Welcome to Aruba - One Happy Island!

Our View From Our Condo Balcony

Costa Linda Beach Resort, Aruba

May 17, 2014

Aruba is an amazing island to visit!  It is one of the friendliest and safest islands in the Caribbean.  The average temperature is 82ºF with trade winds keeping the humidity at bay.  My husband and now former friends first visited Aruba in May of 2012.  We very much enjoyed our visit so when the owner of the condo offered to sell it to us, we accepted buying it between the two couples.  Quite frankly I was against the purchase but decided to go along with it because it made good financial sense.  Unlike a time share that has a set ending causing the value to decrease, the units at Costa Linda Beach Resort are deeded with no ending date so the value will increase.  Essentially we own that unit for one week each year until such time we decide to sell.  If we don't go one year, we can always rent our unit out.  It is an ideal way of making a tidy profit.  This year it was apparent that we were incompatible for shared ownership so we are in the process of buying out the other couple.  The paperwork was on its way to us before we left Florida!  Aside of that bit of conflict, my husband and I had an amazing time in Aruba!

Our trips to Aruba are very much a vacation in that we have housekeeping services so there is no time wasted opening up or preparing for possible tenants like there is with our vacation home.  There's no laundry or maintenance aside of clearing after any meals we make.  While the kitchen is fully equipped for cooking, the kitchen equipment in minimal.  I suppose cooking is not a high priority when you have only a week to enjoy such a beautiful island.   Surprisingly, I forgot to take pictures of the kitchen in the condo that was renovated in 2013.  It is now sporting new cabinets and a granite counter top with expanded space.  I'll be sure to take pictures next year!

There are a couple of grocery stores nearby so one of our first stops was for groceries.  We generally eat breakfast and lunch in the condo then eat out for dinner.  I was up every morning just before 7 AM to do a quiet, brisk 30 minute walk then hit the gym before heading up to share breakfast on the balcony with my husband.  Just look at that view!  It is total eye candy! 

After breakfast we went down to lounge around the pool.  Our usual spot was under the canopy to the far upper right just where beyond where the person in the white shirt is standing.  My husband would take a dip in the ocean then do water aerobics at 11 AM, island time.  Everyone is on island time so the 11 AM was just a suggestion.  After water aerobics he slips across the beach for a dip in the ocean before settling in to people watch and relax. 

The largest peak to the back of the rounded peak is an enclosed restaurant Water's Edge North 12º N that replaces the former Turtle's Nest.  The larger peak on the right side is the restaurant's bar and casual, open seating area.  There is drink and meal service right to the lounges with three happy hours and live entertainment.  The many iguanas and birds are always on the lookout for any food that happens to drop to the ground.  It's a relaxing, pleasant way to spend much of the day!

Carrabba's Italian Grill

A chain restaurant is one in which there are the same restaurants under the same ownership or franchise owned at different locations.  The chain may be small as only a few locations within a certain region of the country or it may be large with multiple locations throughout the world.  Chain restaurants are typically fast food or take-out, or sit down.  Chain restaurants regardless of the type are popular because they tend to be conveniently located, lower priced, family friendly and ideally the food is consistent from one location to the next.

We are not huge fans of and likely never will be fans of fast food chain restaurants.  They are usually seen by us as a last resort if we can't find a restaurant while travelling which is seldom as usually we can find a good truck stop restaurant.  We occasionally have Harvey's (Canadian burger chain) or Wendy's at home and we have tried a few of the fast food chains in Florida as well as en route, but for the most part, our preference is for sit down.

Sit down chain restaurants, while not fine dining really are a lot better than fast food chain restaurants.  Neither of us grew up with fast food so didn't develop the taste for it.  As newlyweds we barely had two pennies to scrape together so couldn't afford it and as our young family grew to what would be considered a large family today, sit down restaurants offered a way to enjoy homestyle cooking at a reasonable price.  Two of our favourite chain restaurants from the past were Mother's Pizza Parlor & Spaghetti House(pizza, spaghetti) and Ponderosa Steakhouse (steak).  Mother's ceased operations in Ontario in 1992 and currently there is only one Mother's in operation, located in Calgary, Alberta.  Ponderosa currently has locations in the US but ceased operations in Canada in 1984.

During our many travels, we have been very fortunate to discover a multitude of sit down chain restaurants.  Some are family owned while others are franchises.  Depending on the restaurant the price per meal ranges from low (eg. Steak & Shake, Five Guys, Long John Silvers) to moderate (eg. Harry's Seafood Bar & Grille, Texas Roadhouse, Olive Garden).

We discovered Carrabba's Italian Grill during our December stay at our vacation home.  Carrabba's is a casual dining chain restaurant founded by Damian Mandola and Johnny Carrabba on December 26, 1986.  It is owned and operated by OSI Restaurant Partners, LLC headquartered in Tampa, Florida.  There are currently 231 company-owned locations and one franchise location throughout the US.  Carrabba's offer sit down dining, carside carry-out using their online service and catering.

We love restaurants with atmosphere.  In this respect, Carrabba's certainly does not disappoint!  The open style kitchen was very impressive as various pots of cooking food filled the numerous gas burners.  Of note, most professional and restaurant kitchens use natural gas for stovetop cooking because of the degree of temperature control possible.  There was a long prep counter facing the dining area with a glass shelf when plates of food were set for the waitresses to pick up.  Just out of sight to the right, attached to the prep counter was a small sitting area aptly named the kitchen counter for patrons to sit and and enjoy a drink while watching the food being prepared.

On the right side of the stovetop cooking area, there was a gorgeous and very impressive wood oven and grille.  Not only is the grill a workhorse, very much designed for function, it is also aesthetically appealing with the south of the border flare.  You can't help but be drawn to the counter to enjoy the dancing flames and tantalizing aromas!  The ambiance this indoor wood oven and grill creates is priceless.

Much like an outdoor charcoal grill, this wood grill infuses the food with a flavour that can't be duplicated.  This is a very versatile grill used for several of their dishes.  The wood grill allows for direct cooking over hot coals as well as indirect cooking using radiated heat.

The Carrabba chefs travel to Italy every year to discover what is new and exciting in the Italian culinary world.  Many of the dishes offered in the restaurant are authentic Italian dishes, unlike  some Italian restaurants that serve more of an American Italian style cuisine.  Be sure to check out their website as they have a few of their classic recipes for you to try at home.

Meals are served with a hearty helping of bread with lightly seasoned olive oil for dipping in traditional Italian style.  We ordered the the bacon & caramelized onion flat bread served hot from the wood-burning oven as an appetizer.  Oh my gosh, was it ever delicious!  This is a must duplicate at home dish.  It would be ever so easy to do so using homemade or store bought flat bread.

While many consider lasagne a casserole, Carrabba's Italian Grill lists it as a stuffed pasta.  I ordered the lasagne served with a choice of homemade soup or side salad, so I ordered a Caesar salad.  The salad was a basic Caesar salad with a creamy dressing topped with shredded Parmesan cheese.  There was no croutons, crumbled bacon, fresh cracked pepper or lemon wedges that usually accompany Caesar salads especially at Italian restaurants.

The lasagne was a very generous serving size of fresh lasagne pasta layered with house made pomodoro, bolognese meat sauce, fresh grated ricotta, mozzarella and Romano cheese topped with marinara sauce and garnished with fresh grated Parmesan and chopped parsley.  It was a delightfully, tasty lasagne!  I really liked the mingling of flavours of the two sauces that added an extra depth.  The fresh made pasta really set this lasagne well above what many restaurants serve, using dried lasagne noodles.

