Chelsea Market

Well, I've been on a bit of a hiatus, but I'm back! And I have some house-cleaning things to address:

First off, please note and admire the wonderful addition to my blog: the updated header and cartoon version of myself are the creations of an incredibly talented, meat-abstaining, recent Montana transplant otherwise known as Gus's best friend. (Thank you Adam!) Check out his graphic design blog for more fun!

Now, to fill you in on what I've been up to! My birthday came early this year. Yes, that's right. Gus decided to treat me to an incredibly lavish weekend last Saturday in the Meat Packing District (I know, ironic choice), which entailed a 14th floor hotel room at The Standard (that had a floor-to-ceiling glass wall looking out on the Hudson and a completely door-less shower) and a night out at the ultra-trendy bar (meaning ultra-loud and expensive, with the obligatory bed) called APT.
Amidst all of this swanky indulgence, I got to finally explore Chelsea Market! For those of you who have ever been to San Francisco, it has a similar feel to Ferry Building Marketplace; Spanning one city block, the market consists of a wide wooden walkway lined with various restaurants, bakeries, and fresh food stores. The six-story complex was originally born out of the fiercely contested biscuit war of the 1890s: New York Biscuit Company commissioned the building in an effort to gain advantage over its rival, the American Biscuit and Manufacturing Company in Chicago. The two groups inevitably melded into one, along with a few other bakeries, to form The National Biscuit Company, which soon provided half the biscuit production in the United States; the company produced such American classics as Premium Saltines, Vanilla Wafers, Fig Newtons, Barnum's Animal Crackers, the Oreo, and the Mallomar. (Here's the full history).
Harking back to its origins, Chelsea Market still has a nice little selection of bakeries. I wish I had known this ahead of time, because Gus and I were so excited when we came across the first one, we expended our enthusiam and money on only mediocre cookies before realizing that the wonderful smell that had originally lured us in was actually emanating from Fat Witch Bakery, right next door. Next time I'm heading straight there to try one of their "wickedly delicious" brownies.

Chelsea Market is also home Amy's Bread, a well-established name in the world of New York bakeries (the "master baker" Amy Scherber has two other locations in the city) which features a wide selection of daily-baked loaves and pastries. The huge kitchen is encased in glass walls, so passerbys can watch the flour-dusted manueverings of the baking crew.
Some of our other favorites were the Chelsea Wine Vault, which happend to be offering a free wine tasting, the ultra-serene T Salon, (a perfect name, really, because I wasn't sure if I stepped into an Asian-inspired spa or a tea shop), and Roonybrook Dairy, a 1950s style restaurant which serves homemade ice cream and whole milk in glass bottles (Gus and I sat at the counter and split a creamy chocolate milkshake--then he gave me his high school pin).