What's After Work?

Having a lot of free time in retirement is great. Planning what I want to do and having the time to do it couldn't be better. Living in Florida this time of year is wonderful. Nice weather, people coming to visit.... Ok so this time of year is when family from up north where it is cold and crappy come for a visit. I have not been writing my blog for a while because we have had out of town guests. Some staying with Jan and I and others staying with Patty and Bill. We have been going places and eating out checking off some of my quest also. A few days ago we visited the Hog Island Fish Camp for dinner. This is a nice seafood restaurant in Dunedin. It is rather small so if you can, make reservations. I had the broiled hogfish with asparagus and garlic mashed potatoes. It was really very good the fish was topped with a parmesan  and panko crust  with a lemon sauce over it. yummm! Check another restaurant off my list. Last night I made gumbo for the group. It was real...

As you have read I am on a quest . A quest for good food. The other night Jan and I checked off another on my list. This one is a local one that we have eaten at before, well many times. Bar Fly in beautiful downtown Safety Harbor, just down the street from my house. This one was extra special because it was a gift from my retirement. Pam, Karen, Mary, Sue and Christine gave me a gift certificate for dinner at the Bar Fly. I had the Steamed Bucket Sampler and Jan had the Cilantro and Lime Grouper Sandwich. We both finished them with relish, umm not relish, I had horseradish and Jan had french fries. We really like the Bar Fly. It is a great seafood restaurant and right next door is a Cold Stone Ice Cream Shop. Then a stroll through downtown Safety Harbor or a walk out to the pier. We chose the pier and while on the stroll I came across two of my old students from Mary Bryant . They had been reading about my retirement adventures on this blog.  It was fun to see some of the...

Back at the end of December I wrote about a quest I was planning to go on after I retired. A food quest of various seafood restaurants I have heard about. I have these restaurants saved on my Yelp account Collections called " Seafood Restaurants I'm Gonna Eat At ." Some on the list I already eat at regularly. Others are new and I'm waiting to try them. Today I tried a new one. Happy's Bayou Bites located near downtown Dunedin. A small unassuming food truck converted into an outdoor restaurant. It is located just off of Skinner Boulevard at the corner of Howard Avenue. There are 4 picnic tables and just enough parking for that. Jan and I went there with her sisters and their husbands. Tom and Becky, Patty and Bill we were all celebrating Valentines day and this was a nice place to do that and have lunch. Jan had the fried catfish basket and I had the chicken and sausage gumbo. Jan said the fish was very good, light breading and flaky moist fish. She cleaned ...

I like to cook. Now I have the time to devote to perfecting this art. This is good because several times after Jan retired she has stated that she has no desire to cook any more. This is not to say Jan is a poor cook, actually she is a very good cook. For may years while the kids were at home she provided us with healthy and delicious meals each day, while also working a full time job. Cause that's what moms do. And she does now on occasion cook for us. I enjoy cooking and exploring new tastes. Lately I have been learning about paella. The Spanish rice and seafood dish that I cook on the grill outside. A few years ago I saw  José Ramón Andrés Puertaon a cooking show abut Spain. While there he visited a  restaurant that served paella cooked over an open wood fire. Oh! it looked so good. I had had paella before but was not impressed, it appeared to be just fish and shrimp served over rice. But what I saw  José tasting at this little Spanish restaurant near the coast...

It really stormed last night. A cold front moved through about 10 pm. We got to sit and listen to the wind and rain because I unplugged all of our electronics because last time we had a big storm it blew out our entire entertain center and it is a pain to replace. Today I'm inside because I hate riding my bike in the cold. Even more so if it is windy, No fun. So I'm watching tv. The Today Show just had a segment on heart health. Part of it was things to eat that were good for your heart. One thing they said was kinda good for you was chocolate. Dark chocolate and only one small square a day. Yea right. So I got to thinking if a chocolate pill was made. You know something that had all the good stuff extracted into a pill form. Lo and behold Mars is making a pill called CocoaVia . All of the benefits none of the goodness or guilt. Why? So in my web clicking "research" I came across a scholarly article about the role chocolate plays in weight gain. Titled, ...

We are back home after a wonderful vacation in Hawaii. That was quite an adventure, my retirement celebration. Go big! Back to the real world of retirement, mopping the floor and having test done for the doctor. Ok I'll admit it is nice laying in bed till the sun comes up. I hated going to work in the dark. But today I have plans. I'm joining a gym. The Safety Harbor recreation opened a fitness center the first of January. The price is right $100 for a year membership. I'm trying to set up a time to meet with a personal trainer that works out of the fitness center. We'll see how this goes.

Monday morning Jan and I walked over the the Isles Cafe for breakfast. We sat out by the water at a picnic table and enjoyed the view of Mauna Kea. Most mornings clouds covered the mountain but today it was clear. Nice view for breakfast. After breakfast we stro lled over to the  Liliʻuokalani Park and Garden s.   This is a very nice park with great views and a nice place for a stroll. After breakfast we drove over to Sharks Farm . There they grew coffee, cacao and vanilla. There we met Tom Shark, entrepreneur. This was an interesting tour covering the growth of cacao, vanilla, coffee and other native and non-native plants. We also learned about how cacao, vanilla and coffee are processed. We even got to taste some chocolate that had just been made from the cacao beans grown at the farm. Nothing better than farm fresh chocolate! Jan even got to help make her own batch of chocolate covered macadamia nuts. I even got to taste ONE of these Hawaiian deli...

.  Sunday was a great day of tasty treats from Hawaii. After waking up at a reasonable time. About 7:30AM, you see it takes a while to get use to the 5 hour time difference . Wednesday I woke up at about 3:00am in the morning. That would be 8:00am Florida time. That gave me a lot of free time till any coffee shops opened. So being able to sleep in till 7:30 was great. Now earlier in the week we had stopped by a little donut shop called "The Royal Hawaiian Cafe and Lounge". Well we were back for our custom made malasadas. A dozen or more were waiting for us when we got there Sunday morning. The malasadas were very tasty. We did take a few for later. After breakfast we hung out by the pool to save our en ergy because this evening we were attending a Hawaiian Luau.  Once again we would be traveling across the island. After a scenic drive we arrived at the  Courtyard Marriott King Kamehameha's Kona Beach Hotel.   There was where we would be attending the " Isl...