Paris Baguette

Vivian and I were spending the afternoon together, and we decided to try out a food court near where I live to start. She had heard good things about a French bakery called Paris Baguette, so we went there.

You can walk around a large island that's full of clear bakery boxes. You pick out what you want and put it on your tray, then pay at the end. There's also loaves of bread and some more pastries along the wall, so there's really a lot to pick from! We each chose a variety of things and then ordered drinks at the counter when we paid. I chose an iced mocha, while Vivian picked a green tea. She thought that the tea was average, and I felt the same about my mocha. Unfortunately, I waited a LONG time for my mocha. After five minutes, I went up and asked about it, and it was clear that they had forgotten to make it - so they gave us two small pound cakes as an apology. The pastries were fairly priced and pretty good, though they were definitely better that day than the next few (I bought like $8 worth of goodies, so I took home 5 or 6 things after enjoying 3 there). The cheese puff and strawberry-and-cream croissant were the best.

San Francisco Chocolate Salon

Our anniversary celebration continued as we spent a day in San Francisco. Back in January I bought tickets for the Chocolate Salon, which is like a giant room filled with booths that offer you free chocolates, wines, chocolate milks, and other delicacies. We had a bit of a problem parking, especially when you consider that Fort Mason was hosting multiple events that day. We eventually found a spot less than a mile away, though there were a couple of hills and lots of stairs. It was also windy, and my ears hurt on the way back to the car. Anyway, that's beside the point.

The Salon was crowded, but there were over 70 booths, so we were able to work our way around without too much trouble. I wasn't expecting so many booths to offer local wines, but we certainly tried more than a handful. We were ultimately able to try every single booth's wares except one (hand-painted chocolates), which had a very long line for most of the show. I loved some of the truffles we tried, particularly a truffle log, which had multiple flavors in a single piece. Jonathan also enjoyed that one. Over the course of two-and-a-half hours, we savored tons of delicious chocolate samples. The event was much larger than the Bucks County Chocolate Show, and was certainly worth the $21 each we paid for tickets. If we're around next spring, I hope to go again!

Honeyberry: Gelato

When Jonathan's parents were here, they took me for ice cream one afternoon. We were coming out of Walgreens when they suggested it, so we popped right into Honeyberry, since it's in the same plaza. Now, this is a different Honeyberry than Jonathan and I went to a couple years ago, and I had completely forgotten that's where I recognized the name.

The place was pretty full, which was surprising because it was 2 or 3pm on a Thursday. After looking over the options for a minute or two, I went with a scoop of the tiramisu gelato, and his dad picked peach gelato. The pricing was pretty cheap for gelato, at around $2/scoop (you pay by weight, and I added some kiwi and an oreo to mine). However, we weren't extremely taken by it. At first bite, something tasted "off" about mine (I should also mention that I normally sample at a dessert place, but because of the crowd I didn't bother... mistake). I later determined that it tasted as if there was cardamom in the gelato... which is weird. Jonathan's mom tried the peach as well, and didn't care for it, agreeing that they must add some type of spice to it. We sat and took our time in the place, and it never really slowed down... it was almost full the entire time we were there! Many people seemed to be getting either the roti buns or the green tea ice. I wouldn't go back for gelato (and I didn't care for the four flavors of fro-yo they had), but maybe I'd give the roti bun a try. Of course, I'm not often in the mood for a random pastry, so maybe not.

Sprinkles!

Sprinkles is a bakery in Palo Alto that is part of the famous Beverly Hills chain. I had not heard of them, but apparently they're a big deal, and the owner judges Cupcake Wars or something.

I'd only been to a cupcake-specific shoppe once before (in Washington, DC), so when we received my birthday card from Jonathan's parents sponsoring a trip, I was really excited. I immediately looked up their hours and carefully studied the chart of which days have which flavors (I was shocked that there were some flavors that were only available one day a week!). We ended up going on Monday, almost a week after my birthday. When we arrived, we realized that we had been very close once. The cupcakery was only a few doors down from Max's Opera Cafe, where we ate once with Andy in 2009.

We chose two flavors each to take home and enjoy over the next couple of days. My first selection was banana, with vanilla frosting. Jonathan (of course) went with red velvet with cream cheese frosting. I also chose cinnamon sugar, which is a spiced buttermilk cake with cinnamon sugar on top... no frosting. The last selection was the vanilla cupcake with chocolate cream cheese frosting. About an hour after we got home we decided to enjoy some cupcake action. My first bite into the banana bursted with flavor. The vanilla frosting complimented it very well, and it was very banana-y through to the end. Jonathan took a bite and also thought that it was the epitome of "banana," LoL. Jonathan really enjoyed the cream cheese frosting on his. We agreed that the red velvet flavoring was not typical... it certainly had a non-chocolate flavor, and without the accompanying cream cheese frosting, it would have been difficult to know for sure that the flavor of the cake was indeed red velvet.