My husband ordered the veal Marsala entrée that was served with a cup of homemade soup or side salad, vegetable of the day, garlic mashed potatoes or cavatappi amatricana.  The tender, juicy veal was topped with mushrooms, prosciutto and Carrabba's Lombardo Marsala sauce garnished with fresh grated Parmesan cheese.  The Marsala sauce, made from scratch daily, is their most used sauce.  He chose a bowl of their classic Minestrone soup and substituted the cavatappi amatricana with linguine in a creamy Alfredo sauce.  Doesn't it look yummy?  It was a delicious meal that got two thumbs up from him.

Calypso Salad at Cheeseburger in Paradise

I was on one of the biggest salad kicks during our December stay at our vacation home (Nov. 29 to Dec. 20).  It really was the one dish I could not get enough of.  I love my salads, enjoying one at least once a day but in this case it was a bit different because I was listening to what my body was telling me.  I had been sick the week before we flew out, to the point I was concerned about having to cancel our flight.  Then while we were there I was again sick for four days.  Salads are high in nutrition, low in fat especially with no creamy dressing, easy to pick at when not feeling well AND they provide the body with much needed hydration.  It's best to decrease salad consumption if the illness is gastrointestinal until it subsides but as soon as it does subside, boost the consumption.

I really increased my salad consumption as soon as I felt well about four days before flying out.  I had a large salad at the airport while waiting for the flight then extra salads while we were there except when sick.

We arrived at the airport homeside about 10:30 AM and had planned to do a bit of Christmas shopping.  After a couple of stops, we found a Cheeseburger in Paradise restaurant for lunch.  I ordered a Calypso salad ($8.99).  The salad consisted of  field greens, strawberries, grilled pineapples, mandarin oranges, apples, honey roasted almonds and red onions tossed with a citrus vinaigrette dressing.  Grilled salmon or blackened chicken could be added at an additional charge but I just wanted the salad.  This was a rather large salad, definitely more than most folks would eat even as a dinner salad.

This really was a delicious salad combining a lot of flavours in a unique way, well worth tweaking for a refreshing summer salad at home.  Overall, I really enjoyed it but when I make Calypso salad at home I will make a few changes.  I think the citrus vinaigrette flavour could have been a bit stronger and I found the honey roasted almonds too sweet which have been because I hadn't been feeling well, but I would replace them with plain toasted almond slivers.  A dash of lemon zest would really add a lot of flavour without the extra calories.  I also not a huge fan of iceberg lettuce.  It provides a lot of crunch and water but not nutrition.  I think a mesclun or spring mix would be a nice substitute for the iceberg lettuce.

Dinner Buffet at Cleveland Heights Golf Course in Lakeland, Florida

During our third stay at our vacation home in late 2010, our neighbours invited us to the Early Bird Entertainment Revue and Buffet hosted by Ruby's at the Avenue in Lakeland, Florida (3405 South Florida Avenue in Lakeland, Florida).   This is a weekly event featuring a dinner buffet ($10.95) followed by entertainment by some of the greats - Jim Hendrick (radio station host and MC for the evening), Ken Brady (The Casinos), Jack and Jerry Calhoun.  Eddie Snyder (American composer and song writer)  was at the table behind us!  Nancy Cattarius (Vice President and General Manager of WONN, WPCV, WLKF, and WWRZ) is there fairly often.  Other wonderful entertainers include Dale Glenn (one of our friends), Pablo Reyes, Margaret Burcham, Lorrie Messina and Carlos Roman as well as special appearances by other talented entertainers.

In 2012, the Early Bird Entertainment Revue and Buffet was moved to Cleveland Heights Golf Course located at 2900 Buckingham Ave in Lakeland, Florida.  Cleveland Heights Golf Course is a Division of the Parks and Recreation Department of the City of Lakeland.  The Revue is held in the spacious club house which offers more seating and a larger dance floor than Ruby's which is nice as it has been a full house every time we have gone.  Seating is by reservation as far as I know.  We always sit with our friends, Dale and his wife as well as a couple of the entertainers, but have gotten to know a lot of the entertainers and regulars.

Ruby is the cook at The Avenue however the restaurant and kitchen are closed for renovations.  Cleveland Heights Golf Course has a full service restaurant, The Grille open from 6 am to 2 pm daily.  The dinner buffet for the Revue starts at 4 pm so the food is catered in from Ruby.

The buffet is set up is a separate room just off the lounge, behind the stage.  It is all you can with food available until the entertainment ends.  The meal usually consists of soup, salad bar, three choices of meat, three choices of vegetables as well as dessert.  Of course there are all the extras like dinner rolls, condiments and that type of thing.  The menu does vary.  Sometimes the theme is fish, other times chicken as well as pastas.  Usually one of the vegetables is some type of potato dish.

We enjoyed an evening at Early Bird Revue and Buffet the Tuesday before we left (Dec. 20) to come back to the cold weather in Ontario.  The food on the buffet is very much home style cooking and that's what makes it good.  It's not pretentious or fancy, just tasty!  I had roast turkey with cranberry sauce and gravy, ham, yams, collard greens and dressing.  Doesn't it look like a delicious, homemade, home style cooked meal?

Tampa Bay Brewing Company in Ybor City, Florida

We spent three weeks at our vacation home in December.  Unlike our October stay, the December visit was much more laid back and relaxing.  We had no family or friends staying with us and we weren't on the road near as much as we usually are.  We went to Cleveland Heights twice with friends for dinner and the evening entertainment (Ken Brady, and friends).  We also made a side trip to Sanibel Island to hunt for seashells then stopped to visit family in Naples, Florida.  One of our friends and their son drove their other son's car down to Tampa.  He works on the cruise lines and needed his car down there.  We met up with our friend and son for dinner at Tampa Bay Brewing Company, a restaurant and microbrewery friends had introduced us to during our October visit.

Tampa Bay Brewing Company is located in Ybor City, founded by Vicente Martinez-Ybor as a cigar-manufacturing centre.  Ybor City is one of two Floridian National Historic Landmark Districts; it is also known as Tampa's Latin Quarter.   This area is well worth visiting for the eclectic shops, museums, patio bars and nightly music!  The air is filled with tantalizing exotic aromas too tempting not to indulge.  Ybor is famous for its café con leche, a perfect drink for people watching.   you can watch hand-rolled cigars being made.  It is one of Florida's top ranting nightspots.

John G. Doble, III founded the Tampa Bay Brewing Company in 1996.  The microbrewery was originally located in a two-story brick building (former horse stable) on 15th Street in Ybor City.  The business was moved to its current location on the plaza level of Centro Ybor in 2006. The business continues to be family owned and operated.
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All the beers brewed at the Tampa Bay Brewing Company are handcrafted by brewmaster, David Doble and his assistant brewers on the premises using a 10-barrel brewing system.  The brewhouse consists of a combination of: mash/boil kettle, lauter tun, hot liquor tank, cold liquor tank, three 10bbl fermenters and a 20 bbl fermenter.  Unlike some of the microbreweries we have visited, we did not see the tanks or brewing process because we sat on outdoor patio to enjoy a bit of people watching and the absolutely delightful atmosphere in the district.  However, it does appear from their website that the tanks and brewing can be viewed from the indoor restaurant area.

