Mia's Visit - Day 2

We started off today with smoothies made from vanilla yogurt, fresh strawberries and blueberries.  Then we headed up to Clearwater Beach.  Clearwater Beach is much bigger than the beach I usually go to, and has nice white sand.  It is a wide beach, and very popular with tourists, and is a popular destination for spring breaks.

 We did our usual:  relax for a while, refreshed in the water, and went for a walk up to the pier (in the background here.)

Soaking up some more rays.

 Lots of people there today.

 Alongside the pier.

HELP!  That same turtle that attacked Adele is attacking Mia!

Our spot on the beach was right next to Frenchy's Rockaway Grill . . . so, what better place to go for early afternoon lunch?  Those onion strings were to die faw.

 Summer salad with grouper.

Pete and Joe invited us over for dinner.  Sweet caramelized onion gouda chicken burgers, broccoli rabe, mac and cheese and cucumber tomato salad.

In anticipation of dessert . . .

Wayne made a cherry cheesecake pie.  Another YUM!!!

It's as good as it looks!!!

Christmas in Clearwater

In looking at the title of this post, I'm reminded that I haven't heard "Christmas in Kilarney" even once on the radio this year!

We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in Clearwater. It was a quiet celebration. Knowing how much I like to eat, I thought I'd post a picture of the food items I got in my Christmas stocking.
I found Panettone in a loaf form instead of the round this year and it sliced much better for the toaster!

The weather has been in the 80s during the daytime these past coupld of days, so in the afternoon we went to Clearwater Beach for about an hour, just to walk around. There were quite a few people there. Some even ventured into the water.

Christmas on the beach . . .

When we got back we had our Christmas dinner: lasagna left over from last weekend when Mia and Gina visited, brown sugar coated ham, mixed veggies and potatoes and pepper jack biscuits. Wayne picked those oranges in his backyard this afternoon.

Clearwater Beach Sunset and What else? Food!

On Friday night we went to Clearwater Beach to take a long walk and watch the sunset and to get a bite to eat. It was a beautiful evening, not humid, and a nice breeze coming off the Gulf. After the walk and the sunset we ate at Frenchy's Rockaway Grill on the beach. I had the cajun grouper sandwich. M-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m!



We ran into this group just after getting there. They asked us to take their picture. While Wayne was taking their picture with their camera, I snapped one with mine. In turn they then took ours! Too bad we blinked when the picture was snapped.

There was a small group of guys water skiing along the beach by extending the tow rope from a portable motor set on the beach.

And there were a bunch of jelly fish washed up on the beach. We made sure we watched where we stepped as we walked along! This one is about 10 inches in diameter.

On Saturday afternoon we ran some errands and did some shopping. At Sam's Club we saw a box of Zero candy bars. And, what a co-inky-dink! Wayne and I both like them! Sooooo, the box of 24 went into the shopping cart.

On Saturday night Wayne made some recipes that he got from the Food Channel. First we started with Amaretto Sours with Prosecco. For the main course we had Fusilli with Sausage (hot), Artichokes, and Sun-dried Tomatoes. (That's fresh mozzarella cheese there too). These recipes are from Giada DeLaurentiis.

And finally, chocolate cookies. Another Oink! Oink!

6 Months, Mangia, K-9s and a Pirate Ship in the Sun

This weekend marked 6 months that I've been living in St Pete. And I am STILL loving it!!! We had a couple mornings this past week where I turned on my heat to take the chill out of my apartment before I went to work. But by afternoon we were back up in the 70s. It seems like endless summer . . .

Late Saturday morning Wayne and I went to Mazzaro's. It sure gets crowded on a Saturday there! We browsed around and then had some iced Americanos and split a small strawberry rhubarb pie. Picked up a few things. I never could find lupini beans at the supermarket so I got a jar, and also got a jar of green olives stuffed with sundried tomotoes.

While we were sitting at the coffee bar, we were talking to these two ladies sitting next to us. One was an accountant visiting from East Hampton NY. They told us about this art and craft show going on in Gulfport where the one woman lived. We thought it sounded good, and it was a beautiful day to be outside, so we headed to Gulfport.

We were wondering when we got there, why there were so many people there with dogs and cats. It turns out that it wasn't an arts and crafts fair at all, but an annual event around dog and cat rescue. All of the vendors had something to do with dogs or cats. It was cute, but nothing there for us.

We weren't too far from the St Pete beaches, so we headed over to Treasure Island to spend a little time at Sunset Beach.

And of course, what do we run up against on the way back?

It was getting around dinner time by now, and all we had eaten was that strawberry rhubarb pie. We drove along Central Avenue trying to decide where we wanted to eat. I had heard about this Italian restaurant from one of the credit union members, so we thought we'd check it out. We got there about 5 minutes before it was scheduled to open, but there was no one to be seen inside. You'd think there would be some prep work going on. So instead, we went to Beak's Old Florida and had Fish and Chips. And lucky us, Mojitos were on special!

Sunday was even warmer so we decided to head to Clearwater Beach. Seems like the tourists were out in full force. (I can say that now...LOL!)

Dogs are not allowed on the beach, but for some reason an awful lot of people had their dogs there! This little pack came running out from one of the beach homes.

For some reason they flocked around Wayne. Luckily, they left no little presents on the towels.

When this cat come out, they all chased it. Here it is keeping it's distance and keeping an eye on them.

This guy flew overhead a couple of times.

And some people think there are colorful individuals only in NYC! Come to think of it...maybe he's down here for the winter?

And just before we left, this pirate ship went sailing by . . .