Peas-n-Carrots for Dessert? – Rat’s Restaurant

This week, I celebrated my 30^th birthday!  It was a five day celebration starting on Friday, extended through the weekend, and ended with an amazing dinner with my husband at Rat’s Restaurant located in the Grounds for Sculpture in Hamilton, New Jersey. 

The Grounds for Sculpture s a 35-acre sculpture park with two indoor museums, shops, a cafe and the fine dining destination, Rat's Restaurant.  Rat’s is designed to make visitors feel they have stepped into a village reminiscent of French impressionist Claude Monet’s town of Giverny.  It overlooks sculptures inspired by impressionist paintings and offers French cuisine.   

The dinner was amazing and I made sure to save room for dessert of course!  I thought their dessert menu was very interesting and offered a different spin on flavors of traditional desserts.  Rat’s also takes pride in offering foods from local farms and using organics.  Take a peek at the menu below.

My birthday dessert choice was Peas-n-Carrots.  I wanted to indulge in a dessert that wasn’t typical.  It was a carrot cake, topped with pea ice cream, on top of a rum crème anglaise.  It was absolutely delicious and I rate it 4 out of 5 ice cream cones. 

My husband selected the sorbet in the following flavors:  Lemon Spoom, Root Beer, and Coconut Mojito. 

Rat’s offered a magical ambiance for dining and was a lovely complement to the Grounds for Sculpture experience.  I highly recommend a visit to the Grounds and to try the decadent dessert offerings of Rat’s. 

The Lighthouse - Strollo's Homemade Italian Ice

I spent the weekend down the shore in Long Branch, New Jersey and finally got to taste the famous soft serve of the Light House.  The Light House is known to be the "taste of the Jersey Shore" and is also described as the "taste of the summer."  

I wanted to try a flavor that I usually don't taste and stayed away from the classic vanilla or chocolate.  I decided to try their soft serve flavor of the week, Butter Pecan, and added rainbow sprinkles on top.

My family and a few close friends joined me at the Light House and enjoyed these flavors:  Mango Italian Ice, Vanilla soft serve covered with Peanut Butter topping with Chocolate Crunchies, Cherry Italian Ice with Vanilla soft serve, Vanilla soft serve with Chocolate topping, and Lemon Italian Ice.  

I rate the Butter Pecan flavor two ice cream cones out of five.  Unfortunately, I did not enjoy the flavor as much as I had hoped.  I found myself wanting the other flavors my family ordered and next time know what other flavors to try.  

Next time you are down the shore, in Long Branch, stop by The Light House and try the "taste of the Jersey Shore."  

Sugar + Sunshine Bakery

At lunch today, myself and two of my colleagues discovered the most delicious cupcakes in the Plainsboro/Princeton New Jersey area from Sugar + Sunshine Bakery.  What makes this bakery special is that the desserts taste homemade because they are.  They don't use preservatives or artificial ingredients.  They bake the old fashioned way with real butter, sugar, flour and eggs. 

We walked over to Sugar + Sunshine Bakery where they had the most scrumptious cupcakes on display.  Some of the cupcakes to choose from were Red Velvet, Coconut Cream, Cookies & Cream, Peanut Butter, and the classic White Cake with Chocolate Frosting.  I enjoyed the classic white cupcake with chocolate frosting.  My colleague selected the coconut cupcake and my other colleague chose red velvet below. 

 

Sugar + Sunshine is such a cute bakery where you can take the cupcakes to go or stay and enjoy a cup of  fresh coffee.  I rate Sugar + Sunshine Bakery five out of five ice cream cones and look forward to my next visit back

Annabelle's Natural Ice Cream - Portsmouth, New Hampshire

In honor of National Ice Cream month, I spent the very last weekend of July tasting a new ice cream flavor at a new ice cream place I have never been to before.  I was in Portsmouth, New Hampshire to attend my cousin's wedding and while venturing the area of Portsmouth, I found Annabelle's Natural Ice Cream shop tucked alongside the Portsmouth waterfront. 

In July of 1982, a small ice cream shop opened on Ceres Street, in the seacoast community of Portsmouth, NH.  It didn't take long before this small shop was attracting customers from all over New England who stood in lines to get a taste of this super premium frozen confection.  Word spread quickly this small shop offered a spectacular ice cream product. 

Annabelle's offers flavors like:  Cashew Caramel Cluster (caramel ice cream with roasted cashews and chocolate chunks), Swiss Chocolate Avalanche (Swiss chocolate ice cream with pecans, walnuts, chocolate covered almonds, chocolate chunks, and white chocolate swirls), and Mint Summer's Night Dream (mint chocolate ice cream with dark and white chocolate chunks). 

After a long debate of which flavor to taste, I ultimately went for Mint Summer's Night Dream.  I am a huge fan of chocolate and mint.  The delicious combination of  sweet chocolate, cream and mint were pure perfection.  I rate this flavor five out of five ice cream cones.   

If you ever have the chance to visit Portsmouth, be sure to swing by Annabelle's Ice Cream to try for yourself.