Taste the Rainbow for New York Pride Week 2016

June 26, 2016 ~ Nicole Monahan ~ Leave a comment

Anyone who knows me knows I love food, photography, and exploring. With the NYC Pride Parade weekend with week I wanted to find the best rainbow themed foods out there, and NYC did NOT disappoint.

Having gone to school in Orlando the city holds a special place in my heart – with all the tragedy surrounding the shooting and all those innocent victims; I tried to find as many restaurants as I could that donated their proceeds to good causes and organizations within the LGBT community.

From doughnuts and cookies to ice cubes and burger buns, here’s my top picks:

Pride doughnut at Doughnut Planet

Doughnut Planet – 220 W 23rd St, New York, NY

Rainbow shortbread cookies at Rex Coffee

Rex Coffee – 864 10th Ave, New York, NY

Rainbow Latte (Not from New York, found in Las Vegas – but still it’s beautiful!)

Sambalatte – 3770 S Las Vegas Blvd, Las Vegas, NV

Rainbow bagel from The Bagel Store

The Bagel Store – 754 Metropolitan Ave, Brooklyn, NY

Special edition Rainbow Doodle half pound cookie from City Cakes. They will be donating profits from every cookie sold to the victims and families of the Orlando tragedy.

City Cakes – Lower Level, 251 W 18th St, New York, NY

Rainbow bun at Joe’s Bar NYC. Back for pride week, and available by request.

Joe’s Bar – 480 Amsterdam Ave, New York, NY

Pride Margarita with a Rainbow Ice Cube at Quality Eats. All proceeds will go to the One Orlando Fund @oneorlando to help the families of the Orlando shooting victims.

Quality Eats – 19 Greenwich Ave, New York, NY

Pride Flag Packs Cupcakes from Baked by Melissa. 100% of net proceeds will be donated to @lgbtcenternyc.

Baked by Melissa – Various locations in NYC.

Rainbow Jello shots from Mekelburg.

Mekelburg – 293 Grand Avenue, Brooklyn, NY

***

You can follow along @WomenWhoBrunch‘s Instagram for more food finds

Four Years in NYC! A Recap on the Anniversary

January 19, 2015January 22, 2015 ~ Nicole Monahan ~ Leave a comment

Big day, ladies and gents. Today marks my 4 year anniversary living in New York. Ironically, I’m also traveling back to Florida today (where I’m from) and will be visiting my alma mater, UCF this week for the first time since graduating. So meta.

What I enjoy about writing these posts is the fact that I can take this time to look back at some of the highlights I’ve had throughout the year. Let’s begin here, seems like a good place to start.

The Big Egg Hunt:
Year four included this really wonderful Easter Egg hunt presented by Faberge which featured tons of local artists. Each artist would create their own egg and were then hidden throughout NYC. It was a fun twist on the game while catering to adults, plus it was a great excuse to explore the city.

Our Women Who Brunch “Breakfast for Dinner” one year anniversary party. This is something I was truly proud of this year. We were able to execute a sold out 100 person event with over 15 sponsors including Wix.com, Rent the Runway, and Lyft. A good 80% of which were women run businesses. It’s always rewarding to help fellow ladies!

My birthday was pretty epic this year. Not only did Women Who Brunch run a brunch giveaway in partnership with Food Network’s New York Wine and Food Festival, but also happened to score tickets to Trisha Yearwood brunch we helped promote. To top that, I waited in line for hours to snag broadway tickets to The Book of Mormon, only to be rewarded with winning their lottery giveaway and scoring front row tickets for $32! Lessoned learn, there is such a thing as karma.

Got to see my spirit animal, Mindy Kaling at the New York Festival.

Saw the New Jersey Ballon Festival

Visited the Domino Sugar Factory and Kara Walker’s exhibit before it shut down.

This year I made trips to Savannah, Portland, Seattle, and San Francisco, and St. Maarten. Proving that I both love to travel and need breaks from the NYC chaos.

