Category Archives: Food and Drink

Tried Another Place…..

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Keys Bite in Key Largo, between the highways, around MM 99.

Keys Bite in Key Largo, between the highways, around MM 99.

You know how it goes. A new restaurant opens up and you go past and look. Then you hear positive things about it and you say, “We really need to stop there.” Then months go by before the timing works out. That’s how it’s been for us with Keys Bite in Key Largo. (http://floridakeysbite.com);99000 Overseas Hwy; 305 451-4834

As I have written in previous posts about places in the Upper Keys, if you’re not on the water, you have to make some choices. Do you go for atmosphere (whichever type you choose), focus more on the food, or do both?  I would say Keys Bite has a focus on food and has made the most of their location. The décor is appropriately tropical and the landscaping around the small terrace is a combination of hibiscus, palm, and a couple of other plants that will provide a “green screen” as the plants mature. It was obviously done with a professional (or at least skilled) eye. They have selected to be a breakfast, lunch, and dinner place with a strong Mexican flare as well as the expected regular fare. Hubby opted for the fish sandwich as he almost always does in trying new places and I had the chicken melt. They don’t have beer on tap, but the bottle selection provides a nice variety and I had a glass of pinot grigio. The service was friendly and prompt, the food good and competitively priced. The Mexican dishes being served at a nearby table also looked good.

Although they don’t have a water view, they are between the highways which does make it nice from an entry/exit perspective. Granted, they are next door to Mrs. Mac’s II, so those who want the familiar instead of trying something new might gravitate there instead. On the other hand, Keys Bite has been in business for a little while now and they seem to be holding their own. Pay them a visit and decide for yourself.

Fun at the Book and Art Fair…..

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Well shoot, for not posting this yesterday. The Main Street Book and Art Fair will be Sat, Jan 30 from 3-6:00 p.m. in Losner Park on Krome Ave. This will be the first year to add in artists and we have a nice group that will range from photographers to other mediums. One of the exciting new books is Robert Moehling’s story about his multi-generation family and the history of the Robert is Here fruit stand that has become such a big tourist attraction. Three of us will be giving presentations at the Veteran’s Memorial in the top left corner of the park next to the Seminole. The local writers group, the Lamplighters, released Alligator Tales last year and they’ll be on hand as a group along with Majorie Doughty who  have her books as well. Yes, the South Dade Wood Turners will be there with beautiful work that blends art with craft.

The dance performances that were planned for the December Holiday event were rained out and they’ll be on stage with a taste of their spring recitals. Once again, the Kiwanis will be doing their book give-away and then at 6:00 p.m. as the tents are folded, there will be a movie-in-the-park with a brand new Peanuts movie that will be great for families. In addition to the downtown restaurants that are open (Uncle Tom’s BBQ, Casita Tejas, El Toro Taco, Stick & Stein/Flagler’s Martini Bar), Chefs on the Run will be set up in the Park. We’ll ask Mother Nature to please be kind because it’s going to be a terrific afternoon/evening.

I can’t figure out how to post the image of the poster because it’s in PDF, so here’s the Facebook link. They’re updating with news of the event every couple of days. https://www.facebook.com/homesteadmainstreet

Please help spread the word and come out if you can. You’ll have a wonderful time.

 

 

Missed Doing the Turkey Soup….

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I don’t care that it is a cliché to make turkey soup, there have only been a few times when I haven’t done it as part of our holiday ritual. I had the turkey carcass properly wrapped and enough leftover turkey to be cut into appropriately small pieces. I normally go with a turkey vegetable that includes diced potatoes, although I sometimes stick with rice instead, especially if get the urge to add in wild rice. So what happened this year? We also adopted the tradition of making siete potencias (seven seafood soup) for Christmas Eve a few years ago. I blogged about that in an earlier post. Due to a somewhat unforeseen set of circumstances, we had two additional social events over the holidays and I made a larger batch than usual of siete potencias. With my company coming in the night of January 1st, getting the turkey soup made did not take priority, plus having prepared dinner for twelve New Year’s Eve, there was an issue of having those leftovers and available refrigerator space. In the end, it was a matter of timing and I did feel a twinge of guilt, but it really couldn’t be helped. I had given some of the turkey away to a neighbor and we did have a round (or two) of turkey sandwiches so it wasn’t as if we wasted much of it. I will plan more carefully next year.