Our friend ordered a sampler of beers.  They were generous sized samplers!  Now, if you are going to a microbrewery, you must taste some of their beer.  The best way to do this is via samplers.  I hope I'm getting this right, from left to right: old elephant foot IPA, red eye amber ale (American), one night stand pale (American ale) and wild warthog Hefeweizen (German).  I had a true blond ale that had a slight hop nose with a smooth, crisp and slightly citrus note.  My husband seldom drinks beer so he ordered an alternative adult beverage but he did have a sip of mine.

I was on a huge Caesar salad trend the entire trip.  Quite frankly Caesar salads seldom vary other than creamy verses oily dressing and presentation.  So, even though I took a picture, there really wasn't anything interesting show.  Don't get me wrong as it was a good salad just basically the same I've shown in previous posts.

Our friend's son ordered the personal sized  Tomato Caprese pizza made with whole milk mozzarella cheese, sliced roma tomatoes and fresh basil chiffonade.  The crust is hand tossed featuring their own dough made with their own ale.  Doesn't it look absolutely delicious?

This would be very easy to duplicate at home.  I always use beer when making pizza dough.  It really does make a huge difference.  My requirements are a microbrew beer, usually Sleemans out of Guelph, Ontario and good, fresh ingredients.  I would recommend making this pizza when tomatoes and basil are in, but with a bit of care you can keep both growing indoors over the winter.  Roma tomatoes have been so over bred they really are tasteless especially if not bought in the peak of season.  Fresh basil is a must have for the chiffonade.  Tampa Bay Brewing Company used fresh, sweet basil but really any basil (and there are so many) will work.

A chiffonade can be made with any green leafy vegetable and it works nicely for broad leaf herbs like basil as well.  Simply wash and pat dry the leaves then stack.  Carefully roll the stack then cut across the stack to form thin strips.  Sprinkle the chiffonade over the pizza or dish of choice for that wonderful punch of flavour.  It really is nice, flavourful presentation!

The Simple Sandwich

The guys spent a week with us during our fall vacation in October.  This has become an annual golfing event for the guys, my husband included who would live on the golf course given his druthers.  The guys played a round of golf (18 holes) each day they were there.  There are two award winning golf courses in our resort but unlike some golf courses there is no cart service for food or drinks.  There is however, beautiful eye candy is a gorgeous setting peppered with gators and other wildlife.  Guaranteed, when golfing there you are going to see at least one gator and in fact we see on average three or more gators daily.  

The guys take their own drinks and sandwiches.  I have yet to make bread at our vacation home as I don't have a KitchenAid stand mixer and can no longer knead dough by hand.  Publix has a lovely in-store bakery so we end up buying fresh baked bread there.  We tend to buy the sourdough bread but the guys like the butter bread.  We picked up a couple of loaves of butter bread, lunch meat, sliced cheese, romaine lettuce, tomatoes, onions and alfalfa sprouts along with condiments.

Each day they made their sandwiches and drinks just after a home cooked breakfast.  It was rather impressive to see the four guys getting things ready for their round of golf.  It was an assembly line for the sandwiches!  They were simple sandwiches yet healthy and nutritious, perfect for on the golf course.  The sandwiches and drinks were carefully packed in a cooler on our golf cart with the other golf cart carrying any extras.

I'm seriously considering bringing our own sandwiches the next time we visit Disney World.  I already bring a water bottle (Britta with filter) with me when we go there and since we have an annual pass, like most we tend to arrive early and leave late.  I don't mind spending at Disney World but seriously, bottles of water do tend to add up and they are always cold, something I really don't like.  I also don't like that the empty bottles add to waste so bringing my own re-usable water bottle is an eco-friendly solution.  Since we are there all day, a sandwich for lunch is nice because we know we already have reservations for dinner so I really don't mind saving a bit on lunch without having to wait in line or finding somewhere to grab a bit of lunch.

It's hot in Florida or at least it is when we tend to be there so sandwiches are always the perfect lunch meal.  We seldom buy breakfast or lunch when we are at our vacation home because both are always less expensive made at home.  That is always something to keep in mind when on vacation.  If you reduce the cost of breakfast and lunch by making your own, you can splurge on dinner and that's where you really want to do a bit of splurging when on vacation!

Five Guys Burgers and Fries

[Note: This is not a paid post.  The opinions expressed in this review are based on our personal experience dining there.]

Prior to traveling to and staying at our vacation home in Florida as well as the many road trips we make while there, we do a bit of research looking for new restaurants to try.  We follow Diners, Drive-ins and Dives (host: Guy Fieri) and You Gotta Eat Here! (host: John Catucci) on Food Network Canada.  We also look for reviews and forum comments of restaurants in the various areas we will be traveling through or stay in.  Somewhere along the line, my husband heard about a restaurant chain called Five Guys that has quite a following of devoted fans.  It went on our list of restaurants to try.  We had the opportunity to finally try Five Guys during our fall vacation in October.

Five Guys is a privately owned restaurant chain specializing in hand-formed burgers cooked on a grill and fresh -cut fries cooked in pure peanut oil.  The combination is a sure fire winner!  The first Five Guys location opened in Arlingon, Virginia by Jerry and Janie Murrell  and their four sons, Matt, Jim, Chad and Ben as the original "Five Guys".  Jerry and Janie had a fifth son, Tyler, two years later.  Today, the five brothers are the current "Five Guys".  There are more than 1,000 locations across 40 US states and 6 Canadian provinces.   We visited one of the locations in Lakeland, Florida.

The colour scheme for Five Guys restaurants is black and crisp white with lots of cheery red accents for both the interior and exterior. A red checkerboard patter appears not only as part of the interior decor but also on their signage and packaging.   Five Guys restaurants do not have drive-through service but you can order online then wait for delivery or pick the order up yourself.  This is easy on your mobile device using their app (iPhone, Android) or through their website.  Signing up is required.  After signing up you can place your order and pre-pay via credit card online at any of their participating locations.

We stopped at Five Guys for a late lunch so it wasn't busy. Upon entering the restaurant, we were greeted with a bright, cheery atmosphere.  Boxes of help-yourself complimentary peanuts and 50 lb bags of  fresh potatoes were neatly lined up across from the open style kitchen and order counter forming a friendly, unique barrier between the counter and sit down dining area.  There is no limit on the complimentary peanuts but you can't take them out of the restaurant.

The interior of the Five Guys restaurant was quite spacious, bright and airy.  Clean line tables and chairs in a blond wood expanded bright and airy and yet the restaurant had some of the charm of a 50's diner.  There was ample indoor lighting combined with large expanses of windows.  The were wall-mounted cork boards on either side of the entrance with a stack of note cards and crayons for customers.  There is a self-serve drink bar and condiment counter.

The menu was neatly done on a board above the counter.  Five Guys is well known for their  simple menu consisting of burgers (hamburger, cheeseburger, bacon burger and bacon cheeseburger) in regular (2 patties) or little size (1 pattie) , hot dogs (Kosher style, cheese, bacon and bacon cheese), sandwiches (veggie, cheese veggie and grilled cheese), cold drinks (soda, bottle water) large or regular size, and fresh-cut fries (Five Guys style or Cajun style).  There is no tea, coffee, milkshakes or juice.  All toppings are free.  Those written in black on the menu board are included if order your burger with everything or all the way.  Those topping written in red are still free but you have to ask for them to be included.  Drink refills are free.  The drink cups are a hard plastic so they can be reused at home.  You can watch them make your burgers while you wait on the pick-up side of the counter.

