I just lost someone very close to me, the man who not only gave me my love for chocolate and my insatiable sweet tooth, but who also taught me how to play backgammon and dominoes, crack an egg with one hand, make challah French toast and master his famous matzoh brei (I had shared his handwritten recipe – and secret – on the blog).  My 89 year old Grandfather, my friend and role model, who was playing tennis a few times a week just a couple of months ago, and skyping with me from New York to Switzerland, passed away after 72 years as my Grandmother’s best friend.

Sy Paris Abramson, 1921-2011 (the handsome fella in the center)

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Let’s put on our New York City thinking caps and play word association.  Ready?  I say Jacques Torres, you say… chocolate.  I say City Bakery, you say… pretzel croissant (or hot chocolate, since it’s their 19th annual hot chocolate festival this month).  I say Serendipity 3, you say… Frrrozen Hot Chocolate.  I say Dorie Greenspan, you say… Baking? Paris? French cuisine?  But if I say Dorie and Josh Greenspan, you say… cookies!  Mother and son’s outrageously popular CookieBar pop-up in 2010 had New Yorkers lining up for freshly baked cookies until they sold out – which they did rather quickly.

Well… they’re back!  CookieBar 2.0 is popping up again in time for Valentine’s Day, and will be at Mizu salon on the Upper East Side during the week of February 7th.  This means two things: 1) New Yorkers and visitors to New York City during this time are lucky.  And 2) my parents have to make room in their freezer again.

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