To the Zoo! and the other zoo!

Saturday was a very busy day. We went to the Battle Creek Farmers' Market and had a lot of fun shopping for produce. We bought wonderful orangeish-yellow cherry tomatoes, corn on the cob, purple bell peppers, and sweet banana peppers. It was a lot of fun just looking around. We then headed off to Binder Park Zoo as a family. It was so much fun! We saw the snow leopards, kangaroos, wallabies, prairie dogs, kookaburras, and lemurs before boarding the tram to the Wild Africa exhibit. We had a lot of fun looking at the zebras, the storks that could wear size 18 shoes, ostriches, and giraffes (which were my favorite--see pictures below). I also enjoyed watching the monkeys scramble over to the opposite side of their exhibit to receive their lunch of cucumber pieces, celery slices, and strawberries; their tails were ridiculously long and they ran/hopped quicker than I thought they could move. It was decently warm out, but clouds were rolling in, so it made it not quite as bad. However, our stay in Africa was cut short by a lot of loud thunder; it started to rain as soon as we returned to the car.

baby giraffe with mama giraffe

you can't see the little boy, but this giraffe is getting a snack of lettuce leaves (who knew giraffes were on the Atkins' diet?!)

Later in the evening, we went to Kalamazoo (the other zoo) for dinner. We spent the evening at the "Chef's Table" at Zazio's restaurant. It was absolutely amazing! My taste buds could not have been happier! We watched the chef prepare all of our food right in front of us. It was a ridiculous amount of food, but oh so delicious! Our menu was completely inspired by foods from Camagnia, which includes the cities of Naples, Amalfi, and Capri. 

Our menu:

• FRITTELLE DI ZUCCHINI
• crisp zucchini & ricotta fritter & blossom,
• chilled tomato – basil soup, Casale olio
• The zucchini fritters were the best part of this course. They were not too dense and not too soft or crispy. Just perfect!
• INSALATA CAPRESE
• local summer tomatoes, mozzarella di bufala DOP, Kirklin Gardens basil, extra virgin olive oil, sea salt
• The tomatoes used were heirloom tomatoes and each slice was a different color: red, orange, yellow, and green. The buffalo mozzarella had holes in it! like Swiss cheese!
• GNOCCHI con pomodoro e colatura
• housemade ricotta dumplings, tomatoes, mozzarella fior di latte, peperoncini, anchovy sauce
• The sauce was just olive oil, the anchovy sauce, tomatoes, oregano, and mozzarella. It was so light, but incredibly delectable! 
• COTOLETTA alla pizzaiola
• grilled pork cutlet with fennel, tomatoes, oregano, garlic, onions, olives,peperoncini, roasted eggplant
• I did not care much for the pork partially because I was quite full by this point in the meal, but I loved the roasted eggplant (even if it was a not-so-appetizing shade of green) and the fennel and onion topping for the pork. 
• TORTA CAPRESE con albicocche
• chocolate – almond tort, Michigan apricots,
• gelato al limoncello
• The dessert may have been my favorite part of this meal. The gelato was made from scratch (the chef started it in the beginning of the meal), and it tasted very much like the limoncello we had in Italy this summer. Because of my nut allergy, the chef made a flourless chocolate cake to replace my almond tort. It was soft, but not pudding-like and very rich. The apricots were in sliced in half and warmed up in a simple syrup (equal parts water and sugar). It was amazing! 

Overall, the day was a complete success and the trips to the zoos were magnificent! The time spent with the family was great since we will all be leaving soon for school.