Speaking of television appearances…Amai will make its debut this week! Our Green Tea cookies will be “snack of the day” on the Rachael Ray Show this Friday, December 1. The show will feature holiday gifts, and each audience member will take home their own Amai Tea Sweets canister. How great is that?!
Jamie and Bobby Deen, hosts of the TV show Road Tasted, visited Back in the Day Bakery in Savannah, Georgia for their upcoming holiday gift guide. Back in the Day Bakery is owned by a very lovely lady and fellow food blogger named Cheryl (Buttercream and Roses) and her husband Griffith. Their cakes always look gorgeous, and I am excited to see the store in action on TV. The Road Tasted holiday gift guide will air on the Food Network from November 28 to December 10, 2006.
Two of my favorite things to do in the winter are: 1) Eat pudding and 2) Get out of New York and visit California. It’s even better when I can combine these two wonderful things, like I did last year at Tartine Bakery in San Francisco. This neighborhood bakery specializes in classic French desserts, but what drew me in while I was there was the rich, colorful, buttery brioche bread pudding. I sat down in the warm California weather and ate one of the largest bowls of pudding I have ever seen. The experience stuck in my mind, and I remembered Tartine when my mind turned to pudding this year. I mean that in every sense. This year my mind and energy level are taxed to the brink, and I actively search out things that will taste great and impress guests without requiring much effort.
My San Francisco foodie friend Ken recently surprised me with the new Tartine Cookbook. This book is beautiful, inside and out. The pictures of fruit tarts, layered cakes, croissants, trifle, scones, meringues and much more make you want to pack your bags for San Francisco immediately. Since that’s not an option for me right now, the opportunity to make these recipes at home was a dream come true. I decided to start with something simple, and turned to the Tartine Bakery to help me make chocolate pudding.
After launching the new Amai website last week, the first question everyone asked was, “Where’s the shopping cart?” Even though Andrew and I have been in the web design world for many years, neither of us have had to deal with building our own e-commerce tool. It’s a suprisingly difficult task. Free shopping carts are poorly programmed, and custom tools are expensive for small businesses. We looked at Shopify, but they take a 3% commission which is too much for a little shop like ours. We also looked at several free cart options, and ultimately decided on Zen Cart because of their shipping calculators. This is not an endorsement for Zen Cart by any means. It is filled with too many unnecessary features and is so confusing to navigate it is amazing that the average online business can use it. The final battle came with credit card processing. Google Checkout has free processing until the end of the year, but they don’t work well with Zen Cart’s shipping calculators, so that option was out. The best option to get the site up quickly was PayPal. The integration is a little akward, but it is secure and allows us to charge any type of credit card (paypal accounts are not required.)
Ultimately Andrew conquered the ZenCart system enough to get our online store up and running, just in time for the holiday season. You can now purchase Amai sweets directly from the source and have Tea Sweets and Botanical Brownies shipped right to your door. Thank you to those of you who have already placed an order! We tried to quietly launch it this weekend while testing, but many of you caught us and got your orders in. If you notice any issues with the cart or have any suggestions please let us know.
In addition to our Tea Sweets and Botanical Brownies, we’re also planning to offer a special holiday Champange Brownie sale in December. It’s so exciting to be able to offer specials directly to you. Let the holiday shopping begin…
Amai Tea & Bake House Online Store
www.amainyc.com
Thank you Andrew!
I loved my brief stint as a member of the press. Although I was just an editorial assistant, I was treated like royalty. Free food, free books and access to great events. I even got to fly to Switzerland, business class, to tour a chocolate factory. While my experience may have been unusual (I hear most entry-level writers and interns spend their time photocopying), being a member of the press certainly has its advantages.
I recently read about a food and travel internship being offered at ModernLuxury in Los Angeles that sounds like a great opportunity to try this press lifestyle out. It looks like you would be doing much more than making coffee. The job description is as follows (via FoodieUniverse):
“America’s leading publisher of luxury lifestyle magazines is offering an internship for a food-savvy writer (or eloquent gourmand) to work alongside one of America’s top food critics and travel editors. This is an excellent chance to learn the ropes of restaurant criticism and travel writing and to gain valuable experience at a national publishing company. Based on performance, the intern might have the opportunity to write bylined articles for one or more of the company’s award-winning glossy magazines. This is a nonpaid internship lasting 3 to 6 months, but, for the right candidate, could lead to paid assignments upon completion of the term.
