Tea for Me - Emperor's Lounge, Taj Mahal Hotel - New Delhi, India

In my iPad and my iPhoto collection on my MacBook Air, I have a ton of notes and photos for thousands of blog posts.  Unfortunately, I lead a very busy life and haven't made as much time for blogging as I would like to - so this blog post is going back to events from almost a year ago. 

Last Christmas and New Year's, I was in India with my sister Squidge.  Before I headed back to the States, I had tea at the Emperor's Lounge at the Taj Mahal Hotel in New Delhi.

I love doing tea - it is one of my favorite activities - it feels civilized and relaxing and healing, like a type of meditation. 

Although in India, many of the places I visited were decorated for Christmas.  I sat down at a lovely, regal-looking chair in the Emperor's Lounge and watched the steward light floating candles in a mini moat in the lobby as I awaited my "Victoria's Tea - tea plus delicious sweet and savory bites."

Fuzzy picture but it is candles and petals in a mini moat

By the way, the staff is crazy tickled that I am typing in the Emperors Lounge.  Their looks seem to say "Silly Americans and their overblown work ethic - not stopping to truly appreciate tea ... instead type, type, type, eat, eat, eat!"  And dont get me started at the crazy looks I am getting by photographing each of the tiny morsels.  LilyOnTheLam.com readers - I do it for you!

A girl, a teacup and an iPad with a keyboard from Brookstone

The first plate of delicious tea treats contained three mini muffins and what I think are two cheese straws - puff pastry twists.

I ordered the Nilgiri Winter tea.  The tea menu described it as fruity and astringent - but honestly it just tasted like Lipton.

Next came a three tiered tray of delights.  In America, I am used to scones on the bottom tier, sandwiches on the second tier and desserts on the top tier.  In India or at least at The Emperor's Lounge, the layers did not follow this order.

On the first tier, there were several sandwiches - a cucumber and cheese sandwich with dried out bread, a chicken roll up, a salmon open-faced sandwich, what i suspect to be a chicken salad sandwich and an avocado and tomato open-faced sandwich with a savory spice on top.  The avocado sandwich was very tasty.

On the second tier, there was a macaron - chocolate with chocolate filling.  It was pretty much your standard macaron but good.  There also what appears to be a chocolate mousse tartlet - thick shortbread cookie crust with a cross between chocolate mousse and frosting - with a hazelnut topper.  It was pretty good but too much cookie base.  I would have liked a thinner bottom crust with 2 kinds of layered filling instead.

There was also a strawberry fruit tartlet- same high bottom tasteless shortbread crust as the previous - whipped cream, strawberries and what i believe is a rim of pistachio crumbles.  I would have preferred a shot glass of strawberries dolloped with whipped cream and dusted with pistachio crumbles than this tart as the crust adds nothing flavorwise and everything calorie-wise.  

I watched something recently (most likely Real Housewives of Atlanta) where they served small glasses (martini glasses perhaps) of strawberries dolloped with whipped cream.  Thinking of doing this with small plastic cups at my next party -- who doesn't like berries and cream?

Last but maybe not least on the 2nd tier-- a four layer cream and cake mini slice ... kind of like a spongy baked cream with a subtle tasting thin slice of chocolate cake in between each laye, with mini chocolate chips between the 2nd and 3rd layer.  Not bad at all.

As if the three tier server was not enough, I also received a regular scone and chocolate chip scone with clotted cream, apple sauce and some sort of preserves.  They were a bit heavy, but the applesauce was lovely.

For the top tier, there was another puff pastry straw except this one was dry, not buttery tasting, no taste of cheese... a brush of butter and some aged Parmesan could turn this straw around!

There was also an olive straw - it's a whole green olive with pimento stuffed inbetween puff pastry - I'm used to seeing black olive flecks kneaded throughout - this one looks like a Muppets character!  It was quite nice - a good combo of rich and buttery with tangy and briny.  I guess I shouldnt have mocked the whole green olive approach!

There was also a shortbread cookie round.  It was dry and tasteless - but that's how I find all shortbread - am I the only one who doesnt appreciate shortbread?

There was a piece of biscotti.  Instead of being rock hard like most biscotti, it was soft.   I suspect humidity is to blame.  However I cannot blame humidity for the lack of anise taste.  It is palatable because it tastes like an almond cookie, but I never would guess it is biscotti by taste alone.

You may look like biscotti, but you don't taste like it!

There was also a chocolate chip studded chocolate cookie- very dry and surprisingly unchocolatey.  However I'm American and we waaaay overdo things in the sugar department, so as an accompaniment to a hot milky tea, it works quite well because it wasn't too sweet.

