Hoboken Business: The Law of Donutgineering

Full disclosure, I had never had a Law of Donutgineering donut, but I thought, "it's a donut. It can't be bad". Talking to Eddie and Flavia, the engineer and lawyer, and real life couple who own The LoDG, about what kind of donuts we would make on the show, I started to get really excited. They started saying words like "cajun" and "fried chicken" and "maple glaze" and "Reeses", so I was pretty into it.

Made completely out of a commercial kitchen facility in Hoboken, there's no storefront for The LoDG. They're primarily a delivery service at the moment, but also sold at Parker Cafe in West New York and Roost in Hoboken on select days, as well as Jefferson Coffee in Hoboken and 9bar Cafe in Jersey City on weekends. 

Having traveled around the country and loving the specialty donuts they were finding, they realized there was a lack of great donuts in the Hudson County area. And who better to change that? They started The LoDG and began developing amazing donut recipes, taking influence from the donuts they encountered on their travels, as well as their own Cuban and Argentine cultures. Current flavors include Deez Nuts & Jelly (a peanut butter filled donut with a jelly glaze), the El Basero (a guava cake donut with a cream cheese filled yeast donut hole in the middle, topped with guava glaze and a little cream cheese icing), the El Guachito (a yeast donut filled with dulce de leche and pineapple, topped with more dulce de leche and pineapple bits), the I’M BLUE-BERRY-DEE-BA-DAA (a blueberry cake donut), the Nuts for Chocolate (a chocolate cake donut topped with milk chocolate frosting, crushed peanuts and drizzled white chocolate), the Platanough (a yeast donut with a plantain filling, dipped in cinnamon sugar glaze), and The Pig N' the Fig (a cheesecake stuffed donut hole, covered in figs and caramelized bacon).

All those flavors sound amazing, but what we made together was THE BEST. First we made the Lil' Chickie, a donut hole sized version of The Sweet and Foul. It's a piece of cajun buttermilk fried chicken inside a donut, covered with maple glaze. Every step of the process made SanMartin (Director and cameraman extraordinaire) and I salivate. The chicken alone had us stealing pieces in between takes. But all the different ingredients come together to make a perfect, delicious bite. Next we made a donut specially named after our show. Hold on. Did you hear me? THEY NAMED IT AFTER OUR SHOW, which is basically the coolest thing ever. The Straight out of HudCo is a red velvet cake donut covered with cream cheese frosting and Reeses Peanut Butter Cups and KitKat pieces on top (those are my favorites btw, and I have a birthday coming up... wink). The cake part of this donut alone is delicious-- it's shaped by hand and then deep fried, so like...OMG.

To learn more about The Law of Donutgineering, and to place an order (don't f**k this up guys) check out their website here. Now go get your fat kid on!

Hoboken Business: Little Hoboken

As someone who spent their formative, teenage years in Hoboken, I can tell you all the old neighborhood staples; the best park to hang out in with your friends and cute boys on Saturday Nights (Sinatra), all the bodegas that didn't I.d. (there were too many to name), and the fact that there was a C-Town in Hoboken at one point. Had you asked me as recently as a year ago what restaurants are stroller friendly and where are the best coffee shops with a changing table, I would've looked at you completely confused and said "I don't know". Enter Little Hoboken, the go-to resource for local families. 

I'd venture to say if you're a local Hoboken family you've already heard of Little Hoboken, but if you haven't, well allow me to show you the way! Made up of Melissa Wise and Cassie Mascari, Little Hoboken was started after Melissa was mommy-shamed on Facebook, and went to a message board to find someone to work with on her concept. When you meet Melissa and Cassie, it's hard to believe that they're not old friends who happened to have kids at the same time, but rather two women who started working together on a project 2 years ago, that has amassed them over 7K followers on Instagram. 

Photo by Cassie Mascari of Little Hoboken Photography

Little Hoboken isn't just a blog either. Sure, there are your general blog posts (centered on local moms, local happenings, businesses, etc.), but there's so much more. They have their "Little Lists", which conveniently list places for whatever you're looking for like stroller-friendly restaurants, restaurants with kids meals, gyms with childcare, mental health specialists and even day trips. They plan events for the family (and quite a few just for mom), like Halloween and Super Bowl parties. There's also Little Hoboken Photography, headed by Cassie, after their constant need for a photographer for the blog lead her to buy a camera and discover a love for photography... and she's really great at it, too. But perhaps the most useful feature for your daily life is the LH Hook Up card-- a little key fob that gets you exclusive discounts at over 200 locations in Hoboken and Jersey City, and only costs $25 for the year!

So it's no surprise that when Melissa and I talked about doing a Mom's Day I jumped on the opportunity to learn about Hoboken as a family town from the experts. She had a plan-- we would check out her favorite coffee place, take the kids to an indoor gym to let out some energy, stop for a cookie and then get some wine, the ULTIMATE Mom necessity. All the places would be Little Hoboken approved, and on the Hook Up card to take advantage of that discount.

We started at Gold Roast Cafe, located at 600 Harrison Street. An Aussie cafe where we all started with some coffee, and delicious breakfast treats. It's a regular stop for both ladies, as it's a great place to get some work done. This is the first time I meet the ladies in person, so we chat and get to know each other. LH Hook Up Discount: 15% off of food and drink.

