Eat Like a Rabbit

Peacefood Cafe was recommended to us by Leigh at Marvelous Kiddo. She certainly has good taste! We loved our experience at the restaurant. It was amazing that there was always a line for a table during our entire lunch. Maybe that doesn't mean much in crowded New York City. Still, I've always maintained the belief that people being willing to wait for a table is a good thing. The staff was very friendly, and I think the serving time for our meals was acceptable.

The restaurant has a nice selection of fancy teas, etc., but we were there for the food. Of course, a pregnant woman is always there for the food! And even more of course, everything on the menu sounded amazing. It was very hard to come to a decision. I finally settled on a sandwich with lots of fresh vegetables--including my favorite, sprouts! It came with some marinated vegetable sticks on the side. That just might have actually been my most favorite part on the plate. I was pretty sure it was jicama, but the server said it was yuca. Shrug. It really doesn't matter. It was yummy just the same.

Both Paul's folks and the December 2009 Delta magazine recommended this little gelato shop for its quality and unique flavors.

It was very cold, and slightly sprinkling. I'm not sure what we were thinking. But, it was kind of close; so, we went ahead and hiked to the location. We were saddened to learn that the window of the stand faced outside. There was no way of going inside to eat our ice cream in the heat. We were going to have to walk and eat to stay warm.

The gentleman behind the counter (I think it was the owner) was exceptionally nice, and I have to admit that his attitude sold the product. Being it was so chilly, I might have turned down the ice cream (a pregnant woman turn down food?), but he was very generous with the samples; so, I felt obliged to order something. The creative flavors like lavender just did not sell me. I guess I'm pretty boring when it comes to my choice of ice cream flavors. I was even disappointed with my peanut butter selection. But, it could just be the cold and rain.

Bottom line. I probably wouldn't visit il laboratorio del gelato again on my own. If I were with someone else there. I would stick with straight chocolate (maybe vanilla) and would definitely only eat it in the summer!

This cake was such a hit, people have been nagging me for the recipe. Therefore, I've skipped my desired schedule of posting and bumped this one up in the list.

My dilemma for this cake was the fact that it was for a bridal shower at which the guest of honor, the bride, is allergic to a certain aspect of dairy. The Duncan Hines Cake Mix fits into her diet. Also, there are some icings that are acceptable, but instead of taking my chances, I chose a dairy-free cake option.

Those who are familiar with us know that our wedding was built around our incredible wedding cake made by That Special Touch in Pearl, Mississippi. We actually "imported" 10 jars of Publix Creamy Natural Peanut Butter from Florida for the filling, splattered cream cheese icing around the layers, and topped it with dripping fresh raspberries. It was beautiful, photographed well, but most importantly tasted amazing. I chose to duplicate that cake in this setting eliminating the cream cheese icing, and opting for a raspberry glaze as fresh berries are out of season.

Recipe for Chocolate Cake with Raspberry Glaze

For the cake, cook according to package directions and pour batter evenly into two 8- or 9-inch cake plans for baking. Once completely cool, put one cake on the serving platter. Spread 1/4 jar of creamy peanut butter onto cake (We only use natural with nothing but peanuts and salt.) with a miniature spatula. Top with the second cake. Cover tightly with saran wrap to refrigerate. I actually made the cake a night in advance and let it warm to room temp about 1 hour before serving.

Raspberry Glaze

• 8-10 oz. frozen raspberries, pulsed slightly in food processor
• 1 Tablespoon and 1 teaspoon corn starch
• 1/3-1/2 cup brown sugar

Pour berries into small saucepan over medium heat and stir until berries defrost. Mix sugar and corn starch in the measuring cup and pour over berries. Stir fairly consistently until the glaze thickens and is clearer in color. Cool glaze and remove to glass storage if not topping cake immediately. Pour glaze over cake just before serving.

Eat Like a Rabbit celebrated its ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY while we were in Seattle! We were so excited and as a reward to ourselves, we agreed to go on a shopping spree to Trader Joe's, an unusual grocery store that has locations where everyone else we know lives--except there's none in Orlando. We did a lot of testing with our product selections and hope to have a set grocery list for any future visits. Perhaps they will go faster in the future, but I doubt they will be as much fun. Thanks to Leann and Jeremy who shuttled us around and waited patiently while we filled up our basket. In fact, I don't know the last time I've ever made a grocery cart that full! But honestly, a good bit of it was purchased for gifts, and we ate a good bit of it while we were still in Seattle, too.

I never even considered the concept of a dark chocolate ice cream syrup or sauce until we were in Sarasota for our anniversary and picked up some from Sur la Table for my dad. He's out by now, of course, and I decided to use some dark chocolate bars we have lying around the house to experiment. All the recipes I researched called for many ingredients. I just wanted the simple dark chocolate to stand out. By itself, the sauce is ever so slightly strong (which dark chocolate is), but to us it was perfect on something as sweet as ice cream. The next night, I had the leftover chocolate sauce while Paul had caramelized walnuts and fresh blackberries on his ice cream.

We didn't eat out in Spokane, but we did take advantage of a fabulous sweet-shop, which made the kids exceptionally happy at the end of our walking tour around town. You could call us care-free cause we were eating dessert before lunch. The ice cream shop did have an organic lunchroom attached, but I didn't pay too much attention to vegetarian items.

I was scheduled to feed 12 Saturday afternoon for lunch. Luckily, I was off on Friday. I woke up early prepared to spend the day in the kitchen. The previous day, I created a list of what needed to be done Friday and what could be done Saturday right before the guests arrived. I had already thought up a menu earlier in the week based on what I had in the kitchen.

There are times when it is appropriate to cut corners when eating. We felt Mont Saint-Michel was one of those opportunities. A real tourist trap, even small packages of cookies with the island printed on the packaging ran over 7 euros in gift shops.

Outside of Paris, our daily activities aren't as exciting as Paris was. They were special, but obviously not as well-known and not always high-tourist areas. Much of the rest of the France stories will be focused more on food. Paul will be happier about this as he thinks the day-by-day stories about Paris were not so Eat Like a Rabbit related.

We already knew Paul bakery existed and was good because we had seen one two years ago in Charles de Gaulle airport during a layover. Being peak lunch time, Paul was doing a great business. In an effort to be speedy as we knew there was more on our to-do list, we ordered three pre-made waffles that were put into a warmer at 250 degrees Celsius. Then we could request chocolate syrup or powdered sugar as a topping.