Food discoveries: coffee ice cream and salad

We made two important food discoveries this week (we spend a lot of time thinking about food here if you haven't noticed).

First, we found coffee ice cream! For months we were convinced this country didn't make coffee ice cream -- just mocha, a poor imitation. I checked every grocery store and ice cream shop we came across for weeks, and nothing. Then last month we were walking past a take-out ice cream place. A man from Texas was sitting there and heard me stop Ben to tell him the store said they had coffee ice cream. "Coffee ice cream is hard to find here," he told us, "but they've started to have it at Persicco and Volta (two upscale ice cream shops)." When we tried to order from this shop, no coffee, despite the sign. So earlier this week, Ben took his bike in search of a Persicco and came home with real coffee ice cream (actually more like gelato). Delicious (though not as good as Brigham's).

Second, I had a real salad. We've complained before about how hard it is to find good lettuce here, and even at restaurants, the "salads" section of the menu rarely includes any lettuce. So I was suitably shocked when a waiter delivered this to my table last night:

The photo is taken with a cell phone camera in low light,
so it doesn't really do the salad justice.

Grilled chicken, grilled pumpkin, tomatoes, sunflower seeds and Parmesan cheese over greens with a mustard vinaigrette. Again, delicious. And the best salad I've had in BA. We'll definitely be going back.

- Steph