Last but not least, there was some sort of studded cookie stick.  It was a buttery puff pastry with some sort of unknown topping.  Nuts?  Cheese?  Who knew?  Despite the mustery, it was pretty darn tasty.

Overall, this was a crazy amount of food and tea in a luxe setting for a pretty decent price (by American standards).  Since I was staying at the hotel and I think I belonged to some favored travel club or just some "I'm cool so give me freebies" club, I received 20% off of all food at the hotel's restaurants.  My bill was 650 rupees minus 130 rupees - plus 81 rupees VAT - so 601 rupees total.  Cool beans - best deal of the day!  

While not every treat with this tea was spectacular, there were enough delights that for the price and the atmosphere I very much enjoyed afternoon tea at the Emperor's Lounge at the Taj Mahal Hotel in New Delhi, India.  If you're in New Delhi, check it out!

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40,179 Reasons To Be Thankful

Hello LilyOnTheLam.Com Readers:

Last November, I hit 5,000 page views for LilyOnTheLam.com (Happy 5000! Dim Sum, Stubble Burn and a Happy, Happy Lily!)  One year later, I am now past 40,125 page views.  Now I know that many websites out there may get 40,000+ page views a day (or an hour - or a minute, if you're Oprah.)  But I'm not Oprah, so to go from 5,000 page views to over 40,000 page views in one year (I think that's like a 700% increase, right?  I'm bad at math!) is pretty amazing in my book.  Now on Blogger.com there is a setting so your own personal page views do not get included in the page counter-- so if my own page views were included, I'd probably be celebrating 100,000 page views by now ... but it would be less significant!  (And I'm all about significance).

Today, I was opening a pack of pre-cut celery sticks.  Evidently I didn't know my own superhuman strength as the bag exploded as I tried to rip it open.  This caused a rain of celery sticks to come thundering down upon my youngest cat, Oshi.  Poor Oshi went running from the kitchen, trying to avoid the hail of big green sticks.  Oshi spent the rest of the day peering into the kitchen cautiously.  The experience has now made him realize that his own personal reality includes the dangers of unexpected storms of celery raining down with no forewarning.  Life is crazy, you never know when a bunch of celery will take you down.

Oshi - in happier days - before he was tormented by celery

So the theme of this blog post is be thankful for what you have because you never know when a vegetable will decide to attack you.

Thank you so much for your readership and support.  Stay tuned as future blog posts will feature the best dessert in NYC and the best dessert in Vancouver, Canada (in my humble opinion, of course-- oh who am I kidding?  I'm never humble!)

Feel free to click on some ads while you're visiting LilyOnTheLam.com - I will need the ad revenue to fund Oshi's therapy bills - "The celery is coming!  The celery is coming!"

Again many thanks to my loyal readers and those who stumble upon me as well.  I'd like to be at 150,000 page views by this time 2013.  Aim high!

P.S.  As my gift to you - an oldie but a goodie - Pink was the color of my itchy discontent.  Read it and enjoy!

OK Cheryl, This One Is For You - Tirosalata Recipes

As part of being the Top Diva, Author and Hostess Supreme of LilyOnTheLam.com, I receive a large amount of fan mail.  Basically the equivalent of four hundred semi trucks worth an hour - give or take a ton.  

The other day I received this email:

Subject:  Tirosalata
Hello I was looking for this Acropolis recipe online and every time I put it in your name comes up. Do you have a recipe similar or identical to Acropolis's recipe. I want to serve it at a party this year.  Thank. You, Cheryl   

Now my first thought was "Cheryl, if you put in the words `gorgeous, fabulous and innovator' in your favorite search engine, you'll get my name too.  What's your point?"

My second thought was "OK, I'll send you some tirosalata recipes ... eventually ... cause I'm kinda lazy."

By the way, the blog post Cheryl is referring to is "You May Be Good, But You Sir Are No Tzatziki."

I don't have the actual recipe that the Acropolis Restaurant uses, but here are some links of recipes that I think make a pretty good tirosalata.  I do hope Cheryl and the rest of the Tirosalata lovers out there check out these recipes and leave comments on this blog.  Well I hope you leave me positive comments.  ;-)

Authentic-style Tirosalata Recipe from FoodGeeks

Vegetarilin's Tirosalata Recipe (yummy)

Rumbamel's Spicy Greek Cheese Dip from SparkPeople

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Introduction To The Brandy Chronicles - Touristy Tips and Lily's Favorite Things To Do In New York City

Hello from the Tampa, Florida International Airport.  Thanks to Murphy's Law (which I have redubbed Lily's Law, naturally), my airport gate always seems to be near the children's play area.  There are 3 little girls who are generating a noise level equivalent to 3000 girls.  It's 9 a.m. and I have had 4 hours of sleep and only 1 cup of coffee.  I am stifling the urge to grab the little girls by the neck and hiss "For the love of God, shut your little mouths or get me a Bloody Mary STAT!"  

