For those of you who are familiar with bagels, this could be a very divisive post: New York City vs. Montreal. But this is no simple battle of H&H vs. St-Viateur (each city’s most famous bagel maker, respectively), nor is my very favorite bagel from either of those two places. Unfortunately, it’s not from Zürich either, where I live. So on my transatlantic travels, I often bring back bags of bagels in my suitcase. Into the freezer pre-sliced (a must), they toast perfectly and taste almost like fresh. So where do I go for the best bagel ? Great Neck.

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When temperatures were soaring in the 90′s here in Zürich recently, I could think of only one place I’d rather be… Queens, New York.

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“I would take the trolley car over the Brooklyn Bridge, get off at Essex Street and visit my grandmother on Eldridge Street.  She would put two pennies in a brown paper bag with a string on it, and drop it out of her window to me from the 3rd floor.   I’d take the bag and walk down the block to get a kasha knish.”

I love hearing stories told by my grandmother of her childhood in Brooklyn and on Manhattan’s Lower East Side.  The streets during those years have certainly transformed since then, with the growth of trendy neighborhoods, apartment buildings,  stylish stores, restaurants and bars.  But thankfully a few of the original food shops remain, including two on East Houston Street – Russ & Daughters Appetizers and Yonah Schimmel’s Knishery.  The latter is where my grandmother’s two pennies were always well spent.

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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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When it comes to any place that?s food related, I?m easy to spot, usually excited like a kid in a candy store. Well, just imagine if I were actually in a candy store. Or a chocolate shop. Or a date shop even.  It was certainly the case when I was recently at Economy Candy in New York City, exchanging oohs and aaahs with Dorie Greenspan about our favorite candies and growing nostalgic as we shared memories of our family’s top picks.

More oohs and aahs followed when simply walking the streets of Manhattan, taking in all the sights and smells of the city.  Smells?!  Perhaps not quite what you expected, but I’m talking about one aroma in particular.  Nuts 4 Nuts!  I don’t actually like nuts in baked goods, but when they’re crisp and coated in sugar on their own, or mixed into chunky sweet granola, what’s not to like?  And who can really resist that smell of vanilla sugar that wafts from these nut stands below their orange umbrellas, those nuts caramelizing away, tantalizing you to buy those small, white, wax paper bags for a couple of dollars?

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You may have noticed the buzz about a certain sweet theme lately – on Twitter, Facebook and really all over the internet.  March 20th is an important day after all.  Only once a year do some of the most sought after pastry shops actually hand out free macarons! Aha, an important day for those of us with a (24/7) sweet tooth, that is!   The mastermind behind this Jour du Macaron, none other than Pierre Hermé, will be handing out not one, but three free macarons on Saturday, March 20th in Paris.  If you thought the line was already long at his boutique throughout the year, well just imagine…!  Even more fun, if you can make a stop in all of his six boutiques across the city, getting a card validated at each one (La Carte du Macaron), you’ll be rewarded with a box of 35 macarons at the end. Wow is all I can say to that!

New York City is joining in the festivities this year too, with François Payard at the helm and participating shops including MacarOn Café.  The slogan for Macaron Day NYC… “macaron – the new cupcake” !  I’m just relieved they aren’t calling them macaroons !

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Since the beginning of the Jewish New Year last weekend, when I made light, chewy fig and pistachio nougat, I haven’t stopped dipping apples in honey and even made a second batch of nougat.  The tradition is, we wish each other a sweet new year.  I think I’ve got that covered.  I put that extra batch of nougat in the freezer, as it was a bit soft, and eating it straight from there, I was quickly reminded of frozen Charleston Chew bars we used to have as kids.  Remember that candy bar, yellow wrapper and all? Takes me right back to my summer camp canteen.  Just wait until I dip those nougat squares into chocolate and put them back in the freezer, now that will be good! Furthermore, the official opening date for Ladurée in Zürich has been released – October 14th, in less than 3 weeks!  This coming year is sure to be sweet!  I have my usual line-up of adventures ahead, each one with a whole new set of pastry shops, chocolate shops and markets to visit, always fascinating people to meet and local customs to learn about.

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Coming back from Venice, I had a suitcase filled with nougat, biscotti and chocolate (unfortunately no gelato). Whenever I come back from France, it’s usually jams, Carambar, prunes from Agen and chocolate. From New York – bagels, soft brown sugar, Vermont maple syrup and chocolate. What does one bring back from Croatia? Well, if you want to get through customs without sweating, you probably won’t attempt to walk on by with dried hams or fresh truffles in your bag. Olive oil? I suppose you could risk the glass bottle breaking in your luggage (I did!) – not in your carry-on though, liquid’s a no no. Specialty shops in little villages throughout Istria had tons of products based on truffles and olive oil, pretty much everything imaginable made with one of the two.

So what did I bring back?  Chocolate.

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Talk about spring being in the air!  The sun has been shining here in Zürich and people are enjoying the longer days, being outside as much as possible.  The Alps in the distance seem to have lost their large, white blankets and those people on the streets are losing their layers too… fast.  I am not sure whether I will be more excited that it’s the first day of spring… or that it’s “le Jour du Macaron” in just a few days.  A day to honor the macaron, that delectable, colorful pastry that has become cult famous and fashionable in Paris and around the world.

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After sharing my love for dark chocolate and salt, a friend told me about her obsession with a certain bar of dark chocolate made with Hawaiian sea salt.  I was immediately intrigued.  When she said it was a Knipschildt bar, I knew I had to get my hands on it. Knipschildt?!  That would be Fritz Knipschildt, a young, charming Danish chocolatier, now living in Connecticut, making chocolates with original flavor combinations in beautiful packaging.   As is the case for many pastry chefs, Fritz’s background was in the savory side of the kitchen, working in restaurants in Denmark, France, Spain and the US.  The transition was quite natural, as he has stated before, “I loved to experiment with sweet and savory flavors and I continued to do so with chocolate.”

But more on his signature line of chocolates in a minute, each one with a different woman’s name by the way.  Back to the bar above (and below)!

Burnt Caramel and Hawaiian Sea Salt.  Difficult to go wrong there.  It’s a hefty bar with deliciously smooth dark chocolate – 71% Ecuadorian single bean.  When you break into it, your first reaction may be disappointment, that there’s very little caramel in relation to the chocolate (that was my first thought too).  But when you taste that thin layer, the amount of flavor that fills your mouth does not disappoint.  It’s a powerful hit of rich chocolate, caramel and strong salt.  Just look at the underside of the bar, and you’ll see why.  It’s a masterful combination of strong flavors.

If you want to taste the caramel in a more dominant – and runny – form, you should meet Hannah.  That’s one of Knipschildt’s chocolates, of course.  The same combination of flavors, burnt caramel and Hawaiian sea salt, in an individual praline.  My personal favorite of his chocolates in fact.  I used to buy his handmande paper boxes when I was living in the states at Dean & Deluca, Whole Foods and Food Emporium in NYC, and at Formaggio Kitchen in Boston.  Fortunately, they are easy to find, and come in seasonal colors.  Hannah went too fast; I didn’t have a chance to photograph her!  But below you’ll see Valentina, another irresistible caramel, this one made with lavender; and Cleopatra, made with raspberry liqueur.

With all of these chocolates and beautiful red boxes, this has me thinking one thing. Isn’t Valentine’s Day coming up real soon? Ah yes. Good thing Fritz thought about that too!