Eat Like a Rabbit

Possibly my favorite non-chocolate dessert recipes is Sauteed Bananas from Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home. I highly recommend the recipe. Once when I served it to a guest, he looked at Paul and said "Do you eat like this all the time?" Paul said "Yep, pretty much."

I can't even tell you how long or how many times I've made sauteed bananas. And yet, somehow, we always seem to be in such a hurry to dive in that we fail to take a picture of it. Tonight, I had planned on making the dessert when my folks were over, but I had one too ripe banana and a slew of too green bananas. Paul recommended I do the Asian Pears instead. Yum! It's safe to say the base syrup for the dish must be good with any fruit. Our dessert wasn't quite as successful because the pears were warmed, but not softened. A softened fruit the texture of pie-sliced apples would have required more time and likely a different cooking method (like slow cooking). Anyway, we thought it was a nice light dessert and were happy for it, but I think I'll always prefer it with bananas, the original way.

Click on the photograph to go to Paul's Flickr page for a closer-up view of the monkeys. There's nothing like sitting in a boat having a picnic lunch and watching the monkeys watch you and wonder how they can get across the river to partake, too. We had quite a show. One of the best times was when a piroux came by with a dog and three adults. The dog watched us 'til he saw the monkeys. He got in really big trouble for barking and scaring them. Thanks, Connie and Jack for a great day!

Summer is a great time to enjoy treats from the freezer. In Florida, cold items are more of a necessity when the heat is ramping up. We had my parents and grandmother over for Memorial Day dinner. I surprised Paul with new gelato by Talenti that is sold at Publix. I allowed my guests to have their choice of chocolate, vanilla, and coconut gelato and raspberry sorbetto. I also served some very festive raspberries and blackberries on a plate at the table to accompany the dessert.

Here are my thoughts about the dessrt: Granted, I know gelato will never taste the same in America that it does in Italy, but I've known it to come close. This just doesn't work for me. When I want gelato, it's cause I want it to be a little better than regular ice cream. Mostly, this just tastes like regular ice cream. The raspberry and coconut almost taste like they have too much extra flavoring. And I have never seen a good fresh raspberry gelato that dark/bright of a color. Usually, it is a bit paler and creamier. My favorite combination of gelato is chocolate and raspberry; so believe me, I've seen my share of light, smooth raspberry gelato. I could never figure out why the vanilla was always softer than the rest and why the chocolate was always harder than the rest. The vanilla melts too quickly, and and the chocolate is too stiff to get out of the container.

The heat has been draining; so, I really dreaded making a trek into Publix today. I felt too tired to move, a little like the Polar Bears at the zoo right now. All I needed to get through the next week was bananas and milk, and considering no one is burning many calories, I almost thought I could do without that. But, I'm glad I got inside where it was cooler and had a look around because I now have some exciting juiciness to share. Keep in mind that the sales are only through 9 pm Wednesday night (June 24), so get going. I'll likely make another stop if I pass one close by.

Firstly, the MorningStar Farms "entrees" on BOGO are any dinner product except the bites and the starters--which means all patties and chick n' nuggets or buffalo wings. There are some great coupons out there, plus the free box (which you can use a coupon on, too) makes these an equal to or better deal than the ones I got at Target.

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.

It's so ironic that I came across this story in the Orlando Sentinel food blog today. We were talking about ice cream in front of Brent and Lisa's kids yesterday--that was to be our reward for running the Bloomsday Race--and I had to spell Haagen Dazs, which sparked a laugh because of the tricky spelling. I did forget the second "a". Secondly, my Gourmet Magazine last week had a really cute add about the ice cream brand and honey bees (see a similar photo and discussion here) for the the ice cream in relation to its care about honey bees, and since I'm married to a designer and I'm learning to appreciate good marketing, the add stuck with me.

On Tuesday, May 12, HD will be offering from 4-8 pm free samples of ice cream made by HB. For the full story and a link to participating locations, visit the Orlando Sentinel online.

We once came across Haagen Daz's special Pomegranate Dark Chocolate Ice Cream. The color was not inviting and the flavor wasn't fresh, but the concept was good. When my in-laws were in town, I purchased a nice selection of pomegranates from Costco and watched as my husband and his father took it apart. I'm sure they will both remember to wear an apron, but not to wear a white shirt, in the future. Meanwhile, my mother shaved some fine European Dark Chocolates that my in-laws had brought as a gift. A regular cheese grater works well. The key is choosing exceptional chocolates. And dark chocolates in this case are highly recommended over milk chocolates.

This was an easy dessert that is best put together immediately before serving. Also, to conserve energy, I only make it when the oven has already been used for another part of the meal or for a baking project.