Travel is more fun with kids

Spring Events at the Jelly Belly Visitor Center in Fairfield

Jelly Belly Factory
Location 1 Jelly Belly Ln, Fairfield,CA
www.jellybelly.com
Tel: 1-800-9-JELLYBEAN (1-800-953-5592)

Free candy factory tours daily, 9:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m. at One Jelly Belly Lane, Fairfield. For more information (800) 953-5592 or visit www.JellyBelly.com.

Notice

Due to their annual inventory check/maintenance schedule, there will be no candy production in the factory on the following dates:
Thursday and Friday, March 29th and 30th
Monday, June 4th through Sunday, June 24th
Tours will still be conducted, but in a non-working factory. See the Weekend Tours section on the Factory Tours page for details.

 

Monday, February 20^th  

Cherry Sampling Day at Jelly Belly  - 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.  

In honor of America’s first president, Jelly Belly hosts a Cherry Taste Off; Vote for your favorite cherry-inspired confection at our free sampling of Very Cherry Jelly Belly beans, Very Cherry soda, Very Cherry Chocolate Dips and hand-made cherry-flavored fudge from our Chocolate Shoppe. 

 

Monday, April 2^nd through Saturday April 7^{th -} Visit the Easter Bunny at Jelly Belly

Monday-Friday 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Saturday 1:00 p.m.-4:00 p.m.

Create a special Easter memory at Jelly Belly Visitor Center with the Easter Bunny. Professional photos available for purchase or bring your own camera!

 

Saturday, April 7^th

Brunch with Mr. Jelly Belly and the Easter Bunnies - 10:00 a.m.

Join Mr. Jelly Belly, Wendell and Wendy Bunny for a private brunch at the Jelly Belly Visitor Center, with entertainment and Easter treats. $19.99 for children and adults ages 3+. Children ages 2 and under free. Tickets by advance purchase, reservations required at visit www.jellybelly.com.

 

Sunday, April 22^nd

Celebrate National Jelly Bean Day at Jelly Belly 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

 

 

Join us at the Visitor Center for National Jelly Bean Day! Learn fun facts about our Jelly Belly jelly beans and participate in jelly bean inspired activities.

My two favorite products to live and travel green

I used to be the queen of water bottles and zip log bags when I was traveling. Lately, I have been going down the green road with two items that I actually use all year long in my children lunchboxes.

FOR DRINK

I use stainless water bottles. I like the ones made by Klean Kanteen. Bring them empty at the airport and feel them at the water fountain after you have cleared security.

I use a 12 ounces for each kid and a 27 ounces for us parents. For toddlers, you can use the Sippy.
 

If you need to bring warm food, they have insulated thermos.

Klean Kanteen offers a 25% off their products with coupon KKEARTH till April 26th (insulated Kanteens not included)

FOR SNACKS

I use LunchBots stainless containers. They exist in different sizes, with or without compartments  and once you try them, you become addicted. They are very convenient and I use them all the time: lunchboxes, snacks, traveling etc.

I bought mine at Peek a Green, an online shop where everything is eco friendly and organic. I trust their selection and I encourage you to look around for wonderful products if you are looking to green your life.

 

From April 15 to April 30, Peek a Green will plant 10 trees (instead of 1) for each item purchased!

Related Posts:

Earth Day Events in the San Francisco Bay Area
Stylish and Green Travel Backpacks for children
Disney Earth Movie Review
 
 
 
 

Best crêperies in Paris

First, here is a cool website to find crêperies in Paris: www.paris-crepes.fr

In a crêperie, you can eat galettes, they are salty crêpes filled with your choice of salmon, goat cheese, lardons, cheese etc. You pick.They are made out of buckwheat. For dessert, you will have the regular yellow-brown crêpe filled with sugar, nutella, ice cream, chantilly etc.

A crêperie is the ideal restaurant to take children when you are in France,they can pick the simplest combination if they are not too hungry or are picky eaters: ham and cheese is one of the children favorite combination. My children LOVE crêpes and for them going to a crêperie is always a nice treat. 