Savannah, GA

Portland, OR

Seattle, WA

St. Maarten

Lessons I’ve Learned from Year 4:

Last year I departed from Digital Dumbo. It was a fun year and a half journey, but what leaving has taught me was that I needed to go even if the decision was hard. Ultimately, I learned that I deserve more out of my career. It’s ironic that even as I say this now, it has still taken me six months after leaving to truly realize this. After leaving I spent months trying to figure out what I want… Did I want to continue freelancing? Take on Women Who Brunch full time? Or did I want a full time position? It turns out to be the latter. The overall lesson here is don’t settle for less in your career, especially when you have the skill sets. Ask yourself, where did I see myself in 3-5 years? I know, it’s a typical interview question, but I’ve recently realized that I’ve always blocked it out and ignored the question. It wasn’t until I actually thought about the answer that I realized that I want to work for a company that continues to challenge me in my professional and personal growth everyday, where I would like to eventually lead and mentor my own team and projects.

Bonus lesson learned is I need to keep negative people out and let more positive people in. This is actually something I’ve be trying to practice in the New Year. Life’s too short to surround yourself with negative people.

New Challenges and Milestones:

Last year, and even now, I wanted to make public speaking a priority. Although the act still freaks me out, I know I want to really learn the art of speaking my truth, hearing my voice, and telling compelling stories. I am happy to report that last year I took major strides in this goal by taking a storytelling class and speaking at my first event at Pace University!

This year I’d like to write and blog more in the professional aspect. Also, this year I’m working on 30 day challenges instead of New Years resolution, more on that in a separate post.

I’d like to say there were more milestones, but this year was equal parts failing and learning — it happens. I will say that my career focus is clear and can’t wait for what’s ahead for year five!

Side note: It snowed today in New York. My NYC anniversary– snow streak continues! I’m just glad I’m in Florida this time.

Planning and Selling Out My “Breakfast for Dinner” Women Who Brunch Event

September 25, 2014 ~ Nicole Monahan ~ Leave a comment

Earlier this month on September 4th, I celebrated Women Who Brunch’s One Year Anniversary the only way I knew how, with a “Breakfast for Dinner” party. I can proudly say that we sold out the 100 person event and had 15 amazing sponsors. I am also honored to say that the majority of these companies were women run businesses! Here’s a snap shot of all of our wonderful sponsors from the event.

We also had the amazing Christina Vuleta as our speaker. She’s the founder of one of my favorite websites 40:20 Vision, a resource to start conversations and facilitate mentoring between generations. The struggle of being a 20-something is very real and her advice was definitely a highlight of the evening.

Running Women Who Brunch has taught me a lot in the past year. Such as the harder you work the more it pays off — free drinks, brunches, great partnerships and collaboration opportunities, meeting so many great people. These are all great benefits but it really all comes from building a brand and community from scratch, putting love into your attendees and client relationships. Overall, what has been most rewarding has been making a great resource for women and helping to support each other.

This experience has also taught me to listen to my inner voice and go do something that truly drives you. Don’t settle. For me, this is event planning and management. I’ve learned I really enjoy the little details that go into events, from setup, finding the right speakers, potentially partnerships, to even designing the event. For example, for this event I took up calligraphy to make cocktail mixer tags and signage. I’m passionate about making experiences memorable.

Bonus lesson, it’s ok to #treatyoself. Events are a ton of work. Get the dress, manicure, and blow out. You deserve it and will feel like a million dollars!

I’m excited to find out where the next year will take us. There’s so many opportunities, for now we’re planning our next brunch. I’m also going to as many women leadership events as possible and going where the energy flows.

Until next time, brunch on! xoxo

Here’s a few of my favorite photos from our event, more can be found here.

Zagat’s 30 Under 30 2014 Event

August 6, 2014August 6, 2014 ~ Nicole Monahan ~ Leave a comment

Last week I helped out my friends over at Tattly for Zagat’s 30 Under 30 event in Brooklyn.

The event was held at the Royal Palms Shuffleboard Club. It was my first time at this venue but quickly fell in love with the Florida vibe, causing instant homesickness.

What I loved most about this event was the styling (done by Michelle Bablo) and amazing sense of creativity.

From the centerpiece, held in pineapples. Also done by Michelle.

To custom cocktails.

Custom Tattly’s and signage.

To the coasters, which also highlighted some every important career “firsts” before 30.

Additional photos from the event:

Oh Snap Smile Photobooth:

The Best Things I Ate in Portland, OR

June 18, 2014 ~ Nicole Monahan ~ Leave a comment

This year I went on vacation to Portland, Oregon. Being that I base my vacations around food I did a hefty amount of research ahead of time. Overall, there was just too much and think it’s safe to say PDX will soon be the go-to destination for good eats. Here’s a list of all my favorite bars, food carts, desserts, coffee, and more from my visit. Enjoy!

