Friday, March 22, 2013

Florida Vacation

Last week I took an impromptu trip to Florida to visit my sister and nieces, who are 6 and 8. My brother in law was on work travel, so it was a good excuse for a girls' weekend! Right before I left, I found out that there was a Babycakes Bakery in Downtown Disney...imagine my excitement when I found out that there was a dedicated gluten-free AND vegan bakery, in Disney!! 

(For those of you that have never heard of Babycakes, check them out here: http://www.babycakesnyc.com/ And, if you are ever in NYC, LA, or Downtown Disney, GO THERE!!)

After some running, and a pool visit for the nieces, we finally made it to Babycakes. I was overwhelmed by all the donut and cupcake choices, but finally decided on a vanilla donut with vanilla frosting. I think I was done eating it before I had even paid for it, so needless to say, there's no picture. BUT, I am hoping to get some donuts made this weekend or next (since I of course have the two Babycakes cookbooks), so be on the lookout for a blog post about that :)

I had already done some research about eating vegan at Disney, and I actually managed to find some good options at Magic Kingdom on Thursday night. We ate at the Starlight Cafe, which is a bit cafeteria-like, but when I said I was vegan, they cashier pulled out a binder with the ingredients of all the items on their menu, and the veggie burger was indeed vegan! The bun was vegan too (although wheat-filled...you can't win them all), and they even made my fries in a fryer that was dedicated to just fries (instead of fries AND chicken nuggets). Bonus: because they were only doing one batch of fries in the meat-free fryer, I got a HUGE order. Considering I never eat fries, it was definitely a treat. 

And another bonus: the ice cream place had both Tofutti AND Rice Dream ice creams! Holy moly. I was pretty amazed by that. So, for dessert (and for a sugar rush in order to keep up with the nieces til Magic Kingdom closed at 1:00 AM), I had two scoops of chocolate Tofutti. Big bonus points for Magic Kingdom!

Friday we had to check out and then we headed over to Epcot for the day. Epcot is where all the characters usually are, although unfortunately we didn't see many. Here's the only character picture I got:  

My nieces with Chip and Dale

 We didn't get to Epcot until about noon, and after an hour or so, we were starving! So, we headed to the Seasons Cafe, which is also a cafeteria-style food spot, with burgers, sandwiches, and a noodle bar. Imagine my surprise when I saw that I could get stir-fry veggies with rice noodles and vegan chick'n. Seriously?!? I placed my order, and then expressed my sincerest thanks to the ladies working behind the counter for offering obvious vegan options. 


My sister and the shark from Finding Nemo

The rest of the afternoon was spent walking Epcot, drinking beer and margaritas (obligatory in any good vacation, even if they were a little overpriced in Disney). 

Saturday was another big score of awesome vegan food, but only after getting my 3 hour workout in. Since my nieces were on spring break, they had mastered the art of sleeping until at least 11:00 AM, so I was up early and on the trainer on my sister's road bike. A little bit of knee discomfort due to the poor bike fit, but at least I got my workout in! Once my nieces woke up, I was subjected to an hour and a half of My Little Pony and The Littlest Pet Shop. That sure did make the time on the trainer fly.... (eye roll) 

Saturday afternoon we drove to downtown Tampa to take part in the St. Patrick's Day festivities, which included an Irish band, food trucks, a green river, and criteriums in the streets of downtown. After a stop at the O'Macalicious food truck for some mac and cheese for everyone but me, we found a great Mediterranean restaurant where I stuffed my face with a falafel wrap and vegan greek salad. The handcycle crits were going on, and the younger niece kept cheering for 'Bellybutton Man' since the jersey of one of the participants kept riding up. It was hard to keep a straight face. 

Pro crit in downtown - after another couple of laps there was a pretty serious  wreck right here. 
Dinner on Saturday night was at a place called Pizza Fusion in downtown Tampa. Good beer, AMAZING pizza. http://pizzafusion.com/

They had vegan and GF crust options, soy cheese, lots of great veggie toppings. Yum! 

Sunday involved a long run and an afternoon at the beach. My travel day on Monday ended up taking a bit longer than expected since I got bumped from my first flight, but I only got home a few hours later than originally planned, and I got a $400 travel voucher on American! Not gonna complain about that... 

It was back to work this week, and I am quite ready for the weekend. I sometimes like I need a vacation to recover from my vacations! 


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