Swap Maine

Yesterday was the second Swap Maine event, located at the East End school in Portland. I went to the first swap, but a little too late in the day for the exciting swap action. I did still manage to get a pretty nice pink sweater, but this time I was in it to win it. I went for the pre-swap brunch, that included so many tasty treats from local restaurants/food vendors such as: Stonyfield Cafe, 13th Cookie, Local Sprouts, Katie Made Bakery and many more. That tiny cupcake was a peanut butter cup cupcake. The frosting was so peanut buttery! It was a little intense. I love Katie Made Bakery and their muffins, so I immediately grabbed one while I was going through the tables of food. I also snagged the cheesy bread thing on the far right, which came from Stonyfield Cafe. I don't know what it was exactly, but it had a crazy amount of garlic on it and it was amazing. I wanted another piece, but by the time I had finished they had all disappeared. At the Swap they had a couple of raffle prizes during the pre-swap brunch and I won a gift certificate to Stonyfield Cafe and TWO cases of yogurt. I don't even know how much yogurt that is. It's a good thing I love Stonyfield yogurt! I put my raffle tickets into that box (you could choose between the prizes to enter your tickets in), because I have never gone to Stonyfield Cafe, but I have always wanted to. Now I have no reason to put off going, since I have a very awesome gift certificate to use there. Overall I had so much foodie fun at the Swap, before the fashion fun even started!

Gelato Wars-Portland Showdown

Seriously. This new development that is going to occur in early December is just too overwhelming to me. "What new development?!" you might be asking...well...*GULP* My original favorite gelato shop is opening across the street from my PORTLAND FAVORITE GELATO SHOP.

http://www.pressherald.com/life/foodanddining/fiasco-stirs-the-gelato-pot-on-sweet-stretch-of-fore-street_2011-10-19.html

Now when I get the hankering for gelato, I won't only have the option of Gorgeous Gelato in Portland. It was quite simple: I would want gelato and if I was in Portland I would simply go to Gorgeous Gelato. If I happened to be in Brunswick or driving through Brunswick, I would stop by Gelato Fiasco. Now it won't be that easy. I might just have to give it all up and go to Go Berry, the new frozen yogurt place that just opened at the corner of Exchange and Fore street. Portland, specifically Fore street (what with East End Cupcakes and Old Port Candy Shop) is quickly becoming my sweet tooth haven. I need a gym membership.

Portland Buy Local's Indie Biz Awards

Tonight I went to the Indie Biz Awards which was put on by Portland's Buy Local. It was the first time I have attended this event and it was definitely worth attending. There was so much amazing free food, ranging from Local Sprouts to Dean's Sweets. I was quite excited to go tonight, because I knew that there would be cupcakes! I managed to try three different varieties of cupcakes from Y-Lime's Gourmet; this isn't the first time that I have had one and I am definitely going to be seeking out their cupcakes more frequently. My favorite of the three was the Chocolate Raspberry that you can see above. It's not the best picture, but I was trying to balance the mini cupcake in one hand while trying to get a picture in macro mode with a low iso in the other hand... a slightly difficult task. A very delicious cupcake, however poor the quality of the photo is. The chocolate cake was very moist and the raspberry buttercream was very creamy and delicious. Not too sweet or overpowering. This isn't the first time that I have had Y-Lime's Gourmet and I am definitely going to be seeking out their cupcakes more frequently.

I loved how the Indie Biz Awards was such a gathering of delicious food. One of my favorite places in Portland to get chocolate is Dean's Sweets and they were there tonight with a table filled with different samples of their truffles and chocolate covered potato chips. Their chocolate is a step above anything else I have had so far. Cadbury has nothing on Dean's. I even managed to win one of the raffle prizes and thankfully it was the Sweet Tooth one, which included a dozen cupcakes from Y-Lime's Gourmet, a bag of popcorn from Coastal Maine Popcorn Co (amazing popcorn), a Portmanteau bag, a gift certificate and hot fudge from Beals, a gift certificate to Old Port Candy Co and a gift certificate for two for the Maine Foodie Tours! This is very exciting for me, since it will satisfy my sweet tooth for the next couple of months. Thank you, Portland Buy Local!

Magnolia Bakery

I have always wanted to eat a cupcake from Magnolia's, well by always I mean ever since I heard "Lazy Sunday" by the Lonely Island and saw the skit on SNL. It's amazing!

"Let's hit up Magnolia and mack on some cupcakes!"

A pal of mine brought me back two cupcakes from a recent trip to NYC. We've been having discussions of how we aren't all that fond of red velvet, so I was a bit surprised when one of the two happened to be red velvet, but it turned out I liked that one much more than the vanilla with chocolate frosting. She said that when she was in there the selection was limited, which isn't surprising since they are always crazy busy. I honestly expected something magical, but the cupcakes were just okay. I did really like the frosting on the red velvet cupcake. It was the frosting equivalent to homemade whipped cream. Obviously it wasn't that, since whipped cream would not make an hour six hour bus ride back from New York, but that was exactly how it tasted and the consistency was just a little bit thicker than whipped cream is. My friend guessed that it was a traditional boiled frosting, which is officially my favorite type of frosting now. Two Fat Cats, here in Portland, has amazing boiled frosting. I won't be making any quick trips to NYC to have Magnolia's again, but I would definitely go there the next time I am in the city. It would be interesting to see their physical location and to actually have the Magnolia's experience myself.

http://magnoliabakery.com/home.php