The Doughnut/Donut Debate:

Voodoo Doughnuts is an obvious must thing to try. It’s been on tons of Food Network shows and has received so much press and hype. They’re open 24 hours, so you can go at any time but the weekends are the worst. I’d suggest a weekday if at all possible. It has some funky creations, they are creative but overall they tasted like overly sweet regular doughnuts.

I got the Voodoo Doll, Miami Vice Berry, Maple Bacon Bar, McMinnville Cream, The Loop, and the Dirt Doughnut. Also it’s only cash only.

Blue Star Donuts, has some really delicious donuts and unique flavor combinations. Including a boozy Cointreau Creme Brûlée. Plus the interior is adorable.

Here’s the flavors I got:

Blackberry Compote with Peanut Butter Powder
Real Maple & Bacon
Blueberry, Bourbon, & Basil
Valrhona Chocolate Crunch

Brunch!

I went to two brunches on my trip, first was at Tasty & Alder. Best known for its shared plates, so pick a handle of items for the table. But you must get the chocolate potato doughnut with creme anglaise. Other noms I had were the fried egg & cheddar biscuit with house cured bacon and the Auntie Paula’s french toast with pear maple & whipped cream

Mother’s Bistro & Bar:

My second brunch stop was at Mother’s Bistro & Bar. Compared to the tiny brunch spots in NYC, this restaurant is HUGE! It has a cute interior decor and these mugs that say “Call Your Mother”. They also promote a Mother of the Month, featuring special dishes from mother’s around the world, because the best meals aren’t found in restaurants they’re found in the home.

For eats, my boyfriend and I got the specials of the day. He got the corn beef hash with sunny-side up eggs and toast, and I got the cornmeal pancakes which was the most delicious take on pancakes I’ve had in a while.

Food Carts:

Nong’s Khao Man Gai

Nong’s is one of the most popular food carts in Portland, and all they serve is chicken and rice. The chicken is poached, whole chicken, then they use the chicken broth to cook the rice with Thai herbs. Here they wrap it all up in butcher paper with her special sauce and side of soup. No frills, super simple, but the most tender chicken I’ve ever had.

Location: SW 10th & Alder St. Portland, OR 97205

Grilled Cheese Grill

I’m not usually a fan of ordering or eating food I could make at home, but while on vacation… I went for grilled cheese with avocado and fried cheese. It was definitely worth it.

Location: Alder Pod Carts – SW 10th & Alder

Cultured Caveman

Unfortunately, I don’t have any pictures of my meal because the sides and main dish is shoved into a to-go container, it’s like a meal all in one deal, but this spot was definitely unique and had really great spices and flavor. It’s a paleo-friendly food cart, I don’t even think we have one of these cuisines in NYC.

Location: SW Stark between 2nd & 3rd

Bars & Drinks

Bailey’s Taproom

Within the first few hours of touching down in PDX, the first place I stopped at was Bailey’s Taproom for a drink. What impressed me most about this place with the amount of local beers they had in stock and this fancy beer monitor contraption, which told the bartenders keg levels and when they were about to kick.

Multnomah Whiskey Library

Besides the interesting decor and wide selection of alcohol, the service was pretty awful. Also a lot of the reviews say you need to wait an hour, but I went on a weekday at around 7/8pm-ish and it was only half full.

Clyde Common

Pro-tip: Come here during happy hour from 3pm-6pm, cocktails are $5. I can’t stress the importance of this enough, coming from NYC where cocktails are $15. The bartenders are also really friendly and drinks are so delicious.

What I got:

The Pacific Standard:

Vodka, lemon, ginger, honey, soda

The Spelling Bee:

Reposado tequila, agave syrup, absinthe, bitters, grapefruit peel

Other Good Eats:

Lardo

Amazing sandwiches, it’s also right across the street from Ruby Jewel ice cream if you’re planning for dinner and dessert.

What I ate:

Korean Pork Shoulder with cilantro, house kimchi, spicy mayo

Pok Pok

If you’re looking for some great Thai food this is the place to go to. Their most popular items on the menu are their Ike’s Vietnamese Fish Sauce Wings and drinking vinegar.