Chocolate and More……

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Watching a new small business succeed is always fun. A new small business devoted to chocolate is delicious as well as heart-warming. Key Largo Chocolates at MM 100.5 Bayside (real address is 100470 Overseas Highway, Key Largo, FL 33037; 305 453-6613 http://www.keylargochocolates.com) has multiple sections. The main part with their beautiful array of chocolates in the cases and shelves with packaged goodies is what you see first. You turn to the right to see the special display of their fudges and if you’re craving ice cream, pivot left. I can’t say that I’ve tried every type of candy they have, but what I can say is that every piece I have tried is terrific. And no, I am not about to designate a favorite, although I suppose some people are able to. They do ship and if you’re looking for a serious “Wow Factor” for an event – forget regular desserts and bring these folks in. They’ll create something memorable.

I haven’t had the chance to chat with the owners Kristie and Bob Thomas for more than a few minutes in passing so I can’t relate their background. What I can say is they have made a name for themselves and if you want a special gift for someone, pop into their shop and spend a little time. Their whimsical bright green and pink colors complete with their flamingo mascot Lucy are as eye-catching as their candy is.

 

Been Being Tour Guide…..

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I’m going to try to get a post off before I head out again. I’ve had family visiting since the evening of I January and also juggling the last requirements for the new book as we send it to the printer. One of the highlights of the trip was for my two second cousins (one a junior in college, one in her first year of law school) to take the Discover Scuba class. My first cousin isn’t into snorkeling, but she went along on the boat and I did at least get in the water to see some fish. When we planned the visit, Hubby was of course going to teach the girls, but he had a request to teach a rebreather course, and that does take priority. There are only a couple of instructors at the shop who can teach rebreathers and all of them can do Discover. The girls had a great time despite a drenching rain that overtook us between Dive #1 and #2. Full certification might be in a future trip.

The weather wasn’t as cooperative as I’d hoped yesterday with a lot of overcast sky and some occasional drizzle. We were going to drive down to Seven Mile Bridge, but traffic was also much heavier than anticipated, so we opted to do the History of Diving Museum after lunch at Zane Gray, then it was on to the Rain Barrel with the giant lobster. The plan was for us to occupy our time until we went to Big Chill for a sunset dinner. The clouds cleared up a bit to give some pretty colors even though we didn’t get the beautiful effect of the sun setting into the water. Ah well, can’t control Mother Nature.

Today will be probably lunch at the White Lion, Coral Castle, and Robert is Here, then get packed up for an early start to their two-day drive back to Louisiana.

Rainy Day Accomplishment…..

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Rainy Day Project - Organizing the Pantry

Rainy Day Project – Organizing the Pantry

When you don’t have to get out in nasty weather, why do so? That was how I felt today as the rain began lightly, then increased, and has been in that light-heavy pattern for hours. (Yes, cold weather readers, I know some of you might be willing to trade 73 degrees and rain for whatever you have today.) My work load is a little less than usual and while I always need to clean up files of one form or the other, that was something  couldn’t face. What else was on the when-I-get-some-spare-time list? Ah, the pantry.

If you followed the blog when we remodeled, you’ll recall moving and enlarging the pantry was one of my goals. It certainly isn’t anywhere near the size I would like, but it’s definitely larger than what we had. However, like everything else in the house, we use vertical space and for we “shorties”, that pretty much presents a daily challenge. So, despite the pantry being very well organized originally, it didn’t take long for the reachable space to be less organized as I would jam more into those spots rather than unfold the stepstool. (Part of the pantry design hubby did for me was to accommodate room for the fold-up stepstool.) Enough, I decided today. Take the stepstool out and get this place back in order. No, I don’t label things, but there is logic to the arrangement and hubby and I are fairly compatible with our ideas of “logical arrangement”.

As for what we keep in the pantry, we follow the rule of having the essentials you need and something you can make at least two meals out of using only items from the pantry. That is two meals in addition to soup. And yes, when I say soup, I mean keeping the cream ones that are used as ingredients in other dishes. We rarely eat pasta marinara, but if we somehow found ourselves without meat, we have that as a fallback. Rice and beans is another option.

How about it? What staples do you always keep stocked?

Plans Can Go Awry…..

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Fortunately, we drive to Georgia each year to have Thanksgiving with my husband’s family. That meant when a work crisis bubbled up and it became apparent I wasn’t going to be able to go, hubby didn’t want to go without me. At least we didn’t have to cope with the expense of cancelling airline reservations. This happened one other year, and as we did then, we’ll plan a trip up after the first of the year. It’s something that can’t be helped and we actually had two invitations to dinner we had declined since we were going to be out of town. That means all we have to do is whip up the broccoli-rice casserole to take with us. It so happens, that’s one of those dishes my husband makes. It’s kind of interesting.  Bring-a-dish gatherings are common in the military and back when he was a bachelor, he decided to not be the one who always brought chips and dip or grabbed a cheese tray from the store. He specialized in three things – a killer hot chili-cheese dip, a version of Ambrosia, and the broccoli-rice casserole. That pretty much took care of him with whatever the hostess wanted.