The fresh-cut fries is just one thing that sets Five Guys apart from other fast food style restaurants and burger joints.  Fresh-cut fries taste so much better than the anemic ones some fast food restaurants have.  They are the selling feature for the restaurant chain and the only side offered so they have to impress customers and they certain do.

We ordered the large size salted Five Guys style fresh-cut fries to share ($4.99).  We measured out ketchup in the provided dipping bowls at the condiment station.  I would have liked malt or apple cider vinegar for my fries but there wasn't any.  From our personal experience, serving vinegar with fries is not all that popular in the US unless the restaurant serves English style fish and chips.  Vinegar with fries is more of a British and Canadian thing.

We also shared a large unsweetened ice tea ($2.29) and a tray of peanuts.  Now, we fell in love with unsweetened ice tea several years ago so I make it at home as well.  Unsweetened ice tea is very much a southern US states delight but we've been able to find it states further north as well.  This beverage is refreshing without adding any calories, just perfect for hot weather and ideal when enjoying heavier meals.

The portion size for the fries was very generous!  They were hot, steamy and crispy just perfect.  These fries are a must even if you don't eat the entire portion and they are perfect sharing size.  You just have to taste them to know they are about as close to homemade as you can get, with all the deliciousness of homemade, fresh-cut fries.

The peanuts are part of the Five Guys identity.  Those with peanut allergies or sensitivities should not go there.  There is signage on the doors to indicate that peanuts are served in bulk on the premises.  The peanuts were delightfully roasted, not too salty

Be warned, while most fast food is not the best food for you, Men's Health Magazine (2008) listed Five Guys fries in their 20 New Worst Foods in America Eat This, Not That!  A large Five Guys fries contains 1,474 calories, 71 g fat (14g saturated) and 213 mg sodium.  Overall, Men's Health gave Five Guys a grade of C in terms of healthy choice offerings.  However, you can reduce the calories by sharing as we did and simply asking for no salt on your fries would greatly reduce the sodium.

We each ordered a regular cheeseburger ($5.79).  I ordered my with the everything and added jalapeño peppers.  My husband ordered his with lettuce, tomato and grilled onions.  All of the regular size burgers come with two patties while the little size comes with one.  The patties are made with 100% fresh beef with no fillers or preservatives.  The beef is neither organic or free range but it is purchased from producers that treat the cattle humanely following all the procedures set by the USDA.

These were really tasty,  juicy, homemade style burgers.  We certainly enjoyed them!  Fully loaded, they were a bit drippy to eat but that really is part of the enjoyment.  These burgers seriously are some of the best.  To borrow a term from several reviewers, Five Guys' burgers are Burgericious, well worth the culinary experience.

Men's Health Magazine in the same rated the regular burger sans cheese or toppings as an unhealthy choice at 700 calories and 20 grams of fat.  The Center for Science in the Public Interest listed Five Guys' bacon cheeseburger (920 calories) in their 2010 list of the most unhealthy meals available at US chain restaurants.  The burgers are quite large especially with the two patties so you could cut calories by sharing a burger and simply omitting toppings like cheese, grilled onions and bacon you can certainly reduce the fat content but that's not the point.  I mentioned the unhealthy ratings for the Five Guys' food for a reason.

Five Guys is basically a meat and potatoes restaurant that has never claimed to be health food.  Of course it is not the healthiest food you can enjoy but it is down right good food!  If we are going to a burger joint it is to indulge a bit, and because we eat healthy the majority of the time, a bit of occasional indulgence is fine.  They use fresh, never frozen 100% ground beef and potatoes unlike many fast food restaurants that use frozen burger patties that may have preservatives and fillers and frozen French fries.  All of their products are trans-fat free.  Most fast food restaurants horribly over salt the food but we asked for just a little salt on our fries so ours weren't too salty at all.  I'm sure if we had said no salt that would have been fine as well.  However, I would not consider Five Guys a fast food restaurant.  It is a burger joint, and a mighty good one at that.  Unlike burger joints that have turned into fast food restaurants with drive-through windows and pre-made patties, fries and other menu items, as well as gimmicky characters combined with toys for the kids, Five Guys has stuck to its roots in offering fresh, handmade, homemade style menu items without complicating the menu by adding a lot of extras.  Instead they have focused on perfecting what they do best.  They also don't offer coupons or discounts but rather offer high quality products at reasonable prices.  All around, Five Guys gets a two thumbs up from us!

Hockeytown Cafe (Detroit Metro Airport) - The Start of Our Fall 2012 Vacation

My husband and I own a vacation home in Florida where we spend anywhere from three to five weeks per vacation in the spring, fall and winter.  In all, it amounts to about 3 months per year.  Logistically this creates a bit of a culinary dilemna at both residences during the time we prepare to travel to one or the other.  When we are preparing to leave for our vacation home, we don't buy any perishable food for a week or so before.  This means if we are out of eggs a week before we leave, we simply don't cook anything requiring eggs.  I clean out the refrigerator, with anything we didn't use (eg. produce, eggs) going to one of our kids then wash the refrigerator from top to bottom.  We we arrive back home the refrigerator is pretty much empty except for condiments and a can of coffee.  On the vacation home side, depending on the time period we arrive to a completely bare refrigerator.  We rent our vacation home out when we aren't there so cannot leave anything in the refrigerator or freezer.  We do store a small amount of non-perishable food in a locked closet.  We are able to leave food in the refrigerator between the fall and winter vacation which helps somewhat.

We left for our fall vacation on October 2, 2012 return home on October 23.  We travel light with only backpacks, computer case and purse.  That means we don't take much in the way of food with us either way.  The night before we usually eat out so as to not create any garbage in the house.  Travel day is a light breakfast with coffee or tea, home canned soup or other home canned quick meal and dinner at the airport.

We usually fly out of Detroit Metro Airport when going to our vacation home so enjoy eating at the Hockeytown Cafe.  Airport food in general tends to be a bit more expensive. The food is good and prices reasonable.  My husband ordered the Double Play Burger which consists of two half pound patties of seasoned fresh ground beef served with lettuce, tomato, red onion and choice of cheese.  It came with a side of nacho chips and salsa.  At $11.95 this was a rather good deal.  He declared the burger delicious and filling!


I ordered the Chicken Caesar Wrap ($8.95).  It consisted of a grilled sliced chicken breast wrapped in a flour lavash with romaine lettuce, Caesar dressing, croutons and Parmesan cheese served with a dill pickle, nachos and salsa.  A lavash is an Armenian flatbread similar to a Mexican flour tortilla but rolled into a larger rectangular shape rather than a round.  Traditionally, a lavish is shaped then slapped against the sides of a clay oven to cook.  It is made from flour, salt and water.  This was a large wrap!  It was very tasty.  I ate one half of the wrap then popped the other half into a zipper sandwich bag to enjoy during the flight.

Chicken Caesar wraps are one of my favourite summertime meals.  I keep packets of grilled and pan fried chicken breast strips in the freezer specifically for this purpose.  I usually do up a batch of 15 to 20 chicken breasts at a time.  I like to grill (preferred method) or pan fry the chicken breasts with a light seasoning of lemon pepper that really accents the flavour of the Caesar dressing nicely.  Once the chicken is cooked, I let cool enough to set the juices then slice into strips and place in the refrigerator to finish cooling.  When the chicken is fully cooled, I package into quart vacuum sealer bags, vacuum seal and freeze.  With these on hand it is always easy to whip up a quick yet delicious wrap with little effort!