The girls, unaware of my bleeding ear drums, are trying to decide what game to play.  The smallest one (who inverse-proportionately is also the loudest one) keeps saying "Let's play Puppy Memory.  Let's play Puppy Memory.  Let's play Puppy Memory."  Finally her older sister explodes with Hera-like fury and shrieks: "NO SHIRLEY, WE'RE NOT PLAYING PUPPY MEMORY!"  Shirley then starts crying ... loudly.  I want to go over and say: "FOR THE LOVE OF GOD AND MY EARS, LET SHIRLEY PLAY PUPPY MEMORY!"  

I have no clue what "Puppy Memory" is - maybe it is some gladiator style game where young girls fight to the death.  (Only one will emerge victorious!)  And maybe that's why the older sister is so anti-Puppy Memory.  But as I type this, I hear young Shirley barking like a dog -- evidently incessant repeating and crying works.  Good job, Shirley.  

But this blog post is not supposed to be about Shirley.  (Way to Bogart my blog, Shirley.  Woof woof.)  This blog post is about Brandy - a woman who has never asked me to play Puppy Memory (yet).  Brandy will be going to New York City for the first time in her life.  She has asked me for some tips.  Which frankly is like saying "Hey Oprah, do you have any life lessons for me?"  Little did Brandy know that she was waving the proverbial red flag in front of me.  Do I have NYC tips?  Does Shirley like to bark?  I have a zillion and one tips!  Woof woof.

Awhile back another friend, LC, had asked me for my NYC tips (evidently putting several life-size cut outs of me in the NY tourism office works in cementing my reputation as "Girl with NYC tourism tips" - or maybe it's just because I wear a tiara and sash with "Miss NYC Tourism Tips 2012-2013" written on it.  Who's to say?)  

I had sent LC an email with my suggestions and recommendations, but then when Brandy then asked me for NYC tips I decided that I needed to share my knowledge with THE WORLD.  (Yes, yes I know - I am selfless ... practically Mother Teresa - but even more so ...  No time for humility for myself or Shirley.)

Little did Brandy know that her question would inspire a series of blog posts which I am now calling "The Brandy Chronicles."    I suspect other friends will become jealous and start asking me questions worthy of multiple blog-posts.  Such as "Lily, why are you so beautiful?"  That question alone is worth like 47 blog posts just to answer in vague generalities.  

So whether you are a regular LilyOnTheLam.com reader, a person looking for NYC touristy tips, a person looking for the history of the Puppy Memory Game, Brandy or members of the Shirley Fan Club - get ready for "The Brandy Chronicles." I'll be posting my favorite things to do in New York City over several blog posts.

If you cannot wait, check out the New York blog posts I have already written:

Chef Mario Batali vs. "Biggest Loser" Trainer Bob Harper - Eataly - New York City

Second Installment of My Top Chef 2012 Trilogy - My Lunch at Chef Floyd Cardoz's new North End Grill - New York City

Broadway and Me: NYC Fall 2012

The Importance of Friends and A Tasty Belgian Wafel (about NYC's Wafels and Dinges Food Truck)

This Post is Dedicated To My Ukrainian Fans! (Ukrainian Restaurant Review - NYC)

Best NYC Tea Room - My 100th Blog Post - The Love Song of J. Alfred Podunk

My Favorite Ice Cream Cookie Sandwich in NYC - Happy Fourth of July!  Now Eat A Cookie!

Cheesecake and More - A Space in My Heart for (Kevin) Spacey and Charo - Part Two (Part One is pretty good too)

Man, I have written a lot of New York blog posts and thanks to Brandy, I will be writing a lot more.  While you're reading all the above blog posts, I'll be having breakfast at my favorite restaurant in the Tampa International Airport - the Columbia Cafe at the Delta Terminal.  I love traveling in the afternoon or evening so I can get a bowl of Spanish garbanzo bean soup and a large piece of authentically delicious Cuban bread (made locally at La Segunda Central Bakery for the Columbia restaurants).  The Cuban bread in Tampa is slightly different from the Cuban bread sold in Miami (and in my opinion, its much better)-- so check it out.

This is the first time I have had breakfast at the airport Columbia Cafe.  While the Eggs Malaguena sounded really interesting (see picture above), my stomach was craving a "sure thing" so I went with the huevos al gusto - "eggs my way" with bacon, buttered Cuban toast and spiced home fries.  Delicious!  Buttered Cuban toast is just the most amazing thing ever.  Cuban Cheese Toast is my absolute favorite, end of the night, had too many drinks, sop up the alcohol snack.  You can find me at La Teresita Cafeteria gobbling it up!  

