More Vacation Ice Cream

We did not realize how lucky we are here in Cleveland to have so many ice cream options close by (we have at least 3 tasty shops within 3 miles) until we went to a part of Florida where the only ice cream shop option within 5 miles was a Baskin-Robbins. 

So what did we do?  Make our own ice cream sundaes!

 Featuring: homemade chocolate sauce, freshly whipped cream, pistachios (yum!), and chocolate chips.  Oh, and ice cream.  

What?  Is there something on my face?

Here, try it!  It's good!

The Best Way to End a Day at the Beach

Can you tell?  The Goatling had a good time.

What's the best way to end a day at the beach?  Especially when it's the very first time for a Princess Goat and a Goatling to stick their little toes into the ocean, walk into the waves, and make sand castles on the shore?


Ice cream, of course!

After a day at Holmes Beach near Tampa, Florida Foodgoat steered us  to a little stand he spotted on the drive in called the Shake Pit.  It's an old school type of place that's been there since 1959 and looks it, and they had some truly delicious ice cream.

 Foodgoat has been on a quest to find the perfect sundae.  Sometimes the ice cream is good, but the whipped cream isn't quite right.  Sometimes the cream is perfect but another element isn't.  The one he had here?   The closest to the perfect sundae yet. 

The Princess Goat had both the vanilla and the chocolate and loved them both.  The Goatling had no complaints either. 

When you're on vacation, you're allowed to get a little messy

Our stop also taught us a lesson about not throwing away your child's uneaten portion of chocolate ice cream without telling them, and then when they ask for it a second you've tossed it out, telling them that you're saving it for them for later.  Don't do that.  Because then they're going to say it's going to melt.  And then you have to say it's okay because it's in a cooler.  And then they ask what cooler?  And then you have to tell them there's a cooler they didn't know about in the car.  And then they're going to ask where in the car?  And then you have to just hope that they fall asleep on the ride home because maintaining a fiction with a three year old who asks a lot of questions becomes harder and harder to do.

The Magic Pot: Foodgoat Joins the Cult of Le Crueset

 
For many a long year, Foodgoat disdained the Le Creuset line as mere props for the trophy kitchen.  Like copper pots, they were expensive, pretty cookware purchased by wealthy people who rarely actually cooked for their family. 

Then I got him one for his birthday.  His old standby pot, a Le Berndes, was looking a little worse for wear after ten years of diligent use, and he really needed a new one. And the Le Creuset store which opened close to my house has been whispering, "Shop here, shop here". 

Now Foodgoat is a total convert.

Far from being a mere pot, the Le Creuset French oven is a magic pot. Everything tastes better having been made in it.  Dishes that tasted delicious in the old pot taste even better made in a Le Creuset. 

Whence comes the magic?  The latest issue of Saveur breaks it down to four key components.

But we just like to say it's magic. 

And by the way, while you can get them at Crate and Barrel or Amazon or T.J. Maxx, will the saleslady at those places mail you a hand-written note in the mail a few weeks later asking how that new pot was working out?  No, they will not.

Italian Bean Paprikash

Being part of a CSA means having to become creative about using up a lot of vegetables in a timely manner.  Here, Foodgoat used two quarts of Italian beans and Hungarian sausage in lieu of chicken in his chicken paprikash recipe.

Last Week's Haul

 

This summer, I joined a CSA which conveniently delivers right to my workplace. 

Our meals have become much more vegetable-y.

Getting a big bag of fresh produce each week, and knowing that another big bag is coming next week, whether you're finished with what you already have or not, will do that.

So far, we've been getting lots of zucchini, squash, onions, and tomatoes.  We did get kohlrabi once, and that was enough to know I don't care to get more. 

5 Stages of Grief When You Have a Peanut Allergy

For months I have been lobbying to go to Sweetie Fry, the hot new place that sells ice cream AND French fries.  I know, perfect, right?  I couldn't wait.

And then when we get there, just as I am about to put in an order for waffle fries and sweet potato fries, Foodgoat reminds me to ask whether they cook they use peanut oil.

Me: "Do you use peanut oil?"
Sweetie Fry's:  "Yes, we do."

And just like that, I plunge into the five stages of peanut allergy grief.

1. Denial — "You mean you use peanut oil for just some of your French fries, right?  You do have a batch of fries that aren't made with peanut oil, right?  Right?  Right?"
   
2. Anger — "It's not fair!  Who's awful idea was it to use peanut oil? I DON'T CARE THAT PEANUT OIL TASTES BETTER!"
3. Bargaining — "Maybe I can just have a little taste.  Maybe just one French fry ..."
4. Depression — "I'm so sad.  No fries for me. I'm so deprived."
5. Acceptance — "I'll just never, ever be able to have Sweetie Fry's fries, or Thai food.  Oh well."

It wasn't a total loss.  We did have their ice cream, and their ice cream is out of this world.  Rich, creamy and so delicious.  The Key Lime was so tart and flavorful Foodgoat was still tasting it the next day, and he only had a few bites.

But the fact that there is all this delicious fried potato goodness there too, that I can't have because it will literally kill me ... well, that seems worth crying about, right?

The worst part is the girls are probably allergic to peanuts too.  Such a bummer.  

The Carrot-eating Toddler

Unlike other kids, Princess Goat has never minded eating her vegetables.  I've never felt like I had to sneak them into muffins, or grind them up into the pasta sauce, or bribe her into eating peas.  Sure, she didn't want to try the artichoke, but let's face it, artichokes do look weird, and on retrospect, perhaps they were undercooked.  And she doesn't like salad.  But generally, put some vegetables, in front of her and she's usually game to at least trying them.

And then there was the day she ate so many carrots she said she got a tummy ache.   Granted, it was only four carrots, but that's kind of a lot when you're three feet tall.  But those carrots, fresh from the farm with the tops still attached, were in fact, pretty good - sweet, crunchy and fun.   And when we got another bunch of carrots in our CSA again this week, she was excited to have more. 

Fast food employees tell you what NOT to order

See, stuff like this is what Reddit is good for:

Fast food workers of Reddit, what is the one menu option at your employment that you would recommend people never eat?: AskReddit

For some reason I feel vindicated that one of things on the list is ice.  I never get ice in the soft drinks, partly because I don't generally like my drinks super cold (unless there's a climate-change induce heat wave going on), and partly because ice just takes up space that could be used for more beverage.  But now there is another reason:  apparently those ice machines aren't easy to keep clean and mold free.  Ewww.

Sriracha Sauce

Much like the Goatling, we've only recently welcomed sriracha sauce into our home, but now we wonder how did we ever live without it?

The Asian-style hot sauce, a mix of chili peppers, vinegar, garlic, sugar and salt, has been topping everything in our house from pizza to mac and cheese, as seen above.  The hugely popular Huy Fong Foods sauce (the one with the rooster on it, because the developer was born in the year of the rooster) is actually made in California.

It's about lunchtime right now, so all I can think of is:  what other food can we try sriracha sauce in?  Or: would sriracha be a good name for a pet?  But mostly about the food.

4th of July

What can you do on the 4th but grill something?  It was sweltering here in Cleveland, so we just did hot dogs (spiral cut!) and corn on the cob.