Merry Freaking Christmas

The shame. I've neglected my non-existent audience. Ah, fickle Gemini. You lack stick-to-it-ness.

I ate at Little Saigon on Christmas Eve. Little Saigon is this hole-in-the-wall Vietnamese restaurant in North Miami Beach where the wait staff treats you with the impatience and affectionate contempt they shower on their exasperating Americanized grandchildren. It's cheap (cash or check only!) and the menu is good reading. You know, chicken feet and stuff like that. I like how clean, light and fresh the flavors are in this type of cuisine. Growing up only knowing Asian food through disasters like heavily breaded chicken doused in honey sauce, it's been quite a revelation. I definitely need to get a Thai or Vietnamese wife, so she can cook for me and walk on my back with her tiny feet.

Dinner was good but I really missed having the typical Noche Buena dinner: roast pork made in the Caja China, black beans and rice, yuca, flan, etc., etc. I even miss having that pathetic little pig defrosting in the tub for days, and watching the old folks fight over pig ears and brains.

A good antidote to missing being part of a Cuban family (and the food is the only part I miss) is having American Friends to teach about the highlights of Cuban cuisine. Like El Rey De Las Fritas. GS and I had: Fritas Originales, I had a batido de trigo (which kind of blew his mind...Honey Smacks, in a shake???) and he had a batido de mango. A frita is one of the two things I'd want to eat as my last meal on death row. But the frita would have to be from there. They are the king, after all.

I'm in the mood lately (which can change unexpectedly-without warning...know thyself) to give consumable gifts lately, rather than clutter up the lives of my loved ones with more, you know. Clutter. I went to Robert is Here to get my mom some edibles for Christmas, and for some other people...and for me, too, of course. Like I'd leave myself out. Robert is Here sells all types of jams, jellies, preserves, pickles, sauces, chutneys...depending on how adventurous your taste buds are you can stick with the safe choices (berries) or try fun stuff like fig preserves with ginger or pickled garlic. They also sell fresh fruits and vegetables at good prices, as well as awesome milkshakes that are worth the drive alone (I got chocolate and cantalope) and they have a little farm area with animals that probably eat better than I do.

What else was good? Try the Iced Green Tea at Shibui...

Farm Fresh Miami

Local, organic produce. The words send virtuous shivers through me. I joined Farm Fresh Miami, an organic buying group, just this week and will receive my first share next Thursday. It's like a Christmas present! Well, one that I bought myself. Yet, still a surprise! You get what's available, what's in season...it's a surpresent! Trying to do the right thing, both health-wise and environmentally, seems like a herculean goal. Baby steps!

What's better than eating something super yummy? Introducing a super yummy food to someone who's never had it! Went with GS to eat ceviche at El Rincon de Chabuca (though like I've said, any of a number of inexpensive Peruvian places on the beach would have done as well), and...he liked it! They did the plate up fancy shmancy, which I don't care for. The ceviche marinade was orange (sour orange juice, perhaps?) which I haven't seen before but it was still tasty. He liked it!

Went to Zoo Bar a couple weeks ago to hear some Irish punk band or something, which was a total bust. The band had canceled and the place was dead. On the positive note, the bartender and my friend got along famously, I got some insight into the male psyche, and we got to watch Coraline in 3D when the bartender put it on. Showing remarkably good taste, the bartender kept on flirting with me. Even though Shawn at Harvey's is my favorite, he has that whole engaged issue that keeps him so dreadfully well behaved.

Om Garden and Tap Tap

Met up with Lydia for a healthy lunch at Om Garden. This little hippie joint is so un-Miami. Except for the prices, that is.

I had the Venus Pizza and a lemonade, and Lydia had the Good Karma black bean burger. My pizza tasted fine, but we felt that the burger lacked flavor. I did notice the table didn't even have salt and pepper shakers. The standout flavor was Lydia's side of guacamole that she picked at, torn between her food allergies and the tasty avocado and cilantro. We also shared a raw Tiramisu that had the texture of fudge. It was good but too dense; to call it tiramisu seemed wishful thinking. Raw foods often seem to be just approximations of real food anyway. I always figured, if you are going to embrace some restrictive diet, for whatever reason, why try so hard to replicate the foods you are trying to avoid? You end up with pitiful attempts like veggie bacon. Anyway, my portion of the bill for lunch was about $23, too pricey for everyday.