Stay tuned to LilyOnTheLam.Com for "The Brandy Chronicles" - coming to an internet near you!  Woof woof.  (That one is for you, Shirley.)

Can you go home again? The Hot Fish Shop - Rochester, Minnesota

I was born in a small city in Southern Minnesota, USA.  My paternal grandmother was a first generation American - her parents emigrated from Poland.  She lived her entire life in the house she was born in.  The now 120+ year old home still belongs to a cousin.  I could not imagine spending my entire life in one house - from cradle to grave.  I suppose there is something romantic to the notion, but I appreciate that I have lived in five states in the US, as well as lived for short periods of time in Taiwan, Switzerland, Australia and Malaysia.  I do miss the neighborhood aspect of my Grandmother's home (read about the not so charming neighbors in another one of my blog posts entitled: Cadavers, Adultery, The Butterfly Effect and Why I Have Been Missing In Action.)  I miss the local ladies who would can food straight from their garden.  I miss my chain-smoking, gruff but lovable Grandmother and I miss my Velveeta-cheese eating and TV wrestling match watching Grandfather.

When I was little, a fancy night out with my relatives would be dinner at The Hot Fish Shop restaurant in Winona, Minnesota.  The owners were Polish and I remember being very happy to get a large button that said "Proud to be Polish" and the red and white "Solidarity" buttons too.  I have never been to Poland (yet) and at the time had no clue who Lech Walesa was, but I felt connected to a cause bigger when I saw such buttons.  

My two cousins and I all have first names that start with L.  I am the youngest, so I guess I am L Number 3.  As a child, L Number 1 - the oldest, was the blond, sassy, very outspoken grandchild.  She adored shrimp - so much so that she wore a white fluffy bathrobe with a big pink shrimp on the back of it.  When we go to The Hot Fish Shop, she would of course order the batter-fried shrimp.  I did not care for the shrimp and didn't start liking it until college when I tasted shrimp properly cooked and not rubbery.  My cousin L Number 2 and I - both dark-haired, would order the batter-fried torsk at the Hot Fish Shop.  I didn't know then and honestly didn't know until I did some research for this blog post (yeah, I actually do research for this blog, can you believe it??) that "torsk" is just a Norwegian word for cod.  All this time I believed my childhood was filled with fluffy, flaky, mystical fish.  Nope, just cod.

I loved The Hot Fish Shop.  It first opened Christmas night in 1931.  The Kowalewski Family ran the restaurant.  It was a Winona, Minnesota institution.  Families had been dining there for generations and I was happy to be part of one of those families.  The restaurant was dark with wood paneling and in my small town youth was all I knew of a family-style supper club.  For a poor kid who didn't get to go out to dinner much, it was a grand saloon.  

My Uncle would let us kids order Shirley Temples (read about my love of Shirley Temples here) and we felt very fancy indeed.  Pickled beets would be served as an appetizer (which honestly every restaurant should just give you pickled beets the minute you walk through the door - it is a moral imperative.  It is also why I love Lenny's Restaurant in Clearwater, Florida.  If you go there for breakfast you get a danish basket per person and for lunch, pickled beets.  My dream is to have a neighbor who gives me jars and jars of canned pickled beets.  But I digress ... ahhh beets ...)

In addition to their fabulous beets, The Hot Fish Shop's tartar sauce was one of its top draws.  The Hot Fish Shop had a small seafood market attached where you could buy the best smoked fish and jars of the tartar sauce to take home.  Years later, I would buy my Mom fresh and smoked fish from the The Hot Fish Shop Market - and one time I even bought her frog legs, just to see what she would do with them.  (She cooked them and ate them!  Eeeew!)  

When my little sister Squidge was seven years old, my aforementioned oldest cousin L Number 1 was getting married to a man who turned out to be husband number 1.  We returned to Winona, Minnesota for the wedding festivities.  Before driving back to Minneapolis after the wedding weekend, I contemplated whether we should take an hour and have lunch at The Hot Fish Shop before going home.  I was in a rush to get back to the city, but Squidge had never dined at The Hot Fish Shop and those pickled beets were calling.

I had my usual - fluffy and crisp batter-fried torsk, French fries, coleslaw, heaping spoonful of homemade tartar sauce and of course those Hot Fish Shop pickled beets.  Except this time, Squidge was the one getting the Shirley Temple.

