Category Archives: Food and Drink

Louisiana Day 1

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The morning started well, and considering other travel issues I had in the past, things were okay. I made the mistake of thinking I would get one of the fruit and cheese plates they sell on the airlines now. That didn’t work out and I knew the connection was tight in Dallas, but if there was a place to grab a bite close enough to the gate, it could work. Except as does happen, my flight went out of the section of the terminal that had the least services. There was a small bar, but only those prepared sandwiches which are mediocre, but by that point it would have to do and they did have Miss Vicky chips – jalapeno of course.

I am in a hotel I haven’t stayed at before and I won’t be staying here again. It’s okay to an extent, but the “on-site restaurant” is not open at night and while I do enjoy a Sports Bar and Grill – the one open – let’s just say the limited menu was very limited. However, they were friendly – the whole staff has been – and the catfish was excellent. Served out of a Styrofoam container and the hushpuppies were jalapeno so that required food item for the trip is taken care of.

There may be a bit of an issue with the rental car, which means I will backtrack to the airport and talk with them. Not sure if it’s a setting that needs to be re-set or they need to swap cars. Hopefully, it won’t take long. Today is fairly easy on time, so that isn’t an issue.

Lots of Fireworks……

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Quite frankly, this was a year with everything going on, I didn’t have the energy to try and put much together for Fourth of July. Hubby had to go shoot the event which meant arrive around 6:00 and stay until 9:30 and I simply didn’t want to spend that long at the event. Maybe next year. Or it’s like a three-mile walk so perhaps next year I’ll go with him, stay for an hour or so, and walk back before it gets dark. That would be kind of interesting. Anyway, we did have one of our neighbors over for lunch. Again, it’s been a hectic time so fundamentally, we went with grilled chicken (BBQ style), grilled corn on the cob, beans, Publix potato salad, cold slaw, and key lime pie, plus Marie Callendar frozen apple pie I baked. For appetizers I only did deli tray and little meatballs lightly sauced with BBQ sauce and those were also from frozen. I polished off a couple of leftovers for dinner and Hubby grabbed something at the event.

I have no idea how much the neighbors spent on fireworks, but it must have been quite a bit. I usually go out and mingle for a little while and even passed on that. Someone else behind us (perhaps in the adjoining neighborhood) also had lots of fireworks. A couple of times, there was the display out front and in back which made for a nice array. I had the Capital Fourth tuned in as well and cranked up the volume for the 15 or so minutes I watched that part. Hubby had skipped on pie after lunch so I stayed up later than usual and had my final drink of the night while he enjoyed his apple pie a la mode.

He had to go in for morning boat instead of getting to sleep late and I don’t remember what the rest of his schedule is for the weekend.

Flamingo Point at Everglades…..

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We are fortunate to have two National Parks here – the Everglades and Biscayne. I’ve posted numerous times about both and of course, Hubby spends many hours in the Everglades with his photography. He also often covers different stories for the paper. One of those has been the saga of Flamingo Point. Everglades National Park is huge (1.5 million acres) and has multiple sections and entries. Once inside, there are also multiple places aside from the Main Visitor Center set up for walking and other activities. Deep into the Park – as in 42 miles – is the “end” of our section at Flamingo Point. There is camping, a small marina, and was a restaurant and hotel. Significant damage was done during Hurricane Katrina and in somewhat typical government fashion it took far longer to get back on track than one would expect. However, part of the delay was because they decided to build a new area with some extra facilities.

There is now a nice visitors center where the old motel and restaurant used to be and a new lodge and restaurant are close to the campground. Hubby has followed that entire process, but I hadn’t had a chance to go yet. He was unexpectedly off work Friday and we drove separately so he could stay after lunch and take more photos.

It does take an hour to drive and the thing is you don’t usually see much going through that part of the park. The spots for bird watching and so forth are off the main road. This time of year all the migrating species are gone, and noon to mid-afternoon birds and other wildlife aren’t active. In other words, the drive down and back wasn’t eventful. In keeping with elevation to avoid future storm surges, the new buildings are up approximately fourteen feet which does provide a partial view of Florida Bay. The restaurant is where you order at the counter and they bring meals to the table. They do have a full bar and the menu is mostly sandwiches, salads, and some soup as well as a few desserts. It is nicely decorated. I had a BLT wrap, Hubby had the grilled fish sandwich and they were both good. This is not really a place I would suggest as just to go for lunch – except once to experience it. To combine it with one of the walks will be pleasant though.

Not Fancy, But Good…

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While we ordinarily do an extra fancy dinner at home for celebrations, this is one of those times when it’s less so. We’ve been having quite a bit of steak and decided tonight will be game hens and use some of the leftovers for sides, although I will of course bake the small apple pie as that is Hubby’s favorite. I did get shrimp cocktail though and champagne which we will have while “chefing”. As I’ve mentioned before, Hubby used to do roasted game hens stuffed with the wild and brown rice mix, then switched to grilling years ago. Not sure what flavor profile he’ll go with tonight. It’s usually Italian or southwestern or he may come up with something else. He does grill two because we each have half for this meal, then do the rest for a leftover. For that we pretty much go with either the smothered type similar to what one does for quail with gravy and mirepoix (we prefer the classic onion, carrot and celery) or we go Italian with cacciatore. Both are delicious and just depends on our mood.