The Turtle's Nest Restaurant at the Costa Linda Beach Resort in Aruba

During our spring vacation split between Florida and Aruba, we enjoyed a wide variety of great foods.  Dining in Aruba was quite delightful affording us opportunities to try Caribbean cuisine.  Caribbean cuisine has a distinctive Netherlands Antillean flavour, a mingling of diverse cultures and dishes of the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Latin America, Indonesia, and West Africa.  Some dishes distinguished by their Papiamento names are exclusive to the islands.  Some of the ingredients like prickly pear, mawby bark, plantains, concomber (a light green spiny cucumber), piccalily, and aromatic herbs just tantalize the tastebuds!  Seafood in one for or another is available at every restaurant on the island.  Dining in Aruba is an experience it itself.   Tourism is the island's largest industry and they certainly do treat tourists like royalty!

Executive Chef John van Hoven completed the menu for the Turtle's Nest Restaurant at the Costa Linda Beach Resort in Aurba that includes two seafood signature dishes daily, one highlighting shrimp, the other fresh fish.  The restaurant offers a very popular breakfast and lunch menu as well theme night dinners.  My husband and I enjoy grilled foods year round so it isn't surprising that we were excited to find The Turtle's Nest  offered a Tuesday Night Caribbean All You Can Eat Bar-b-Que.  It immediately went onto our agenda as a must eat at restaurant which wasn't difficult as we were staying at the Costa Linda Beach Resort.

The Tuesday night Caribbean all you can eat bar-b-que ($19.95) consists of southern style glazed bbq ribs or grilled bbq chicken legs or grouper fritters or a combination of all three served with French fries, cole slaw, baked beans and fresh baked corn bread.  We each ordered the combination to try both meats and fish.  All were delicious!  The grouper fritters had a light, tangy lemon sauce that was quite tasty.  Both the beans and cole slaw came in small serving bowls.  The ribs were fall off the bone tender with a nice flavour as was the chicken.  The seasons were definitely Antillian, richly aromatic with just a hint of heat, yet pleasant on the palate.  The cornbread was scrumptious!  I didn't care for the fries as they weren't fresh cut which is the only negative I can say about the meal.  True to their word they refilled our plates when requested making this an excellent deal.

This BBQ menu is very much like what we would offer for a larger get together during the summer months except grill baked or camp style scallop potatoes would be substituted for the fries.  I really would like to duplicate the grouper fritters.  Grouper is a wide-mouth fish similar to wide-mouth bass (here in Ontario, Canada).  It is rather popular in Florida so we can get it when at our vacation home but so far I have not been able to find grouper here.  Both small and large mouth bass are popular fresh-caught fish here but not available in the frozen food section.  Unlike grouper that is usually breaded in Florida, it is usually pan fried with no or little coating.  Large mouth bass would likely be a good substitute fish for the fritters.

EetCafé The Paddock in Oranjestad, Aruba

Aruba, like many popular tourist destinations offers a wide variety of culinary experiences ranging from local pubs, small restaurants, fast food restaurants, food booths and fine dining.  If you really want to experience Aruba, the local pubs are a must stop.  This is where the local eat and this is where you will enjoy home style meals, pub style.  They are very friendly and laid back, offering a nice selection of lower priced meals yet good food served in settings with lots of atmosphere.

EetCafé The Paddock in Oranjestad, Aruba is located on L.G. Smith Blvrd. #13.  Oranjestand is the island's capitol so there is a lot to see there.  It is a very peaceful and picturesque town with streets lined with Dutch colonial gabled houses and lots of modern small shops echoing the architectural style of yesteryear.  The eclectic outside decor of The Paddock with cheer, bright red roof beckons you to pop in a sit a spell.  The open air ambiance is sure to please.  The small pub is open to the street as well a a small dining dock overlooking the harbour.   The inside of the pub has hardwood flooring, a small  bar seating with the walls and ceilings decorated various paper money, business cards and anything else patrons have managed to tack up.  This really is just a fun little pub to enjoy a bit of good food and a glass of Aruba's beer, Balashi!

EetCafé The Paddock offers a nice selection of favourite Dutch platters as well as 'all you can eat ribs' on Wednesdays.  The lunch specials are written on a chalkboard adding to the cozy, friendly atmosphere.  I ordered the chicken shoarma platter with fries ($10).  Shoarma is a very popular seasoning blend in Holland.  It is used on or as a marinade with lamb, pork and chicken.  The marinated meat is fried then served with a creamy garlic sauce. 

Both the shoarma seasoning blend and creamy garlic sauce would be very easy to make at home.  I will share my clone recipes for both as soon as I make them.  This really is a nice dish that even kids would enjoy!

My husband ordered the special burger ($8.42).  This burger consists of a good sized burger pattie on a whole wheat but topped with grilled onions, and a fried egg on a bed of lettuce and pickles.  The presentation was different with the raw onion ring.  He ordered it without the pickles. 

This is a lot of protein for a burger but not as much as some of the huge burger patties that are over a pound.  While I have not had a burger with a fried egg on it myself, my husband thoroughly enjoyed his meal.  Again, this would be a very easy meal to recreate at home.  I suspect it arose from a frugal housewife who realized eggs are less expensive than meat. 

When in Aruba, do check out The Paddock.  We really enjoyed our visit there and will surely visit them during our next trip to Aruba.  Relax, watch the harbour traffic and enjoy this quaint little pub.  It is a must visit pub!

My First Recipe Contest

As you know we recently returned from our spring vacation spent at our vacation home in Florida with a side trip to Aruba.  I have so many wonderful foodie things to share with you from that vacation alone.  However, on the home front things are in full gear in the kitchen.  I've been busy taking advantage of a pork loin sale at $1/lb, as well as canning mainly in season fruits and jams.  A couple of days ago, I received an email asking me to participate in the Hidden Valley Ranch™ Recipe Challenge.  I accepted and am pleased to say this is my first official recipe contest!  My acceptance letter read that "you've been selected as one of Canada's top online influencers"!  I am beyond flattered!  What an amazing honour to bestow on this humble blog!  Can you tell from all the exclamation points how extremely excited I am?

I am up against 15 of Canada's top food bloggers!  The recipe will be judged by Chef Ned Bell*.  Three runner ups will receive a $100 gift certificate for Williams Sonoma.  The grand prize is a Kitchen Aid stand mixer and we all know how much I love mine!  Plus Chef Bell will do a live demonstration of the recipe at this year's Calgary Stampede and the winner gets full bragging rights!  I was sent five full sized bottles of Hidden Valley Ranch™ and $100 gift card to help buy the food needed to create a recipe for the contest.  Recipe submission deadline is July 1, 2012.

That means between now and the end of the month I will be working on a recipe hopefully good enough to be in the top four of the contest so I will be posting some of my recipes using Hidden Valley Ranch.  At the same time I will be sprinkling in posts about foods enjoyed during our recent vacation as well as canning since for many, it is the start of canning season.   Watch for exciting things from the kitchen over the next couple of weeks plus my ultimate culinary experience at being invited into the kitchen at Matthew's Beachside Restaurant in Aruba.  Now that was an absolutely amazing experience!

