beach

4.11-13: Weekend Recap

April 14, 2014

{Friday}

Work from home during the day | drop off milk for donation | Autumn finished 4th month vaccines (2 shots) | pizza | Grimm

{Saturday}

{Sunday}

Monday Munchies: Morada Bay Beach Cafe- Islamorada, FL

January 21, 2014

As part of my Monday Munchies series, I will feature a different eatery for a review on the first and third Monday of every month. Hope you enjoy!

____________________

For Price’s birthday this year we were in The Florida Keys on our Babymoon so we had great dining options right at our finger tips. We ended up dining right on the beach watching the sunset when we discovered Morada Bay Beach Cafe on Islamorada.

Dinner on the beach right at sunset… perfection.

We started the birthday dinner off with some drinks and appetizers. Fresh drinks and fresh seafood to kick things off.

Price enjoyed a margarita while I enjoyed a kids smoothie. That’s just what happens when you’re pregnant! Ha! The margarita was large and in charge as it was served in big ball jar. It could have used some extra tequila though!

While we sipped out drinks we just took in the gorgeous view.

We shared the Conch Salad which was made up of fresh bell peppers, red onion, jalapenos, tomatoes, and a citrus juice sauce. ($13) I had not had conch in years! It was so good. The conch was fresh and perfectly ‘cooked’ from the citrus juices. Tender conch was mixed with thinly sliced vegetables that had a lovely contrasting crunch. The salad was served with come crackers but I don’t think they were needed.

As well we enjoyed the Ahi Tuna Tartar appetizer. ($18.50) The marinated tuna was served on top of some pureed avocado and served with pickled ginger, wasabi, and a sesame soy vinaigrette. The diced tuna was mixed together with some cucumber and jalapeno providing a nice textural contrast as well as flavor contrast.

After we enjoyed the appetizers we shared, we had our entrees. Price decided to order the Pasta of the Day ($24). The chef’s special that day consisted of spaghetti served with large shrimp, spinach, and tomatoes in a light sauce. He really enjoyed the pasta mixed with the fresh vegetables and the perfectly cooked shrimp. There were plenty of shrimp on the generous portion as well.

I was in the mood for some steak so I jumped at ordering the steak special. The steak entree was served with 3 delicious sides- a mixed greens salad, plantains, and a coconut cous cous. All of those were a nice accompaniment to the steak. The steak was cooked to a perfect medium- rare, and was nicely presented on the dish. Almost too pretty to eat… almost.

We finished the night off with some Key Lime Pie. We unfortunately did not photograph this delightful dessert but the sun had set upon us. A great way to finish an evening out with sand between our toes while we shared some silky smooth Key Lime Pie.

The one disappointing thing about the Beach Cafe were the condition of the bathrooms. The bathrooms are in a building off to the side of the performance stage. They just seemed like they needed some attention in terms of getting an updated design with new finishes. As well, the bathrooms were in need to some attention to clean them up. There were rolls of toilet paper on the floor. Maybe someone had just come in and made a mess prior to the staff going in but it was disappointing to see.

If you are looking for a beautiful place for a dinner in The Keys then look no further than

Morada Bay Beach Cafe

81600 Overseas Highway

Islamorada, Florida 33036

Our little beach bum

March 2, 2013

this morning we all got up really early since well we just do. some guy (price) woke up at 3.30 this morning… cool. well, we got up, got ready, and got coffee to head over to revere beach right for sunrise, which was at 6.16 this morning. really, do we ever sleep in… no.

this was kemper’s first trip to the beach!

he liked to explore and check out the different shells. he would often dig them up and carry them around.

except this guy. i think there was still a snail inside. yuck

seriously, this tongue is killing me.

the beach allows dogs until may 1st so i’m sure we will be making a lot of trips there so we can all enjoy the beach. and then he will pass out now, just like he is now 🙂

A beach stroll & the Revere Beach National Sand Sculpture Festival – Revere, MA

July 16, 2012

Several years ago I went to see the Sand Sculpture Contest entries on Revere Beach with Emily after we went to Brimfield. At that time we went on a Friday and saw the artists working on their sculptures. It is really an amazing thing they do so watching while they meticulously worked was a lot of fun.

