AWESOME ALERT: Win Prizes from Peloton, Levain Bakery, Uplift Studios and More!

Have you ever wanted to support a worthy cause, work out at a fancy fitness studio for free, and munch on some divine chocolate chip cookies at the same time? If so, I have some fantastic news for you.

For my 12th year of fundraising for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society in their annual MS Walk, I've organized a contest to try and raise $3,000 for research and programming to benefit those with this terrible, debilitating disease. 

The prizes are valued at over $1,500! For every $10 donation, you will earn one chance to win one of these items:

• 30-class pack to my favorite spin studio in NYC, Peloton Cycle ($650 value!)
• 5-class pack to the Fhitting Room, where you'll get an amazing high intensity workout and personalized attention ($170 value!)
• 5-class pack to the amazing, kick-your-butt in the best way possible Uplift Studios ($160 value!)
• 5-class pack to ((305)) Fitness, the best and most fun dance cardio workout from Miami located in the Village ($149 value!)
• 5-class pack to the Union Square cycling studio with all sorts of theme rides, Revolve ($140 value!)
• One dozen assorted cookies from the place in the world that makes them best, Levain Bakery ($71 value!)
• 2 eyebrow waxes to the place that does them best, Boom Boom Brow Bar ($50 value!)
• 2 2-packs of classes from Throwback Fitness to get your recess on ($35 each!)

To enter, make a donation on my walk page and include how many raffle tickets you would like ($10 per ticket) in the notes section. Be sure to include your full name and email address when donating so that I can contact you if you win. Entries will be accepted through 9am ET on Sunday 4/12. All winners will be contacted by Monday 4/13.

Please spread the word to friends! These prizes are too good not to! And thanks for helping fund vital MS research and programming!

AWESOME DEAL: Free Dinner Delivered!

It's a tale as old as time: Start the day with Google-worthy ambitions of preparing a 5-step, 3-course meal for dinner. Decide around lunchtime that eating the Lean Cuisine in your freezer would enable you to better spend your evening binge watching House of Cards. Go home from work and realize you ate that Lean Cuisine last week and since you've already changed into your sweats and sheepskin slippers, going to the grocery store is out of the question. So you spend way too much money on delivery, only to regret whatever you chow down on 45 minutes later because it wasn't healthy/tasty/homemade/hot/etc.

Enter Munchery. Munchery is a dinner-delivery service that's been serving chef-created meals for busy food lovers in San Francisco since 2011. Since it's NYC launch earlier this month, Munchery has collaborated with chefs like Eddie Montalvo of Blue Smoke and Rachel Hazen formerly of Pure Food and Wine to create daily menus of wholesome, affordable food.

Today's menu items include: Honey-Tea Braised Chicken Thighs with pineapple mango salad, brown rice, fresh cilantro ($10.50), Grilled Hanger Steak with creamy potato gratin, broccoli rabe, tomato confit ($13.95), and Vegan Tempeh Couscous Primavera with fava and asparagus ($10.50). They even sell desserts, drinks (including AINY favorite Harmless Harvest coconut water!), and kid-friendly items too.

The way it works is similar to any other food delivery service, but you must select your food and order by the daily deadline of 1pm. You then select the time frame that works for you--in hourly slots from 4 to 9pm--and voila! Dinner! All items are delivered cooked, chilled and packaged in microwave and oven-safe packaging for easy reheating. If you are expecting a particularly busy week, you can order meals up to 7 days in advance and never worry about what is going to satiate you when you do finally get home and around to your binge watching.

Munchery gives back as well. For every order placed, they donate a meal to a local food bank. Additionally, all packaging is made from recyclable and/or compostable materials.

Here's where it gets good...Munchery wants to buy you dinner! Sign up through this link and order up to $20 worth of food for free!

Note: Munchery does not currently deliver to certain outerborough locations (like Astoria, sad face). However, the simple solution is to have the delivery come to your office in Manhattan and just take your food home!

Who Needs Cadbury Anyway?

I never turn down chocolate, but as I've gotten older, quality is something that has become more important to me. That way I can really appreciate the craftmanship that went into my sweet treat. La Maison du Chocolat has the quality thing down pat.

The recently released images of their 2015 Easter collection and my jaw kind of hit the floor when I saw how flawlessly the master chocolatiers where able to create the cutest little traveling ducks--suitcases and all!--all out of different chocolates. Recommended prices in this collection range from $45 for the Aviator Egg (not pictured) to $160 for Easter Flight (the duck on the right in the photo above). They are only available for purchase at the UES location of the store (1018 Madison Avenue).

