Last Saturday's Fabulousness, Continued

This was not a week for prolific posting. After Quail Botanical Gardens and Elizabethan Desserts, we decided to stop by Spices Thai Cafe on the way home.

Spices serves decent Thai fare that neither excites nor disappoints. The service is good, the food is pretty good, and the menu has plenty of choices. Their lunch specials are the best, coming with rice, fried wontons, spring rolls, salad, and soup. I usually pick a curry or pad thai.

They OD on the fried beancurd. I ordered it vegetarian, hence the tofu. Cauliflower?! Not sure why that's there. The noodles are good, but sadly in the minority of the dish. Taste is fine and I love the sweet plum sauce that comes for the spring rolls and fried wonton. Although I have a special loathing for fried wontons (cream cheese?! what?!), they're a good carrier for the sauce.

In the evening, we decided to have dinner at home. We visited Zion Marketplace in Kearny Mesa for pre-marinated meat for our version of Korean BBQ.

I like the pre-marinated stuff. It's a little over-marinated, but still grills up nicely.

My favorite part of the store is the case o' panchan. Everything I've tried from the case is pretty good. In a shocking new development, D. actually likes kim chi! I know, I'm floored.

Korean BBQ can be very expensive. For a more casual and less authentic experience, try it at home.

Elizabethan Desserts (via Quail Botanical Gardens)

Last Saturday was one of those fabulous days to remember. The weather was good, the day was busy and fun, and the eats were fabulous. Of course.

We started at Quail Botanical Gardens in Encinitas.

It was a perfect day for walking around. Overcast, but not cool. The gardens are lovely and, while they're not expansive, there's plenty to see and we spent about 3 hours there.

Flowers are gorgeous, but desserts are even better. On the corner of Encinitas Blvd. and Quail Gardens Drive is Sunshine Nursery. Inside the nursery is Elizabethan Desserts.

Heaven. Absolute heaven. I used to be a fervent member of the church of Karen Krasne. She's the mastermind behind Extraordinary Desserts. I used to go all the time until I realized that the desserts weren't that great. I believe they gradually went downhill and now they're just over-sweet and excessively decorated piles of cake. No distinct flavors other than the overpowering sweetness.

Thank goodness there's Elizabethan Desserts. Still gorgeous, but plenty of quality beneath the surface. They specialize in American desserts... cupcakes, pies, cookies, and the like. The cupcakes:

Everything else:

I'd heard great things about the red velvet cupcakes on Chowhound and I'm still on my red velvet binge, so those were a no-brainer. I was surprised to find that, instead of a mild chocolate cake, it was a light and eggy buttermilk cake dyed red. Very nice. The cream cheese frosting was amazing. Whipped to a puffy cloud, it had barely any weight but packed a lot of flavor.

D. had the black and white cupcake, which was a take on the black and white cookie. With the frosting dipped in chocolate, it looked like a cone from Dairy Queen. D. said it was excellent and he's not a man for hyperbole.

E. and J. tried the banana cupcake, which also received rave reviews. Ok, nothing here sucked. It was all fantastic.

I didn't take a photo of S.'s Magic Bar, but it's a cookie bar with 4 types of chocolate, pecans, and coconut. Also very well-received. Another cookie bar available was the peanut butter s'more bar. Another one of those everything-Moowie-loves concoctions.

The top was toasted with a butane torch right after it was taken out of the case. Homemade marshmallow over layers of peanut butter praline, chocolate, and graham cracker crumbs. Really, can it be any better than that?

Last, but certainly not least, was a chocolate-toffee cookie. I used to make these during undergrad and it's a recipe I should resurrect and refine. I love toffee, which works so well with chocolate.

I'd be insane to never come back. Unfortunately, Encinitas is kind of far from where I live. I guess that's what the ol' Camry's for.

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