I was glad that I had stopped to have lunch at The Hot Fish Shop because less than two years later in 1999, after almost seventy years in business The Hot Fish Shop closed - with the current owner citing extensive overhead as the reason for the closure in the Winona Daily News.  That lunch was my last meal at The Hot Fish Shop.  Every time I am in Winona, I am still saddened that it is no longer there.  I miss both the food as well as the memories of dinners with my Grandparents.  

(Side Note:  I am glad that Bloedow's Bakery - a bakery in business since 1924 - where I would visit with my Grandmother and get the best doughnuts with chocolate glaze - is still open and running in Winona, Minnesota.  Raised in the city, this was the first time I ever saw unsliced bread being sold.  I remember being in awe that the bread wasn't sliced!  I was a very sheltered kid, evidently! In 2012, Bloedow's Bakery was named best doughnut shop in Minnesota - obviously all of Minnesota agrees with my opinion.  If you are ever in Winona, Minnesota, get yourself over to Bloedow's Bakery first thing in the morning - your stomach will be ever so happy that you did.)

One night, I was searching the internet and I stumbled upon the Winona Daily News article that The Hot Fish Shop was re-opening - by the grandson-in-law of The Hot Fish Shop's owner but that this time the restaurant would be in Rochester, Minnesota instead of Winona.  Would it be like The Hot Fish Shop of my youth?  I knew that the next time I was in Minnesota, I would have to check it out.

In October of this year, I went to visit my sister Squidge- in her first "adult" apartment after graduating college.  I told her about The Hot Fish Shop opening in Rochester, Minnesota and she agreed to accompany me for dinner to check it out.  I must state for the record that Squidge doesn't really remember The Hot Fish Shop and her one lunch there when she was seven years old, but I still felt like we were going back in time and bonding over the family's generational link with the restaurant.

The new Hot Fish Shop in Rochester, Minnesota; does not look like the old Hot Fish Shop (see a postcard of the old Hot Fish Shop here).  The new Hot Fish Shop is in a strip mall across the parking lot from a very fancy looking movie theater.  

There may or may not be a Squidge in this picture

But the logo on the menu was 100% old school Hot Fish Shop.  I hate to admit this but I got a little giddy just seeing the wacky old logo.  I half-expected my deceased Grandmother to sit down next to me.

The decor was also not like the old supper club-style Hot Fish Shop, but if the food was like it was - who cares about decor?

I was happy to see the Kowalewski Family Flag flying in the restaurant.

There were also pictures and news articles from the original Hot Fish Shop.  I liked being able to feel the history in the new restaurant.

The menu no longer said "torsk" - but it did have the less exotic sounding cod.  :)

My sister and I both ordered the batter-fried cod with baked potatoes.  In honor of my cousin L Number 1, I also ordered a side of batter-fried shrimp.  And of course, we started with pickled beets.  

My sister and I must have dug into the pickled beets so fast that I didn't get a picture of them, but they are also for sale (as well as the tartar sauce and fish batter) at the restaurant.

The beets were as good as I remembered.  Crisp, tart and delicious.  This was a good first start.  The batter-fried cod arrived next.  

Batter-fried cod (aka torsk), a shrimp, baked potato, cole slaw and Squidge's finger.

My dinner without Squidge's finger - pickled beets in the background

Squidge showcasing the coleslaw

The Hot Fish Shop coleslaw

The coleslaw and tartar sauce were exactly like I remembered it.  (By the way, the best coleslaw I have ever eaten is from Mabel's Lobster Claw in Kennebunkport, Maine.)  The Hot Fish Shop tartar sauce is still amazing - and I wish they sold it in Tampa Bay.  The baked potato was fluffy and lovely.  The batter-fried cod was crisp with a tempura-style batter.  Unfortunately, it was really greasy.  It needed to be drained on paper toweling for a minute before being served.  But had the fish been properly drained it would have been very similar to the same crisp, pillowy, fluffy, flaky fish of my youth.  I remember the planks of fish being much larger when I was little, but I was also a lot smaller when I was little - so that might have been a matter of perspective versus fish size.

The shrimp was also how I remembered it - in other words, after all these years I still didn't care for The Hot Fish Shop's shrimp.  But that's OK, there were plenty of things I did enjoy there.

I don't remember ever eating dessert at the original Hot Fish Shop.  But my sister and I saw a large slab of tiramisu in the glass case that was calling our name.

When you think Southern Minnesota family-style seafood restaurant, you probably don't think "tiramisu" but wow, I have to say this was some of the best tiramisu I have ever had.  It was creamy with just the right punch of espresso and rum flavors.  In trying to go home again, I not only found the tartar sauce of my childhood but a creamy, rich dessert that I was not expecting to find.  I would recommend going to the new Hot Fish Shop just for their tiramisu (but stay for the fish, tartar sauce and pickled beets!)  

