Vacation in Florida

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 really good but this recipe does take some time. Making the roux cannot be rushed. But everyone agreed that my time was well spent. I am going to make this again with a few changes.
Today we went to a ball game at Spectrum Field to see the Phillies play the Pirates, Jessica has been with us just so she could go to the game and play Mound Ball. Vince brought copies of the rules for everyone and Jessica became our rule guru. We all had a great time.

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Almost a Year into Retirement

January 6, 2020 was my last day of work. I remember that it was rather anticlimactic. It was the day after Winter Break and a teacher work day. Everyone at work had just come back and it was a non-student day. I was there because if you work one day in a month our health insurance covers you for that month, If you have ever priced insurance a month is worth working a day. So after a number of very nice parties celebrating my retirement. (I know that is a strange concept now, getting together in large groups for any reason. ) I had a few weeks to just relax, sit back and contemplate my future. Ummm what should I do? I thought it would be sleep late and watch late night TV. No! My body had other plans . Even without the need to get up and go to work I was still waking up early and getting sleepy around 10 pm. I guess my body was having a hard time adjusting to this new life style. The nearly 40 years of work had taken it's toll. I realized I would never be able to go back to my 20...

The Quest

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 ...

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What's After Work?

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