This scone.

This, my friends, is a strawberry-rhubarb scone from the lovely and amazing Two Little Red Hens bakery.

While my neighborhood (Yorkville, part of Manhattan's Upper East Side) is still woefully lacking a great coffee place (Joe, won't you please open over here?), it does have some seriously good baked goods. For bread, you can hit Orwasher's. And for the sweet stuff, you can go fancy and high-falutin' at Lady M, or down-home and amazing with the Hens.

This scone is a perfect example of how they take rustic to the next level. Yes, it's a slightly misshapen, large, American-style scone. But it's made with the best ingredients, it's seasonal, and it's incredibly tender and delicious. Its top is lightly crusted with crunchy sugar, it's stuffed with rhubarb and berries, and its innards are all creamy and lush. It is marvelous.

Next time, we'll talk about the buttery glaze on their cinnamon rolls. Drool.

Sometimes, it just has to be done.

Generally speaking, I'm pretty good at turning down sweets. My cravings tend to run in the salty/greasy direction (bad Chinese, fried chicken, Pirate's Booty), but, every so often, a need for cake worms its way in.

Last Sunday, just such a craving hit me like a sack of bricks, and I decided to assuage said sack with a marble cupcake from Two Little Red Hens. Conveniently located about half a block from my Yorkville apartment, it's an adorable bakery specializing in traditional American treats. They have ridiculously good maple scones, beautiful cakes, and witty frosted cookies (featured on Sunday: hot dogs and watermelon slices). They also make a mean iced coffee.

The marble cupcake was good - especially the cake part, which was white sponge swirled with chocolate. The buttercream was tasty, but a bit too cold from the fridge. It just didn't give enough, and as a result broke off in little pieces. It was a bit like eating (really, really) buttery fudge. That said, it did hit the spot.

So, is it bad that this was my dinner on Sunday night?