Next stop is Urban Jungle Play, at 1140 Maxwell Ln. It's an indoor play space for the kids. Between my 11 month old and their 3 year olds, this place is an absolute God sent. It has so much space to run and play and throw-- you know, all those things kids want to do at home but they can't because it's not safe. We continue chatting. Now I'm learning the art of distracting your child and getting them to cooperate to the best of your ability. LH Hook Up Discount: 12% Off Regularly Priced Services.

Now it's time for cookies, and duhhhhhhh, more coffee-- I need all the caffeine I can get to get through almost everyday. We head to Hoboken (and JC) staple Choc-O-Pain. Have you had their croissants and lattes? Those things got me through my pregnancy. The new Tea Building location, at 1500 Hudson St, conveniently has a little play room. Just another place for the us to chat while the kids are distracted. At this point I'm just taking in as much mom wisdom as I can absorb!  LH Hook Up Discount: 50% off Drinks with Purchase of Food. Monday-Friday 2:00-4:00 PM.

Lastly, it's time for Momma's juice so we head to Cork, at 1450 Washington St. It's time to stock up for the night. My heart breaks for pregnant Cassie, but I guess not enough to NOT buy myself some canned Rose I've been eyeing. Unsurprisingly, this is the only stop on our Mom Day that I have been to before (a bunch of times), and I'm well acquainted with their wine and beer selection. At least Melissa picked up some goodies, too! LH Hook Up Discount: 20% off wine purchases.

I had a great day with the ladies, and felt like I made some mom friends that I actually really liked (which in and of itself is huge accomplishment). I learned a ton from the Cassie and Melissa in person, and continue to soak in their expertise by constantly referring to the blog. Make sure you're following along with their Instagram, and don't forget that we've partnered together to giveaway a Hook Up card, 1 Retail Bag of Coffee Beans & 1 Full Aussie Morning Breakfast from Gold Roast Cafe, a gift certificate for 2 Discovery Workshop class passes (9m-9y) and 1 Open Play pass (5m-6y) from Urban Jungle Play, and  a gift certificate for 1 large tarte or chocolate heaven cake from Choc-O-Pain! Make sure you're following along with the HudsonCounty60 Instagram too!

Hoboken Business: Sugarsuckle

I met Jen Choi, owner of Hoboken's Sugarsuckle, back in 2015 when a mutual friend suggested she do my wedding cake. That was truly the cake of my dreams-- It was a with raspberry buttercream frosting in between moist chocolate cake layers, COVERED in gold sparkles. Since, Jen has also done a beautiful naked cake for my mom's surprise party, but it wasn't until a chance post on another Instagram account that I found out she was working on opening a studio space. Before that I hadn't even thought to search for Jen or Sugarsuckle on Instagram. And after that day I was looking forward to her daily IG Stories to see how the studio buildout was going. When I started reaching out to businesses for HudsonCounty60, she was one of the first I contacted.

Jen's space isn't your typical retail bakery, in fact it's not really one at all. It looks like Joanna Gaines came in and Magnolia-ed the hell out of it-- mixing new with old, high with low, and design and function. Aside from special occasions, the studio doesn't actually have retail hours. It's used as her commercial kitchen, as well as a space where she hosts all different kinds of workshops and private events. Want to learn how to decorate a cake? There's a workshop. Want to make an edible terrarium? There's a workshop. Want to throw your kid a unicorn cookie decorating party? THIS IS YOUR PLACE.

In our first video, Jen shows me how to make the amazingly elegant, but simple Macaron Splatter Cake. First she alternates layers of chocolate and vanilla cake, with dulce de leche buttercream in between, and puts an initial buttercream crumb coating on. After some time in the fridge, she smooths on another buttercream layer and then the magic really starts. She takes edible gold powder and mixes it with Everclear (YUM!!!) to make it into paint, and simply splatters it onto the clean, white cake canvas. Then she pipes on frosting circles, and tops them with HOMEMADE MACARONS!! I'M SCREAMING WITH EXCITEMENT! Lastly-- the crowning glory-- she places large geometric dragees ever so strategically placed on the top. Can you even? No. You simply can not.

In our next video Jen takes on the arduous task of trying to teach me how to decorate cacti sugar cookies. A process that involves mixing food coloring to get the right color icing, and then putting them into icing bags you make yourself out of parchments paper. THEN you have to outline cookies close to the edge, but not so close that the icing spills over, fill it in, and get out air bubbles. As an amateur crafter, these would normally be challenges I would be all about, but given one chance to get it right ON CAMERA, I simply was not up to the task. As with everything else though, Jen makes it look easy and is perfectly kind as she encourages you to continue on. 

Overall, my time with Jen at Sugarsuckle was everything I had hoped from the beautiful space. I got to make pretty things, and best of all I got to eat them after. For more information on Sugarsuckle, visit her website here, and make sure to stay up to date on all of her happenings on Instagram. In case you didn't already hear, we've teamed up with Sugarsuckle to giveaway a tote bag and a $75 gift card redeemable for desserts, workshops or events. To enter check out the HudsonCounty60 Instagram here... and give us a follow while you're at it, why don't ya?