That evening some of my coworkers took me out to Tap Tap Haitian Restaurant to celebrate (mourn) my job transfer. We enjoyed the tail end of Happy Hour, with two for one specialty drinks, and picked among several plates. The best plate was the simplest, the Grilled Chicken plate (Poul Boukanen). Natural and Free Range, to assuage some of that carnivore's guilt. We cleaned out the watercress sauce ramekins, using it on the salad, the bread, the fritters...everything. They graciously treated me to dinner, saving me from completely blowing my eating out budget for the month. I'll miss you guys!

Pizza Rustica and Van Dyke Cafe

What's a late night out on South Beach without a stop to Pizza Rustica? Sucky, that's what. When you are in that semi-tipsy, quasi-queasy state after drinking and walking aimlessly, nothing is better than that pizza. That fat in it is liver repair, according to Allegra's mom. And it's such tasty medicine! I had the tomato basil and my friend had the blue cheese spinach. I don't even like blue cheese and his pizza tasted great; the sharpness of the blue cheese complemented the richness of the spinach. I'm glad to report that my friend passed hurdle number one to friendship with me: he let me eat off his plate. That's a definite deal breaker with me.

Before that, we went to have a couple of drinks at the Van Dyke Cafe. There is a serious dearth of just regular bars to hang out at on Lincoln Road. They are all so damn chichi. We sat there and I mocked the jazz piano band playing. They were so earnest, for goodness sake. And, of course, they were all super suave with the ladies. Because, why else do guys become musicians?

Hiro's Sushi Express

Why is there not one of these within walking distance from my apartment? I admit, I don't have particularly discriminating taste, but the sushi there tastes as good as any I've had. I went there for lunch today and had their cold spinach salad with peanut sauce and their Double Hat Trick, and Allegra had Tekka Don and an Egg Roll. I'm not fond of clever names for menu items, by the way. I'm trying to get used to drinking water with my food and not wasting money on a soda, which is tough. It's healthy, affordable deliciousness that really makes my tummy's day!

I went to a couple of bars in Hollywood, Kelly's Pub and PRL Euro Cafe. I wasn't in the mood for drinking but they seemed like your typical cool local hangout. After just a couple of drinks we went down to the beach, where I heroically resisted the urge to jump in the deliciously warm ocean. That area of Hollywood Beach has a ton of little restaurants, bars and shops and is the antithesis of South Beach's excruciating hipness. There were lots of people, just walking...which is my favorite thing to do!

Speaking of walking, I went to Greynolds Park in an attempt to branch out from my normal, though totally awesome, walk route. It was nice to walk through, if you just ignore the homeless guys BBQing at the entrance.

Cacique's Corner Restaurant

When it comes to Cuban food - the cheaper, the better. It seems that the less you spend on Cuban food, the better it tastes. There's no point in getting fancy about it. I went to lunch with Allegra at Cacique's after a work meeting, downtown, yesterday. She had Chicarron de Pollo, and I had a Pan con Bistec (it floors me how the Spanish spelling for steak is the phonetic spelling of "beefsteak"...of course, it doesn't take much to amuse me). It was good...how could it not be? With my Diet Coke my portion of the bill, including a more than 20% tip, was $9. And, I had leftovers for the next day!

The day before I ate at Pollo Tropical, where for $4.13 I had a quarter chicken, dark meat, with black beans and rice, and all the chopped onion, salsa, BBQ sauce, vinegar, and lemon juice I could douse my food with for free. Who does NOT think that a Pollo Tropical franchise would make a killing just about anywhere outside of Miami? I mean, when's the last time you ate there? That chicken is fricking tasty!

Labor Day @ the Keys

Went down to the Keys with the crew. I sat around reading trashy novels and drinking beer while the others cooked, which is ideal, of course. Evil G made lasagna, Lydia made Greek salad, and Mouse grilled all the goodness that was gifted to us, including marinated alligator tail, lobster tail, and freshly caught grouper. The alligator had a very faint fishy taste and was actually pretty good. Mouse said it tasted like snake, which I haven't had but it makes sense since they're all reptiles, right? My powers of deduction amaze even me, sometimes.

