Food in Florida

One of the best things about going away on vacation - no meals to plan - all you have to do is find a place and make your selection - nice for a week but I wouldn't want to be doing it all the time!!  We had some great meals when we were away - we only ate out for breakfast on two mornings, Continental breakfasts were provided at the hotels we stayed at.  Most were great, especially the deluxe breakfast at Hampton Inn - everything you would want - it was really nice!  And, then there's the opposite end of the spectrum - no fruit, no cereal, nothing except packaged Danish and gigantic muffins and bagels in a bag - but no toaster - eating a dry bagel in the car is not too appetizing.  

We didn't get pictures of everything, I guess sometimes we must have just been too hungry to think about taking a picture - travelling around does that to you!!!  

This was a restaurant we read about in Ft. Lauderdale so we wanted to try something with local fare - it was a huge restaurant, very loud, especially when the signal came and everyone started banging their wooden mallets.

We shared the Crab Sampler - garlic crab clusters, golden crab cluster, Alaskan Queen Crab legs and Dungeness Garlic Crab Cluster with parsley buttered potatoes.  The garlic bread we ordered was probably the best I have ever had - it was on a small loaf, made with real garlic, not a speck of garlic spread, I have to make it that way!!

Shivers Bar-B-Q -in Homestead was another local place - it doesn't look like much from the outside, but,oh, my, was it good.  We both had the rib and pulled pork combo, with cole slaw and baked beans.

I have never had a glass of wine that looked like that - you just peel off the top and take a sip!

We shared peach cobbler and was it good!!

Playa Cafe in South Beach Miami - we just started walking from our hotel for a breakfast spot - this was just a little hole in the wall place - it was all Cuban food,  Gary tried a Cuban coffee, which he liked.  You just order from this menu on the wall - I had an egg sandwich which was unlike anything I've ever had before.  I ordered an orange juice, it was fresh squeezed, it was the best part - funny thing, it cost as much as my breakfast, $3.49.  

Playa Cafe

On our way to the Keys, we stopped for lunch at Herbie's in Marathon

We both had the conch burger - let's just say, we'd never be ordering another one of those again - it was so chewy!  It looks nice in the picture but I surely would never crave a piece of conch!

After we took the air boat tour, we stopped for lunch at this restaurant

The chicken noodle soup was really good - a lot of noodles in that bowl!

We wanted to try some local fare again - we shared a sampler plate, it's a good thing it was only 2 pieces of each item - this would be a frog leg, which was ok, it tastes like chicken.  Also on the platter were gator which also tasted like chicken, hush puppies and fry bread - which was just a big mass of deep fried bread - yuck! 

Nothing too healthy at this spot!

Another Miami establishment - Kone Restaurant - Gary had the lobster plate which he really enjoyed.  I had the lobster and  shrimp ravioli, it was really good too, it doesn't photograph well at all though, that's why I'm not showing it.  

We had a couple of cool drinks on a hot night in Miami

This was in a diner car in Miami - dessert for both of us - and it was big - I had the brownie concoction, Gary had the banana split - his favorite.

One night we had a lovely shrimp dinner and the Florida standard, Key Lime Pie - I can't believe I didn't get any pictures of  that meal.

But, now it's back to eating properly - really, who could would want to eat that way for every long, home cooking tastes pretty good after eating all your meals out for a week.