My husband was at a trade show so I sampled only the counter service restaurants. I can’t wait to go again and try some of the full service restaurants in California Adventure.

Jolly Holiday Bakery Café

Located in Disneyland’s Main Street, the Jolly Holiday Bakery Cafe – previously the Blue Ribbon Bakery – was recently renovated and rebranded to include soups and sandwiches in addition to their vast assortment of baked goods. The name is a nod to the song in Mary Poppins – “Oh, it’s a jolly holiday with Mary …”.

I ordered the Jolly Holiday Combo – grilled cheese sandwich with tomato basil soup.

I’m not normally an eater of tomato based soups, but tomato basil soup with grilled cheese is a match for kings. They brilliantly pre-cut the sandwich for easy dipping.

French Market

The French Market is a cafeteria style spot with outdoor only seating. Set in New Orleans Square, it features delectable comfort foods from the area. Of course I had to try some jambalaya. As usual, portions were massive and I couldn’t finish my meal. The delicious non-alcoholic mint julep, on the other hand, went down like a breeze – I could have had two.

Every couple of hours, a trio performs New Orleans style blues, which I happened to catch. Nothing like an upright bass to make you feel like you’re in New Orleans.

Walk with Walt Tour Lunch

My last day I took a tour of Disneyland which included a lunch from the Jolly Holiday Bakery Café. I didn’t realize this when I ate there on my first day, although I’m still glad I went for the grilled cheese. The tour’s lunch was a cold served three-cheese sandwich with grapes and a cookie. While delicious, it was not quite as deluxe as the Jolly Holiday Combo.

A particular delight was the typical Disney gorgeous presentation. My meal was labelled with an artist’s hand. What a great surprise!

Since they were half off I felt adventurous enough to try something new. I found a new favorite because of it! Look past the cameraphone darkened room photography.

The Chocolate Tuxedo Cream Cheesecake features a base layer of fudge cake, followed by chocolate cheesecake, mousse, and then chocolate ganache.

The gorgeous pattern around the cheesecake is marshmallow cream and chocolate syrup. This is one I will definitely order again.

My husband got Lemon Raspberry Cream Cheesecake. Fruit and berry cheesecakes are his palate.

My brother got Dulce de Leche. What a caramel delight… so light and airy. This makes for a wonderful variation.

Now I’ve got to find an excuse to head back there and sample some more. Remember to check out Serious Eats’ photographic sampling of each flavor!

My husband made some delicious kebabs.

Ingredients:

• 5 kebab sticks
• 3 chicken tenderloins
• bunch of mushrooms
• 1 onion
• 1 pepper

First, soak those wooden kebab sticks for 30 minutes! If you have metal, obviously there is no need for this step.

We cut up the tenderloins with kitchen shears. Chop up the onion and pepper.

Construct your kebabs by alternating ingredients.

My husband made some sort of soy sauce and sesame marinade. He soaked the finished kebabs in said marinade (for which I did not have the recipe)

Grill unto chicken reaches internal temperature of 165ºF. Safety first!

Enjoy with rice and sweet tea.

They have photographed each flavor: view them in the slideshow on their site!

Serious Eats: Red Velvet Cake Cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory

My hands-down favorite so far is the red velvet cake cheesecake. Layers of red velvet cake intermingled with a mellow original cheesecake.. delicious. After viewing this slideshow I think I’m going to be motivated to venture out of my comfort zone and sample some new flavors!

In their Best-Of list Serious Eats categorizes the cheesecakes into four clusters:

1. Topped Cheesecakes
2. Flavored Cheesecakes
3. Layered Cheesecakes
4. Layered Cake-Cheesecakes (my favorite!)

So, now if I’ve made you hanker a slice, stop by a Cheesecake Factory on July 30. All slices will be half-price. How could one resist?

Via Flickr:
Lincoln made a checkerboard out off the excess cake I cut off. Yum!

When you cut off the excess cake, never waste! Much fun can be had with the trimmings.

This piece became a delectable delight – and fun to gaze upon – after applying some excess buttercream in a checkboard pattern.

What creative methods have you put your cake trimmings to use?

Monday we went out to eat. I ordered a Diet Pepsi. I was not planning for it to be my last diet drink, but last exchanges rarely are expected.

Thus begins the seven day story of my attempt to purge soda, caffeine, and other appetite inducing beverages. I will tell days of success, days of headache, days of relapse. Will seven days be enough to get over the caffeine addiction hump?

the beginning – Tuesday

I arrive in my cubical wielding a Propel Zero, sweetened with sucralose. Sucralose, although not aspartame, is still a chemically altered sugar with intensified sweetness and the majority fails to be absorbed by the body. My goal this early in the week is to eliminate aspartame and caffeine, although in the future I will wish all artificial sweeteners to bid adieu.

After the artificially sweetened morning drink, I cleanse my palate at my mid-day meal with refreshing pure unadulterated water. Nature’s cleanser.

I regress in my afternoon. I feature more water but flavored with Crystal Light Pure – sweetened with small amounts of sugar along with Truvia, a branded and altered version of the natural sweetener Stevia.

It is now 2:30 in the afternoon and the headache begins. Oh, the agony. The eye-pain. The neck-pain.

I continue to drink Crystal Light Pure. Two packets later and my stomach is wrenching. Could it be the headache? I don’t know, and I don’t care. I suffer through the rest of my afternoon the best I can, dreading my half-hour commute home.

My neck aches and my vision blurs as I reach out to open the front door. I throw my bags on the ground, narrowly missing my bewildered cats who are questioning why their normally sane mother is ignoring their welcoming cries. I kick off my clogs as I tumble into the bed, holding the pillow over my eyes to satiate the pain of my caffeine withdrawal.

And I sleep. For hours I sleep.

My husband jostles me awake for dinner… Macaroni & Cheese – all I can muster in my still gurgling tum. I down a couple antacids while I’m eating and, following a bit of reading, fall to slumber until the morning.

Wednesday. What perils for me will you bear?

Absolutely adorable “Artoo!” cake! All is edible sans the bow tie.

Always my favorite character, back from when I was a wee tyke.

The only question: where do you slice first?