Emma Explores Tarrytown: Silver Tips Tea Room and More

Last week, I ventured out of my pocket of the county on a beautiful morning and made my way to Tarrytown.    Decided to try some new places.   A very cute Main Street with a variety of ethnic eateries and some nice shops.  Vintage jewelry stores, art galleries, a toy store, a sweet shoppe and of course, my very own favorite theater, the Tarrytown Music Hall.

Since it was early in the day, and I love tea, I decided to try the Silver Tips Tea Room.   A friend and I decided to order together.    We each had a 2-cup teapot of tea and we split 2 sandwiches (chicken and tuna), a blueberry scone and 2 desserts, (chocolate mousse and a pear tart.)

I do not rave about restaurants often because I am not the best person to give opinions on food.   I don't eat enough of the things on a menu to judge whether a place is good or not.   But I can say that everything I tasted was amazing.   The scone was served warm with a side of jam and creme.  The sandwiches were tasty and the desserts were the BEST.   I love chocolate desserts but this chocolate mousse reminded me of the best mousse ever;  the mousse served at the Castle in Tarrytown.  Might have been better actually.   Pics below.  

Silver Tips Tea Room

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Shopping inside the shop.  Cute tea accessories such as teapots, creamers, loose tea and tea accessories.

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Loose tea.  So many flavors.  Hundreds.  The green tea canisters line the walls.  

After a delicious tea, my friend and I walked down the street and shopped for a bit.  Everything from furniture to jewelry to toys to candy.    A few pics.    

Home Furnishings.

Loved this mirror (above) and 

this table and chairs (below)  

Waste paper basket struck me funny.  

A store called Shay Lula.   Beautiful things. 

Mural inside the sweet shop.   

My day in Tarrytown felt like a mini vacation.    I have to spend a day in another place in Westchester every once in a while.     Came home with some nice items that will remind me of my afternoon "away."

Paper Source in Eastchester: Grand Opening

If you live in the Eastchester/Scarsdale area, you know that the shopping is going from excellent to amazing!    Lord and Taylor, to start, is our gem.   We have great food shopping, although some think there are too many similar types of stores (i.e. Trader Joe's, Mrs. Green's and now Fresh Market....it could be worse!)    We recently brought Athleta on board, there's a Johnny Rockets for family fun but what we did not have was a great card store or paper store.  Papyrus, in my opinion, is just so so.   

Well now we have Paper Source!   

NYC has an uptown and a downtown location (Brooklyn too) and now it has a home in Eastchester right in the Fresh Market parking lot.    I went in today to browse and do my usual Emma-thing, check it out and $150 later I have lots to share.  

I asked.  They do birthday parties.   SO want to convince my daughter to do hers here. 

It's a project party where they provide the supplies and everything is done right in the store, after it closes, of course.    Sundays seem best, as they close at 5pm.   All other nights, they close at 7.  

Parties for adults can be done in the evening, however.  

Rolls and rolls and rolls, walls FULL of wrapping paper.   I love paper.....and stationery and cards and pencils and pens.   I remember in elementary school having the pencil case with all of the nice unsharpened pencils and smelly erasers.     The sheets are around $2.50 each which seems expensive but I guess it depends on how many gifts you can wrap with that sheet.   A gift bag in CVS will cost a few dollars and then tissue paper too....This might be more economical.

 Cute little seasonal stuff.....stickers and paper and stamps.  
A little pricey, I won't lie, a little more than pricey but beautiful.  Kind of like a high end JoAnn's or Michael's and more convenient.  Sometimes to not have to drive to the other stores, it's worth the few extra dollars.  

Monkey Puppets!!  Cute birthday party idea.  :-) 

Robots are cute too.   The kits are around $10-11 and I think they make 4 or 5 puppets.   A cute play date activity if you are like me and want to plan a little project.  

And some funny items that I had to take pics of.   Great gifts!  

The whole back wall is colored paper, envelopes, cards in every single size and shape.   

I love such organization.    :-) 

I loved these cards.  These I had to buy.   What a fun holiday activity.   I am imagining what all of my family members would write on these cards.     A nice keepsake.   I think 10 for $6.

The softest cutest little animals.   I bought them for my kids but decided to save them for special occasions, like when one loses a tooth or brings home a good report card or something.   $12.95 and the size of a beanie baby.    A great baby gift for someone if you do not want to buy an outfit.  

Of course, the teacher in me had to include something educational.  Forget the price, maybe $20.  Could be a fun birthday gift.    I already have the book DOGKU to introduce haiku; Now I can follow up with Haikubes.   

Imagine Candy in Scarsdale

One of my first free days of the school year was a couple of weeks ago.  After finishing up my business in the Scarsdale village (bank, post office, supermarket) I realized I had a few minutes to sneak into the Parkway Coffee Shop and have my favorite fruit smoothie.  As I waited at the counter for it to be blended, I noticed a basket of small candy bags with a business card for Imagine Candy right around the corner.   Since I had time to walk around and check it out, I found the store and walked inside. Probably one of the best candy stores I have seen ever!  

Their website

http://www.imaginecandy.com

First, a whole wall of candy themed toys/gifts.  

Pillows, stuffed animals, backpacks, lunch bags, etc.  

Of course there is the "candy by the pound" thing, that lots of stores have.  Fresh Market has the colored M&Ms and gummy fish/worms/bears.   But Imagine Candy has the good old school candy too!  The coke bottle and root beer gummies, licorice, good and plenty, Mike and Ike.  That kind of stuff.

My personal favorite is the chocolate covered pretzels.   From a far (above)

Up close (below)

They even do pretzel platters!  What a nice gift to bring to someone.   I can't wait until the next time I have an occasion where I have to bring a food item.    These are always a hit!  

Lastly, they do PARTIES for kids!    They create crafts with candy right in the store.   They also have tile decorating every so often, where kids can go in and decorate a tile with a candy theme (no name brands of course) and the winners will be displayed on the wall inside the store.    

Definitely worth checking out.  :-)  

Tell Bill that Emma sent you.  I promised him a blog entry for allowing me to take photos.   I think he suspected I was a competitor and I am sure after weeks have gone by, and I have not uploaded the pics, he thinks I pulled one over on him.   No worries Bill.  

Thanks for that chocolate pretzel for my son....   :-)