Vacationing Chef

I’ve been a bit under the weather this week and I hate being sick.  I don’t know if it’s a cold or the flu but I wish I could spend the day in bed.  I was resting on the couch and reading a magazine article about Sanibel Island.

Arnold and I went down there a few months ago and stayed at Gulf Breeze Cottages www.gbreeze.com.  It’s not a lux resort but we had a cute one bedroom cottage with gingerbread trim in colors of coral and teal with a full kitchen and great views.  Just a few steps out my door and I was in the ultra blue water of the Florida Gulf Coast.  These cottages were built back in the early 1940’s so they’ve seen a lot of history.  They embody the essence of “Old Florida” and I felt as if I’d taken a step back in time.  The cottages are clean, cool, very comfortable, and the owners are wonderful.  It’s one of a seemingly limitless number of lodging options you have on Sanibel Island.  From hotels, resorts, cottages, condos, and houses, you should have no trouble finding a great place to stay.

We rented bikes right in the office at Gulf Breeze Cottages and had a great afternoon riding the extensive bike paths on the island.  You can ride all over the island on shady paths.  It’s a bike friendly town so there are places to park your bike and lock it up everywhere.

Great restaurants are everywhere from friendly beach cafes to upscale dining. The nature preserve is awesome and we spent hours exploring.  Powder white sand that feels like sugar underfoot and crystal clear water makes for great snorkeling.  I got to play with a few baby stingrays that were swimming and it was a beautiful sight.  We picked up lots of cool shells and took them home.  Next time I hope to find some sharks teeth.

Once a month I go to an evening networking meeting called Wine Down Wednesday.  It’s held at Wine Harvest in Wesley Chapel. www.wineharvest.com   This is a wonderful wine store/wine bar and Jodi Fritch chooses the wines for us to taste and educates us on the grapes, regions, and wine makers.  We’re free to buy any wine we wish of course and I always do.  A few days ago, I purchased 2 great wines that we tasted.  The first is one of my husband’s favorite wines.  He is not a wine drinker (he’s a beer guy) so when I find a wine that he’ll drink, I encourage it.  Dr L 2008 Riesling.  This is one of the best Rieslings I’ve ever had.  It’s crisp and just a bit tangy, not too sweet.  It’s great with seafood and the spicy foods that I love so much.  The quality and price of this wine make it a perfect every day wine. 

The second wine I took home was a Jules Taylor 2008 Pinot Gris.  Jules Taylor used to be the wine maker for Kim Crawford so of course I was an instant fan.  From the first sip I knew I had to have a bottle of this to match the smoked salmon I made.  This was lushious, slightly sweet with hints of spice.  It has a bit of texture to it and is more rounded than some other Pinot that I’ve had.  This is a seafood wine as well and perfect for the constant summer we have here in Florida.

I’m in a wine state of mind this month because in a few short weeks I’ll be touring Napa Valley with 2 of my favorite people Diane and Lisa.  Lisa is going out for a conference a few days before and Diane and I are flying out to meet her and spend the weekend touring SF and Napa.  I’m sure I’ll blow my wine buying budget for the next year on this trip but I’m also going to do some research while I’m there so it’s not all fun and games.  I’m planning to do a culinary tour of Napa next year so stay tuned for all the information on that.  Pictures of our trip will be forthcoming.  For now, here is one of the places we will be visting and sampling at.  www.frogsleap.com

This week we had to put down our dear cat Casper.  She was 17 and led a good life.  Casper was a good companion and we’ll miss her very much.  Here is our beautiful Casper.

I love Texas Cuisine!  Other than my family and friends it’s the one thing that I’d move back for.  Fresh Gulf Coast Seafood, real Tex-Mex, the best Pho outside Vietnam, Crawfish, and BBQ are just a few of the things that are now missing in my foodie life.  Texas is a foodie paradise.  A few weeks ago I was in Houston to visit family and old chef friends and when I arrived I had a list of restaurants I HAD to eat at.  I had 17 restaurants on my list and only 1 week.  Well, I didn’t make all 17 but one restaurant I really could not miss was Goode Co. Seafood in Houston.  If you love seafood and are in or around Houston, do yourself a favor and look them up.  The Gumbo is luscious and rich with the perfect dark roux.  I only wish mine was this good, these guys know how to do it.  Fried Catfish PoBoy that is light as air yet hearty, crispy and perfectly dressed.  But it’s the Campechana that makes Goode Co. one of the most memorable restaurants I’ve ever been to.