Chalan on the Beach

There are certain foods that you start craving if you've gone too long without them...for me it's sushi, raw oysters, and ceviche. Now, I've had fancypants ceviche at Jaguar and Vietnamese Ceviche at Sushi Saigon and have even eaten the ceviche at the Books & Books cafe, but for good, authentic ceviche, you have to go to those inexpensive Peruvian restaurants on the beach. I had lunch today at Chalan with my coworker, and believe me, it had been a long, dry spell without. We were sopping up the ceviche marinade with the bread, it was so tasty. My coworker had the Lomo Saltado, which is a kind of stir fry of steak, tomato, onion and french fries, and it's out of this world. It would take a long time before I got tired enough of these two dishes to venture into the rest of the menu.

I saw Mamma Mia! and Pretty in Pink on DVD last night. Mamma Mia! was fun and adorable, and a great film adaptation of the musical, which I happened to see when it was in town a few years back. I knew almost all of the lyrics to all of the songs. Sad, I know. I rented Pretty in Pink after John Hughes died and just got around to watching it. God, they (we) were all so young, once!

Happy Birthday...again

If there is something better than this, I don't know what it is. Happy Birthday, again, to my son!

Quickly read through A year in Provence by Peter Mayle this weekend. I can't imagine anything more ideal than the life he is describing there...and the food, God...of course, I really read it for the food...

The Center of the Universe

Well, maybe not that, but I do live in a very ideal, central location. Too bad my landlord makes it clear he does NOT want me around. The sprinklers set to go off everyday at 6:30pm (the time I get home) are not very welcoming.

So, yesterday a bunch of us decided to go to Perricone's Marketplace for dinner for their $10 pasta night (every Thursday). When I Google mapped it, I realized it was within walking distance. I live super close to Brickell and Mary Brickell Village (and no, I do NOT live on Brickell...I'm really broke, I don't say that for literary effect) but I never realized it was only a 15 minute walk. So, my friends parked where I live (across the street because I've been asked to NOT park in front of the house) and were baptized by sprinkler juice. Luckily, they are cooler than average people.

We walked over to Perricone's in no time at all. How green and healthy of us!

The place is very pretty. We were seated outside, but they have the outdoor area enclosed in a clear plastic that kept us safely entombed from the humidity and vegetation and keeps in the A/C, so it was very comfortable, temperature-wise. I do like being able to SEE my food, and the twinkly Christmas lights don't do much for that, but I guess it's good if you are trying to look attractive on a date. I wouldn't much enjoy this.

We ordered the Baked Brie en Croute for an appetizer. It was fine (it was one of those nights where everything was fine but nothing stood out) but I preferred the free bruschetta, even though the bread they gave us was not toasted. I'm just not a big fan of sweet food, I think.

Out of all of us, I think my dinner was best. I had the Seafood Linguine and it was good, not too fishy. Two other friends has the Fiocchi Gorgonzola, which had a nice balance between the sharp cheese and sweet pears but the flavor didn't seem complex enough, somehow. Wendy had the Homemade Potato Gnocchi and in the words of Monger, "It is what it is". Gnocchi does not thrill me, though it was very soft, tender gnocchi. With the Quattro formaggi sauce it just was bland, as was the Crab Bisque she had as well. We had to each take two tastes of the soup to even form a judgement, it was just so lacking. Evil G said it tasted like they had squeezed the salt water right out of the crab.

The best part of the night was just realizing how close this area was to home. And of course, good friends.

I watched The Wrestler on DVD last night and it was as heartbreaking and sad as I'd imagined. The style was simple, realistic and eloquent, and Rourke did an thorough job portraying this lonely and broken down character.

Resistance is Futile

Went to Harvey's on Saturday (it's like our Cheers) to watch the football game (or in my case, studiously avoid watching it) but their cable was out. So, we were hanging out, drinking, when goths began trickling in. Suddenly the black tarps covering the entrances made sense. Resistance had come to Harvey's. Shawn explained it's a traveling club apparently run by the guy who started the Kitchen Club, back in the day. I can't remember that last time I was in a club and did NOT feel like the oldest person around. Music was awesome and we were already in by the time they started charging a cover. Score!

On Sunday, I had dinner with Wendy and E.G. By dinner I mean I ate Taco Bell and watched Wendy eat garlic crabs. Me? I just don't want to work that hard for my food. We watched Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay, which was surprisingly funny for the stupid comedy genre.

