chinatown finds - treats and treat wannabe-s

it's always a bit of a culinary adventure, just a few steps out my front door...
living in chinatown, with little italy just a few city blocks away, i am spoiled for choice.
...but living as gluten-free as possible the gift is chinatown
each discovery is like a little gift of heartburn free, bloat free, tastes.

i go to little italy for proscuitto and olives
divine coffee
decadent gelato
and to stare into the semolina-laced temptations - pasta...abundant
the wheat-dreamy breads
the pizza - luring as the aromas are set loose as the pie is scooped out of a dry, hot pizza oven
sigh

but then there is chinatown
with the foreign script
and the rice dreams
and i can shop and venture out of my comfort zone
and test myself and learn and create every week

and in terms of a few treats...
recent discoveries...

cookies from the top of the post

sugar cookies with frosting

i used this recipe from allrecipes (only modification was using turbinado instead of white sugar so i had to melt that with the butter). it is a great recipe for those like me who are not really into baking much, and need a forgiving recipe.

the frosting recipe is in this blog post

i am leaving it to the pictures to speak for themselves on this one since it is not my recipe so no ingredients to write out...