So what is Campechana?  Well it’s a Seafood Cocktail Mexican Style.  Shrimp, Crab, Fish or other seafood is combined with a tomato and avocado salsa and served with chips.  Unlike a Ceveche, the seafood in a Campechana is pre cooked before being added to the salsa.

For years, no one had the recipe for this Goode Co. favorite but a while back in 2009, owner Levi Goode let the cat out of the bag.  Here is the recipe and video as posted on chron.com

So today I made Campechana for dinner and it was really good.  The only thing I think I could have done better is to add just a bit of hot sauce to the recipe.  I found it didn’t have the punch that I wanted.

I’m no longer a working chef but to keep my foot, or at least my big toe in the door, I still do culinary demos in grocery stores from time to time.  And this week I did a demo of Jimmy Dean Sausage Breakfast Biscuit.  It comes frozen and you remove it from the package, wrap it in a paper towel and nuke it.  It’s OK if you need breakfast in less than a minute but not really my thing.

 It got me thinking that Jimmy Dean passed away just a few weeks ago on June 13^th.  He was a country singer, actor, and creator of Jimmy Dean Sausage.  On the rare occasion that I buy breakfast sausage at the grocery store, I only buy Jimmy Dean.  My favorite is the Sage Pork Sausage and the Turkey Breakfast Sausage Links.  Jimmy Dean was from Virginia.  Don’t ask me why I know that, my head is filled with some of the most useless information in the world but I can’t remember my own phone number.

 Virginia is for Lovers.  That’s what the tourism board says.  I’m not sure what that means because as far as I know anyone can have a great vacation in Virginia lover or not.  You can find Summer sports, Winter sports, Theme Parks, History, Ocean/Beach, Mountains, and Culture.  Very few states have both great Beaches and great Mountains so that’s very attractive to me when I’m looking for a place to go on vacation.  Arnold and I haven’t traveled there as much as we would like but we love the Blue Ridge Mountains and Shenandoah Valley that were among the stops on our very first vacation together. 

 My cousin lives on the water in Virginia Beach and I’ve only been there once but it’s made quite an impression on me.  Now that we live in Florida, it’s not too far to drive so I hope to visit there again soon.  Wouldn’t it be fun to have Thanksgiving at your house Claudia? Hint Hint Wink Wink…

 But Virginia isn’t just for lovers, Virginia is for Foodies.

 http://www.virginia.org/site/features.asp?FeatureID=124&Rgn=10000

I love Mexican food!  Last week when I went to Houston for a visit, my son picked me up from the airport and I informed him that I had a list of restaurants I wanted to eat at while I was there.  Topping the list is my favorite Tex-Mex restaurant Gringos.  The very best in Tex-Mex and Margaritas can be found there and I’ve been dreaming about their salsa for days.  Lunch was more chips and salsa (green and red) than a person should eat, chicken falutas, with the best refried beans and rice and lots of guacamole.  OMG, I was in heaven.  I became so overwhelmed with a Tex-Mex food high that I left my credit card there and had to go back the next morning to get it.

But one thing that Florida does have is good burrito shops.  And when I want good burrito or tacos there’s no shortage of places to go.  Tijuana Flats, Moe’s Southwest Grill, and Chipotle to name just a few.  But when I’m in or around Downtown St. Pete I go to Burrito Boarder.  It’s a funky little restaurant with skateboards hanging from the ceiling and tables made from surf boards.  The food is healthy, fresh and natural.  They use hormone free meats and organic veggies and best of all is that ALL the food is prepared fresh every day.  They don’t even have a freezer in this place.  The restaurant is totally eco friendly and most importantly to me it’s vegetarian friendly.  The veggie tacos are awesome and the freshly made guacamole is soooooo good that I can’t pass it up.

I’m not a night owl but this place is open until after 2am so it’s a great stop for after the club.  Sometimes there is a live band so tune into their Facebook Page to stay connected and for cheap eats check out Taco Tuesday for $1 tacos after 2pm.