What I ate:

Kaeng Hang Leh with sticky rice and Yam Samun Phari

Dessert

Salt & Straw

This place warrants an OMG. This ice cream is that good. The line is ridiculous but well worth it. They have some really unique flavor combinations including rhubarb and saffron in champagne, honey balsamic strawberry with cracked pepper, and pear with blue cheese.

Flavors had:

Freckled Woodblock Chocolate, Chocolate with Gooey brownies, Almond Brittle with Salted Ganache, and Sea Salt with Carmel Ribbons.

Petunia’s Pies and Pastries

All these lovely cakes and pastries are gluten-free and vegan, and so yummy!

Desserts eaten:

Orange Olive Oil Bundt Cake

Black & White Cake

Coffee:

Stumptown Coffee:

It’s a must, we have a location in NYC and lots of restaurants carry Stumptown, but when in Rome… I love their coffee so much I stocked up on whole bean. Weekends were crazy but during the week wasn’t so bad to stop by.

Public Domain

Public Domain was also a favorite with its coffee, pastries, wi-fi, and laid back atmosphere.

Hidden Gem:

Portland City Grill on the 30th Floor

I found out about this place from our walking tour guide. Come here as soon as they open for happy hour at 4pm to grab a good spot by the window. You’ll get some great food and drink deals and on a clear day you can see Mount Hood and the entire city of Portland.

That’s all she wrote, hope this food guide helps plan your eats if you’re ever visiting Portland. Any other recommendations for food you’ve had there, leave them in the comments!

xoxo

Solving Problems Over Dinner – My Project Exponential Experience

February 25, 2014February 26, 2014 ~ Nicole Monahan ~ Leave a comment

About six months ago a friend had told me about a dinner event called Project Exponential. Each month, a woman named Michelle Welsh plans and carefully selects a group of artists, professionals and entrepreneurs to attend each dinner. It begins with an application and ends in stories and connections. Here’s my dinner story…

We started the night at Bacaro in Chinatown with a spread of food and place cards in front of us. Leading up to the event I felt totally disconnected from the whole event. My mind was racing with unanswered questions. What was I to expect? Who was I meeting? There was no flutter of mention or buzz on Twitter. No hashtag. I wondered if this was some kind of Fight Club thing. What happens at dinner stays at dinner. I’m so used to being able to find information I need, this unknown was rather exciting.

I’d come to learn that Michelle doesn’t share people’s names or titles ahead of time because she doesn’t wants these dinners to be confined to what someone does for a living but instead focus on who they are as a person. She also does heavy research on everyone ahead of time to form the perfect connections. With this in mind, when I arrived it felt like solving a puzzle with my group as to what’s the connection here.

At first, we were instructed to break into groups of the four people seated closest to you and ask each other a problem that you are facing that you would like to solve right now. The person that was supposed to sit next to me was sick and couldn’t attend. I’m still unsure if this makes a difference, but I soon realized everyone in my group used to work in finance, except for myself… Admittedly, it was a tough first round for me. I always feel uncomfortable talking about myself, I’m a much stronger listener. Plus, the problem I’m facing right now is the fact that I’m going through this adult/figuring it all out phase in my life right now. At the time it felt selfish discussing, but now as I write this and in weeks passing I’ve realized I’m not alone in this feeling. I’ve been diving into more meals and conversations with really interesting thought-provoking women and friends and now know I’m not the only one that feels this way.

For round two, we had to match the person with the same letter we had on our card. No match. Again, I think my match was sick so I joined in on the same group I started with. We were served our next course of gnocchi, salad, and steak, and Michelle passed around sets of small envelopes with questions for discussion in them. Mine said, “What relationships have been most meaningful to you? Who are your mentors?” while the guy next to me had, “Mistakes you’ve learned from. Dare to share.” Both great conversation starters.

Following this discussion we had to flip our cards over and find our match according to the symbol on the back of our cards. I finally had a match and had a really great conversation with this woman. She could relate to my problem and we shared an additional problem of connection, as we both felt that there should be better resources to connect people in NYC. I like to think I’m solving that problem in a way with Women Who Brunch, I want to connect more women in New York but feel it could grow to so much more… This short discussion with her and this dinner experience has made me really think about how we connect. I’ve always been a fan of curated and unique events and the connection between people, but how can these connections form stronger more meaningful relationships? It’s a problem I’m excited to dig deeper in.