Speaking of grill, Father’s Day is all culinary-based this year as his current grill has been rebuilt at least once which means it’s time for a new one. He simply hasn’t decided yet if he wants to stay with the Charbroil brand or go back to the Weber. He has also gotten a pellet-fired pizza oven; something we discussed in the past. I’m not going to try and describe it as he does have it all assembled, but is waiting another few days to actually cook with it. He’s been reading up on it and I will post after we see how it goes. Needless to say, this is another item I won’t be touching.

Pop-Up Card and Dinner……

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I received an envelop and a box yesterday and mistakenly thought the envelop was an item I’d ordered sent separate from the items in the box. As Hubby was on his way out this morning – yes, he’s working on Mother’s Day – I opened the box first. In finding everything I ordered inside, I was now puzzled about the envelop. It contained a large, pop-up card that I assume was sent by the kids. Since I am capable of accidentally tearing these things, we will wait until this afternoon when Hubby is back and I’ll let him open it.

An aside before discussing dinner. Weekends are of course busy dive time and thus Hubby rarely has a weekend off. Between my various writing, I also work part of each weekend; it’s just the way things are. Anyway, as I’ve mentioned in previous posts, we don’t go out for Mother’s Day, etc., because it’s always very crowded and we prefer to make a special dinner at home. I am going out with a friend whom I usually have lunch with on Sunday, but we’re going to the Red Crab where people tend to come in later.

For my special dinners, I tend to go lobster or steak au poivre and steak won out for tonight. Hubby found two lovely filets – we sometimes have to ask the meat guy at the store to cut some for us – and I picked up the heavy cream for the sauce yesterday, some nice asparagus and dessert. I usually go for some kind of cake and decided this time to instead to get chocolate and lemon cream pies. These are from the freezer section. The brand Edwards makes whole pies or you can buy two slices in a box. I’m thawing one slice from each box and I like them both. I’ll let Hubby pick first although I have also offered half a slice of each. Oh, and as usual; one chocolate covered strawberry as garnish. I am conceding to Hubby on the wine as I would normally have bought a Mouton-Cadet or something similar, but we have extra Zinfandel on hand and that’s his favorite. He did already buy a bottle of Chandon for us to have while preparing the meal. Oh, he does the grilling and I do the sauce.

 

Interesting TV Show…..

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I don’t recall how I ran across the show of “Bar Rescue”; a cable TV show I will provide warnings about if you decide to watch. John Taffer, according to the intro, has saved hundreds of bars during his 30-plus year career and he goes all over the country. The warnings before I explain why I watch it. Taffer is a quintessential New Jersey/New York guy; big and burly, an in-your-face, profanity-laced, stop-lying-to-me-and-making excuses approach. The bars range from bad to appalling and in many cases, family dynamics are involved; a bit heartbreaking at times. Some of the debt racked up is hard to imagine.

Herein lies the fascination for me. Someone involved finally acknowledges they need drastic help – the only kind he provides. Ninety-five percent of the time, at least one individual who is an owner and/or manager is highly resistant and initial intervention is required to even get started. Skipping forward, Taffer brings in a mixologist and chef to analyze the problems and provided solutions. Taffer is extraordinary in his understanding of every aspect of the bar business. For example, in one case in renovating the bar he added five stools. He explained in that market, those five should bring in $5,000 revenue per stool per year. Another example is differentiating between the profit margin of cocktails, draft and bottled beer and types of food items. Matching potential profit to the specific market is where he starts.

The pattern of the show is understandably why he’s there, tearing into everyone for like 45 minutes. One of the things I would like to know, but it’s not the drama part, is how costs are covered for the huge amount of physical renovation that takes place. (Many of the equipment items such as appliances or furniture are donated in exchange for promotion.)

The end results may include changing the name of the bar for re-branding and the renovations are often extensive. The shift in attitude and dynamics are of course key to the show and how initial resistance is overcome. At the very end, there is usually a “Six Weeks Later” text shown. In most cases, sales are up, relationships are repaired, and debt is being lowered. At times, problem employees have been fired; some however, are redeemed. In a few cases, the impression is despite all the efforts, bad habits will probably return.

Back and Busy…..

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Although we did leave the cold behind on Thursday, ironically temperatures went down a bit here as well. Not to where anything other than long sleeves were required which meant great improvement over sweaters and coats. The list of to-do’s I already had lined up for the week was added to yesterday and timing is going to be trickier than I expected next week. I have to shift a few things around and do some extra coordination.