*From my acceptance letter:


Arguably one of Canada’s foremost culinary talents, Ned’s new and imaginative dishes are inspired by fresh and local ingredients. He started his career in Vancouver where we worked as a sous chef at Robert Feenie’s Lumiere. He has since enjoyed successful stints as executive chef at Niagara-on-the-Lake’s Peninsula Ridge Estates Winery, Toronto’s Accolade and Senses Restaurant, Murrieta Grill and Hotel Rosewood Georgia in Vancouver. He is host of The Food Network’s “Cook Like a Chef” as well as Co-Host of CTV’s “Its Just Food”. Ned Bell is currently the executive chef of the Four Seasons in Vancouver and will join the Hidden Valley Ranch team at this year’s Calgary Stampede to ring in the Stampede’s Centennial Anniversary.

Aruba, Bahama, Come On Pretty Mama...

We arrived in gorgeous Aruba just after 4 PM on May 12.  After picking up our rental vehicle (a Hummer) we headed to the Costa Linda Beach Resort where we would be staying for seven nights.  Six of those nights were on the fifth floor overlooking the resort and Eagle Beach while the last night was on the first floor overlooking the pool area.  After checking in we went for drinks at one of their bars near the beach.

When we do rentals for any vacation, we usually get a unit with a kitchen.  This saves on the cost of breakfast, lunches and snacks.  Sometimes we enjoy a dinner or two in the rental unit as well.  Our time share unit at the Costa Linda had a small but functional galley style kitchen.  It was adequately equipped for simple cooking.  It included a gas range, microwave oven, refrigerator, dishwasher, blender, toaster, can opener and coffee maker as well as serving ware.  There was a three seat breakfast bar on the L of the counter then a full sized dinning room table with seating for six off the kitchen.

We went grocery shopping at Ling & Sons Super Center in Oranjestad, Aruba, just a short drive from the Costa Linda the day following our arrival.  It looked very expensive because prices were posed in the Aruban Florin (AFL).  One USD is about 1.75 AFL.  Factoring in the exchange rate the cost of food was not much more expensive than we pay in Florida at our vacation home.  There were four of us so bought according and although it looked like a lot of food, we had little left over at the end of the week.

One of our meals was a simple pan fried pork loin chop with corn on the cob and boiled Dutch potatoes.  At first I thought Dutch potatoes were an actual dish as they are called that on many restaurant menus but it turns out they are a variety of potato in the grocery store.  In the restaurants, they were very similar to what we would call home fries - fried chunks of peeled potato with onion.  What I did note even at the restaurants the potatoes were always peeled.  It reminded me of my late father-in-law who immigrated from the Netherlands to Canada when he was 19.  He refused to eat potatoes with skins on them as that was considered pigs' food!  I don't recall him ever eating the skins on potatoes, not even baked potatoes.

Our simple dinner was enjoyed on the balcony of our time share.  Just look at the beautiful view!  In the foreground is the resort.  To the upper left of the yellow building there is a little resort bar with stools but you can take your drinks anywhere on the resort.  To the right of the yellow building is a new bar that had it's grand opening a couple of days before we left.  There are various barbecue areas set up where you can cook your own food if desired.  To the bottom left corner out of camera range is one of the resort restaurants. The natural body of water is the Caribbean Sea.

We ate out a fair amount during our stay in Aruba.  I will be sharing some of those dishes with you as one very special foodie highlight.  Stay tuned for more of our Aruba foodie adventures!

Frugal Kitchens 101 - Prepping the Kitchen for a Vacation

  Summer is just around the corner and soon the kids will be out of school.  This is the time of year when many families turn their thoughts to summer vacation.  Years ago when our kids were young, we did a lot of camping.  We had a larger travel trailer (28') with microwave, oven, stove top, furnace, running water as well as outdoor cooking equipment (Coleman stove, fire pit tripod, propane grill, pie irons).  We very seldom hooked to hydro or water because we had batteries and large water holding tanks.  We could get about 11 days off of our batteries using power conservatively.  Back then the only planning I did was move foods from the house to the trailer.  I always made a dish for set-up day but really the cooking didn't change all that much from our home to our home away from home.  Fast forward to life as empty nesters and owning property in Florida.  We spend anywhere from three to five weeks at a time there.  There is only so much food I can feasibly bring with us when we go to our vacation home which means a good two to three weeks before we leave for our vacation home I need to do a bit of prep work.  At the same time I can't store a lot of food at our vacation home because we rent it out when we aren't there.  Here are some of the things that work for me:

• stop buying all but the essentials - Unless it is something we absolutely need and some fresh fruits and vegetables are a need, we do not buy anything for the two week period before we leave.  We eat from the pantry and freezers letting our fresh food supplies diminish.   When I buy produce I buy only what we need for that time period.  For example, instead of a bag of onions, I will buy two.
• freeze whatever fresh produce possible -  If I have an excess of things like onions, green peppers and any vegetable that will freeze nicely, I prepare it then vacuum seal and freeze.  Sometimes I will dehydrate or can them if I have enough.  We cannot take fresh fruit when traveling to our vacation home because we have to cross the border.  There are produce restrictions as to what can enter Canada and the US. 
• dairy -  Dairy is a hard one to deal with.  We have meals based on eggs and dairy, bake and yet there is always a bit left over.  The only two options that really work for us is to stop buying and to give whatever we can't use but won't keep to family.   Eggs can be scrambled then froze but I haven't done it so can't tell you how well it works.  Some cheeses freeze nicely so I grate or pop as in to the freezer and unopened cheeses are generally fine until we return.  Unless they are close to the use by date, I leave them as is in the cheese keeper.   I stop making yogurt, buttermilk and sour cream about a week before our departure.  I'm usually able to use those types of things up fairly quickly so just plan meals that don't require them as an ingredient once they are gone.
• meats -  I freeze any meat in the meat keeper including bacon unless it was previously frozen.  Unlike many, I seldom keep a lot of meat in the meat keeper to begin with as we tend to thaw what meat, poultry or fish as we need it.  Fresh meat, poultry or fish is usually used the same day of purchase.
• refrigerator - I clean out the refrigerator, then clean it the day before leaving.  By then there is little left other than condiments and cheese.
• dishes - We traditionally eat out the night before leaving but that is because our flights tend to be around the 6 AM mark meaning we are on the road about 2 AM aka don't want to deal with dirty dishes or cleaning the kitchen at that hour of the morning on a travel day and we want the dishwasher empty before leaving.  We do take homemade coffee in our travel mugs for the ride to the airport.  They are rinsed out, left empty and ready for on flight and we take refillable water bottles to fill at the airport once we clear security. 
• bring what we reasonably can - When driving we are restricted as to what foods we can bring by available space and weather.  It really is a pain to have to unpack the trunk to bring in cases of home canned foods overnight to protect them from freezing during the trip. When we fly, we are restricted to basically what we can carry as there is no need for us to check bags.  Liquids must be 3 oz or less for carry-ons.  We do have the option of shipping some foods to our vacation home but that would mean a separate trip to the US within a day or two of our departure.  So I only bring what I reasonably can when flying which means no home canned foods.  Dried foods are great because they are lightweight and take up little room but be warned if going through security, certain dried foods should be in their original containers especially if they are a white power or crushed anything that would resemble wacky tabacky (just saying!) .  But this means I can still bring seasonings and some of my homemade mixes.  Even at the border, customs likes to have all containers sealed, preferably original but they will make a exceptions for some homemade blends and mixes.  Frozen foods are basically out even if driving.  Raw meat allowances depends on current restrictions but in general, raw meat doesn't travel well but cured meat is fine when we drive.  My work-a-round for cured meat was to take a package of Morton's Tender Quick to our vacation home then just buy the fresh meat and cure it there.  I did the same thing with Pomona's pectin so I can make jams and jellies there if the opportunity presents itself.
• appliances - We unplug the coffee maker but not the microwave oven.  Our other small kitchen appliances are stored in the pantry and only plugged in when in use so I don't have to worry about unplugging anything else.
• general cleaning - I run the self-cleaning cycle on the oven a day or two before leaving.  Other than that, I clean the kitchen as I normally would.
• garbage/recyclables - Garbage is collected every week and recyclables every two weeks.  We generate a lot less garbage and recyclables than many families.  Still I like all the garbage and recyclables put into the garage before we leave.  One of our kids puts out the garbage for us but leaves the recyclables until we return.  