The New York Chocolate Show will be held this weekend from Friday, November 10 to Sunday, November 12, 2006. This show is a chocolate lover’s paradise. Free samples from the best chocolatiers, demonstrations from top chefs and all of the books, magazines and tools related to chocolate that you can find. There’s only one problem, almost everyone in New York loves chocolate. The show is great, but I am still torn on whether it is worth spending the $25 admission and calories to attend the show with mobs of sample-seeking New Yorkers. This show can get very crowded, and it becomes difficult to see the people actually standing behind the booths. There are just arms sticking through the crowd, trying to get to the sample bowl! Hopefully the crowd will be properly managed and the show will allow everyone to get a look at the exhibitors. I am interested in visiting a few companies I’ve had my eye on, like Sweet Bliss and Tribeca Treats. Knowing my love of chocolate, I won’t be able to stay away from this one.
The Amai 24-Cookie Tea Sweets gift box will be on sale at a special price this Wednesday, November 8. OneGourmetGoodie.com, a new site that specializes in offering gourmet treats at unbeatable prices, will be offering the Tea Sweets gift box for only $25.99, with $2.99 shipping. That is an amazing deal. I have no idea how they can do it, but I am thrilled to be working with them and able to get you Tea Sweets at a great price. The only catch is, the sale runs for one day only. Usually the item offered each day on OneGourmetGoodie.com is a surprise, but Lovescool readers get special notice about this Wednesday’s sale.
Amainyc.com is finally a real website, with actual product pictures and content! I am very proud of the new website because it highlights the people that are part of Amai, and showcases what we have been working on for the last several months. All of the product pictures were taken by Keiko of Nordljus, a fellow food blogger I met through Lovescool. She is incredibly talented and I am so happy the internet could connect us. I shipped our cookies and brownies to the UK where Keiko resides, and she sent us back an incredible amount of beautiful photographs. I was in awe. Andrew took the “action photos” of the team, and did the complete design and programming of the site. He put everything together and brought the vision to life. Thank you to you both! The next step will be to add a shopping cart so we can send these sweets directly to you. We’re working on it! Check out the new amainyc.com >
Kyotofu, a “hip, upscale Japanese dessert bar” will be opening in Hell’s Kitchen this Friday, November 6. I have been waiting for this established Japanese cafe to open its first US branch, and am excited that something so unique will be coming to New York. With reported menu items like Kuromame black bean coffee cake, white chocolate tofu brownies and saffron-sake-pear tartlets, there is certainly nothing else like it in the city. It also promises to use ingredients like Kabocha Squash, lychee, green tea, soy beans and many more traditional Japanese flavors. This list of ingredients is unfamiliar to most Americans, even many world-traveling New Yorkers, and I hope Kyotofu keeps their prices reasonable and presentation simple, encouraging more people to explore their offerings.
The shop will be “sleek and bright”, with white upholstered seating and tables for two. Designed by Hiro Tsuruta, the same architect who deigned Jewel Bako and Momofuku, I expect it to have a modern, yet welcoming feel. I only hope it doesn’t take the the “hip” element too far, keeping the atmosphere more like a cafe than a bar. I look forward to finding out myself this weekend.
Kyotofu
705 Ninth Avenue (between 48th and 49th)
New York, NY 10019
Subway: C/E to 50th Street
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Max Brenner’s, a Wonka-like chocolate emporium in Union Square, is now offering a chocolate-covered waffle and coffee for $1.00. I saw a sign for this incredible deal today waving high above the shop, and I entered just in time to take advantage. I ordered the “$1 special” at 11:07 am, and even though the deal officially ends at 11:00 am, the woman at the counter gave it to me anyway. As I ordered she asked if I would like a cappuccino or latte with my waffle. This deal was already too good to be true, and I was shocked to have a choice. I opted for a Cafe au Lait, and, as promised, it came along with a toasted belgian waffle (about 4″ square), drizzled with milk chocolate. The waffle was strangely served on a piece of cardstock paper, not a plate. I felt like I was eating off of the menu. The warm chocolate from the waffle ran off of the paper, but I can’t complain. Afterall, the whole thing only cost $1.08 with tax. That’s cheaper than a coffee cart breakfast.
The staff at Max Brenner’s was unsure how long this deal would last. One waitress said it would end this Friday, October 20, while another said it would run through the end of October. The only thing they were certain of is that the offer ends every day at 11:00am. I certainly didn’t ask if there’s a limit per customer, as I plan to visit as often as possible before this NY deal of the century runs out.
Max Brenner’s - Chocolate by the Bald Man
841 Broadway (near 13th St., on the south side of Union Square)
(212) 388-0030 phone
4/5/6 and N/R/Q subway to Union Square