A couple of weeks ago I attended CPU or Cruise Planners University.   I spent a week in Ft. Lauderdale learning to better serve my clients and be a better travel consultant.  Cruise Planners now has a brand new computer system so we spent many hours learning the new system so when we go “live” we’ll know our way around it.  Cruise Planners has really put a lot of effort into this new system and it shows.  It makes my job easier, but of course, there will be a few bugs to fix.  All in all – I love it!  

The highlights of our week were the ship tours.  We boarded the Carnival Freedom and the Celebrity Solstice each for a day and were guided on a full ship tour and wined and dined in the dining rooms.  I’m a big Carnival fan and the Freedom was a beautiful ship.  I had no camera and took pictures with my iPhone but ended up with lots of pictures of my thumb.  Maybe I should find a class on phone photography.  Here is are some pictures from the website as a consolation prize.  Outdoor movie screen, Posh specialty restaurant Sun King Steakhouse, and Serenity the Adult Only area.  That’s where you’ll find me BTW.

The food in the dining room was spectacular! Our multi-course menu was Grilled Jumbo Shrimp & Pickled Norwegian Salmon, Spaghetti with Spicy Chives & Rosemary Tomato Fondue, Pan Seared Grouper with Creamy Olives and Potatoes and Grilled Eggplant with Lemon Drizzle, Slow Roasted Beef Fillets served with Cinnamon Pumpkin Pie and Garlic Green Beans and a 3 Mustard Reduction Sauce, and for dessert A Study in Chocolate. OMG!!! 

The Celebrity Solstice was one of the most elegant ships I’ve ever seen yet it was still quite relaxed.  I could spend days just looking at all the art work on this ship.  It seems like everything was art.  The fountains by the pools, the real grass on the top deck, the glass blowing demo, the ceiling in the main dining room, and even the Olive Bar at the casual buffet restaurant.  A feast for the eyes this ship is.  Later this year I’ll be sailing on her sister ship the brand new Celebrity Eclipse.  I can’t wait.  But of course, I have to tell you about the food…My mom always said that if you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything.  So I’ll shut up except to say that maybe it was an off day and I’m sure they can do better.  The Glass Wine Tower gets two thumbs up but if you’ve been to Aureole in Las Vegas, you’ve seen a better one.  Here are a few thumb free pictures from the net. 

So I spent the week sitting in a cold conference room with mediocre coffee and was pumped so full of information that it’s taken me 2 weeks just to digest it all.  Now to apply all I’ve learned to my everyday life…

Royal Caribbean has the “Nation of Why Not”, so keeping with that theme, why not come sail with me and create culinary memories that will stay with us for years to come?  Our Foodie Friends Cruise to the Western Caribbean on board the Voyager of the Seas departs from Galveston on Feb. 27th 2011. 

Our culinary adventure will take us to Jamaica, Grand Cayman and Mexico.  Along the way we will be dining in high style, visit island eateries, and have other culinary themed activities.

Join me as I host my very first Foodie Friends Cruise for all my Friends in Food both old and new.  This special exclusive group will enjoy great extras such as onboard credit to spend any way you like on your cruise, special dinner, great gifts, and more.  Not to mention you get to spend a week at sea with ME!!!

 So get out of the kitchen and on the ship…HURRY, space is limited…call me today.  Come Sail Away with me!  Check it out!  

http://www.funcruises4you.com/cs/88915

And now I’ll channel my inner Dr. Suess…

The drinks are frozen

The theme is set

We’re having a Foodie Friends Cruise

That you’ll never forget

So pack your bags

As you’ve done in the past

For a cruise that will be

A tropical blast

From Galveston we’ll sail

To 3 sunny ports

For food and friends

And fun of all sorts

On Wednesdays we like to go to Peggy Oneill’s in Palm Harbor to listen to great Irish music and eat my favorite fish & chips.  They have the best in town.  http://peggyoneillsirishpub.com/pages/myweb/musicfrm.htm

The entertainment is the best and we love to sing, and sway to some of our favorite Irish drinking songs with Chris Morgan.  Chris plays solo at Peggy Oneill’s but plays with a band as well. I love Irish music for its story telling and upbeat sounds.  Irish music both traditional and new always put me in a good mood and paired up with fish & chips and Guinness, it’s a great way to spend a mid week evening.  Check out Chris.  http://www.chrismorganmusic.com/index.html