Here's an awesome video featuring these works of art:

However, if you had something a little cheaper in mind for a hostess or just because gift, they've got you covered as well. I sampled the tube of 7 Maison praliné eggs and loved the variety of different egg fillings, including crunchy, smooth hazelnut, dentelle, and almond slivers ($10).

Receive complimentary shipping on all orders placed through tomorrow 3/31 at La Maison du Chocolat's online boutique.

 

Note: I received the tube of praliné eggs complimentary from La Maison du Chocolat but all opinions are my own.

Come for the Calamari, Stay for the Panna Cotta

The name of one of Astoria's newer Italian joints, Via Vai, is quite fitting. Meaning "coming and going" in Italian, the phrase perfectly describes the nature of most of us New Yorkers, but--as we well know--us busy people always have the time to sit down for a nice meal.

Photo credit: therestaurantfairy.com

My boyfriend and I were invited for dinner a few weeks ago before laughing out loud to Larry David in his Broadway debut in Fish in the Dark (highly recommend!). The space is great, and conveniently located near the Ditmars N/Q stop. I especially loved the white subway tile, the glamorous Faema espresso machine, and the Italian-designed Pavesi brick pizza oven which sits as the centerpiece of the restaurant.

We started with the fried calamari served with fried artichokes and citrus zest ($13). This was a large portion for an appetizer, and properly served with a half lemon in mesh wrap for drizzling. The fried artichokes were a nice touch since I love artichokes but hardly ever eat them.

Fried calamari

Next up were the polpette, or beef meatballs with tomato sauce ($10). Sometimes the simplest dishes are the best. The standout of this dish was the tomato sauce: tangy, not too sweet, and meshed well with the slightly rich classic ricotta-based meatball.

Polpette

The special pasta for the night was beet gnocchi with parmesan fondue, porcini sauce, and toasted hazelnuts. This was a very interesting dish and the colors made it quite beautiful. A bit rich for my taste, but delicious nonetheless.

Beet gnocchi

For a secondi, we tried the maiale, a pork filet tenderloin with prosciutto and sage saltimbocca, white truffle mashed potatoes, and grilled asparagus ($22). The meat in this dish reminded me of breakfast a bit, likely because of the spices used. The asparagus were great (I was craving veggies!), but the mashed potatoes left something to be desired (I think someone forgot the cream or butter or something).

Maiale

The standout of the meal was dessert, which we unfortunately had to rush through (so no espresso :( ) in order to make it to our show on time. We tried both the panna cotta with caramel sauce and the tiramisu (served in a martini glass!)--both $8. The panna cotta was super creamy and both desserts were as traditional as they come. I felt transported back to Rome. If anything, go to Via Vai just for the dessert!

Overall the meal was good and the ambiance pretty great. If I was to return, as mentioned, it might just be for the dessert and to try something made by that goddess of an espresso machine. The pizzas looked pretty incredible as well. Even though it's Astoria, you can never have too many Italian restaurants!

Note: We were comped a meal for two in exchange for this review, but all opinions are our own.

Man Oh Manischewitz!

For those of you who don't know, the Jewish holiday of Passover begins in less than a month. To celebrate, Manischewitz is hosting their first ever pop-up event in Chelsea Market to showcase all of their kosher for Passover products and give new inspiration to old recipes. I attended the press preview last night with Hailey of Barton's Bites, but you can check it out for yourself over the next few days (details below).

First things first, there was a giant "gumball" machine dispensing coconut macaroons. Start dinner with dessert? Yes, please!

Hailey and I with the macaroon gumball machine

Then we made the rounds to the individual food tables. First up was some comforting carrot, quinoa and spinach soup. Then 2 different kinds of matzah pizza--margarita and pesto. Lastly, potato latkes with a multitude of toppings (I chose the apple and fennel slaw).

I must admit, I was surprised (but happy) to see them serving wine other than the notoriously sweet Manischewitz. Instead, they featured Sam Adam's beer and Israeli winery Tishbi.

Now back to dessert. The fact that there are pistachio orange macaroons blew my mind. At the event, they served them with a dollop of cream cheese icing. You could also dip your macaroon in a chocolate fountain and top with sprinkles or coconut. Lastly, the cupcakes (I tried red velvet), were deceptively cakey (always a struggle with pastry items kosher for Passover), and I give them 2 thumbs up!

