A Mission for a Long Weekend

Jesse and I drove up to New Jersey this weekend to visit family and friends. My Mom and I hosted a Pampered Chef party on Saturday. It was so much fun! It started at 3 pm and the last of my friends ended up leaving around 11. I am excited about all of the kitchen goodies I was able to order too.

On Sunday we ventured out to the bookstore to get a guide to San Francisco and the wine country areas of California. We are heading there for about five days in late May to play tourist and visit some friends. So far our wish list includes (need to do some editing!): winery tours and tastings, Tartine Bread, Gracias Madre, San Francisco Museum of Art, Chinatown, Girl and the Fig and Muir Woods. I'd love to add Milennium and/or Chez Panisse to that. If you have any suggestions of things to do, see or eat, please let me know.

On Sunday night, we decided to complete a mission. You see, for the past few months, Jesse and I have been obssessed with the Food Network show, "The Best Thing I Ever Ate". Unfortunately, we can't eat about 85% of their picks since they contain meat, but we still make a note of the dishes they mention and their locations for anything that we can eat. A few weeks ago, the coconut cream pie from Ritz Seafood in Voorhees, New Jersey was raved about. Jesse asked if we could go the next time we were visiting my family, since they live about an hour away from Voorhees.

So we went. Here were are waiting for our delicious desserts. Jesse looks less than thrilled in this picture, but I assure you he was excited.


It turns out that the peanut butter banana cream pie was also featured on The Food Network. Since I don't care for coconut, I decided that this would be the dessert I would try. After all, it's famous! And for good reason. The peanut butter was baked into the crust and the whole thing was just spectacular. Even Jesse admitted that my dessert was the best. Don't worry--I shared mine. And it's back to green smoothies and healthy eats as of this morning.

And lastly, the reason we made this trek: the famous coconut cream pie. It was topped with toasted coconut and white chocolate shavings. Jesse loved it and said it was every bit as good as the show said.

If you go, you should know that it is located in a strip mall, you have to bring your own alcohol, the decor is a little "eh" and the tables are close together. However, the seafood is delicious, the servers know the food inside and out, and the desserts are amazing. You need to make a reservation (even for a Sunday night). It's totally worth it for the great eats.