On a recent trip we were sitting at the bar an overheard the bartender tell another customer about their new Cotton Candy Vodka.  Cotton Candy Vodka! I gotta have me some of that!  Well one shot lead to two and, well all I could say was yum!  I don’t really go for the sweet stuff but once in a while you just want to drink dessert.  Cotton Candy Vodka is made by Pinnacle Vodka http://www.pinnaclevodka.com/index.php and comes in a wonderful looking blue bottle.  Try it with a bit of cranberry to balance the sweetness.  I wouldn’t order it every day but if you’re looking for something to add to your liquor cabinet that no one else has.  Get some Cotton Candy Vodka.

3 new things came into my life this week.  The first being Windows 7.  My Husband, Arnold built me a new desktop computer for my birthday and I installed Window 7 Professional.  WOW!  Where has this been all my life.  So easy and user friendly.  My love/hate relationship with my computer is now a love/love relationship.  I’ve not chosen a new monitor for my new computer yet so I’m using one that my son used to use before he turned to the dark side and bought a Mac.  

My new speakers are awesome and it seems I never turn off the music.  The new tower has lots of red and blue lights and looks so cool.  The new keyboard is so much bigger than my laptop that it takes some getting used to.   But this new computer and Windows 7 were for one big reason and that is to make it simpler to do my job as a Travel Agent.  And to that end, Cruise Planners has given us a  convenient new booking tool that offers state of the art technology to research and book your Air, Car, Hotel and Vacation Rentals.  So many of my clients have asked for a tool to help them book their own non-cruise travel and now here it is!   Our new booking tool is available 24/7 and is a one stop shop for over 100,000 hotels worldwide as well as extreamly competive prices on air and more.  Check it out at www.funcruises4you.com. 

The third great thing that came to my life this week is a great recipe for Homemade Goat Cheese.  I was not really sure if I wanted to try this but something told me to take the time and “just do it” – I must have been wearing my Nike shoes at the time.  I found this recipe online when searching for a local goat cheese producer.  This recipe sounded too easy to be good.

HOMEMADE GOAT CHEESE

Adapted from Over the Rainbeau: Living the Dream of Sustainable Farming

1 quart goats’ or regular cow’s milk

juice of 2 lemons

coarse salt (1/4 TSP or to taste)

2 TSP finely chopped fresh herbs of your choice

Freshly ground pepper (1/8 TSP or to taste)

Gently heat milk in a heavy medium sized saucepan until it reaches 180 degrees on an instant-read thermometer. Remove from heat and stir in lemon juice. Let stand until set, about 15-30 minutes. If milk does not set, add a little more lemon juice.

Line a colander with several layers of cheesecloth. Ladle set milk into colander. Tie the four corners of cheesecloth together; hang on the handle of a wooden spoon set over a deep bowl and let drain until it is the consistency of slightly dry cottage cheese, 1 to 2 hours (depending on the consistency that you are looking for. Shorter drain time means gives you a creamier texture, longer draining gives the cheese a crumbly texture). Transfer to a bowl and fold in salt, pepper and herbs. Store in an airtight container, refrigerated, up to 1 week.

Makes 8 to 10 ounces.

  Carnival Cruise Lines is rolling out the new Chef’s Table dining option, which lets passengers tour the galley and dine with a ship chef. The culinary experience includes a multi-course dinner hosted by one of the line’s master chefs along with a private cocktail reception and a tour of the galley. The Chef’s Table was launched last year as a pilot program aboard the Carnival Dream and Carnival Ecstasy and currently is being rolled out to six other ships.
With The Chef’s Table, a group of 12 guests have cocktails and hors d’ouevres with the ship’s chef de cuisine. The chef then takes the group on a tour to see the galley in operation. The evening concludes with a full-service dinner with appetizers, entrees and desserts. Depending on the vessel, the meal takes place in non-traditional dining venues throughout the ship, such as the galley, library, conference center, etc.
The Chef’s Table program is being rolled out to the following ships over the next several weeks: Carnival Liberty, Carnival Sensation, Carnival Imagination, Carnival Inspiration, Carnival Pride and Carnival Fascination. The program can be booked on board through the ships’ guest information desk. The cost is $75 per person. For more information, contact Norie@funcruises4you.com