Shibui and then some

I had a nice, full, day off yesterday. I went to my super duper cheap place to get my nails done ($20, hands and feet!) and as I was sitting in the chair, pondering what to do after, I got a text from Wendy. She wanted to know if I wanted to go thrifting in Broward with her. Uh...yeah? Of course!
As she impressed me with her superior navigation skills, (no map! just an address!) I admired my gorgeous toe nails. So pretty! We hit three thrift stores but I think the best one by far was American Thrift Store. It was super crowded and pretty stinky, but it had some great selections, a lot of the more inexpensive labels like Old Navy and Abercrombie and Fitch. I got some Gap pants and a couple of sweaters, and some shorts for my son. They had a huge selection of winter wear and suits. I know, I know, it's Miami, but we do have a handful of cold days in the winter...and if you are traveling North this winter, you may as well not spend too much on clothes for your trip! The best thing of all, however, were the prices. Very cheap to start off with, a lot of items were 50% off. I got nine pieces for $22!
By then we were hungry, so went to Tijuana Flats in Cooper City for lunch. Honestly, it was a rather meh meal. I had a spinach and artichoke quesadilla and Wendy a steak quesadilla. The filling in mine tasted just like artichoke and spinach dip, which was to be expected, I suppose, but it was just too creamy. I like to have some texture in a quesadilla to offset the creaminess from the melted cheese...they did have a huge hot sauce bar if that is your kind of thing, and the service was great. The girl cleaning up the dining room was very attentive and friendly, and they refilled our drinks for free :)
After that Wendy dropped me at my car I had to go straight to my next appointment, a Reiki circle Allegra told me about. Hey, I'll try anything once. It was at Five Sisters in Pinecrest, on South Dixie Highway. I happen to love all that new age-y, hippie stuff, I just don't believe in it very much. The store is cute and smelled yummy, and everyone there had those gentle, spaced-out smiles. The Reiki master led us in a guided meditation, then the four Reiki masters there did Reiki on us. I can't say I felt all that much except extremely relaxed, to the point of being tired. My eyes did NOT want to stay open. The guy who did me said he felt something at my throat and solar plexus chakras. Good to know. It was over at 8:30pm, and then I drove straight over to Sunset. I had dinner reservations at nine at Shibui Japanese Restaurant with Monger and Lydia.
I actually got there first, and we got seated right away. We do serious eating at Shibui, all of us being sushi fans, hungry, and enamored of their (relatively) cheap prices. We got a ton of food to share: Hijiki, Age-tofu, and Crab Shu Mai to start, then the Spicy Tuna Roll, the Illegal Roll, the Louisiana Roll, the Tuna Sushi sandwich, and a bunch of nigiri. Everything was tasty but the best thing by far was the Tuna Sushi sandwich. It was like tuna tartar filling in sushi rice "bread". It made a party in my tummy. I love waiters that give you an opinion, so our waiter was perfect. When I asked for the Spicy Tuna roll, she asked if I wanted spicy mayo or red sauce. Like I know...so I asked her what was better and she said mayo with no hesitation. She was the one that recommended the Tuna Sushi sandwich as well.
I got home by 11pm or so, so I was out of the house officially for about 13 hours straight. Success! Since I was out so long I didn't have a chance to eat my Crab and Asparagus soup leftovers, so Allegra and I can partake of that at lunch time...leftovers! It's like having money in the bank!
Oh, I saw Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist on DVD the previous night. It was a good complement to the book, which I read as well. Charming, sweet, envy-inducing (how many teenagers really have that much fun on any given night?). And, I don't care that Michael Cera is always playing himself. I like that self.

Crab and Asparagus Soup

After my decomposing strawberry cake disaster, it's nice to meet with a little success. I made this last night:

Crab and Asparagus Soup
Ingredients
½ pound fresh asparagus
1 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tbsp finely chopped shallots or onions
1 tbsp finely chopped garlic
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp black pepper
4 cups chicken broth
2 tsp cornstarch
2 tbsp water
1 egg, well beaten
¼ pound cooked lump crabmeat, or one 6 oz can, drained
2 tbsp thinly slice green onion
1 tsp cilantro (optional but good)
½ tsp ginger (optional but good)
1 tbsp soy sauce (optional but good)
Directions
Trim asparagus, cutting each stalk crosswise diagonally into 1 inch pieces, leaving tips intact (you should have about 2 cups).
Heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium high heat for 1 minute, and then add asparagus, shallots, garlic, salt and pepper. Cook until the shallots and garlic are fragrant and the asparagus shiny and bright green, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the broth and bring to a boil.
In a small bowl, combine the cornstarch and water, stirring to make a thin, smooth, paste. Add it to the soup. Stir the soup well and drizzle in the beaten egg, letting it swirl to form lacy shreds in the hot broth. Add the crabmeat and stir well. Add optional ingredients if using. Sprinkle in the green onion, remove the soup from the heat, and serve hot or warm.

