The Fun Architecture in South Beach Miami

I remember when South Beach Miami was a bit of a slum (early 80's). The art deco buildings were crumbling in disrepair. The streets were full of garbage. Elderly people walked the sidewalks with shopping carts, picking up treasures from the street and beach. That was then, this is now.

SoBe is now full of energy and international flavor, colored by the renovated art deco hotels and beautiful people. No wonder it is such a popular spot for TV and movie location shots. The easy going attitudes are definately staged because it costs an arm and a leg to live there!

Key West Food

I keep hearing how everyone wants to know more about the food part of our trips. My last visit to Key West many years ago was very different in this respect as there were only a few 'better' places to eat, yet many dives where one could drink. Key West has done a lot of catching up and there weren't enough days to eat all that we wanted to try. I'll highlight our favorites. But we are looking forward to the next visit to continue our 'research'.

We ate at the touristy El Meson de pepe right off Mallory Square. This is a Cuban restaurant with a broad menu and great location. The food was tasty, but expensive, and of course we realized this and decided to go 'local' the rest of the trip.

A laid back and delicious 'local' spot was the Half Shell Raw Bar at the seaport....way way to the end. Fresh seafood included Florida lobster, crab, local fish, great raw bar. Plenty to eat, in fact too much for me. No air conditioning and sitting on the docks watching the boat activity brought everything down to basics, and fun!

Our fun discovery was the Better Than Sex desert restaurant on Petronia Street between Duval and Whitehead. Mark and I walked past in the morning and decided we needed to visit on our way back to the hotel that night. After all, they are open 6-midnight (Tuesday through Sunday). Perfect for the late evening snack.

We arrived just before 9pm to a quiet spot that we appreciated as 'our' place for the evening. The low lighting, plush couches and seats, elegant and funky chandeliers, deep red draping and candles help set the stage. This was completed with age-old classic love songs and black and white photos of happy and celebrating couples. The menu is a fun double entendre list of enticing deserts - all sized for sharing. Some examples:

Jungle Fever
Smooth. Soft. Supple. A warm chocolate brownie body Oozing a dark pudding. Rubbing up against cool white vanilla bean balls.

Naked Nut
Upright & Firm- this airy & dense cake is easily excited by the Essence of Almonds and Performs At its Best accompanied by our very own Signature Lubrication (White Chocolate Crème' Truffle)

There are an assortment of wines, ports, and coffee drinks on the menu. We were excited to find the port and cabernet sauvignon served in dark chocolate dipped glasses.

The concept and desserts originate from the creativity of Len and Dani Johnson who opened the restaurant 3 months ago. I didn't get much background except that this has been a passion come true for them. And that passion is clear through the whole experience.



Mark and I pondered and pondered, finally deciding on the evening's special - One Night Stand. A tasting plate of Naked Nut (almond cake), Better than Sex (chocolate with cherries cake), and Tenderness Torte (a layered chocolate pudding dessert with strawberries).
 


Mark ordered the port and it arrived in an interesting blown glass device that one can sip from a small spout. The thinking behind this design is that the port is not exposed to oxygen, preserving its richness. I had dry champagne which was perfect with the sweet desserts.

While I'm a chocolate lover, both Mark and I agreed that our favorite dessert was the Naked Nut almond cake. The almond flavor was rich and addicting, while not to sweet. The tort was tasty, but messy to eat while the 'Sex' cake had almost a crumbly brownie-like texture heavy with chocolate, mixed with some Bing cherries as a nice added zip.

I have to admit, we returned the next evening to find a packed restaurant - some of it because of our freely disbursed recommendations throughout the day. Looking around, we found the chocolate dipped cabernet seemed popular. This was confirmed by the couple next to us who wore their chocolate lips with glee.

We couldn't decide on a mutual dessert choice, and since it was our last night, we went hedonist and ordered two dishes. Too much to even try the chocolate dipped wine. The Jungle Fever which is like a warm brownie lava cake- but unexpectedly not overly sweet. And the Karezza Key Lime that is Dani's take on the local favorite key lime pie. She mixes key lime into a mousse that doesnt diminish the tart and rich flavor. Remember, both desserts are really meant to be shared. But, undaunted, we manage to work our way through most of both dishes. Mark found the key lime pie to be too tart - but eating a serving for two might have had something to do with that. Now for the chocolate dipped wine glasses...may have to experiment with that until we get back to Key West.

