Of Books and Gelato

Astor Place is a neat little bookstore/art gallery/gift and home decor shop/sandwich shop/bakery tucked away on Main Street of Tannersville. It's straight out of something you would see in Gilmore Girls, replete with coffee, intellect and flair.

Of course what interested me the most was their dessert section. Most of the items there are homemade, like these sour cherry milk chocolate truffles.

Truffles

These treats look like they belong in Dean and Delucas, but they are 1/3 of the price and sized for a normal person's portions.

Hubby got the milk chocolate almond crave bar (whew that's a mouthful). It was a chocolaty bar with a generous helping of almond slivers and rocky road chocolate mix. The best part was that it used real cocoa, so it wasn't all that sweet.

I really wanted any one of these but unfortunately I wasn't feeling all that hungry. Some of them were pretty creative.

Raspberry Almond Tart

Zebra Tart

Raspberry Limzer Tart

Cheese Crown with Apricot Glaze

Apricot-glazed Apple Tart

They also have an extensive gelato menu, all imported from Italy.

I tried some of the coconut gelato - it was really coconuty and nutty. I would have liked it but it was way too sweet, and I already had my share of sweets earlier that day from Magnolia cupcakes.

Toasted Coconut Almond Fudge

So we settled on the mango gelato that hubby and I were both eyeing. It was true to its origin, with the mango being just ever so slightly sour to balance the sweetness of the gelato.

Mango gelato

The next day, we came back again after our mini-golf session to cool off. I tried some of the carrot cake, but again, it was a little to sweet for me (yea I know, too sweet for a sweet-tooth...sigh).

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

I tested the Banana Foster with bananas and a swirl of caramel. It really hit home. The creamy banana with a caramel drizzle was smoothly intense yet not overly sugary. I just wish I had some real bananas to go with.

Banana Foster

I sat outside on the patio enjoying my gelato, while flipping through a magazine and rocking to the Elvis patio music.

Guess which is real?

Then we went back into the house and played a game of chess (where I was checkmated twice in the same game), while sipping on a cup of iced coffee. Ah, how sweet it is.

Checkmate