I didn’t have many deep thoughts last week so how about a roundup of some cool stuff I discovered?
Cool Neighborhood Stuff
Little Soap Shop in Astoria
On Saturday I hung out with my good friend Meg (of weheartastoria.com and harmoniousbelly.com) and we puttered around Astoria. She took me to her favorite soap shop, aptly called, The Little Soap Shop, located at 22-07B 36th Street, Astoria. In a space no bigger than the average New York bedroom, perky owner Vivian Dritsas has assembled a lovely cache of handmade and glorious-smelling products: soaps, soy candles ($8-$22 in scents like honeysuckle, lavender, raspberry & guava), shea butter creams (seriously decadent), homemade lip balm, and other delightful things. Her soaps smell fabulous and they lather upwonderfully, and leave my skin so so soft. You can find basic scents like gardenia and lavender, but also orange grapefruit, brown sugar & fig, and a secret scent in such demand I would have had to wait WEEKS to get it, vanilla lavendar patchouli (it’s a BLACK soap which is a little intimidating).
Stop in and treat yourself! And peek into Vivian’s little soap lab in the back, especially on her steel table that she’s decorated with positive sayings! 
Cool foodie stuff
Coconut Sugar
Meg had the great idea to do a brownie experiment using coconut sugar.Coconut sugar is made from the sap of coconut flowers. It has a lower glycemic index than regular sugar, and has a lovely mild taste – even a little maple-y. It comes in several forms – in a jar (where the top is covered with wax) – and the BIG ROCK kind that you need to grate.
Nourishing Gourmet has a great write-up on the different kinds of coconut sugars.
and that’s about it. Hopefully deep thoughts will return this week!
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