Hubby did get enough groceries yesterday to carry us through the weekend and there were some lovely lamb chops. While we do enjoy lamb routinely, Easter is one of the times we like to specifically have it. Bothering with a traditional leg is not something we do after having tried it once. The meal was good; just more involved than marinating and throwing chops on the grill. I’ve posted before about how lamb was never anything we ate in the deep South because back when I was growing up, it simply wasn’t really available. All that has changed of course as even if you live in a place without a major grocery store, there is the internet option.

We’re having snapper with roasted tomato and tomatillo sauce tonight to balance out the extra red meat of the past few days. Hubby will spice up the black beans to go with rice and I’m still trying to make up a bit on the salad side. The kids always enjoyed ordering appetizers for dinner and that did not include one as a salad.

Anyway, Happy Easter to all who celebrate it.

PA Trip, Day Six…..

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The rain did hold off to allow us to get into the Franklin Institute. The place is huge and even though we didn’t get to see the show wanted to at the Planetarium, we were there for around four hours. The big traveling exhibit was the Art of the Brick, the incredible exhibit by the guy who make art from Legos. He does 2d and 3d and some of his sculptures use up to 100,000+ Legos. Nathan Sawaya’s story and technique are amazing and the easiest way is to go to the artist’s website of https://www.brickartist.com/ I lost count of  the number of pieces in the exhibit and it was definitely far more elaborate than I anticipated.

We did luck out with rain that evening, too, as it cleared a bit and we did the short walk to Fado, another quintessential Irish pub the kids used to go to for special occasions when they lived there. It was Amelia’s first time of course. Having passed on Shepard’s pie in New York, that was what I did and Hubby and daughter-in-law had fish and chips. Son did Guinness Mac and Cheese with buffalo chicken and with a couple of appetizers and a huge soft pretzel, granddaughter basically passed on protein and grazed on all carbohydrates, once again leaving room for ice cream. It was Trivia night beginning at 8:00, so the place was packed as we made our way out. We’d been back at the hotel for maybe twenty minutes when the weather alert said rain would start again in fifteen minutes. Granddaughter decided she wanted one final adventure for the trip and they kids were going to take her to the big aquarium about twelve miles from Philly on Thursday.

 

PA Trip, Day 5…….

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The Seaport Museum was nicely done with lots of exhibits, enough interaction for children to enjoy and the added option of touring an old steam vessel and WW II submarine. The exhibits are a combination of U.S./Navy history, history of ship building, the Delaware River and Bay and the ecological aspects. Granddaughter enjoys these kinds of things so the three hours we spent was pleasant. I did pass on the submarine part because as it turns out, some of the passages would have been difficult for my knees. I let everyone else do that and I went over to the next door Hilton where we were going to have lunch at the Anchor and Rope (I think that was the name).

I did have my Philly cheesesteak even though not from one of the famous places. It was good. Hubby had something different with grilled cheese with bacon and tomato and believe it or not, they have fancy deviled eggs as an appetizer. Not me of course, but the kids enjoyed them. It was after 3:00 when we returned to the hotel and were leaving again at 6:00 to meet our friends who came into the City. The Iron Hill Brewery was typical and good. With a lot of beef so far, I did do a lovely grilled salmon with onion jam and Hubby went straight for comfort with schnitzel as daughter-in-law did an artichoke flatbread and son went with burger. Granddaughter balances eating just enough – chicken tenders in this case – to warrant having ice cream for dessert. Son had flourless chocolate torte and daughter-in-law creme brulee. The rest of us did coffee, and it was good coffee.

 

 

PA Trip, Day 4…….

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Still cold, but sunny until tomorrow. We waited late enough so getting out of NYC was pretty easy and the NJ Turnpike wasn’t bad. Getting into Center City of Philadelphia is like all big cities. Hotel is not as well kept up as some of their properties, although it is older and the staff is friendly. Parking is weird as it is a shared garage, and we didn’t know that for off-loading. Anyway, the kids arrived around 3:30 and we were all pretty tired. Since everyone was good for walking, we all went out for dinner.

Daughter-in-law picked the place, and I am blanking on the name. Nice menu, plus rotating beers on draft. Hubby and son had IPAs, I did chardonnay, and daughter-in-law Angry Orchard cider. Then it was crab cake and asparagus for me, seared scallops and asparagus risotto for Hubby, blackened chicken tortellini for daughter-in-law, chicken quesadilla for son (lots of extra stuff in it), and granddaughter went with the “breakfast all day” option of chocolate chip pancakes and bacon. As we were all full, coffee after and only one dessert of iced lemon pound cake (warmed) and vanilla ice cream part went to granddaughter.

Granddaughter and I went down to breakfast this morning while the “sleepyheads” stayed in. We’re off to the Seaport Museum later and then we’ll see. One adventure and lunch per day might be the plan for her. We can watch her though this afternoon and the kids can go out later.