Once dessert came we were asked to meet someone we didn’t talk to yet. I met a guy that does photography and asked him to tell me more about his personal photo projects. He told me about how he enjoys photographing hearts in odd places. He mostly shares these on his Instagram and calls it love in unexpected places. I love the thought of looking for love, almost like a scavenger hunt. He then pointed to the dessert cake where pieces of it had fallen and naturally formed a heart. It was one of the best things I heard all day.

Of course, then, another guy had chimed in with a photo project his friend told him about called 100 Happy Days. The challenge is, can you stay happy for 100 days in a row? According to the site 71% of people won’t finish the challenge because they get too busy or state they don’t have the time. I’m always up for a good challenge and have been doing it ever since the dinner. It’s honestly made me feel a million times better. I used to write everyday and do a similar project called 365 Project, where I’d take a photo once a day. It’s really made me feel more grateful about each day and I actually look forward to finding something in my life that makes me happy each day even if it’s something small.

Finally, Michelle wrapped up dinner with giving us these cards that say, what is your special, as a reminder that everyone has something special about themselves.

I’d love to hear what your special is in the comments. Let’s discuss! xo

Morning Inspiration – Curated events, articles, and more.

September 12, 2013September 12, 2013 ~ Nicole Monahan ~ Leave a comment

It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these, but I just love reading and making curated lists filled inspiration and information. Below are upcoming events, interesting reads, and more from my perspective.

Starting with this quote that has continued to stick with me a lot recently.

Upcoming Events I’m Looking Forward To:

– CM Meetup – All Things Fashion and Social Media, tonight

– Taste Talks, a Brooklyn Food & Drinks Conference – September 14th & 15th

– Women Who Brunch (Shameless plug), Makers and Crafters themed brunch with Megan Nuttall at Jane Restaurant, September 15th

– 99u Pop-Up School, Mini conferences and workshops on career development, entrepreneurship, and brand & digital strategy, September 18-20th

– Maker’s Faire, Festival of innovation, creativity, and science, September 21st & 22nd

– Creative Mornings NY with Ayah Bdeir Founder of LittleBits, September 27th

________________________________________________________________________

Articles to Inspire:

One question that’ll change everything

10 Things to Do Even if They Judge You

20 Motivational Business Quotes to Read Every Morning

Part of a Community…

________________________________________________________________________

Wildcard (My life and interesting things I find along the way) :

4 years ago I started this little graffiti Tumblr.

This Humans of New York image and quote was extremely inspirational to me:

Fin, xo

Pursuing My Passion – Women Who Brunch

Women Who Brunch August Event at Five Points

August 20, 2013 ~ Nicole Monahan ~ Leave a comment

“The best way to bring everyone together is through food.”

A few weeks ago I took the leap and pursued my side project with my good friend Megan Frantz, called Women Who Brunch. A monthly Meetup group and event series which gathers a group of women together over the most important meal of the week. Each month we curate the restaurant, conversation, speaker, and experience.

There were a number of reasons why I wanted to start this up. One of which was to meet new women, I don’t think that there is enough opportunities for women to support and connect with each other. The other reason was of course to have an excuse to eat delicious pancake carbs and check out a new restaurant. In all seriousness, I’m excited for what the future holds for WWB. I’ve always wanted to start my very own foodie community, while having the freedom to curate the best experience possible.

Our inaugural event on August 3rd, was more than I could have asked for, with two great speakers Megan Nuttall and Monica Lo. Both of which spoke on the subject of “Passion Projects”. I’ve known these two for almost a year now and have constantly kept up on their new ventures. Recently, they received Google Glasses to beta test and have been using them for a photography project in which Megan will in turn write a piece about their experience. During the brunch they were also so kind as to bring their pairs of Google Glass for our attendees to play with. Successfully, we also had a sold out brunch event and I got to meet a lot of amazing new ladies along the way.

Looking forward, I’m eager for what we have on the horizon. For our September brunch we’re bringing back Megan Nuttall, the theme will surround “Crafters & Makers”, as she also runs her own Etsy store called The Invisible Kitten. We’re going to have some fun icebreakers in the works and so far received a great discount off the Maker’s Faire, which is by far one of my favorite Queen events. For October, the lovely Angela Giacchetti of Eventbrite NYC will be joining us as our guest speaker for an “Events” themed brunch. And finally, we also launched our website this week!

