Coquette Patisserie in Cleveland

After our blissful trip to the Cleveland Botanical Gardens, Amanda and I were in the mood for a snack.  She hadn't had any birthday cake yet so that was an obvious must!  She mentioned a little patisserie that had opened recently near by, we glanced at their website and we were sold!  Within a couple minutes we were making our way to the Coquette Patisserie.  It took us some time to find parking but it was totally worth it.  The shop itself is absolutely adorable...

 I mean, how cute is that!?

We decided to share a couple of their amazing looking cakes and a small french press of coffee.

 So pretty!  We ended up getting (clockwise from the top): the pear pinwheel, the Queen of Sheba, and the chocolate triomphe.

 We were both actually a little wary to dig in because it all looked too beautiful and perfect to eat!  The Queen of Sheba (with the fleur-de-lis) was this first one we tried and turned out to be our least favorite.  It was good, but once we tried the pear and the chocolate triomphe it was blown out of the water!  Amanda loved the pear the most, while I was absolutely crazy about the chocolate triomphe.

Look at that!  I was expecting a dense cake like the Queen of Sheba, but when I dug my fork in I was surprised to find a soft white cake covered in a fluffy chocolate mousse covered in a creamy, rich ganache topped with candied hazelnuts...WOWZA!  So good!

If you find yourself in Cleveland anywhere near the university or the museums I would definitely recommend you stop by and try one of their delicious and perfectly constructed goodies!  They also offer a cheese and a charcuterie plate, a selection of beers, and wine and champagne.  It'd be a great spot for an afternoon snack with your best lady friends or a sweet spot to stop for dessert on a date!

Well, with that, happy Friday everyone!  I gotta say this week felt both short and long to me; the first half of the week flew by but the second half seemed to crawl.  I'm very much looking forward to the weekend!  Antoine and I are heading to the Krohn Conservatory orchid show, which I'm insanely excited for, and then I'm hoping to spend a good deal of the weekend relaxing and maybe reading.  What about you?  Any fun plans in the works this weekend?

Holmes with a View (B&B Review)

Antoine and I aren't normally bed and breakfast people.  We've been to a couple and never had a bad experience, in fact, we've only had positive ones.  And don't get me wrong, I love the idea of an included homemade breakfast!  But bed and breakfasts tend to have a social element built into them, and that's just not our thing.  Mainly, it's not my thing.  Talking to strangers while I'm on vacation terrifies me and doesn't sound at all appealing.  Luckily, all of the bed and breakfast experiences we've had have been stress-free and involved little to no socializing.  Holmes with a View*, where we stayed for a night while we were in Amish Country, was the epitome of a stress-free, private bed and breakfast.  Combine that with a really cool design and one heck of a view and you've got one awesome bed and breakfast!

  Unlike most B&Bs where all the guests stay in one house, Holmes with a View's suites are completely separated from the proprietors home.  After checking in (at the proprietors home), you drive a couple hundred feet down the road to three circular buildings.  Each building is two stories high and each contain two suites, one on the top floor and one on the bottom.  Each suite has it's own private entrance and separate parking.  One of the buildings is larger than the other two because its suites have two bedrooms instead of one.  We obviously stayed in a one bedroom suite, and chose a top level one.

Look at that view! Isn't it incredible?

Now, it's definitely pricier than we'd normally spend, but in the end we agreed that it was totally worth it!  In fact, we were both blown away by this place and will definitely return in the future.  If you're looking for a quiet, private, and romantic getaway in Amish Country, I'd definitely suggest this place.  I mean, just look at it!

A full kitchen complete with all the necessities, nearly 360 degree windows to enjoy that spectacular view, an adorable little seating area for two, a jacuzzi tub, dish tv (as well as a collection of movies and board games),  a full bath with shower and a bedroom with a view.  Oh, and if that's not enough...continental breakfast waiting for you in your room.