We saved the other two until the following evening (and I forgot to take photos as we were eating those ones). We couldn't wait any longer than that, since they use no preservatives and they really recommend that people eat them the day of purchase. We kept them in individual ziplocs to keep them fresh. The top half of the cinnamon cupcake was delicious- the cinnamon did some sort of caramelizing or something to the cake, resulting in a wonderful taste. The bottom half was kinda plain... it did have a nice spice to it, but a little disappointing. The vanilla cupcake was pretty plain, but the chocolate cream cheese frosting was wonderful. I probably ate 1/3 of that one, since Jonathan wasn't a big fan.

Overall, it was a cool experience. I don't know that I'd pay $3.50 for a cupcake (they weren't over-sized or anything), or that I'd want to eat one on-the-go (they were matched really well with milk!), but it's worth a trip. Oh, and those cute decorations on top were crunchy and not good (well, I didn't even try one, but Jonathan tried those on both of his and wasn't pleased).

Creole Creamery

After lunch in Metairie, the majority of the group went to the Creole Creamery, which I'm convinced is one of Keith's very favorite places. The very first time Jonathan and I went to New Orleans, Keith brought us there and four of us shared the "Tchoupitoulas," which is 8 scoops and 8 toppings. This time around Jonathan went with a cone of Chocolate Cheesecake Amaretto, which he liked a lot at the beginning, but it was too sweet for him to finish. I went with the Sampler Special, which is 4 small scoops for $4. I chose I Scream Fudge, Gingerbread, Bananas Foster, and one more which I can't remember at this point. All were delicious, especially the fudge.

Epcot Food & Wine Festival

Jonathan and I had free Disney passes for volunteering, so we utilized them during Epcot's Food & Wine Festival. I had never been before, but Jonathan went a few years ago. As you may already know, about half of the park is a "Word Showcase," featuring rides, pavilions, foods, films, and other things from various countries. During the Food & Wine Festival, additional countries are on display, and each has a kiosk where they sell small portions of authentic cuisine and drinks. This is where the fact that our tickets and parking was free comes into play... we spent about $50 on food and drink. But it was delicious! Everything was wonderful, so we have no regrets. And besides, places like South Korea and Ireland are not at the top of our international travel list, anyway.

We spent several hours doing the attractions throughout the park, but at 6pm we began our little tour of world cuisine. We technically walked the Festival backwards, but we'd actually recommend doing it that way.

Our first stop was Charcuterie & Cheese, which isn't specific to any one country, but specializes in wines & cheeses. We had the Nueske's Charcuterie Plate, which had smoked beef, duck, and ham with bread. It was all good, but the beef in particular had a nice flavor. I also had the sample of Prosecco, a peach sparking wine by Martini & Rossi. It was nothing special. Canada was next, where we shared the Canadian Cheddar Cheese Soup (one of our favorites of the night) and tried the Inniskillin Pearl Vidal Icewine. Now, we adore icewine but rarely have it because it's expensive. It was wonderful here, tho a little thick (also not uncommon with icewine). I wanted to stop at Ireland for the Lobster and Scallop Fisherman's Pie, which was absolutely scrumptious. It had carrots and onions in it, and the scallops were plentiful. It was topped with a baked mashed potato, and I'd probably call it my favorite item, tied with the cheese soup. Jonathan liked it, especially because he had a big lump of lobster in his bite!

Morocco was a bit of a let-down, as we went with the Tangerine Mimosa Royale, which wasn't anything special. Tasted like you'd expect, and was a bit pricey for the serving size.

I think Jonathan's favorite was probably Australia. He had a grilled lamb chop with roasted potato salad and red wine reduction. I tried it, but of course I don't really like lamb. I thought the potatoes had a nice flavor, despite the red wine drizzle. I had considered getting the Lamington from that station as well, but it turned out that the chocolate-covered butter cake was also covered in coconut, so I skipped it.