Revisiting Giorgio's Bakery & Bistro in Hollywood, Florida

During our first vacation house hunting trip to Florida, we stayed in Hallandale.  One of my husband's aunts highly recommended Giorgio's Bakery & Bistro.  This little bakery and bistro offers waterside dining as well as a wonderful bakery with take-out available.  We so enjoyed our visit there we simply had to take our friends there for this visit.  It was a beautiful, lazy night just the perfect location to spend a bit of time before heading to the motel for the night with visions of Aruba the following day.

We settled into the bench booths at Giorgio's to watch the boats through the waning sun.  I admit it.  My number one favourite dish when eating out is pasta!  I have had some duds, I have had some stellar dishes and I have tweaked my own sauces to get just the right results.  So, I ordered the angel hair pasta ($8.95) with fresh tomatoes, black olives and basil in a light tomato sauce.  It came with fresh baked bread.

The pasta serving was generous, well over the recommended serving size.  It was light and tasty!  This would be a very easy dish to duplicate at home.   Angel hair pasta is perfect for quick meals as it takes very little cooking time.  The sauce was quite thin, on the watery side with little seasoning allowing the tomato flavour to shine,

My husband ordered the Philly cheese steak ($7.95).  The thin sliced beef steak with onion, peppers and provolone cheese was served on a fresh baked baguette.  A side of potato chips rounded out the meal.  What really made this sandwich was the baguette.  You just can't beat fresh baked bread!

Philly cheese steak sandwiches are very easy to make at home.   I keep packets of thin sliced roast beef from left over roast beef in the freezer for use as lunch meat.  These work nicely for Philly cheese steak sandwiches.   If you don't want to make your own baguettes, buy them in the fresh baked section of the grocery store or in a bakery.

The food at Giorgio's is not fancy, it is very much home style cooking.  Sitting outside listening to the sights and sounds of the water inches away from your feet is well worth it.  The view is wonderful!   Picking up a few extras from the bakery after dining is highly recommended!  It's hard to resist with the tantalizing aroma :)

Rib City at Immokalee, Florida

We arrived at our vacation home on May 8 with our friends.  Our plans were to fly out from Fort Lauderdale to Aruba on May 12 so we decided to make a bit of a scenic trip leaving the day before to show our friends the coast.  This type of sight seeing of course involved stopping to eat.  We stopped for lunch in Immokalee, Florida were we found a Rib City located at 621 North 15th Street.  It looked inviting, and we are always in the mood for ribs!

We ordered the three cheese fries ($7.95) as an appetizer.  They were made with waffle cut fries, something just a bit different than French fries.  The toppings were Monterrey Jack, Pepper Jack and cheddar cheeses with real bacon bits.  The fries were served with spicy ranch sauce for dipping.  Oh my, were they good!

Now, this is a very easy and inexpensive, home style dish that could be made at home.  McCain's waffle cut fries can be found in the freezer section of the grocery store or a less expensive alternative is to cut them yourself from fresh potatoes using your food processor.  Simply fry the waffle fries until golden brown then top with the three cheeses and homemade bacon pieces then place in a hot oven just until the cheeses are melted.

I ordered the back rib plate lunch special ($8.99) that included a half rack of tender ribs, choice of two sides and toast.  I chose coleslaw and baked beans as my sides.  This was a delicious meal, very much home style cooking.

You just can't go wrong with BBQ ribs in the summer!  The trick it to cook them long and slow.  You can use a rub for the slow cook then a mop (wet sauce) when finishing them up.  I make my baked beans from scratch to use that day or home can as well as creamy coleslaw.  This home style BBQ is one of our favourite summertime meals.  Sometimes we add in grilled local corn and/or some type of dessert like homemade ice cream. 

Captain J's Ocean Front Restaurant in Cocoa Beach, Florida

We arrived at our vacation home in the later evening hours of May 8 with another couple who would be staying with us until we returned from Aruba.  It had been an uneventful flight.  We were tired and decided to cook at home the following day.  On the Thursday we headed down for a road trip to Cocoa Beach, Florida to connect up with our friend's (the other couple) son who works on the cruise ships.  After our scenic drive, we met up with their son at Captain J's Ocean Front Restaurant.

Captain J's Ocean Front Restaurant is located at 211 E Cocoa Beach Cswy in Cocoa Beach, Florida.  The cozy, casual dining restaurant is on the beach so you can dine while enjoying all the sights and sounds of the beach.  We ate at the tiki bar, just off the upper deck over looking the Cocoa Beach.  The view was gorgeous and the atmosphere was relaxed and casual.  The service and food was average for this type of restaurant.  Despite a few less than stellar online ratings, we enjoyed our food.

We ordered the coconut shrimp (not pictured).  I ordered the grouper.  This was a delicious, light meal perfect for a hot day.  The meal would not score a ten on presentation but it was definitely better than some of the reviews indicated.  What I didn't like and this is a very common practice at many pub-style restaurants is the baked potato came wrapped in tin foil.  Not only does this get the diner's hands dirty while leaving the potato skin almost soggy, it is a safety issue if the potato has not been kept in the proper temperature zone prior to serving.  Potatoes in foil present a very good opportunity for food born illness including botulism.

My husband ordered the baked scallops.  They were served with a baked potato and mixed vegetable of the day.  The scallops were quite tasty!

On a scale of one to ten for pub grub food, I would rate this restaurant a six but will admit the view definitely helped tip the scale.  The food itself was very much average for Florida beach side bars.  What was nice, is most of their dishes could easily be duplicated at home.  In fact, I would almost call their food home style cooking because there was nothing pretentious about it.  The food was simply good.

When it comes to restaurants, you don't always need spectacular food, you need good food.  Captain J's did not disappoint.  This really is a nice beach front restaurant to visit.  The view is well worth it!

Back From Our Spring Vacation

For the past two years we have spent our time between our permanent home in Ontario, Canada and our vacation home in Florida, USA.  We left for our vacation home on May 8 with another couple, then flew from there to beautiful Aruba on May 12 where we stayed at the gorgeous Costa Linda Resort.  We returned to our vacation home on May 19 and our friends departed the next day leaving us to enjoy the sunny Florida weather until May 29.   I have spent the last few days getting my home kitchen back to full gear.   That means I have a lot of foodie fun to share with you!

If you have been following this blog, you will know that we also cook while at our vacation home.  The timeshare in Aruba also had cooking facilities.  At the same time, we very much enjoy exploring the local culinary opportunities when we travel.  One of the highlights of this trip was the manager of a very, very lovely restaurant in Aruba with dining on the beach took me on a tour of their kitchen!!! [more on that shortly]  Another in Florida where we have dined several times and knows I blog about them came out to great us at the table. 