Galette au chevre chaud (goat cheese) et lardons for Mom and Galette au fromage (cheese) for Missy.

American are more used to the dessert crêpes, the yellow/slightly brown crêpes that are eating sitting down or on the go. The crêpes are filled with different toppings and in France, they are not filled to explode like I have seen in the US.

Crêpes are easy to make, you can read more about the tradition behind the crêpes and find my favorite crêpes recipe on my other post.

They are hundreds of crêperies in Paris, some only make crêpes to go, others are sitting restaurants. It is hard to find bad crêpes but to help you out, I have put together a list of the top Parisian crêperies:

Breizh Café
109, rue Vieille du Temple, 3^rd arrondissement


Chez Nicos
44 rue Mouffetard, 5th arrondissement

Oroyana
36 Rue Mouffetard 5^th arrondissement

The Petit Grec
68 Rue Mouffetard, 5^th arrondissement

West Country Girl
6, passage St. Ambroise, 11^th arrondissement

Crêperie Bretonne
67 rue de Charonne, 12th arrondissement,

Point Chaud Express
49 boulevard St-Germain, 5th arrondissement

Ti Jos
30 rue Delambre, 14th arrondissement

Josselin
67, rue du Montparnasse, 14th arrondissement

Crêperie de Josselin
67 rue du Montparnasse, 14th arrondissement

Ty Breiz
52 boulevard Vaugirard, 15th arrondissement

  
Crêpes to go by Notre Dame

Related posts
La Chandeleur: French crêpes day and my favorite crêpe recipe

Things To Do

The Chandeleur: French Crêpes Day and my favorite Crêpes Recipe

What is the Chandeleur?

The Chandeleur is also called the Celebration of the Candles. It is celebrated 40 days after Christmas to honor the presentation of Baby Jesus to the temple as well as the purification of Mary. It is always celebrated on February 2nd.

With Chandeleur, the period of Carnavals also starts and will finish on Fat Tuesday. I was raised in the South of France and Carnaval is a big tradition for us. On week-ends, we go to villages where they have carnavals and dress up in our favorite costumes, in the same spirit as Halloween for the Americans.

On February 2nd, we traditionally eat crêpes so let me share with you my recipe! Become French for the day and cook some yummy crêpes for the family.

Crepe recipe from the Ginette Mathiot book.
That book was offered to me by my Parisian co-workers when I moved to the US. The English version is I Know How To Cook, a MUST HAVE cooking book for anybody who wants to learn traditional French cuisine.

Ingredients 
For 4 persons
500 g flour (4 cups and two extra tablespoons)
1 liter milk (1 quart)
4 eggs
2 tablespoon of canola oil
2 pinches of salt
For flavor: vanilla, fleur d’oranger, rum etc, your pick

Directions

- Pass the flour through a sieve and put in a mixing bowl
- Create a little hole in the flour and break the eggs in that hole
- Add the oil, the salt, and a little bit of milk
- Whisk together 
- Gradually add in the milk,stirring to combine.
- Add the flavor you picked.

- Put it away for one hour, the batter needs to rest. I like to sieve the batter to make it even smoother.
- Before cooking, add a little bit of milk to the batter and whisk it gently

- Heat a crêpe pan over medium heat
- Add some butter or oil to the pan. Have some melter butter or oil ready in a bowl for the next crepes. We usually cut a potato, plant it on a fork and dip it in the butter/oil and use it to grease the pan.
- Pour or scoop a little bit of the the batter onto the pan.
- Tilt the pan with a circular motion so that the batter coats the surface evenly.
- Cook each crêpe until the bottom is light brown and flip it or turn it to cook it on the other side.

Eat the crêpes cold with whipping cream, nutella, jam, sugar, agave nectar etc. Your choice!

A Chandeleur ritual

To have prosperity all year, when you cook your first crêpe, hold the pan with your right hand and hold a coin in your left hand.