After you check-in and get the keys to your suite and then you oooh and ahhh over it for a couple minutes you realized that your included continental breakfast is already there in your room, waiting for you to enjoy it the following morning.  You don't even have to get out of your pajamas to enjoy your breakfast...icing on the cake!  Delicious cinnamon rolls, a loaf of Amish bread, homemade strawberry jam, an assortment of juices, coffee, tea, popcorn (for a late-night snack) and a Keurig...all in your room waiting for you!  Doesn't get much better than that!  Oh wait, a britta in the fridge full of ice cold water to cool you off after all your sightseeing?  Check!  (This made Antoine and I very happy!  We are very picky about water and we like it ice cold, so yay!)

Picture this, you wake up after a day of shopping/eating cheese samples/feasting on the ultimate comfort food/relaxing in a bubble bath, etc. and you warm up a cinnamon roll, make some coffee and enjoy it on the balcony while looking out on this.  That's just awesome!  Makes it totally worth the price tag.

And the peacefulness of this place is crazy!  It's up on a hill away from any traffic, so you're surrounded by fields and flowers and all you hear are birds chirping and the occasional cluck of a chicken.  It's wonderful.

Oh, and in the morning, there might be horses in your backyard, which is pretty cool!

We had the best time!  It was so relaxing and perfect, we can't wait to go back.  If you're planning a trip to Amish Country, I would definitely recommend this place.  Also, you could make it a little more affordable by splitting the two-bedroom suite with four people, say for a girls weekend or two couples.

* (Holmes = Holmes County, the heart of Amish Country) 

Holmes with a View has no idea I'm writing this post and has not given me any incentive to do so, we just really loved it and I wanted to share it with everyone!

Cafe Mediterranean: A Mini-Review

I thought you needed a little break from my crazy long Olympic/Seattle recap.  So here's a mini-review on a local Mediterranean place.

I've never been the biggest fan of Mediterranean food.  I mean, I've always liked it okay, but I've never craved it or dreamt about it like I do with ice cream or Dewey's pizza.  That's until I tried labneh or lebne.  Then, BOOOOOM!  My world was turned upside down and I longed to get my hands on more of this delicious and creamy delight.  If you've never had lebne then you're missing out.  It's somewhere between strained yogurt and cream cheese, often with hints of garlic and sprinkled with herbs and spices and a drizzle of olive oil.  Oh, and served with warm pita bread...that's a must.  Mmmm.

Wait, what was I saying?  Oh yeah, lebne has given me a greater appreciation for Mediterranean food and now I find I crave it more and more.  So when I saw a groupon for Cafe Mediterranean in Blue Ash, a spot I had been to once with the girls, I jumped on it since Antoine had never been.  Plus, groupons can be a great vehicle for impromptu date nights to spots we normally wouldn't go.  And often, especially in this case, the restaurant becomes a favorite that we'll eagerly look forward to visiting in the near future.

The food is excellent and the staff is so friendly!  We started off with the lebne (of course) and the spinach borek.  The lebne was fantastic!  The sprinkle of fresh dill on top was just perfect.  The borek, which we had never had before,  is a flaky pastry filled with spinach and feta, rolled up like a egg roll and lightly fried.  Tasty!

We both got the chicken kebab as our entree, which was juicy and flavorful.  I opted for the steamed veggies instead of the rice and I'm glad I did; they were a tasty accompaniment to the chicken.

For dessert Antoine got the baklava, which I stole a bite of, and my goodness it was heavenly!  I tried the Turkish coffee since we were going to the 10pm showing of Great Gatsby and it was a weeknight.  I had never had before.  Wow!  It was intense. 

It totally did the trick and I made it through the movie without passing out.  But boy, oh boy, I don't now if I could handle that again.  It was like drinking coffee-mud.  But the demitasse it came in was exquisite. 

Overall, Cafe Mediterranean is a great spot with good food and a super friendly staff.  I'd recommend it to anyone for a nice little date night out!