Did see the 2-page sweets feature in the November issue of San Diego Magazine? I took a trip to the South Bay to uncover some of the best pastries, frozen treats, and desserts. Check it out on sandiegomagazine.com!
Food Types Archives: Frozen Treats
8 Sweet Breakfast Dishes in San Diego
If you love starting your day with a healthy dose of sugar, check out my latest round-up of sweet breakfast desserts on Serious Eats: Sweets, featuring everything from (relatively) healthy options like my favorite acai bowl, to saturated with sugar indulgences like a bananas foster belgian waffle.
PB&J Treats to celebrate National Peanut Butter and Jelly Day
How many sandwiches have not one, but TWO songs inspired by the ingredients? I’m going to guess there’s only one: the mighty peanut butter and jelly. Biting into a standard PB&J sandwich is a fine enough way to celebrate International Peanut Butter and Jelly Day (April 2nd, 2012), but there are a few tastier (and sweeter) alternatives in San Diego, namely the PB&J cookie at Zanzibar, or the peanut butter and jam-inspired dessert at the Grant Grill.
Review: Ben and Jerry’s Strawberry Shortcake Greek Frozen Yogurt
My first clue that Ben and Jerry’s was planning some new frozen yogurt formulations was in a special “Chunk Mail” survey, which asked how likely I’d be to purchase a tub of Greek-style frozen yogurt. I selected the option for “very likely” and a few days ago, I finally had the opportunity. My store had all four flavors in stock, but the Strawberry Shortcake sounded the most appealing.
Acai Bowls at Swami’s Cafe
My instinct with breakfast is always to go with something sweet, like pancakes or french toast, but the though of having a brick of syrup-soaked carbs weighing me down isn’t always appealing. That’s where acai bowls come in.
Hawaiian Ice Cream from Lappert’s
Good ice cream comes down to a few factors: lots of fat, and as little air as possible. Premium ice cream has about 10-15% fat, while Lappert’s has 16-18% fat. Sure, this makes the final product more calorie rich, but if you’re already making the drive out to Poway, you might as well indulge.
Sweet Trip: San Francisco Sugar
One of my favorite things about San Diego (aside from the palm trees, beaches, and cheap Mexican food) is its proximity to San Francisco. Hop in a plane and you can be there in about 2 hours (including baggage pick-up and BART). On a recent four-day binge vacation full of discovery, eating, and lots of walking up hills we sampled some truly spectacular sweets. Here are some of my favorites:
Grocery Goods: Lovin’ Scoopful Ice Cream
When it comes to dessert, I’m not good with restraint. And while low-fat and low-sugar options sound good in theory, I’ve found that as a general rule of thumb, I’d rather eat half of the full-fat or full-sugar option. So, when I was contacted by the good people at Lovin’ Scoopful, which has half the fat of the regular stuff, I wasn’t too optimistic that it would replace my Ben and Jerry’s habit.
Ice Cream from Oasis Ice Cream Parlor
It’s a good thing Oasis Ice Cream Parlor has a private seating area outside, because had I eaten my ice cream in front of anyone other than my husband, I would have seriously embarrassed myself. It’s really best that there were no witnesses to my toe-tapping happy dance and repeated exclamations (probably with my mouth full) that the ice cream was “So, so good.”
Sugar Shots from Taste of Adams Ave.
Just about every neighborhood in San Diego hosts a “Taste Of…” festival each year, and Taste of Adams Ave might be my favorite. After attending the Gaslamp and Downtown events, I finally learned how to do these events right: be picky, share samples, and know when to quit. This time around, I focused most of my efforts on trying mostly sweets, a relatively easy feat since only a handful of places were handing out desserts.