Sweet stories

Ah, to be young, carefree and living in New York with sufficient funds to enjoy all the great food the Big Apple has to offer. Well, that's four strikes for this writer (is that even possible?). At least I can live vicariously through Kathy at A Passion for Food (www.apassionforfood.blogspot .com). Born and raised in Hawaii, she's living in the lower east side of Manhattan and eating her way through the city. She tries everything from US$1.25 bags of cake scraps purchased at a bakery in Chinatown to dinners with multiple desserts at one of her favourite restaurants, Otto. Like friend and fellow food blogger Robyn (of The Girl Who Ate Everything), Kathy has a sweet tooth, with many of her posts dedicated to macarons (pictured), pastry - including tea at the local branch of Viennese patisserie Demel - and forays in search of the best cupcakes, gelati and croissants. Just as interesting as her posts about New York are her reports on what she eats on her frequent trips back to Hawaii: mouthwatering descriptions of exotic delights such as avocado smoothies, malassadas (fried dough with various fillings) and the artery-clogging 'zip-pac' (fried chicken, fried mahi mahi, Spam and teriyaki beef over rice) and 'loco mo co' (white rice topped with a hamburger patty, gravy, fried eggs and sauteed mushrooms and onions).