I realized that the 9th annual Revere Beach National Sand Sculpture Festival was this weekend so Price and I went over to see the completed pieces last night. We lucked out and got a spot quickly and ran over to see the pieces before the sun set. It started rain and my back was starting to hurt so we went through pretty quickly. (I missed photographing 2 sculptures :-/)

“Your Time to Fly” by Dan Belcher from St. Louis Missouri

“Heads, I Win” by Justin Gordon from Groveland, Massachusetts

First Place – “Bee or not to Be” by Jonathan “Jobi” Bouchard of Montreal, Canada

Second Place & Sculptor’s Choice – “Everyone has a Dark Side” by Sue McGrew of Tacoma, Washington

Third Place – “Illusion” by Dan Doubleday of Treasure Island, Florida

People’s Choice – “Just Skin and Bones” by Stephane “Just Bob” Robert of Montreal, Canada

“Nautical Goddess” (I think) by Steve Topazio of Tiverton, Rhode Island

“The Earth Cries” by Benjamin Probanza from Acapulco, Mexico

It was such a fun visit to the beach. The sculptures were stunning, it was fun to walk around with Price with sand around our toes, and, of course, I was in love with the plans overhead as they were coming into nearby Logan Airport.

If you have time to quickly visit then I suggest going as the town leaves the sculptures up until the elements break them down and leave them unrecognizable. If you miss them this year then I hope that you visit Revere Beach to check out the beautiful temporary works of art.

____________________

Thanks for visiting. Please leave me a comment to provide some feedback. I appreciate all the comments I receive.

Wishing for the summer

January 14, 2010

One of the biggest problems about scrapbooking, at least for me, is that by the time I get around to doing some layouts it’s another season and it makes me miss the crunchy autumn leaves, snows flakes falling, blooming flowers, or intense sun shining down brightening your day. I appreciate all the seasons for different reasons but my favorite is summer. I love flip-flop tans, lighter hair, BBQ’s, picking tomatoes and eating from them from our little garden, sitting in our adirondack chairs at night after dinner, etc. Sure it has its pit falls like gross T rides and burning hot steering wheels but my pros out way the cons a million times over.

So finishing a scrapbook page in January of a day in July is brutal. I want the sand between my toes, I’m tired of snow boots. I want iced coffee, no hot coffee or lattes for me. Counting down until Memorial Day weekend for summer to ‘begin’.

All Supplies are from Stampin’ Up! and title is cut from a Cricut cartridge.

Summer Means Flip Flop Tans

September 9, 2009

When Emily and I went to the Sand Sculpture event in July I snapped a picture of our relaxed feet. I love flip flop tans.

Products: Papers, vellum, button, rub-ons, eyelets, and border punch are from Stampin’ Up!, I used Cricut cartridges to cut out the letters.

Sandcastles in the sky

July 17, 2009

One word- exhausted.

Most three day weekends are relaxing but I took today off so I could go to the Brimfield Antique Show with Emily. Really, I can’t miss a chance to see the stuff that people have dug out of their attics and then buy it. So we planned for the show and then added on the New England Sand Sculpting Festival to make our day jammed pack.

Brimfield was insane. Some things were amazing like this set of dishes from the late 1800’s I wanted (too bad I don’t have $800 just to throw around) and other things were scary/gross like this one tent that smelled like grandma’s closet mixed with dead animal. While we were getting crispy in the sun I found some cool Pyrex, a rabbit postcard from 1906, 2 Vaseline glass juice reamers, and this AMAZING copper pot and Emily found this cool (‘hipster’) necklace and a decanter. The pot was the deal of the day- $50 and great condition. Plus the guy selling it was hilarious- he had this monster sized hands that had massive gold rings on all his fingers. HA!

So after getting a mild sunburn, spending all our cash on old stuff and Pilgrim sandwiches we headed off to the Revere Beach, America’s first beach, to watch grown men (and a woman) play in the sand. Luckily, the temp cooled off a bit and some clouds came in otherwise I would look like a lobsta right now. The sand sculptures were incredible. We hung around for a while watching them build, sadly one collapsed a bit but he quickly got to work on fixing it- I would have just fixed myself a strong drink at that point to take a break.

So glad tomorrow is Saturday so I can sleep in.