 
Related posts:
Best crêperies in Paris

7 Factories to visit in the Bay Area this summer

Visiting factories are lots of fun. It is nice to have a behind the scene view on how things are done. It is not always the first thing that comes to people’s mind or visitors but it should as I believe it teaches us so much on mechanics, tour de main or other technical skills needed to put together a fortune cookie or the amount of time needed to create a jelly belly bean. I have put together a list of some factories that are open for tours in the Bay Area. Visits are free unless written otherwise. I have classified them by location.

FAIRFIELD

1. Jelly Belly Factory
Location 1 Jelly Belly Ln, Fairfield,CA
www.jellybelly.com
Tel: 1-800-9-JELLYBEAN (1-800-953-5592).
The Jelly Belly Visitor Center is open daily from 9 AM to 5 PM PT, and factory tours operate daily from 9 AM to 4 PM PT, except Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, New Year's Day, and Easter Sunday. They may also be closed the day before or after these holidays.
Tours depart approximately every 15 minutes throughout the day and last approximately 40 minutes. I do not advise to go on week-ends as the machines will not be working and you will miss on the experience. I went to visit it a while ago on a week-day and we had a fantastic time strolling along a promenade standing above the workers making the candy. A free bag of jelly beans is given at the end of the tour. You can enjoy lunch at the Jelly Belly cafeteria where you can eat jelly belly shaped pizzas .
 
After lunch, you can head to another factory located less than 2 miles away.

2. Anheuser Busch plant
3101 Busch Dr., Fairfield, CA
www.budweisertours.com/toursFAIR.htm
Open Tuesday to Saturday from 10 am to 4 pm. Jan - Dec
If you are 21 years of age or older, you can sample their products in the Hospitality Room

The complimentary tour of the Northern California Fairfield Brewery will guide you through a blend of rich brewing heritage and state-of-the-art technology as you discover how beers are carefully crafted.

SAN FRANCISCO

3. Fortune Cookie Factory
56 Ross Alley (at Jackson), San Francisco (Chinatown), CA
(415) 781-3956
It is located down the oldest alley in San Francisco: Ross Alley at number 56. While you are there, grab a bag or two of fortune cookies for snacks. It is a hole in the wall, you will be done in 5 minutes but I am sure the kids and you will love that little place. I know I do and I take anybody who comes visit us. They ask you to tip if you take photos.

4. Mee Mee Bakery
1328 Stockton Street (between Broadway and Vallejo) , San Francisco, CA
415.362.3204
The bakery is open from 8:00 am to 6:00 pm but visits only occur between 10:00 am and 2:00 pm.

5. Anchor Brewing Company
1705 Mariposa Street
San Francisco ,CA
Tel 415-863-8350
They offer one public tour each weekday, by reservation only (try calling one month in advance to secure a date). The walking tour of the brewery lasts about 40-45 minutes. The tour guide will give you a brief history of the brewery and walk you through three floors of our building. Children are welcome to come on the tour, but of course may not taste the beer during our tasting session, which follows the walking tour. Altogether, the tour and the tasting last for about 2 hours, and tastings are only available to those who take the tour.

6. Girardhelli Chocolate 
Inside the Ghirardelli Ice Cream Shop at Ghirardelli Square you can see the original chocolate-making equipment in operation. (The Ghirardelli Chocolate Factory moved to San Leandro and is not open for public tours).
900 North Point St. San Francisco, CA
Tel: 415 474 3938

Open: Sunday to Thursday 9 am to 11 pm. The ice cream fountain opens at 10 am. Friday and Saturday, it is open till midnight.

PETALUMA

7. Mrs. Grossman’s Sticker Factory Tour
3810 Cypress Drive, Petaluma, CA
Tel: 1 (800) 429-4549
Reservations
Tours are Monday-Friday by reservation only. Go to Location & Hours for current tour schedules, or call to reserve your space!

Tours are $3.00 per person for ages 3 and up. They last one hour and they include a video, a guided tour of the factory, a craft activity, a visit to the sticker museum and a coupon for $3 off your purchase of $20 at the Company Store

Strollers are permitted in all areas except the production floor.
If you want to know more, check Debbie from www.friscokids.net great post on her visit to the factory with her kids.

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Things To Do
San Francisco