I miss my Grandparents and I miss The Hot Fish Shop of my youth, but I was glad to be able to have dinner with my beautiful sister Squidge and reminisce about childhood memories at the new Hot Fish Shop over some batter-fried fish and pickled beets.  If you're in the Rochester, Minnesota area, check it out and make sure you have some tiramisu too!

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November 24: Small Business Saturday - My Favorite Small Businesses

Hello LilyOnTheLam.Com Readers:

While I will be in New York City for Thanksgiving Weekend, I dedicate my November 24, 2012 Small Business Saturday Blog Post to my favorite Tampa Bay Small Businesses.  (By the way, hopefully I will be visiting my favorite NYC small business - Podunk Tea Room.)

But meanwhile, you should check out these great Tampa Bay small businesses ...

Here is a proposed way to spend your Small Business Saturday shopping -

Cleanse Apothecary - Seminole Heights' fantastic body products store.  Great gifts for yourself or friends and family.  I give them two thumbs up not only for selection, but on amazing customer service.

After hitting Cleanse Apothecary, go across to the street for  some guava pastries and Cuban Bread at Mauricio Faedo's Bakery.  Still hungry?  Grab an amazing meal at The Refinery. 

After filling your belly, go to Kalamazoo Olive Company (now in St. Petersburg and Dunedin, Florida!) to buy more gifts for yourself or friends and family.

My friends JP and TW recently visited Tampa Bay, I made them a "Welcome to Tampa Bay" gift pack featuring products from three wonderful Tampa Bay businesses (cat optional).

The following picture shows a Fall tea sampler from the wonderful TeBella Tea Company (also stop by for your own afternoon tea at the Oxford Exchange which features TeBella Teas).  I love TeBella.  Their store is in my neighborhood and they also sell at the local markets around Tampa Bay such as the Hyde Park Sunday Market (I call them Farmers' Markets but in Tampa we call them Fresh Markets - which always confuses me with the grocery store chain of the same name.)    When I am feeling under the weather, TeBella Tea Company's turmeric ginger tea adds a POW to my system.  When I am feeling like a treat, I go for their Key Lime tea on ice.  Sweet and delicious.  TeBella has a lot of different sampler packs that make great gifts.    

In the picture above there is also a 36 chocolates box from the AMAZING William Dean Chocolates handmade artisan chocolates.  Did you see the movie "The Hunger Games"?  These pretty as works of art chocolates are movie stars - they were featured on the buffet table in the movie.  Rumor has it, the chocolates will also be in The Hunger Games' sequel.  William Dean chocolates can be found not only at their store in Belleaire Bluffs, but at yummy Datz Deli, TeBella Tea Company and Dean and Deluca as well as online.  

My friend JWS introduces me to William Dean Chocolates.  She has turned so many people into William Dean believers, that the owner had enlisted her as official taste tester awhile back.  She's always leaving his store with free chocolates in addition to her orders.  When we visit the store in Belleaire Bluffs, I smile widely at the owner with a "pick me to taste test too!" happy expression, but so far, no dice!  Evidently I don't have the "It Factor" that JWS has.  (Or a fancy green grill that her husband has, read about that here.)

In addition to the tea and the chocolates in the picture above, there is a one pound box of three kinds of luscious toffee from my favorite toffee store - Toffee to Go.  It is hands down the best toffee I have ever eaten.  It is one of my top gifts that I give.  My friend NT, one of the owners of Three Bears Hair Bows, turned me on to Toffee To Go.  A billion calories later, I am still plotting my revenge on NT for exposing me to this insanely good toffee!  If you're looking for adorable hair bows - great gifts for all the little girls in your life, check out Three Bears!  

Speaking of hair, after you've bought all your holiday gifts, make some time for yourself with a great cut, color and style from my Color Guru Crystal at her new salon at the Salon Lofts in Carrollwood.

Next stop - get some amazing Thai food from Thai Island Restaurant on Davis Islands.  If you're looking for a lot of free food for an inexpensive price - get the chicken lettuce wraps platter shown below.  Delicious, fresh and packed with amazing Thai flavor.  I've been to Bangkok and I dare say that Thai Island's food is even better than I had there!

One of my favorites - the Thai Island Chicken Lettuce Wrap Platter

Mangos and Peanuts - oh my!  Thai Island's Mango Salad

So good it makes me cry - Thai Island's Crying Tiger Beef Appetizer

If you're going out of town and looking for a pet sitter, I highly recommend my fabulous pet sitting company High Tail It Pet Sitting.  They have been watching my hoard of cats for years.  And on my birthday, they left me this Hello Kitty marshmallow pop - as they not only know my cats, they know I have an insane Hello Kitty fetish.  Now don't be expecting High Tail It Pet Sitting to buy you Hello Kitty gifts (you all are not as special as me!), but do expect quality, reliable pet sitting.

