molly's cupcakes

A while back I got to meet up with Allie, one of the most elusive friends I have. We met on our study abroad trip to London and fell in platonic love. After graduation, she proceeded to disappear off the face of the earth, but I've managed to reign her back in. (No, that is a lie.)

We had dinner at a sushi restaurant in the West Village that is not even worth mentioning, really – what is worth mentioning is the cupcake shop we went to afterwards: Molly's Cupcakes. Allie's sister just started working at their Chicago location and has been raving about it apparently, so we decided to try it out.

Gulp.

DE-LISH.

Molly's has a great selection of in-house flavors, all filled with some special concoction (Boston creme pie, caramel butterscotch, blueberry cheesecake, cookie monster, cake batter, and one called "the Ron Bennington"). They also let you put together your own cupcake – i.e., you choose the cake, frosting, and any toppings you want.

Gulp. Gulp. Gulp.

I love this place so much that when my sister came to visit slash help me move, I forced her back here as well. Their red velvet is regal. Their cake batter cupcake is literally (no, not literally) a party in your mouth. Their cookie monster cupcake is fab.

Molly's Cupcakes is a bit pricier than my beloved Sugar Sweet Sunshine – but then the location is much larger, the flavor options are fancy-schmancier, and there is more cupcake to go around. Also, West Village versus Lower East Side? I mean... yeah.

a trip to the brooklyn bridge

On my parents' last day in New York, we decided to take a trip up to the Brooklyn Bridge. My dad had been wanting to go for some time now, and we didn't have time to go when everyone was here back in December. It was a cool 50-something degrees, so we bundled up and headed out to Dumbo.

I see the Brooklyn Bridge from a distance every time I travel along the Manhattan Bridge, but seeing it up close was kind of weird... surreal, almost. It was so windy! And so many Europeans everywhere!

Afterwards we were hungry for lunch so we went to Grimaldi's – the real reason for my dad's interest in the Brooklyn Bridge – where we found ourselves in a surprisingly short line. (Not even ten minutes and we were at a table for three. It's a far cry from the hour-long waits that people talk about on Yelp.)

This is not the best New York-style pizza i've ever had, and it's probably not worth waiting an hour in the rain/heat/snow, but it is pretty decent brick-oven pizza, and it's fun to say you've been here and tried the food! All in all, a fun way to wrap up an activity-filled weekend. Yay. Family is fun.