Chimney Cake and more in the QNYC Evening Edition for Friday October 12, 2012

Nom on a chimney… a chimney cake, that is

In LIC there is a little shop that sells chimney cakes, a Hungarian/Transylvanian sweet treat – known as kürtöskalács in Hungarian – made with a sweet yeasted dough that is cut into strips, then rolled around a foot long wooden pin (kind of like a rolling pin), coated with sugar, and baked. Sometimes they are coated with nuts or coconut after they come out of the oven. These cakes were originally made for special occasions like weddings and other celebrations. But at Chimney Cake, you can eat them every day if you want! They are very tasty.

Douglaston in the WSJ

Recently Douglaston, a small community out in eastern Queens, was profiled by the Wall Street Journal. A brief description of the area:

Its quiet, tree-lined streets and stately, detached homes seem far more suburban than urban. It contains sections of a 650-acre park, with wetlands, hiking trails and an environmental center. The landmark area of Douglas Manor sits on a peninsula jutting into the picturesque Little Neck Bay, which is popular for swimming and sailing.

As for the real estate scene:

The median listing price in Douglaston is $259,000, according to StreetEasy.com, with prices ranging from less than $200,000 for one- or two-bedroom co-ops in prewar buildings to well over $1 million for historic homes in sought-after sections. Brokers say single-family houses tend to start around $800,000 and soar into the millions, including some of the costliest homes in Queens.

That soccer stadium coming to Flushing Meadows Corona Park

The new Major League Soccer stadium aimed at Queens is sure making news these days. We took a look at the different stories and sources and we summarized what’s going on and the different elements in the saga at this moment in time. There are many opinions, stakeholders, and interested parties, and the scene will continue to change as time goes on. Here’s to understanding it all better.

Get to know George McKirdy, owner of the Astor Bake Shop, and his social media skillz

Astoria Social Media, a blog that is pretty self-explanatory, published a little interview with George McKirdy, the owner of Astor Bake Shop, home to delicious American-style baked goods. He talks about his experience with social media while running a successful business. One of our favorite tidbits – and it is somewhat of a pro-tip – is, “Lately I’ve been posting a lot of photos to Instagram because they’ve made it very easy to link my other social media (Twitter, FB, Flickr, foursquare), so with one Instagram photo I cover more social media platforms.”

Cemeteries – Queens built them

We took a look at the plentitude of cemeteries in Queens – the borough is home to what is called the “cemetery belt,” thanks to the Rural Cemetery Act, passed in 1847 by the New York State Legislature. This resulted in the founding of many new cemeteries in Queens in the mid-19th century, and then later near the turn of the 20th century. It’s fascinating to see just how many are in Queens (and at the border of neighboring Brooklyn), so we wrote a little guide to cemeteries in Queens.