The only thing that could make my life complete was if Jimmy Fallon showed up as an honorary bruncher – a girl can dream…

Join us for brunch on September 15th at the Jane Restaurant! Brunch on, ladies!

Who’s Winning the War on Food Truck Social

Big Gay Ice Cream Twitter Account Stats June 2013

June 19, 2013June 19, 2013 ~ Nicole Monahan ~ Leave a comment

This past week The Daily Meal announced their picks for this year’s 101 Best Food Trucks in America. Personally, I’ve been a bit bias on a few industries that are still not always up to speed on the whole social media and technology thing, (Healthcare/Fitness, TV/Film, Hospitality and Travel, and Food/Restaurants industries.) So I thought it would be fun to check out a few of these food truck’s Twitter personalities.

Let’s take a look at 5 food truck’s from NYC that made the list and how they’re using Twitter.

1.) Big Gay Ice Cream Truck

They’re simply just amazing at social. They have the most followers on my small list of 5, and here’s why…

They have great Twitter conversations and responses:

They just do want they want and help out friends:

No social media rules. They speak their minds, with whatever comes to mind… It makes it personal, not just a brand:

Recently, I went to the East Village store a few weeks ago since they sadly don’t have the truck in NY anymore. Which isn’t really a terrible loss the tourist still rack up the line whether it was for a truck or shop. Point being is they now have drag queens that help make this terrible waiting thing both bearable and entertaining. They also do a fantastic job Tweeting about this experience while still making it relevant to what’s going on in the world. For example, this Tweet the day of the Tony Awards:

2. The Cinnamon Snail

Who doesn’t love to be updated on truck locations. They just seem to be a couple of streets off every day. That’s NY parking for you.

I don’t know who does their photography but it’s gorgeous. And yes, they also have a beautiful Instagram account.

Like: How they post weekly specials. Dislike: The mass social channel promotion. I don’t like to double-click.

3. Wafels & Dinges

They win just for coming out to Queens on weekends. Although I’m having a love/hate relationship right now with this question promotion (below). I get it. Engage with fans and offer freebies, I guess I’m just not loving the questions. Personally, I wouldn’t share a picture of my dad to a food truck. Plus I responded to one of these and no free dinges yet, what gives?

Constant updates=Love! This truck is everywhere and at all the best tourist locations.

4.Schnitzel & Things

Pre-order your food. If you’ve every experienced NYC lunch rush you understand how genius this is.

Womp, womp. Same basic formatting for tweets. We get it, it’s lunchtime. We thought we’d attempt a drunk Schnitzel & Things food truck run on 52nd btw 6th/7th at 2am. That’s actually not a bad food truck idea.

5. Red Hook Lobster Pound

I wanted to save the glory child, #1 food truck in America for last. Because they were that terrible.

I don’t understand most of these references. It’s not really explained and they keep mentioning Derecho like we all of a suddenly get it.

I’m a grammar snob. There was just too many of these mistakes: ITs, 2day, be4. It’s making me cringe. AND TOO MANY ALL CAPS AND OVERUSE OF THE WORD LOBSTAH.

So what have I learned?

If you have a great product I guess you don’t need to be good at social media. That’s where word of mouth marketing really helps. But, it doesn’t hurt to be relatable and fun with your fans. It only takes word of mouth marketing that much higher. Additionally, it doesn’t have to be all about where the truck is, it helps of course, but it should also be about your product and personality. Each food truck has its niche or else you’d never make it on that list or in NY, so emphasize what you’re made of. Trust me, we’ve got plenty of those doughnut and halal trucks.

Chalk Signs of New York : Social Hashtag Series #3

March 5, 2013March 5, 2013 ~ Nicole Monahan ~ Leave a comment

Social Hashtag Series #3: Chalk Signs of New York

What started out as this month’s theme, turned into a recap of these sidewalk chalk signs I’ve unknowingly been collecting for the past 2 years. There’s a bit of everything from food to markets to holiday themes.

Are there any others out there like Birch Coffee that have a consistent theme? I think what they’re doing is so interesting. These examples are pretty much exactly how I like my content/social — with design, humor, interesting facts and language in mind.