There were also celebrity chef demos and tastings! Chef Jamie Geller, cookbook author and publisher of Joy of Kosher magazine, showed us how to fancy up your latkes with smoked salmon and creme fraiche. And Chef Katsuji Tanabe, winner of Food Network's Chopped, current contestant on Bravo's Top Chef Boston, and owner of MexiKosher Restaurant in LA, made us some sashimi tuna on matzah crackers.

Chef Jamie Geller

Chef Katsuji Tanabe

We had fun oogling all the new products and brainstorming how we can mix things up for Passover 2015. Carrot cake macaroons anyone? :)

There was also a photo booth and a step-and-repeat, so I'd call it a great event.

Oh, and a crazy awesome gift bag that will get me most of the way through the holiday. It included vegetable broth, garlic and rosemary crackers, carrot cake macaroons (!), red velvet cake mix, potato pancake mix, salmon caviar, The Joy of Kosher magazine, and "The Afiko Mensch" (a Shark Tank product!). Just add matzah and you have an instant seder!

The Manischewitz Experience is free to the public and open at Chelsea Market (75 9th Ave, New York, NY 10011) on the following dates:

• Thursday March 12: 11:00am to 7:00pm
• Friday March 13: 10:00 to 6:00pm
• Sunday March 15: 11:00am to 7:00pm

You Deserve More than a Boring Lunch

I don't know about you, but I get in the habit of being too busy at work to grab more than a boring salad or sandwich from the deli downstairs. Now that the weather is starting to get a bit (*fingers crossed*) nicer, I'm more inclined to want to walk more than 15 steps from my office building. So when the trusty lunch chain Pret A Manger contacted me to sample their new hot menu items (all under 500 calories), I was all in!

My go-tos at Pret have always been the egg salad and arugula sandwich and the almond croissants, and I've always loved their "Made today, gone today" motto--donating all their leftovers to City Harvest daily.

But on my last visit, I tried one of the new Hot Pots--Korean BBQ Pulled Pork to be exact, with only 460 calories. I loved it! It is made with antibiotic-free pork simmered in a sweet & savory sauce with red peppers, honey, ginger, garlic, and cilantro on a bed of red rice and quinoa. It comes with a fresh-made roll and I washed it all down with Pret's strawberry lemonade. Refreshing!

On another visit, I went with the new Spinach and Tomato Mac 'n Cheese and brought it back to my desk. Who ever heard of mac 'n cheese for only 420 calories!? And it was super creamy. I didn't feel like I was missing out at all. FYI, this item is fully vegetarian, but they also have a version with crispy bacon with only 470 calories. On this visit, I also tried Pret's blood orange seltzer.

So if you've never been to Pret, or just haven't been in a while (they're especially easy to find around Midtown), it's high time to check them out again and try one of the new menu items. You're right on track to never have a boring lunch again!

Editor's Note: Pret provided me with complimentary food for the purposes of writing this post but all opinions are my own.

Coney Island Brewery Celebrates Brooklyn History With New Beers

If there are 2 things we love around here, New York City history and alcohol that goes along with it are high on the list. Luckily, the Coney Island Brewing Company took it upon themselves to combine these awesome things.

The brewery was founded in a 2007 by Jeremy Cowen of Shmaltz Brewing Company. Jeremy brewed award-winning lagers under the Coney Island Craft Lager label, all designed with in-your-face artwork featuring iconic imagery and capturing the spirit and flavor of Coney Island.

Inspired by Brooklyn's history, Coney Island Brewing recently launched 2 new beers and we got to try them!

1609 Amber Ale pays tribute to those bold pioneers whose ventures laid the foundation to "The Playground of the World," as 1609 was the year that explorers first set foot on the massive dune along the Atlantic that eventually became Coney Island. They created a bold beer, which they describe as a deep amber ale with a full malt, slightly nutty character and strong citrus hop nose. 

Overpass IPA recognizes the artists, musicians and renaissance souls that staked claim and built DUMBO. Coney Island Brewing created this creative beer to embody by the juicy citrus and tropical hop aromas in a deep golden, richly aromatic IPA.

IPA's aren't usually our first choice, but Overpass is smooth and enjoyable. As for the 1609, it's comforting and perfect for a winter night in (or out!). We also loved the super fun, colorful artwork.

To try both of these beers yourself throughout New York City--on tap and bottled--click here and cheers to history!

Full Disclosure: Coney Island Brewery sent us complimentary beer, but all opinions are our own.