Over the next couple of weeks I will share our culinary and travel adventures with you,  Mind you I'm into full gardening mode, took on a huge community project and starting the heavier canning season.  I'm hoping to still be able to get local asparagus and strawberries are just around the corner.  A lot of exciting culinary chit chat and recipes are just around the corner!

Caesar Salad at the Airport

Although I am sure some of my readers realized I was way for the past three weeks, some do not.  We left southwestern Ontario (Canada) on May 8 for our vacation home.  Then we flew out of Fort Lauderdale on May 12 to spend a wonderful side trip to Aruba.  We returned to our vacation home on May 19 where we stayed until May 29.  It was a wonderful, food filled vacation of which I will share some of our foodie finds and favourite restaurants in the next couple of weeks.!

We always fly out of Detroit Metro Airport usually on Spirit but occasionally on Delta.  Now Spirit is a low budget air service that provides a seat and washroom.  You can't even get a glass for water without paying for it!  Once clearing security you can buy food and non-alcoholic drinks that can be brought on board if desired.

Airport food is expensive compared to other restaurants but you are paying for the convenience of getting food before boarding.  We have arrived several times where the airport restaurants a closed so which is really a pain if your flight is delayed.  Spirit does sell non-alcoholic and alcoholic drinks as well as limited number of snacks but they only accept credit cards or debit card, no cash.

We get there early enough to get through security so we have a bit of down time in one of the restaurants.  Once cleared security, we head to one of the bars where we can order fairly decent, all be it pricey food.  We stopped at the Redwing Bar for lunch.  I seriously do not like much in my tummy when flying.  Quite frankly, my choice would be no food at all before flying by my husband insists I eat a little.  Don't worry about me going without food for part of the day as I do make up for it once we are safely at our destination.

I ordered the chicken Caesar salad and ate just enough to appease my husband .  This is just a lovely salad that can easily be made at home.  Chicken strips are one of my favourite quick meal starts.  Look for chicken on sale then skin and debone.  Pan fry or barbecue the chicken and cut into strips.  Package in meal sized servings then freeze until you want to use it.  Use the chicken strips for Caesar salad or wraps. 

Steak 'n Shake

I am on a lot of foodie lists because being a foodie I'm always looking for a new dining experience.  Foodies tend to talk.  They share the good, the bad and the nitty gritty of their dining experiences.  My husband and I are not big fast food diners by any stretch of the imagination so even though so many recommended Steak 'n Shake we viewed it as a fast food restaurant so passed it by.  During a recent road trip we finally decided to try Steak 'n Shake and was pleasantly surprised.

Steak 'n Shake is a chain restaurant famous for their steak burgers.  The first Steak 'n Shake was founded in February of 1934 in Normal, Illinois.  The founder, Gus Belt was determined to serve the finest burgers and shakes possible.  He would wheel in a barrel of steaks then grind the meat into burgers in front of his customers leading to their famous slogan In Sight It Must Be Right.  Steak 'n Shake is a diner style restaurant chain in the Midwestern and Southern United States.  While most have a drive-through and front-window service, the main attraction is the diner-style sit-down service.

We were quite impressed.  The restaurant was quite busy yet we were seated promptly.  The decor was delightful, almost retro.  The wait staff was extremely friendly and very attentive.   The prices are very reasonable, if even a bit lower than the main stream fast food restaurants.  Steak 'n Shake offers soft drinks, tea and coffee.  It is very family friendly, just an overall very pleasant dining experience.  I honestly would not put this eatery into the fast food category.

The burger patties at Steak 'n Shake are made from ground T-bone, sirloin and round steaks.  The burgers are packed full of delicious flavour.  My husband ordered the cheesy cheddar steak burger (not pictured) and the double steak 'n cheese burger meal (pictured) and a white chocolate milkshake (not pictured).  The burger meal came with seasoned fries.  You can buy the seasoning if you would like to make the seasoned fries at home.  The predominant flavour of the fry seasoning was nutmeg, something just a bit different but absolutely delicious.  Believe it or not this delicious burger meal was only $4.99!  Now that is a frugal meal if you ask me.

I ordered the guacamole steak burger meal (pictured).  This double steakburger is topped with fresh guacamole, lettuce, tomato, pepperjack cheese, red onion and chipotle sauce served with fries.  Oh my gosh, this burger defines the reason for discovering new eateries and I'm not kidding.  This burger was amazing!  I am definitely going to be duplicating the flavours of this burger at home!

I love avocados but seldom use them for much more than guacamole or in salads.  This was a wonderfully refreshing way to use avocados on the burger.  I really liked the chipotle sauce as well so will be working on a clone recipe for that as well!

Benders Sports Pub in West Bend, Wisconsin

We love discovering small, family owned restaurants featuring home style cooking during our many travels.  Don't get me wrong as some of the chain family restaurants are quite good but there is some unique about the family owned and operated ones.  We have visited a few attractions in Wisconsin, one of our favourite being the Cedar Valley Cheese Store in Belgium, Wisconsin.  West Bend is located in Washington County in the heart of the Kettle Moraine in southeastern Wisconsin.  It is about forty minutes north of Milwaukee.  It was home to West Bend Aluminum Company (later named the West Bend Company) that first produced a water dipper and cookware in 1911. In the 1920's West Bend introduced the Waterless Cooker and Flavo-Drip coffee maker and continued introducing new small kitchen appliances  through the 1990's.  The West Bend Aluminum Company remained in West Bend until 2003 when it was purchased by Focus Products Group, LLC headquartered in Lincolnshire, Illinois.  Back to Basics appliances joined West Bend during the 2000's after it was bought.  The West Bend brand celebrated it's 100th anniversary in West Bend, Wisconsin on September 27, 2011.

Benders Sports Pub is located in a small strip mall at 1102 E. Paradise Dr. in West Bend, Wisconsin.  This small family owned and operated pub has been in business for five  years. Don't let the modern facade fool you as the pub is packed full of delightful charm with a warm and beckoning atmosphere.  The wait staff is extremely friendly!  The food is delicious and the prices are quite reasonable.  There are daily specials and various events like college and trivia nights throughout the week as well as Green Bay Packers specials on Sundays.  They even have a couple of slot machine that are rumoured to be rather lucky.  It really is just a fun little pub!

Benders Sports Pub is famous for its jumbo garlic wings (pictured) and there is a story behind them.  Owner Tim fondly remembered the famous Mr. Chibs Garlic Buffalo Wings in Philadelphia.   He flew to Philadelphia, told the owner of the restaurant about the new restaurant he was opening then asked if it would be possible to get the Mr. Chibs Garlic Buffalo recipe.  The Philadelphia restaurateur gave him the recipe without hesitation.  That is how Benders got its famous, award winning jumbo garlic wings!

Mr. Chibs Chicken & Ribs Restaurant is located at S. Lenola Rd & Kings Hw in Maple Shade, New Jersey on the outskirts of Philadelphia about 8 miles to the east.  While they don't have a website I did find their menu online.  It will be a restaurant to discover when we are in the Philadelphia area.

We just had to try the jumbo garlic wings.  Don't they look delicious?  Oh they were mouthwatering, nice and garlicky, dripping with butter!  That is fresh garlic on the wings too.  Five of these beauties cost $7.99 and they were worth every penny.  Chicken wings are ever so easy to make at home.  This will be one recipe I will be working on a clone for after the holidays.