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sunset at st pete beach
new pantry
you might have noticed a serious lack of posts. For the longest time we have been waiting. Waiting for the bank to make a decision. We put in an offer on a short sale way back on December 31, 2010. So, what is called a short sale, is in actuality, a long sale. But, it was our first offer, and lo and behold, it went through and we find ourselves the new owners of a house. Soon to be a home. Once we clean it and move all of our accumulated stuff in there. Clean it is kind of the understatement. I wonder why my own grime doesn’t bug me as much as other people’s grime.
tibby’s new orleans kitchen
seems kinda fitting that we would eat at a New Orlean’s kitchen tonight – on the eve of one of the most massive floods in the recorded history of the Mississippi River. A sign on the wall read, ‘God willin and da creek don’t rise…’ We ate at the few months old Tibby’s New Orleans Kitchen tonight with a friend and friend of a friend. It was on my Orlando To-do list and is by the creators of Tijuana Flats and I am sure they must have plans to expand to multiple locations as it feels like a really bankable restaurant. I think that will be doable as it really was one of the more enjoyable meals I’ve had in a long time. We tried both new and familiar dishes.
I kicked it off with a nice strong hurricane-rummy, yummy and strong! For an app we tried the New Orleans Cheese Plank – a crispy fried pepper jack sitting on creole sauce-one of those things it is better you run out of before you want to stop eating. Z had an andouille po-boy and loved the flavor and texture. I had a Parish Country Fried Steak and andouille grits. It was all nested on red wine andouille gravy with crispy fried nuggets of sausage. Why can’t I make grits that taste like this? To cap it off we had beignets doused in powdered sugar-fluffy and sweet. A fun night with good food-excellent.
welcome burger
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| the welcome burger |
standing around chatting about future weekend and dinner plans last week the idea for this burger was presented to me by it’s namesake. So a shout out to her. It was one of those conversations that rolled between me being a hater of chain restaurants (but not always) and liking food sometimes better at home but I was encouraged to try this one out and tonight we did. I am not sure if I made it true to her letter but it was pretty darn good and is a keeper. I did change from her recommended sauce out of necessity but this worked out really well.
Potato bun – lightly toasted with a little butter
Ground Turkey griddled and basted with reduced Lawry’s teriyaki marinade with a bit of added brown sugar
thick slice of grilled Vidalia onion
slice of grilled pineapple (I have a Lodge Cast Iron Grill Pan – awesome)
Pepper Jack Slice
Bacon Slice
On the side we had a new product, Alexia Sweet Potato Puffs (glorified sweet potato tots) They were tasty but not crispy in that normal sweet potato way. I’d probably cook them a bit longer next time. I enjoyed them but wished for that crispy crunch.
jimmy hula’s
friday night we left the house under dubious skies and struck out for a new restaurant in Winter Park called Jimmy Hula’s It’s been open for about a month so should have surpassed the newbie opening error stage, It is a fast casual kind of place decked out literally with a large wraparound porch and comfy seats inside that look like boat seat cushions. There is surfing lifestyle paraphernalia everyplace including boards and tiki huts. You stand in line which is kind of slow and watch the menu board flip by. It is a little complicated to figure out what you want based on the flip actually. I had the advantage of perusing the menu online before we went so had some idea – Z less so and for him it was hard to figure out what he wanted. I think they probably lose some sales and ad-ons like apps because of it.
I ordered the Burnt Reynolds burger – fried egg, bacon, potato chips and ketchup. Z had a Pipeline Pork – citrus marinated pulled pork with voodoo sauce. The pork was really tasty. His sandwich was better than mine though – my burger was not hot or particularly juicy. We also ordered three sides to go with. Jalapeno bottlecaps, onion petals and curly fries. All had sat just a bit too long – they weren’t really fresh or crunchy. The voodoo sauce on the side of my petals was tasty.
I think they could have done better. For the mediocre food – it was packed – which shows that this is what people are looking for. The prices are reasonable and it had good ambiance. We were there for the food though and it could be kicked up a notch.
My Urban Pantry 