl of mixed berries so I decided to make pancakes. I checked the cupboards for ingredients and found all I needed but eggs so I decided to make them vegan. After a Google search I got this amazing recipe. They were ready in 5 mins and tasted delicious!

Animated days

I am ready for an anime-cartoon marathon tomorrow on my own. The plan is to watch films and clean the apartment, and maybe make some cupcakes. So I have put together a list of films: Monster House, Up, Coraline, Ice Age, Madagascar, Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy, Chicken Little, Ant Bully, Cars, Ponyo, Scooby-Doo and the Loch Ness Monster, Howl's Moving Castle... Any suggestions are welcome today.

I wanted to find some 80s movies, like the Care Bears ones, My Little Pony, Strawberry Shortcake, Rainbow Brite, She-ra... But no luck, so I will use this chance to improve my cultural knowledge about "modern day" animation films. But you just have to have a look, in the cuteness battle the 80s win:

I am currently downloading The Biggest Loser 4th US season, but it might not be complete for the next 24 hours.

I am an air sign

I bought a new laptop yesterday.The chosen one was the 11" MacBook Air. I am so in love with it right now. The black backlit keyboard is really amazing. And the whole Mac is really thin and light, it makes my old MacBook look huge! I could keep writing about it for hours so I better stop now.

Macarons and ketchup?

I have been searching and comparing different macarons recipes online. This David Lebovitz post is pure eye candy! And what do you think of these pink ketchup ones? I think I rather stick to the classics. These on the picture are from a macaron shop in Barcelona, its name? Les Plaisirs de Marie Antoinette.

Twitter tea party

How cool is that? Just have to be around Twitter on the 18th and join the party! Don't forget to bring some tea to the computer desk!

New York, New York

I am travelling to New York in November. I bought the Moleskine City and currently I am making a huge list of shops and places to visit. Here are some interesting NY related stuff I have found while surfing online. Just click the images to go to the shops.

I LEGO NY

This lovely book is a LEGO homage to New York City: "An imaginative look at life in New York City constructed entirely out of LEGOs ".

NY STAMPS

Rubber stamps of the most iconic buildings of the city. Who doesn't love stamps?

NYC CUPCAKE KIT

NYC-themed cupcake kit. You can bake 24 cupcakes and decorate them with the assorted toppers. I guess the toppers can be reused time and again.

THE CURIOUS SHOPPER'S GUIDE


All you need to experience Manhattan "in its entire specialty-shopping glory". This will be one of the first things I will buy there. And then: let the shopping begin!