Miami - finally

Since I am on my way home from a trip to Indy, I thought I should probably get around to blogging about Miami - which happened last month. I'm not sure what my problem with the blog is these days. I think that it's the fact that if I'm not at a hospital for clinical, I want to be sleeping. Not blogging. Back to Miami. Joe and I planned a trip down there during the dead of winter, and let me tell you, it could not have come at a better time.

Miami, and all the rest of Florida, have a special charm about them. Most of the rules of food, fashion, service, etc. don't apply. Everything happens at it's own pace, and it often seems to be happening in 1987. Seriously, there are still guys walking around with boom boxes on their shoulder. Other than that, I was a really charming trip. We got to spend much awaited time eating and drinking outside - one of my favorite things to do.

Our hotel was right on the A1A (beach front avenue!), and only a block from the famous Ocean Drive. We spent hours walking up and down it, trying to decide on our next stop. I have to say, the constant harassment from restaurant hostesses trying to convince you to come inside their restaurant did get a little annoying. That is one of those things that I am used to NOT happening in most of America. For a couple that usually has a hard time deciding on which restaurant would be the perfect one for our next meal, this did not help. But alas, we were always able to decide.

I want to get into the habit of photographing more of my food. I know it sounds strange and pointless, but it is often so beautiful. I love to be able to look back at the great plates and hopefully be able to replicate them at home. Needless to say, we ate a lot of seafood. We were hoping for the great local fresh stuff, but this was surprisingly hard to come by on South Beach. My theory is that they stick to the cheap imported stuff because they know they can get it past most tourists. Not me man, I know my seafood. We ventured downtown Miami one day, and were thankfully able to escape the tourist traps. We some of the best food of the trip there. Here is a photo of my delicious cioppino from The River Oyster Bar.

After 5 days of sun, sand and patios we came home to Minnesota to find..... more sun! It was amazing, like we left town so winter decided to do the same. It was actually the first time it didn't snow in Minneapolis (or Rochester) in March in 100 years. Pretty awesome, let's hope for more of the same in April.