My daughter had her first overnight field trip last week and I chose to chaperone. I questioned up until the morning of the field trip if that was the best choice or if completely skipping the field trip and making the trip on our own as my boyfriend suggested was the better choice. I'm just serving it up real here. That whole being at school at 5:15 a.m. definitely had me questioning if I made the right decision. I also wondered up until we received our room assignments if I made the right choice. I sub at my daughter's school from time to time and for the most part, they are good kids, but this was a whole different level of spending time around kids. Lord, please let me be assigned with well-behaved kids! Thank God that wish was granted!!!
Our trip was planned to the tea. For those that wonder to what degree can your child who has to eat gluten free participate, I once again say that with proper planning and understanding people, this can happen. When we first received the agenda, I saw an Italian restaurant on the agenda and thought, nope, we're out, not happening. Then I pulled up the review for Sal's, called them, and decided we would be ok. I am in several gluten free facebook groups and there are many people with celiac who absolutely will not eat at a restaurant that isn't one hundred percent gluten free. I ask questions. Do they do glove changes, use a fresh surface, clean cutlery, a different cooking pan and cutting board and toppings? Do they understand cross contamination? I won't be dedicating much more space to Sal's other than to say it was ok pizza, nothing to write home about.
I also saw that on the ride home they were doing bag lunches. The options would be sandwich or salad. Knowing my child doesn't eat salads. (Yep, still working on this one.) And I am picky when it comes to salads. I want quality lettuce, more than just tomatoes, and onions, etc. I figured we would likely be taking advantage of the on our own time after lunch and picking up something different for both of us. We received our salads and they were the plain salad that I expected, and they were covered in croutons. They went straight in the trash and we went to check out The Cheese Shop, The Peanut Shop, and Blackbird Bakery.
The Cheese Shop is a cute little deli where I could have spent way more time, but I had two fifth grade girls and we were on a mission that required focus. Find something of substance that could pass as lunch for my daughter and me, besides the leftover pizza from the night before that I was incredibly grateful I had requested a to go box for, just in case our lunch was as expected. Like I said, you plan for stuff to not go right. I bought charcuterie cheese and Olli Salumeria wild boar salami. Yes, we ended up needing to share these with our fellow passengers on the bus. The Peanut Shop had an awesome variety of peanuts and lots of samples. We settled on the milk brittle and the container did not make it the rest of the bus ride home. My daughter might have insisted everyone else try them too. We also went to Wythe Candy, the much anticipated store and the one that the teachers warned all the chaperones about because that's where the kids usually blow most of the spending money they bring with them. One thing that stood out to me about this store was how well-labeled their items were for allergens. Kudos to stores that take the time to do this.
Finally, it was time to hit the bakery I heard about, The Blackbird Bakery.
I told them I had read great reviews on Find Me Gluten Free and wanted to know what options they had. Their gluten free options were plated separately and they did a glove change to pick up the items I chose. There were more options than I could remember for gluten free, so I took pictures to try to remember them all for you, but I know I am going to miss something. The flourless chocolate torte looked absolutely divine, but I was worried it might be too heavy to sit in my stomach on the long bus ride back.
My daughter has a thing for mousse. Maybe it's because it's a dessert that I don't make or maybe it's because it tends to be a larger serving size than some of the other options. Macarons were another option, along with something called cinder toffee, which the sales clerk described as tasting like s'mores.
As I said, she has a weakness for mousse, so we bought two of these. She was a happy camper. Maybe I should have found out before buying both that they were dark chocolate, not milk chocolate. She only ate a few bites and then handed it over to me. I thought it was super yummy and rich. This is one of those desserts that you are better off sharing with someone else because of how rich it is and I don't often share my dessert.
When I told the clerk we would be eating our desserts on a long bus ride, she offered to make the cinder toffee easier to eat and broke it up for us before putting it in the box. This was an awesome snack food for the long bus ride back and a huge hit. I had a hard time saving a few pieces to bring back to my boyfriend to try, but I managed. The Blackbird Bakery was definitely worth the stop!
Comments