If your vacation budget is more Staycation than European holiday, check out a sailing charter from my favorite local sailboat and pontoon charter company - Windsong Sailing Charters.  (Tell Captain Wendy that Lily says hello!)  My favorite is their all day sail to Anclote key with the beach barbecue package.  (Chef Bruce's shrimp scampi is divine!)  I refer to sailing with Windsong as "Princess Sailing" because they cater to your every need.  (And if you're looking for a longer sailing trip, the 6 night British Virgin Island trimaran trips on Yacht Promenade are one of my favorite vacations ever!)

There are so many great small businesses in Tampa Bay.  I hope you spend your Small Business Saturday visiting some of these fine establishments.


P.S.  I do not receive any compensation for featuring these small businesses on my blog.  However I will gladly accept any freebies they want to throw my way.  Until then, I will eating as many free samples that Toffee To Go has at their sales counter as I can!

When There's Nothing Left To Burn ...

Hello:

If you're a regular LilyOnTheLam.Com reader, you will know that this past Wednesday I wrote about how my friend, Nicky G's fiery death would be my runway to fame, fortune and international glory.  If you're not a regular reader or if you are a regular reader but have a ferocious case of ADHD, I direct you to read (or re-read) said blog post by clicking here.

Since I don't have a picture of Nicky G on fire (yet), here is a picture of mon chat noir Mr. Lo in a holiday time spirit-inspired cuddle with mon autre chat noir Finnerty J. Moomaw, the star of my "Why My Cat is An A**hole" blog posts.  (See the menu on the lower lefthand side of this blog to read more about Finnie J. Moo).

And yes, I was speaking French in the passage above.  Four years of high school French and one year of college French and basically I can say "My Black Cat."  OK I can also order bread and butter - which is a favorite pastime and I've been to France like 7 times and haven't been killed (yet), so I think I am good.  I went to France for the first time when I was 13 years old (and a sophomore in high school - I skipped a grade).  The trip basically ruined me for the French language. Once I figured out I already knew enough to get along in social and shopping situations, my drive to learn more French was ruined.  I'm great with hand gestures and talking in a "French person trying to speak English" accent.  This knowledge also ruined my drive to learn Italian.  I just over-extended the French words and add some eeeee syllables and voila, I'm speaking Italian - or at least the Italian people pretend to know what I am talking about.

This, by the way, is why I don't work for the United Nations.  As an American, I am great at cultural insensitivity!  

Anyway ... as I was re-reading my blog post on Nicky G on Fire (en feu en francais), I recalled my favorite quote: "WHEN YOU HAVE NOTHING LEFT TO BURN, YOU HAVE TO SET YOURSELF ON FIRE" - as it is boomingly spoken by a band member's father on the song "Your Ex-Lover is Dead" by the Canadian band, Stars.  I love this song - it is grand, romantic and Neo-Victorian.  Whether it means to be or not.  I may have mentioned this song on LilyOnTheLam.com before, but deal with it - I am mentioning it again!

There's a line in the song "all of that time you thought I was sad, I was trying to remember your name" that really speaks to me.  I am grateful to be surrounded by many wonderful people in my life, but every now and again my sense of charity (and sometimes pity) brings the wrong person to my doorstep.  This Thanksgiving season I am grateful that I have been given opportunities to push these bad apples out of my life.  You need to give thanks not only for what is given, but for all that is taken away as well.  Or at least I need to give thanks for that!  

And dear bad apples, if you think I regret my decisions to thrust you out the door - I will quote the lovely video above - "all of that time you thought I was sad, I was trying to remember your name."  So suck it, Bad Apples - but thanks for reading and click a few ads while you're here; Baby needs the ad dollars!

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Happy Thanksgiving 2012! A Tale of Two Pumpkin Supreme Pies ...

Happy Turkey Day, my dear sweet LilyOnTheLam.com Readers:

I will confess that I actually wrote this blog post the day before Thanksgiving (gasp! no! scandal!)  For on Thanksgiving Day, I will be high above you sipping in a cocktail.  (On a plane, I'm not actually going to be sitting in your attic like some perverse Turkey-scented, Vodka-swilling Stalker.)

I could take the time to mention all the things I am thankful for - but really?  Another seasonally inspired gratitude post?  No thank you - maybe I'll write that particular post in March -- make Thanksgiving in your heart every day of the year - not just on some food-stuffed Thursday in November.

