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I work in a place, like most I guess, where people have talent far beyond their day jobs.  A friend who works in our building doing work in Advancement (of people giving their resources to Wycliffe) is also a freelance writer for Orlando Lifestyle Magazine and she asked me if she could write a feature on. . . me.  I thought about it a little and nervously accepted.  The resulting article was well done and interestingly defines me in a way that I had not expected. Z took the photos and he did a great job with a reluctant model.

I generally think of myself as a pretty good home cook and enjoy eating out at the next new hotspot as well as the comfortably familiar.  When I was interviewed and everything was added together I saw a bigger picture than I had even expected.  It was a good experience overall and I am happy with the result.

an institution that we saw on an episode of Diners, Drive-ins and Dives -Ted Peters Famous Smoked Fish.  We planned to visit after we saw it on our next visit to St Pete.  It can be challenging to tell a greezy crab shack from something amazing.  Famous for smoked mullet, Spanish mackerel and Salmon.  The fish lived up.   The salmon was perfect – smoked over a native Florida oak type tree – moist and lovely.  Simply offered with two horseradish sauces, one including jerk.  The slab you see in the photo is the lunch size and would feed three average eaters.  The fish spread was a kind of tuna throwback served on dry toast or with crackers.  Packed with locals and full of win!

new burger joint in Orlando called Boardwalk Burger based on a Maryland boardwalk tradition.  Most like Five Guys in its griddly thin burger patty-ness.  I think a few more options than Five Guys in terms of burger topping options and a little less greezey.  We found we both got a double and both would only opt for singles next time.  We also ordered the fresh cut fries for a comparison and I was pleased to find I liked them a LOT better than Five Guys due to the fact that they had some crispness and . . .they have cheese sauce-salty fake cheesy goodness.  I chose a Signature burger with bacon and blue cheese and Z the BBQ bacon.  There is also a fun Freestyle coke machine.  It has a touch panel  you can choose your pop-poison and add flavored syrups to your hearts content.  Good new find for the occasional crave.

with not one rusty spoon in sight I was still thrilled to sit down to dinner last night at The Rusty Spoon.  It is in Orlando right in the heart of downtown on Church St.  As a Saturday night and our second weekend in a row downtown we noticed again a lack of busyness but are kind of attributing it to our early eating hour of six.  It’s a bonus to find parking early but the hipsters aren’t really out in force yet.  The Rusty Spoon is a locally sourcing restaurant that emphasizes fresh local produce and a revolving menu.  We definitely noticed a ton of items in the ‘chef’s whim’ category – pork rillette’s, Oaxacan corn soup, a ribeye and verbena frozen dessert that I can remember off the top of my head.  The decor is right up my alley – black and white photography of eggs and pigs, edison bulbs hanging on wound black cords and dark wood.  We ordered and were brought an amuse of pureed waterkist tomatoes with micro basil -a little salty on the tongue and brightly acidic.  Z ordered the Oaxacan corn soup which was clearly buzzed at the time of our order as we could still see the froth – it was grainy in a real stone ground fresh corn sort of way.  Kind of reminiscent of the grind of grits but with fresh corn.  It was steamy and very ‘corny’ and slightly sweet with a garnish of tart tomatillo relish. I skipped the app and had a cucumber martini made with St Germain, lemon and lime.  The redolent scent of cucumbers wafting with each sip was refreshing.  We both went for a ‘handheld’ which is a marvelous classification of sandwiches.  I had a succulent braised lamb with ricotta salata and onion and white grape chutney on this fantastic roll.   Z had the ’55’ burger (address is 55 W – a downtown landmark) which was an enormous half pound filled with bacon and gruyere and the most melted onions we have ever had.  We both chose the haystack of fries which were dusted with cheese and fried herbs and had a side of housemade ketchup.  We felt the ketchup was good but could have used a touch of heat.  Full to my top Z still ordered the citrus meringues and verbena slush for dessert which seemed to be verbena granita with some kind of simple syrup sweetly saturating.   The meringues were nice and dry with a bit of chew.  The kitchen was somewhat heavy handed with salt although not leaving items salty-I did notice it was there.  I really loved the variety and fresh feel of every thing we ate.

driving down our street tonight I saw a huge truck with a trailer filled with grass clumps and thought to myself, ‘someone’s lucky!’ – and it was me!!  My wannabe grass but mostly only dollar weed and yellow daisy like flowers interspersed with something that smells like tea when I mow the lawn is gone.  Next stop-new lawn!   I thanked the guy with a bottle of water and got started on dinner.  Tonight I made Tilapia soft tacos with lime cream and thinly sliced cabbage.  It was so easy and tasted fresher than your average sleepy Monday dinner.

• Preheat your oven to 350 and wrap some taco shells in foil to heat.
• 2 small Tilapia filets sliced into 3″ x 1″ chunks dredged in salt and peppered flour.  Pan fry in just a little canola to give a light crust. Drain on paper towels.
• thinly sliced savoy cabbage tossed to loosen the strands
• one grated carrot
• 1/3 reduced fat sour cream thinned with the juice of one lime to drizzle
• sliced green onion
• pile everything in the shells
• serve with Cholula hot sauce and tortilla chips