This recipe is from Quick & Easy Vietnamese. The optional ingredients are ones I found in OTHER recipes for Crab & Asparagus soup that sounded like they would be good in THIS recipe...and they were! This tasted like something you could get as take-out which to me, means good.

Forgive me, for I have sinned

I let myself be manipulated into going to Five Guys Burger and Fries, a chain restaurant on South Beach, instead of doing the responsible thing and going to the independently owned Cheeseburger Baby right across the street. Allegra, my fashion muse and good angel (sits on the right shoulder), reprimanded me but I reminded her that I am quite as easily manipulated by her, though not for evil purposes, at least.

I had the Little Cheeseburger with ketchup, mayo, grilled onions and mushrooms, lettuce, pickles and tomatoes. All toppings are included at no extra cost. It was NOT like Wendy's as Allegra so cuttingly remarked. It was good but not the best burger I've had, just better than fast food burgers. It's no In-N-Out, for sure. They had sacks of potatoes lying around to emphasize the point that their fries are not frozen, and all the peanuts in shell you can eat/carry home. It was certainly inexpensive.

I'm not sure what the penance for this kind of transgression is. Maybe a trip to a farmer's market will cut it.

Jimmy'z Kitchen

I have to write about this amazing salad my coworker got from Jimmy'z Kitchen. As I type the amazing aroma is filling our cramped office space and the taste of the bite she gave me is lingering in my mouth. We can't stop saying how good it is! I almost wish she hadn't given me a taste because now that I know how good it is I won't stop thinking about it, but, they do say: Better to have loved and lost than not loved at all. Anyway.

She's having the Jerked Chicken Breast Salad that comes with mango, tomatoes, cucumbers, avocado, and almonds. The chicken here plays her proper role as wallflower to the more vivacious and spicy-but-not-too-spicy jerk seasoning. Um, um, um!

Julia, Julie, and Panfiore

Went to see the Julie/Julia Project with some friends last night. Met up at Harveys first for drinkies, then grabbed some sandwiches from Panfiore, a sandwich place right under the movie theater at Lincoln Road mall. I had the Cappuccetto Rosso, a roast beef sandwich, while my friends went for the standard vegetarian options of tomato, mozzarella, basil, olive oil, and avocado added. We were the envy of everyone as we opened those sandwiches during the movie, which you DON'T want to watch hungry.

The sandwiches were great, the movie? Not so much. It was ok, especially the parts with Julia rather than Julie. I read the book and I felt that the author's voice seemed much more realistic and engaging in her book. The movie version of Julie seemed flat and fake. Meryl Streep as Julia was hilarious and dead-on, though. Well, it's to be expected...Meryl Streep versus Amy Adams...anyone would suffer in comparision.

Hazy Recollections of Last Night

Of course, went to ladies night at Harveys. A nice lady has started selling food there, and my coworker and I shared a respectable plate of roast chicken and fried rice for just $6! One of my weekly meal decisions is taken care of, at least. After way too much drinking and hanging out with the fill-in bartender, Brian, we headed on down to the Magnum Lounge. I've really got to go back there sober. It has great lounge-y atmosphere, some piano player dude, and it was almost empty. I got a round of drinks for my group: 4 mixed drinks for $31, not bad at all, plus had to chance to flirt outrageously with the cutest damn bartender I've ever seen. No, that's not just the drinks talking, either. Alas, he was unapproachable for several important reasons but still a treat to just look at. I hear the food there is good so, yes, need to go back sober. I think we ended up swimming at some point after this but my recollection of the night is hazy at that point.

Harvey's/News Lounge

Went back to Harvey's last night. I was pretty psyched to see the bar show up in Thrillist even though it means it will soon be overrun with hipsters. In any case, I want them to be successful so I'll deal with whatever crowd comes, attracted by $2 drafts and free parking. We drank way too much, shots of nasty aguardiente because new-guy-friend from the last Harvey's post (he's like a permanent fixture at Harvey's, I think) is Colombian so he inflicted his cultural swill on us.