The casserole is really pretty simple – one package frozen broccoli, thawed and chopped, 1 jar Cheez Whiz, 1/2 medium onion chopped, 1-2 stalks celery chopped, 1 can cream soup (celery, onion, mushroom, chicken – your choice), 2 cups cooked rice. Salt and pepper to taste – throw in 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes if you like. Mix it all together, spray a casserole dish with non-stick spray and bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes until top is lightly browned. Easy and delicious, plus it retains heat pretty well.

So, anyway, Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.

Swirling About…..

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Goodness, what a lapse in posting. Events rather jammed together from last Thursday on and I hadn’t realized my long gap. Let me very quickly explain.

Homestead Main Street held the Third Annual Burger Battle (slight name change from previous years) on Saturday and Mother Nature was not as generous as she could have been. The fairly light and sporadic rain was manageable and the crowd was good considering how many did stay away because of weather. The main part of the event had at least passed before we got word of major rain on the way. Most folks were able to shut down and retreat, but not all by any means. Chefs on the Run remains the undefeated burger champion, but I have to say the two burgers I tried – one from Broadway Subs and one from El Toro Taco – were excellent. I normally help out in the museum during the festivals so all I could do was pop out for a few minutes and didn’t have time to try the other competitors. To be honest, I wouldn’t have tried the one that hubby was so excited about. The Big Cheese took a different approach and went with the “donut cheeseburger” that has been the trend in several places. Yes, it is a donut sliced in half as the bun. The idea is the sweet and savory mix entices your taste buds. Hubby thoroughly enjoyed it and I think I can handle the concept. The incredible stickiness of the donut with all the meat, cheese, bacon and other packed in is what I’m not sure I can deal with by hand. A knife and fork in this case, maybe.

Anyway, that took up Saturday and I’ve been crashing on the manuscript as well as juggling meetings and other commitments. I’ll make it a point to do better.

Wrapping Up the Dive Show…..

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When you attend a large tradeshow, one of the points is to not only catch up with old friends, but it’s to meet new people as well. We’ve certainly done both on this trip. (Oh, dinner last night was at a near-by Italian restaurant. Ciao Italia was a good place, and the excellent part was they had wild boar which my husband loves.)

Anyway, back to the show. For me, seeing the number of women, especially when they are engaged in the type of scuba many of them are, is terrific. I finally had the chance to meet Jill Heinerth (http://www.intotheplanet.com) who does amazing diving in a highly technical capacity. I also met Evelyn Dudas, who was the first woman to dive the Andrea Doria. (http://www.dudasdiving.com/about-us) Until technical diving advanced in the 2000s, that was considered the “Mount Everest of Diving” and is still quite challenging. The array of women here range from slender, lithe twenty-somethings to pioneers in the sport who are most assuredly past that age.

On the business side, pre-sales for Mystery of the Last Olympian (http://MysteryoftheLastOlympian.com) have been brisk and I allowed myself to be talked into something I said I wouldn’t do. I guess I’ll be going to the big dive show in Chicago in February. I mean, really – Chicago in February? I do hope it will be worth it.

Mystery of the Last Olympian is scheduled for a Feb 2016 release.

Mystery of the Last Olympian is scheduled for a Feb 2016 release.

Liking Lafayette’s……

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Lafayette's at Pointe Orlando

Lafayette’s at Pointe Orlando

Our delightful dilemma of having too many good restaurants to choose from didn’t get resolved when we decided to give Lafayette’s a try. (http://lafayettes.com/orlando) It isn’t straight out of New Orleans, however, it has the right mix of signature Cajun dishes and some slight variations. I’m not trying to whet your appetite, but the fried green tomato sliders done with bacon and Remoulade sauce were excellent. For hubby, the food could have taken lesser place to the fact they had Abita Turbo Dog beer on tap. That is very difficult to find when you venture far from South Louisiana. Fortunately, there were no trade-offs when it came to food. He had salmon with a BBQ glaze atop corn chowder and shrimp. I went with the chicken in a lemon caper sauce. We thoroughly enjoyed both meals.

The décor can be seen a bit in the photo and they strike a nice balance with the somewhat rustic look and brushed metal. The largest dining room is where the stage is and while hubby would have been quite happy to be one table back from the band, he acquiesced to my preference to be in the bar instead. We could easily hear the music which was good. I suspect that had the place been full, the sound might not have carried quite as well.

We also had the chance to meet up with some acquaintances at different points during the day and thanks to Richie Kohler (the man who drew me into the Mystery of the Last Olympian project), I was introduced to another couple of people whose names are pretty well-known in diving circles. Today will be busy of course and I think we’ll go to the Everglades Restaurant here in the hotel tonight. We’ll see.