A Pitstop at the Grandaisy Bakery

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We met up with some cousins of Mrs. MM on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, and stepped into a small quaint neighborhood bakery when it started to drizzle… It was late in the afternoon so stocks were low, but I needed something to raise my blood sugar levels so we could “keep going” that afternoon. An individually sized sour cherry and almond tart in a dark chocolate crust was just delicious, and even better, it came with a Diet Coke in a retro shaped bottle. It betrays a certain age of marketmanila readers, but I grew up with Coke in these classic curvy bottles and I have missed them. It’s nice to see a wave of nostalgia (not to mention environmental correctness) for the sexy bottles, and they are definitely making a comeback. I used to know the actual statistics, but an average coke bottle used to be recycled a phenomenal amount of times. I realize the bottles never completely disappeared in the Philippines, but in most parts of the world, they were replaced by aluminum cans, for the most part. And the plastic versions of the bottle just don’t cut it for me…

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The tart from the Grandaisy Bakery was delicious, the richness of pureed almonds and cream with hits of sour/sweet cherries and a flavorful crust. It would be an inspiration for a crust that I did at home several weeks later. Now refueled, we were set for several more hours of walking on the streets of New York City…

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14 Responses

  1. I once called the consumer section of a soda bottling company and raised the question of a glass bottle versus aluminum can and was told aluminum can is easy to transport with zero percent to minimal breakage – although glass is abundant throughout the world is the handling/shipping convenience that won the manufacturers! When you are down the aisle of groceries most items are in plastic jars as opposed to glass jars again the same reason applies transporting and handling/shipping. The tart looks delicious.

  2. Mmmmmm, would love a bite of that cherry almond in dark chocolate crust tart! What a delicious pairing of flavors and textures!…And with vanilla ice cream on the side and Coke with lots of ice!!!!

  3. How I wish there is such a neighborhood bakery here in Manila would be like Grandaisy (checked out their website)..

    MM, I am not particularly from your generation but I do understand that nostalgia you’re talking about.. Those vintage bottles and once-good neighborhood bakery pastries were a usual merienda fare when I was a kid.. Life was indeed much simpler back then..

  4. this reminds me of those days when we get softdrinks like popcola, sarsi, pepsi, etc in bottles and they came stacked in wooden crates. our ‘suki’ neighborhood canteen would deliver a crate and pick up the one with empty bottles. in those days we need a bottle opener unless you’re one of those who can open with their teeth :)) and one can win prizes printed on the bottle caps, too…

  5. The tart looks yummy, cherry and chocolate goes well mmmmmm. . . i think we would help garbage solutions a lot when we choose to have bottled sodas than canned or plastic bottled ones. . .and if u opt not to use plastic straw each time you have a drink, this would help a lot. . . i also noticed that fastfood restos are also realising the garbage problem these days, some of them use re washable plates spoons and forks now. . . before, they always give you styro containers. . .

  6. I thought it was clafoutis as well.. It looks and sounds delicious. Almond ANYTHING is my absolute favorite when it comes to dessert. I will gravitate to a dessert item on a menu if it has almond in it. Even in a chinese restaurant I will look for a warm almond milk/cream to enjoy. I love tarts, cakes etc. that use ground almonds with or in place of flour. A few weeks ago I needed an impromptu dessert, made a simple apple cobbler, but I threw in ground almonds with the oatmeal and sugar and it was great. I need to check out this grandaisy bakery..

  7. The last time I’ve seen coke in the “sexy” bottle was years ago but I think they are still being sold in small groceries. Here, I buy pepsi products (Sorry to coke fans out there! I feel that coke here tastes different) because they come in glass bottles and resealable plastic caps. I like it because I can reseal it if I am not able to finish it. But one thing concerns me, they don’t collect and recycle the bottles. It just goes straight to the bin…

  8. ….hmmm..was it a shortcrust pastry with cocoa,MM?…it looks to me like a frangipane filling with sour cherries…have to buy the ingredients now!

  9. betty q., you describe it better than I do… and you may want to try it with fresh sour cherries, with the pits in… I read that it slightly alters the flavor to keep the pits in…

  10. Coke in the classic glass bottles are available at the gourmet grocery store down the street from our house. However, the bottles are smaller than the ones that I remember from my childhood.

  11. Yes, MM. I recently had a coke in a 200ml glass bottle – chubby sexy. I think they call it….sakto bottles.

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