Met my friend's partner, who I really liked a lot and am glad to welcome to the inner sanctum. Afterwards, we all went to The News Lounge again, where we had some type of carpaccio with avocado and some type of bruschetta with proscuitto appetizers. I would write the exact name of the dishes but The News Lounge stupidly does not post their menus online and I was in no state to remember the names of dishes...or even order, actually, someone else took care of that.

The carpaccio was tasty. (Quality) beef and fish are really almost always tastiest either raw or in a near-raw state. Or smoked. Or marinated like in ceviche. I really dislike cooked salmon but it's my favorite fish for sushi. Chicken is a poor, depressing excuse for a meat, and of course you can't do anything edible raw with it. Pork you can't eat raw, but at least all sorts of yummy things come from pigs, like bacon, proscuitto, jamon serrano, and Cuban Style Roast Pork, which I'm sure they serve in heaven.

I made a chocolate cake with chocolate ganache (modified box cake recipe, NOT from scratch) a couple weeks ago for my coworkers that met with success, so I'm going to attempt a new cake this weekend. This one was suggested and since I am easily influenced by my friends, it's the one.

Flamingo Plaza

I just heard that the foodstand at Grubstakes Resources was featured on Channel 6 news. Awesome! They may need an extra table...

Spent a happy/lucky day with my friend yesterday. We went to check out Educating Hands, the massage school, because of potential layoffs/job satisfaction issues. Damn if it wasn't like that scene in the Shining, where those creepy twins freak Danny out...all these happy people, seemingly enticing us to join their alternative medicine cult where they worship the River Stone, asking us to play with them forever...and ever...and ever...Seriously, everyone was super happy and it seemed really interesting. So, of course, since I must be unhappy in my work, it's not an option for me.

After that we went thrifting to Flamingo Plaza in Hialeah, pretty much the mecca of thrifting in Miami. We had stupidly good success, found a bunch of brand new target dresses at New York Thrift Store there, and in my size!!!
After exhausting ourselves thrifting, we went to grab lunch at One Burger where I had the Frita Cubana burger and she had The Globe. Of course, hers was awesome and mine sucked, was burnt and dry. I never have luck there, but other people swear by it. The guy working the front counter was also surly as hell. Half of my friend's cupcake sort of made up for it. God, I wish we had an In-N-Out Burger here!!!

We (well, she) had had such a lucky/happy day that we bought lotto tickets in case our luck held up (I won $4!). We ran into an old friend who I bummed a cigarette off of, which made MY day look up. After that I tried on all the stuff I bought and passed out.

Home cooking trials

July 20, 2009. Sometimes, you gotta cook. You know, frugality and all. I made a chicken stir fry that was perfectly respectable but I just didn't like it much. Lately I'm not into meat, especially chicken, especially when I cook it myself. I blame my healthy friend for this, she of the Master Cleanse and Raw Foods Diet and all. She's a terrible influence! I took some of the white rice I made for the stir fry and made a recipe for fried rice, which is one of my favorite comfort foods...and it was actually pretty good!

Quick Fried Rice
From The Starving Students’ Vegetarian Cookbook
by Dede Hall

Ingredients
2 tbsp butter or margarine
2 green onions, thinly sliced
1 egg
1 cup cooked rice
Handful frozen peas
1 tbsp soy sauce

Directions
In a skillet, on med-high heat, melt butter and add onions. Cook 1 minute. Crack egg into skillet. Stir and drag egg lightly with fork until egg is cooked in “strings”. Add rice, peas, and soy sauce. Cook, stirring occasionally, 3 minutes, or until rice is browned and all ingredients are hot.

I had to substitute edamame for peas, and added extra onion. Recipes never have enough onion or garlic, I've noticed. I liked it because, well, it tasted good! But also because this cookbook has small portion sizes, which is great when you are a single mother with a finicky child. The recipes are also easy and don't have obscure ingredients. Still have that recipe for Caramelized Figs with Orange Flower Water in my purse. I'll have to take a trek to Lorenzo's for orange water; it's the only place I can think will maybe have it.