Instead I will focus on the GIVE - in Thanksgiving.  About 15 minutes from my home is a street with a couple homeless shelters.  I believe that many people only think of these homeless people around the holidays, but sadly many are homeless year round - and need help and support year round.  

We have a decent amount of panhandlers around Tampa Bay and I, like many people, wonder if these are truly people in need or are the requested coins and dollars being used to fund drug and/or alcohol habits?  When I work 50-90 hours a week, the thought of giving my hard-earned money to support someone who is not working and may be using the money to fund getting drunk or high is nauseating.  

So instead of giving money, I volunteer at the Salvation Army, Metropolitan Ministries and a local domestic abuse shelter from time to time.  I can directly see the efforts of my hard work and know that I am making a difference.  

When I lived in Minneapolis, one of my favorite volunteer activities was cooking a meal with friends and family for 80-150 homeless residents and staff of the Simpson House homeless shelter.  (Read more about how you can help Simpson Housing Services at their website here.)  I remember one time we put on a giant New Orleans-style feast for the residents and staff.  Many church groups also served meals in the shelter- lots of canned ham, instant mashed potatoes and canned green beans.  So when my friends and family group cooked at the shelter, we made sure we had menus with lots of fresh, flavorful food.

We had made a ton of food for the New Orleans-style feast, but most homeless shelter residents only ate small portions preferring to take some food to go.  I was confused wondering why they didn't eat more.  One of the homeless shelter residents had whispered to me that when you don't have regular meals, your stomach shrinks and so if the shelter residents ate larger portions they would feel sick.  Also, many had dental issues so they could not eat anything hard.  I wanted to hit myself in the head with the power of this realization.  I couldn't believe I hadn't figured all this out on my own! 

It was then that we started adding more portable food - muffins, cookies, biscuits as well as soft whole fruit - bananas and oranges versus hard apples to our dinners.  Plus we put out small plastic containers and zip-lock bags for residents to use to take items to go.  When I volunteered at the Simpson House, 80% of their residents had at least part-time jobs and many had full-time jobs.  I couldn't fathom working full-time and still being homeless.  I have had a very fortunate, blessed life.  And it's because of this, I feel an even bigger obligation to give back.  

I was recently one of the top fundraisers in Tampa Bay for the recent St. Jude Give Thanks Walk.  Our team was fourth in overall donations, but the first in donations for non-corporate sponsored teams.  A gigantic thank you to all of my wonderful, generous, supporting and loving friends and family who sponsored me in the walk.    

I would also like to thank my cat DivaBea who is doing her best to get my attention while I am typing - I can only assume her head-butting and purring is cat-speak for "Don't forget to mention me!"  Speaking of cats, there was this black and orange streaked sad looking kitten that was wandering in my neighborhood months ago.  I fed him every day for a week and then he disappeared.  I prayed that his disappearance was due to someone taking him in versus an early demise.

On Tuesday - many months later, I saw him again - looking healthy, happy and well-fed with a collar on.  He came running up, purring and rubbed against my legs.  I ran upstairs to get him some cat treats.  (My own cats were wondering why I was stealing from their supply and then leaving!)  So I am particularly thankful that this cat is still alive and still a sweetheart.  

Although I am not in the habit of giving individual donations to people on the street, the day before Thanksgiving I did go around to some of the local homeless I see every day and gave food or money directly to them.  Especially those who were sleeping outside in the cold, unable to get a bed in one of the shelters.  Sometimes what divides fortunate from unfortunate is just circumstance.  I would hope that if I were sleeping on the street, someone would help me from time to time.  

After the holidays, I will be volunteering with friends at the local homeless shelter again - because help is needed all year round.  

I wish you all a Happy and healthy Thanksgiving and I hope in 2013 you will join me (spiritually speaking, I don't have enough guest space in my home!) in volunteering in your local community - not just at the "popular" holiday times but all year round.

Happy Thanksgiving! 

P.S. It wouldn't be a LilyOnTheLam.com blog post if there wasn't a mention of PIE.  Because I am a devoted food blogger, I tried both Bob Evans' Pumpkin Supreme Pie and Village Inn's Pumpkin Supreme Pie.  Both feature a layer of pumpkin pie with a layer of a pumpkin whipped cream cheese type layer.

Bob Evans' Pumpkin Supreme Pie

Village Inn's Pumpkin Supreme Pie

Both pies looked scrumptious and were tasty, but I have to say the Bob Evans' version was better in my opinion.  I love Village Inn and their pies, but the top layer of the Village Inn pie was very syrupy sweet and took the pie over the top in a way it didn't need to go.  The Bob Evans' pie was rich and creamy without being tongue-coating sugary sweet.  Sorry Village Inn, this time the prize goes to Bob Evans.