Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Great American Bake Sale to benefit Food Bank for New York at Grand Central Terminal


This afternoon I had to run an errand in the area around Grand Central Terminal.  How convenient, I thought, now, I can find an excuse to check out Share Our Strength's Great American Bake Sale taking place today to benefit the Food Bank for New York.  I checked out on their Facebook page just before watching the evening news, and the GCT folks announced 50 minutes ago that the bake sale, which was supposed to go on until 7:00 p.m. tonight, was all sold out and had shut down.  I managed to get over there around 1:30 p.m. and at least two places had already been wiped out with several other vendors not far behind.  What a great result for a fundraiser for such a worthy cause.  Hopefully, our sweet tooths (teeth?) will assist many families to put food on the table, especially during these tough times.




For those of you who know a bit about the layout of the terminal, this event filled up one half of Vanderbilt Hall.  It probably could have been expanded to take up the entire space.  I picked up a Mexican Chocolate cupcake by Robicelli's at Joe's over by the Greybar Passage to fortify myself before I headed into the fray.  I soon discovered that was a wise move, as the line to enter the area for the bake sale was actually outside the terminal and along 42nd Street.  At least I had a chance to preview some of the spring fashions while I waited.


In all fairness, the line moved pretty quickly, but not without a little bit of drama.  Several random people took a break from their usual oblivious New Yorker-ness to ask for what we were on line and then wandered off.  Another few folks saw the length of the wait and decided to head back to their offices, which was kind of a shame as they missed out on some delicious treats.  Then, a couple of people ahead of me, all of a sudden there was a mini spat.  Someone had decided that jumping the queue was the thing to do today and tried to cut off one of the other women who had been on line.  She lost that battle and stormed away muttering something under her breath.  I'm blaming low blood sugar all around on that one.


While I managed to get to all of the tables, I did not eat at every one of them, for fear of taxing my own system.  This is another event where I needed my intrepid food-loving wing-people along with me.  Still, I did sample several items, as noted with the photos, and got to eat some wonderful treats.  What was interesting to see was the combination of folks who came out to support this event both in front of and behind the tables.  I saw tourists, subway workers, office drones, and just curious folks all perusing the sweet offerings.  Small-scale entrepreneurs were rubbing elbows and napkins with some bigger industry names and more established brands.  This was nothing like the bake sales we had in high school, that's for sure.

Chocolate & Olive Oil Bastoncini
A cool, creamy olive oil ice cream bite covered in dark chocolate with an exterior crunch.  
I could have eaten a few more of these unique bites.

 Bar Cookie Classics and Mini Devil's Food Cupcakes with Caramel Cream Cheese Frosting

Bosc Pear and Brie Tart with Caramelized Onions

Chocolate-Covered Honey Cakes

Double Cherry Pie (the only flavor that was left!)
Plus - a special pie sampler signed by Sandra Lee for the highest bidder

Brownies from Fat Witch Bakery
(oh, we've met before, believe me)

Various cookies and treats, including hand-iced Black & Whites

Liquid Apple Pie by Gilt (the last four left)
apple mousse with candied apples, liquid pie crust, and an oatmeal cookie

Pain au Chocolate, Cranberry-Orange Scones, Banana Chocolate Chip Muffin, and other goodies by Colicchio and Sons

 
Grana Padano Cheese Straws and Puffs

An empty, sold-out table for Fresco by Scotto

Meyer Lemon Cakes

Key Lime Graham Ice Cream Sandwiches

 
Brownie Bites and Cake Bites (all Vegan)

Chocolate Chip Cookies (last four packs left!)

Cupcakes from Tonnie's Minis

Cupcakes from Butter Lane

Coffee (well, espresso) break provided by Lugo Caffe

Chocolate-Espresso Brownie 

Semolina Bread and Olive Oil

Brownies and Cupcakes from Flour Bakery (no storefront)

All that was left at the table for Donatella.
I'd heard that there was pizza rustica and cannoli.

Cupcakes from Sugar Flower Cake Shop
Sending a special shout-out to Amy.  She said she made 300 cupcakes for the event, decided that wasn't enough and made some more.  She was on her way to being sold out by the time I got there.  This is one of the NYC Rooftop Honey cupcakes which had a delightfully sweet, floral buttercream frosting on top of a light, fluffy yellow cake.

Chocolate Mousse Cheesecake Cup

Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Frosting and Toffee Bits on top

Chocolate Lollipop, set of boxed treats, and (sadly) no French chocolate tarts left

Cheddar Biscuits from Gramercy Tavern
I picked up a bag of these to take home with me.  Made with Clothbound Cheddar Cheese, they were perfect with leftover homemade tomato soup.

Buon appetito!

2 comments:

Nicole said...

This post made me hungry! For sugar!! I've been trying so hard lately to stay away from it because I overdid it all winter long. Not reading food blogs would probably be a good place to start!!

The Experimental Gourmand said...

I have to say, it was so hard not to just buy everything that was available. So many great options!

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