The News Lounge

July 16, 2009. Went here after Harvey's though I REALLY just wanted to go home since I did have to work the next day. I had cheeseburger sliders and shared some of my friend's fries. Everything was pretty good but I was at that point you reach after a night of drinking where you are hungry but kind of feeling crappy and just plain exhausted, so I didn't enjoy it as I might have normally. The service was good; I read in Yelp that it's hit or miss there so I guess we lucked out. My share was like, what, $11 or so? We dragged a new-guy-friend from Harvey's along who I wish I had an appropriate single friend to introduce to, but he seemed kind of normal for my friends. Oh, well.

The News Lounge
5580 NE 4th Court
Ste 4B & 5A
Miami, FL 33137
(305) 758-9932

Harvey's

July 16, 2009. Went here with a couple of coworkers to drown our recession sorrows. This place is in an American Legion building and very old school and laid back. It's also filled with the enchanting smell of mildew (I have a mild fetish for the smell of old books, what can I say). I had three beers for $8, beat THAT! The bartender, Shawn, is super cool and apparently quite a catch: friendly, cute in that bear-like, fair, beefy-American-guy way, relaxed, can mix a mean drink, and cooks too (and willingly shares with cute female bar customers). It's got a pretty good jukebox and lots of friendly regulars. Seems like a big draw for the hipster crowd. Hell, anything to keep Harvey's in the black!

Harvey's By The Bay
6445 NE 7th Ave
Miami, FL 33138
(954) 394-2763

Go-Go Fresh Food Cafe

July 16, 2009. Went here for lunch with my coworker during which we talked about soul searching and knowing yourself and careers and such. Had a steak mini-salad and a roast pork and plantain empanada with their strawberry lemonade. It was nice and fresh and light, like a salad should be. It was a little over $13, a bit much for lunch, especially when I really SHOULD be eating that TV dinner in the freezer. A bit much when considering too how they are threatening layoffs, pay cuts, and shorter hours. It's a recession, baby.

Go-Go Fresh Food Cafe
926 alton road ~ south beach ~ 305.673.3137

Tien Kue Inn

July 12, 2009. I was feeling massively meh so I decided to grab some Chinese fried rice take-out from this place. Sometimes only fried rice will do. It was around 5:30pm so on the spur of the moment I decided to eat at their buffet. I NEVER eat out alone (armed only with a book, The Master and Margarita) so I felt very brave and independent. Maybe a little bit like a loser. I didn't bother watching my table manners, in itself rather freeing. The buffet is $9.95 and I ate a couple plates and some dessert. It was what you'd expect from a buffet, no revelation there. Decent seaweed salad, some rolls and sushi, fried rice, miso soup, etc. At the end, I was full but still meh, and took one of my hour long walks to settle it all down.

Tien Kue Inn Chinese and Japanese Restaurant
2860 Coral Way
Miami, FL 33145
(305) 444-2717

Red Koi in Coral Gables

July 10, 2009. I didn't feel like going to the races at the Homestead Speedway (experiencing these quintessentially redneck experiences are like conducting an anthropological study) and dealing with the noise and staying up late and having to work the next day, so I went with a couple people to eat dinner at Red Koi. One of them had been laid off recently so we were determined to make an effort to forget all our problems and enjoy ourselves. I had the Tuna Tartar (I've been obsessed with this dish lately after having it at Moonchine) and it was tasty and beautifully presented. Even the leftovers I had for lunch the next day were great, and I didn't get food poisoning from eating old raw fish. I also had a salmon roll and a green salad, mostly because they were cheap and raw salmon is my favorite. My share was about $30 with tip, I guess I'd call that moderately expensive, and then I bought a bottle of $10 Publix wine which we drank at home, with Rum and Diet Cokes, and watched a few Season 2 Curb Your Enthusiasm episodes. Perfect!

Red Koi Thai and Sushi Lounge
(786) 871-7969
317 Miracle Mile
Coral Gables, FL 33134

The Food Stand Outside Grubstake Resources

July 10th, 2009. I read about this place in a Daily Candy Miami email, noted the operative information (not-South Beach prices) and went over with my son. He had Doritos (the blue bag) and orange soda (he's finicky and spoiled, I admit) while I had a Chilean style hot dog that came with mustard, mayo, ketchup and this homemade avocado salsa. Tasty! And cheap. For everything, including my Diet Coke, it was, I believe, $5.50. Awesome, right? At least I can feel generous and tip nicely. There are a couple rusty tables but all in all, a satisfying low rent experience.

The Food Stand, outside Grubstake Resources, 2401 North Miami Avenue, Wynwood. For more information, call 305-573-2976.