Then it was on to Germany! We were really looking forward to that one, and honestly would've ordered everything on the menu (except the two beers) if we weren't pacing ourselves! They had 4 Rieslings to try, and since Jonathan enjoys Riesling, he was hard-pressed to choose one. He went with the Gunderloch Diva Spätlese, which ended up being rather sweet, and even I enjoyed it. We also had a Nürnberger Sausage in a pretzel roll, which came with a wonderful mustard and was delicious (and probably the largest portion for the price that we had anywhere). Again, I had planned on trying the Apfel Strudel with Werther's Oiriginal Karamell Sauce, but was told it was covered in nuts, so I refrained. Our next stop was South Korea, where we couldn't resist the Barbecue Short Ribs with steamed rice and cucumber kimchi. The ribs had an excellent flavor, and I thoroughly missed the Korean sauces, since it's been so long since I've had that. I was getting pretty full, otherwise I would've dived right into finishing off the rice (which was sticky like sushi rice) and the cucumber (which was plentiful). After some deliberation, Jonathan tried the Grilled Pork Skewer with Farofa at the Brazil kiosk, which he enjoyed. Farofa is really ground up spices covering the pork, making it incredibly dry in your mouth, LoL. I thought it was kinda bland, especially since it was supposed to be a "rooty" flavor.

I was really excited about the Desserts & Champagne booth, and had planned to order two out of the three items. At this point, Jonathan was feeling like something chocolate, so he was probably going to order the third item. I was getting concerned about running out of money (we had picked up a Disney gift card earlier to make transactions faster), but it turned out that at that station only you could get all 3 items for just $3.50! That settled that! I dove into the Strawberry Angel Verrine, although Jonathan did try the middle part of that layered dessert, and found it to be very good. I enjoyed the Pear Streusel Pudding cake much more than he did, too. He did eat the bulk of the Dark Chocolate Sensation (kinda like a brownie bite with chocolate mousse on top) tho, which was fine with me. On our way to find a nice place to watch the fireworks, we stopped at the Puerto Rico location and got a Bacardi Frozen Torched Cherry Colada. It was very creamy, and probably the least coconut-ty colada I've ever had. It was a nice way to finish.

Bucks County Chocolate Show

So we heard that there was going to be a chocolate show up in New Hope. I found the website and discovered it was actually the 3rd annual Bucks County Chocolate Show. We couldn't really come up with a reason not to go, so we drove up to New Hope on May 23rd and went.

As always, downtown New Hope was completely packed, and there was no parking. Luckily, the event was being held at the fire hall, which has its own parking lot. They were apparently expecting over a thousand people, and had a shuttle set up so you could park at a local school. However, we pulled on up to the main event and parked about a hundred feet from the door.

Tickets were $13 each, and when you consider that we were more than done in about 45 minutes, it doesn't sound like a good deal. HOWEVER, Jonathan pointed out that a person would be hard-pressed to buy as much chocolate as we sampled for that price. Especially once you consider the rareness and uniqueness of some of the delectable pieces that we tasted. We started off with cake, ended with truffles, and had all sorts of goodies in-between, including some great melting bits, some pretzel-toffee-chocolate, and the most delicious bananas foster chocolates you could ever imagine. The only disappointing aspect was that the chocolate fountain was pay-only, and I wasn't feeling $3 to have two chocolate-covered strawberries.

It would have been good if we were there an hour earlier, so we could have attended the seminar on pairing wines and chocolates, as the table only had a white wine left when we got to it. It was still good wine, but I'm sure it would have made more sense if there was still the complementary chocolate next to it, hehe. The history of chocolate and the science behind making chocolate were also covered, and some really nice pieces were on display.The place wasn't that big, and there were probably only about twelve different vendors there, but it was a fun way to spend the better part of an hour. Should you go in the future, buy your tickets in advance (save a couple bucks), and definitely park on-site to save that hassle. But, go. It's nowhere near the awesomeness of the Chef's Sampler in Tallahassee, but it's still delicious!

Buck's Ice Cream

We had all thought there was a good ice cream place nearby. We walked across the bridge to New Hope (PA) and back, and ended up getting ice cream at Buck's Ice Cream & Espresso Bar around the corner from Buho's. I had a scoop of mochachinno, Kasey had mochachinno in a waffle cone, Michele had a chocolate peanut butter milkshake, and Jonathan had a black cherry milkshake. Nobody had anything outstanding to say, it was all rather average. I wouldn't bother again, especially for $3 for a small. Plus, we found out later that there was a Rita's just a few blocks further than we had originally walked, haha.