Key West Sites

While the size of Key West is small, there seems to be plenty to do. With the slow pace, you don't want to do too much. After all, you want something to look forward to on your next visit. And, with the humid heat, moving quickly is not an option unless you are moving into a cool bar.

Of course, we visited the southern-most point, only 90 miles from Cuba.

This distance from the mainland US helps keep the independent spirit alive in Key West. When we were asked where we were from, the reply was - oh, you are from the United States. The Conch Republic is a proud attitude, if not a real government.


Sitting at mile marker '0' helps reinforce the distance!



Remembering the discovery of tons of gold and silver in ship wrecks, I've always been curious about Mel Fisher's fascinating marine archeology. His story is interesting and includes years and years of minor finds, and even the deaths of his son and daughter-in-law in the process. His focus and enthusiasm for the search resulted in the development of the discipline of marine archeology along with unique equipment and techniques used to find what the sea has taken.


We stayed next to the lighthouse, which lit our way home each evening - a nice touch the city added for our convenience. Hemingway's home was across the street which made me think that, in his often altered state, it would have been a great help to follow the lighthouse home at night.



An area that has been developed since I was last in Key West (over 20 years ago) is the Truman Annex and Ft Zachary Beach. This is military property that has been converted to public use, much like the Presidio in San Francisco. The homes are very well preserved in beautiful neighborhoods, just down the road from a wonderful beach. While not as 'perfect' as our own Caledesi Island, the crystal turquoise water is very enticing and the beach is considered the best on the island.

It is great to see so many conch houses being renovated. Mark's favorite is the one with the swordfish gingerbread. gee...i wonder why.

Missing Cruise Ship

The Bermuda Triangle DOES exist. I have proof! It made an entire cruise ship disappear. Thankfully this happened before we boarded. Whew! That could have been a whole different adventure.



Instead, we wisely headed off to Key West for a few days, after our personalized tour of South Beach in Miami where we started the trip at an Irish Pub and identified filming locations for current, and old, TV shows(see later blog entry, and toured Wyland's 99th wall (100 was done in Beijing during the olympics).


Micki was an active audience for Wyland and his crew when they were painting this wall in North Lauderdale this year.

While I've been a fan for a while, Mark is now interested in Wyland's and Guy Harvey's paintings...could it be the fish?


After the bustling Miami scene, the real south Florida starts south of Homestead with fewer malls and shopping centers - though this is changing - and more open space, more flying and crawling critters, and water, everywhere. The pace definitely slows, the volume of low end boats increases, the number of dive bars is bountiful and the road stretches straight for 113 miles, across 42 bridges. The water becomes unending shades of turquoise contrasting with the robin's egg blue skies and fluffy clouds that almost touch the water.

Important to Key West - alcohol, sunsets, food, water sports, alcohol, conch houses. We did well on all accounts. We attempted another 'ship' ride and were more successful with our sunset cruise, made complete with me driving for a while. Our catamaran sailed around lazily to accommodate plenty of rounds of beer and sunsetting views, including the nightly celebrations at Mallory Square.

 

Look for more entries on: Key West food, Key West sites.

August- A Busy Birthday Month

Mom and Dad both have birthdays in August. So it was a busy month with lots of cake and parties!! Mom finally got her scrapbook of the Galvin reunion that she was obnoxiously hinting about.

More improvements, yet more to go!

Mark has been busy with his projects this summer. He sodded 'his' side of the backyard which makes a nice, lush yard next to the deck. But he has also finished his sliding door project that has been in the works for 6 months. After getting an estimate of $4000 for these doors, he decided to build them himself. Now my office can be shut off from the living room with style!

Summer Visitors

We've been lucky to have visitors share our Florida lifestyle this summer. Sister Jackie and family got into their eastbound conastoga airplane from California in July for a couple of weeks of humidity, mom's cooking, pool and beach frolicking.

Tulin hopped over in August and got to experience hurricane preparations for Fay, kayaking on the Weeki Wachee River, Frenchy's grouper sandwich and Eli's BBQ. With the storm, the beach wasnt perfect, but that was another adventure. Tulin even caught fish with her dad!

Joanne and Greg came over from Orlando to visit this week. Wine and politics filled the weekend, along with Mark's impressive fish dinner - pulled from the ocean only an hour from sea to table! Joanne just had to say - Mark, can you catch a fish for dinner. He dutifully grabbed his ever-ready rod and was out the door before anyone could explain to Joanne that he doesnt always catch fish on demand. Of course, she still thinks he does.