This Makes Me Laugh: Back to the SRQ

Jeremy and I just returned from a trip to my hometown of Sarasota, FL. We returned just in time for snow, snow, and lots of snow still falling on and off. We ran the gamut, so here is a list of the trip highlights and the pictures below.

Feb. 14:
On Valentine's day we lunched at the Columbia Restaurant on St. Armand's Circle. We enjoyed stone crab (with breadcrumbs, paprika, and olive oil on top, baked...so tasty), the Cuban bread and butter, the 1905 salad, and Mahi-Mahi in sandwich and entree form. Of course, the pitcher of cava Sangria was fabulous and we are going to try to recreate it for this blog. We finished with Cuban espresso and cafe con leche. Perfect! Since it was Valentine's day we also headed over to Kilwin's Chocolates which was perfect as I saw a friend from elementary school, the beautiful Diana.
We then took advantage of the late Thursday hours at the Ringling Museum of Art and visited the circus museum (in preparation for our night at Circus Sarasota), the Ca'd'Zan (super cool after having visited Venice, Italy and touring the Doge's Palace as John Ringling modeled many architectural aspects off of the Palace), and of course the Museum of Art where I showed off Jan Davidz de Heem's Still Life with Parrots.

J also had a fantastic idea for dinner. I was going to Publix to grab a half of a key lime pie and he suggested we do Publix subs and I also grabbed some Publix sweet tea. Publixxxxxxxx. I miss you!
After that...it was off to the Cock and Bull for trippels and quadrupels and IPAs and foosball and darts. ;)

Feb. 15:
Circus Day! J and I actually started out by visiting Siesta Key Beach and the Village for some coffee at Lelu's and some sun. We then met up with the wonderful Leslie for lunch at TooJays in the old mall where I used to work at Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory (no longer open). After that it was off to the circus at Circus Sarasota, which was such a good time! It had it all, suspense, feats of strength, horses, acrobatics, dogs, extreme juggling, dance, tight rope walkers...the list goes on!

Feb. 16:
J and I met up with a wonderful friend from high school, Brittany, for some coffee at Starbucks. We are still super excited that she was able to meet up with us...she was close to 7 months pregnant and drove up from south of Sarasota. She is a kindred spirit when it comes to travel and hearing about her adventures in Africa, as well as her pregnancy tales, was hilarious and raw. She's rather awesome.
After our time with Brittany J and I had a lunch meeting at Firehouse Subs regarding our day. We had spent Thursday in the rain exploring the grounds of Ringling. We really wanted to check out Marie Selby Botanical Gardens but weather was moving in again. Decision: let's go!
Just as we arrived at the Selby Botanical Gardens it poured. We bought our tickets, watched a short film about the gardens, and explored the conservatory which was out of the weather. By the time we completed that the grounds were windy and gray, but with no rain. Hot tea and coffee at the cafe fixed that and the more time we spent there the more the weather improved. That in itself was good news for the two weddings the gardens were hosting that evening. :)
Afterwards, J and I attempted to drive through downtown SRQ just to show him around but most of it was closed due to an art festival. Still cool! Then J and I headed back towards our end of town to meet up with my dad for dinner at the always delicious Bangkok Thai restaurant. Still my favorite Thai.

Feb. 17:
Hang out with my grandma and my aunt day! J and I did take a little excursion to Publix again for a donut (long john with custard for me and a good ol' glazed donut for J). On our way there I saw Peach's restaurant where we had gone last time J was in town. We stopped in and split a super healthy breakfast: egg white veggie omelet with fruit and whole wheat toast. Ridiculously large portion and wonderful in general.
The whole day (and day before, and day before that) I had been asking grandma what we could make but she said she had it under control. In spite of the fact that she thinks we are starving J with dietary restrictions (I know, he had a donut above), grandma did a splendid job: turkey meatloaf, mashed sweet potatoes, baked potatoes - plain, salad with fresh fruit, broccoli, and for dessert...angel food cake with strawberries and low fat ice cream.
We then watched basketball all evening. :)

Feb. 18:
Today it was off to Orlando for lunch with Cory and her husband Joey, friends from college. They invited us to a fantastic sushi place that was just perfect. It was located in the downtown area of Celebration, FL and it was super cute and a beautiful day after the gray clouds and rain. We sat outside and enjoyed the sun and sushi and lots and lots of laughter.
When Cory had to head back to work we headed back to Sarasota to chill awhile with grandma and then head to Der Dutchman, an Amish restaurant with an extensive salad bar and hot food bar. I had forgotten about their peanut butter spread and apple butter. Mmmm...we also ordered one slice of blackberry pie a la mode. J ate a bite, and I overate the rest. The cutest part was J buying a sock monkey wearing a Gator hoodie for me. We named him Sir Francis Bradley Jackson (the first). The best part was grandma and J talking about family history.
Afterwards J and I headed out for one more drink at the Cock and Bull and some more foosball ridiculousness.

Feb. 19:
We decided to leave on the last flight out on the 19th due to the fact that DEN was slated to start receiving snow on the 20th (and it did!) Plus there was a weather system developing (now known as storm Q). But not so fast...we didn't need to leave Sarasota until 3:00PM to drive to TPA so we booked massages at Siesta Key Village, headed to the beach for one more stroll on the first perfect day since we'd arrived, and hit up the Daiquiri Deck where we saw a high school friend of mine, Jordan, as well.

Honorable mention:
I have to write this here because we did such a good job of visiting so many awesome places but we were not able to visit one in particular: Mr Bones BBQ on Anna Maria. Love the place, and we usually visit on our drive from TPA to SRQ. This time though, we arrived so late at night that they were closed. Next time, Mr. Bones!