Cramer Bakery

Behind the place is Cramer Bakery, which seems to cater well to the Jewish population (lots of challah bread, and specialty signs about bar/bat mitzvah cakes, etc. Jonathan got a fresh cannoli, and I went with a large (and thin) chocolate chip cookie. The cookie was among the worst I've ever bought singly, as it was dry and milky, if that makes sense. The cannoli was very sweet, and Jonathan was unable to eat it in one setting. I thought it tasted like a standard cannoli, but then again I'm not a fan. I was pretty disappointed overall with the prices of the items, since apple strudel or cake are $9.95. Apparently there's usually a lot more out there, but I guess we went on a busy day or something (?), since there weren't even any loaves of bread out. I wouldn't recommend the place, mostly since nothing has a price on it. I've yet to find a good bakery up here, but it's going to happen!

Shady Brook Farm

After dinner, we headed over to Shady Brook Farm to catch the local flavor on a Friday night. Little Big Thing was the performing band that evening, and we caught the last half-hour or so of their set. I can't say I was impressed, but they weren't bad. There were many children running around, mostly near the elaborate play structure that was setup.

We got some of Uncle Dave's Ice Cream, which I highly recommend. Andrew had the mint chocolate chip and the billionaire chocolate (creamy chocolate), I had the Newman's Chocolate Dirt (creamy chocolate with crushed oreos or something similar), and Jonathan had an Orange Cream Milkshake (with extra cherries). All was fantastic, and the scoops are huge! Next time, however, we should go on a Thursday night, since they apparently have 94-cent ice cream cones!!

Red Velvet Cupcakery

I stopped at the Red Velvet Cupcakery on the way to the next session for a snack. For a whopping $3.25, I bought a "Southern Belle" cupcake, which was like a red velvet. They had about 8 different flavors, included cookies and cream, vanilla bean, and "b'day cake." I wouldn't have even paid a $1 for that cupcake at a bakesale.

Honeyberry

Afterward, we wanted dessert, but the Chinese bakery in Mountain View was already closed, so we kinda just started driving, and arrived at Honeyberry, a frozen yogurt place none of us had been to before. Frozen Yogurt is not a very good description tho, since they only had 4 flavors... they had about 12 gelato choices and another 6 in shaved ice! There were some interesting items on the menu - chocolate-covered strawberries and waffles were on there, strangely enough. I tried the oreo, vanilla, and double espresso gelatos - all incredibly smooth, but the double espresso was realllllly strong. The fresh strawberries and kiwi were nice toppings. The blueberries were sour, the green tea was strong, but otherwise there was nothing that stood out about the other flavors that everyone else got.

There was a frequent buyer card, but you had to buy like $60 worth to get $3 off. Clearly the worst one ever. There is, however, one of those opportunities to guess what your creation will weigh (to the tenth of an ounce), and if you get it right, you get a gift certificate (and the amount escalates with how heavy your cup was, from 10 ounces to over 26!). The overall atmosphere was the icing on the cake... we will not be back, nor recommend the place. It was very unfriendly.

Late Night in Vegas

We were in Vegas for a few days. The night we got in, we walked around the Strip (also known as Las Vegas Blvd.), take photos, and grab some snacks. We waltzed through Paris, and stopped to grab a bite at JJ's Boulangerie, which had fresh and fantastic pizza and gelato. Everyone else had the pizza (Jim and JB each had a slice of the carne, and Vivian had a hawaiian-esque slice), but I wasn't as hungry, so I totally monopolized some fabulous coffee gelato. It was crazy cheap for gelato ($1.79 for a single scoop in a cup, but the single scoop was similar to the size of the "like it" at Cold Stone, so it was BIG), and very good.

Frozen Yogurt

Driving back through downtown Palo Alto on our way home from dinner, we saw a frozen yogurt place having a grand opening. L'Amour is a non-chain, and really uninteresting. It's your standard California FroYo place, meaning you get a cup and fill it yourself, then they charge you 47 cents per ounce. Yeah, that's high. But the flavor choices were so boring, I didn't even sample any! JB tried the Butter Pecan, and said it was the worst he's ever had. They had 10 flavors... all nonfat except NY Cheesecake. Vanilla, Chocolate, Eurotart, Organic Plain, Peanut Butter, Strawberry, Pomegranate, and a few others. It may be the very first time I've ever walked out on a dessert place. And to add insult to injury, their frequent buyers card cannot be shared, and you have to purchase $4.50 to even get a stamp! booo all around.

Blue Cow Eatery

It was really hot, so we stopped for ice cream on the way out of that area at Blue Cow Eatery, a very local place with friendly servers. I had a vanilla milkshake and Kathy has a chocolate malt. Both were prety good, and the menu looked pretty neat too, if anyone is every up in Morrison, CO, hehe.

