Not only do I love you guys, but I miss you!  I haven’t blogged consistently since about October, and even more sporadically since the accident, but damn it, I miss it!  I’ve been doing my drops the whole time, of course, but saying I’d get around o blogging when I had the time.  Well, we know that kind of thing never happens.  And as life happens, what happens with me is my space gets messy.  And messier.  And messier, until I can write messages in the dust on my TV console and I have a mountain of laundry to do.  My kitchen is easy to keep clean because I’m constantly in there, baking, doing dishes wiping off counters, but the rest of the place I often feel like a ship passing in the night, just coming home to sleep.  All that is said to illustrate my next procrastination technique – I should clean before I do anything else.  Sounds productive, right?  WRONG.  You see, in my head, I set aside a certain number of hours any given task will take, and I won’t start that task unless I have said number of hours available.  Which also never happens!

But this past month I’ve had pretty good reason to clean.  I may have mentioned this before, but an NYU grad student in the Journalism Department got in touch with me and asked me to be the subject of her video profile for a class assignment.  If that isn’t a fire lit underneath me, I don’t know what is. Richa, this student, has been coming over to film my baking, doing a podcast, for a sit down interview, doing drops, church rehearsal and time at TBMS.  I believe she’s in the editing stages right now, and i can’t wait to see how this whole video comes together!  She had access to all areas of my life, so I’m thinking it should be pretty fascinating to see how someone else interprets my story.

Now I’ve got nothing standing in my way!  My space is clean, my brain space is uncluttered, I’ve had my coffee, life is good.  Just to add a little spice to the mix, I think I’ll start backwards.

Last week, I was at Crescent Grill to drop off my goodies.  I had made my almond cut out cookies that some of you may have had at the Queens County Market I participated in in February at Singlecut Beersmiths.  (I was passing out heart cookies for free and it was a blast!  They were pretty huge, too) You know my signature cookies are my secret family recipe chocolate chip cookies, but Richa wanted to film the actual act of me baking, and I said no way to filming those cookies being made – you think I’m a fool??  So I made almond cut outs instead.  I think they turned out pretty cute!

I loaded up the car full of cookies, dropped some off to my good friend Amanda at Singlecut (these are her favorite cookies of mine), then made my way to Crescent Grill.  Like my drop at the previous spot, Vespa Queens, I drove, because it is so damn far.  BUT – Crescent Grill realizes they are not in the main pathway of many people, so they offer a shuttle service to dining guests within their pick up zone.  You heard me right – they will pick you and drop you off.  Insanity.  It’s like Snowdonia’s beer delivery – a complete game changer.

That’s actually the only thing I had heard about Crescent Grill via the interwebs before making my way there, the shuttle service thing.  And they they had great artists hang their works there, because Vespa Queens got their artwork from an artist that exhibits at CG.

As I walked in I was greeted by a wonderful mix of sleek and rustic; warmth, yet with a cool, clean line.  The bar stools are shiny, red cup seats, while the bar itself is a solid natural plank that has been sealed to a high shine.  There is reclaimed wood overhead and chrome accents around the room.  It’s really pretty beautiful.  I handed over the cookies to Ryan, general manager and events guy, as he exclaimed, “It’s the cookie lady!”  Indeed it is 🙂

I explained to him what I do and this time, I also explained to him why I brought these particular cookies, the almond instead of the chocolate chip.  I was surprised to hear him say that he had heard so much about the chocolate chip that he wouldn’t be disappointed if I brought them with me when I came back to pick up my plate.  I didn’t realize they had a reputation of their own!

He also said he wanted to “feed me” (I always want to be fed!) and so we made a date for Wednesday for me to come back and try some of their menu.  I’m sure it is all delicious, based on the reviews I read and the pictures from their website.  Everything looks fantastic.  Regardless, I’m excited to try it all!

Next I’ll tell you about how I got to Crescent Grill, through Vespa Queens, and how I even got to Vespa Queens in the first place.  Hint: It’s a completely new thread of recommendations!