Pikes Peak Donuts

We tried some of the World Famous Pikes Peak donuts. They were nothing special. 

Do-it-Yourself Frozen Yogurt

We headed to Carvel after dinner one night, but they were closed. So we drove a few blocks and found a plaza with a Baskin Robbins and a DIY Yogurt. It was a very cool place, and a concept that I was unfamiliar with. Basically, you take a cup and add your own frozen yogurt and toppings. They had about 10 flavors of yogurt, including chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, cappuccino, taro, tart, mango, and a few others. There were over fifty topping options, including a bunch of cereals and candies, four syrups, and probably ten fruits. When you're finished they charge you 33 cents per ounce, and put it on a scale. There's a "weight of the day" and if it matches, yours is free. The weight yesterday was 0.88 oz, and I came closest with 0.83.

I tried vanilla, cappuccino, strawberry, and tart. I added brownie bits, oreos, and strawberries. The strawberries were delicious, and the oreos were a good crushed size. The brownie bits left something to be desired (they weren't "fudgy" or fresh). Tart froyo tastes like yogurt, and I had to mix it with the strawberry for it to be palatable. The strawberry was delicious and strong. Tee cappuccino was too strong, I had to swirl it with the vanilla, which was that "country vanilla" style. As a whole, the place was good and I'd go back. BUT, since this is a typical set-up out here, I'd love to try another fro-yo place, as this one has pretty poor reviews on yelp in comparison.

The Chinese New Year... with cheesecake

We took the Caltrain and the BART into San Francisco this afternoon for the country's second-largest Chinese New Year Parade. We headed from the Powell Street Station to Chinatown to Union Square Park, figuring that would be an excellent place to watch the parade since it goes completely around it. But, the place is closed off tightly (and it wasn't when we came into town, so they must have cleared it out just a short while before), with policemen not letting anyone through. So we found a decent spot to stand. We were about 3 people in from the street, and it was only about 4pm (the parade did not begin until 5:30). Jonathan suggested that he try and get a reservation at one of the restaurants that are on the nearby roofs. He headed off to see what he could find out and I held our spots. Turns out that the wait for a patio seat at the Cheesecake Factory on the top of Macy*s was about an hour, which would seat us when the parade began. So, we took it and proceeded to wander Macy*s for about 45 minutes.

We were seated at exactly 5:30, and our waiter (Joe) was kind enough to switch us from a center patio table to an edge table, so there was just a wall of glass between us and the world below.  We also had the opportunity to dine exquisitely at a restaurant that we don't normally go to, as it's quite pricey in Florida. For some reason, the prices here were on-par with those of a Chili's. We had the Firecracker Salmon Rolls, which were spicy salmon rolled in spinach and dried in a wonton wrapper, served with a sweet chili sauce and cabbage (delicious sauce, the salmon was kinda overpriced otherwise). I had the Hot Turkey Supreme, which was humungous (I don't think I even ate half before having it boxed up). It was an open-faced sandwich served with fresh fries... it was brioche bread, turkey, spinach, tomato, and bacon, all covered in a white cheddar sauce. I loved it, and thought the cheddar cheese sauce was delicious. Jonathan had the Grilled Skirt Steak with mashed potatoes, corn, and onion strings. He quite enjoyed the steak (it was in a mushroom sauce, so I wasn't a big fan), and we both thought the mashed potatoes were amazing. The onion strings, notsomuch. We also had to splurge the $7 to share a slice of the Chocolate Tuxedo Cream Cheesecake. It was phenomenal: fudge cake, chocolate cheesecake, vanilla mascarpone mousse, and chocolate, with whipped cream and surrounded by chocolate and vanilla syrup piping.

Gelato: soft, rich, smooth, delicious

We haven't had any dessert since we've been in California, so last night Jonathan suggested we find some frozen custard. After an internet search, it seems the nearest frozen custard is about twenty minutes away, in San Jose. So, we headed into downtown to get some gelato at Gelato Classico. The last few times we've gone by the shop, the line has been pretty long, so we were surprised when we walked right in. I got the tiramisu in an italian cone (nothing special about it, tastes just like a normal sugar cone), and Jonathan got the peanut butter cup in a dish. The tiramisu was good, with pieces of cake and everything. Jonathan enjoyed his as well, but I can't speak to how it tasted since I don't eat peanut butter. They had a lot of flavors that I want to try in the future, so I'm sure we'll be back there before long.