Steak:

4 filet mignon, cut 1 1/4 inches thick

salt

1/4 cup peppercorns, coarsely ground (pink, red, black, white, green)

1 1/2 tablespoons butter

1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil

Sauce:

2 shallots, diced small

1/2 cup Brandy

1 cup canned beef broth

2 tablespoons butter

Why pay so much for a steakhouse dinner when this is way better… trust me! The first thing you want to do is prepare your steaks. We want a nice crust on the outside and in order to do that you need to take a paper towel and pat the steaks dry. Sprinkle all over with salt. Put your peppercorns on a plate and coat each side of the filets with the peppercorns. In a large saute pan over high heat melt the butter and olive oil. When hot, add the steaks and lower heat to medium. Let cook for 4 minutes on one side then flip, and cook another 4 minutes for medium rare. Remove the steaks to a serving platter and cover tightly with aluminum foil. Now, time for the easy amazing sauce. Add the shallots to the pan and saute, scrapping up the browned delicious bits at the bottom. Add your Brandy of choice, and let cook for about 2 minutes. After the Brandy is cooked out, add the beef broth. Let cook for about 5 minutes, until reduced by about half. When reduced, take off the heat and add the cold butter. Slowly swirl in the butter to make a luscious sauce. Add a little salt and  spoon over the steaks. How easy and elegant is that? Not to mention amazing. Everyone will love it!!

So once we’re on the boat we head out. We don’t have to go very far offshore to find those spiny delicious lobsters. They can’t hide from me! Once we’re out there we put on our masks, snorkels, fins, and we grab our nets and “tickle sticks”. “Tickle sticks” are just long sticks that we use to get the lobsters from out of their holes. We dive down about 12-20 ft depending on where we stop. While you’re swimming on the top of the ocean looking down you’ll see a ledge with two long tentacles. Thats when you dive down and “tickle” them with the tickle stick until they walk out of their ledge. When they come out you put your net behind then and hit them in the face so they shoot back into the net. Once you have then in the net you need to twist your net up so it doesn’t get out! That happens.. and it sucks! Then you swim it to the boat and measure to see if it’s a keeper! As I’m typing this I’m realizing it doesn’t sound near as fun as it really is. Just swimming in the ocean and seeing the beautiful fish and big coral heads is what I love. It’s so relaxing (but hard work!) swimming around and looking at the beautiful ocean bottom. Can’t beat that! That’s my dad catching a big one!! Nice daddy-o! So when we catch our limit ( 6 lobsters per person on the boat) we head back to the marina. This is where we dismember the poor things. Sorry guys! But, for the biggest ones we keep them for a traditional lobster dinner that night at our favorite restaurant Hot Tin Roof.

When we get back to the hotel we just rest and get ready for dinner. If you ever go down to Key West you MUST go to Hot Tin Roof in the Ocean Key Club hotel. I’ve mentioned it before in an earlier blog and I can’t express how much I love it there. The chef is so inventive and the service is impeccable. It’s not very often you see people loving their jobs and the people that work there do, and it shows.

For dinner we had lobster ( of course ) with all the fixings. They had Manchego cheese mac and cheese ( <- oh my god), a great ceasar salad, baked tomatoes with mozzarella, and a cucumber crab salad. It was so good!!! The regular menu is amazing as well. A definite must try!

Another place I really recommend if you go down to Key West is…

All I have to say is….. YUM!!! My brother, my grandma, and I went here after a long day of lobstering as a treat to ourselves. We heard from people how great it was and had to check it out ourselves. I can’t pass up a good crepe! We went there and had two.. the crepe with chocolate ganache and strawberries and another one with raspberry cream cheese. They were un-believable. They also serve savory crepes… which I will definitely be trying next time I go! The way they make the crepe is really awesome to watch. They start off with with these flat circle.. things? I have no idea what they are but they’re bad-ass! She puts a little melted butter on it and ladle the batter in the middle. They then take this rake looking thing ( I apologize to the owner for not knowing what everything is called!) and spread it around till its nice and thin. They then flip it over and let it cook a little more. They put the filling in the middle and fold it into a little love package that I cannot resist. Yummy!!!!

The owners are these great French ladies  Yolande Findlay and Sylvie Le Nouail. What I love so much about this place is its cozy and the owners make you feel at home. They even make the crepes for you… which is rare for owners to do. Oh man, just writing this is making me hungry again. Ok, well that is all for now. I’ll keep you up to date on all my adventures and the great food finds! Bon Apetit!!!

The first night we were in Chicago we went here for dinner:

Carnivale!!!!!!!!!!!! Its the best Nuevo Latino restaurant I’ve ever been to. Every time we go to Chicago we always make sure we go here. They have a great menu and bar and the food is so inventive. The restaurant use to be a nightclub so it is 2 stories and they use crazy colors!! Awesome atmosphere! For a pre-appetizer ( I know, how fat of us!!!!!) we got a cheese platter. They have amazing cheeses and if you get cheese platters you get almonds, seasonal jam (this time it was blueberry),  and homemade crackers. We got Hook’s Cheddar which is my favorite, Rosemary Manchego which is a nutty sheep milk from Spain, and Mount Enebro which is a creamy blue goat milk from Spain. All were spectacular and the presentation was so gorgeous and simple… easy appetizer for entertaining!

Then for our real appetizer we got the Ropa Vieja. Now, its not your typical Ropa Vieja… its wayyyy better. They start out with sweet plantains, braised beef, spicy mayo, queso fresco cheese, and chopped onions. It’s by far the best appetizer I’ve ever had. Its a party in your mouth. You have sweet and soft from the plantain, savory from the beef, spicy from the mayo, and crunchy from the onion. It makes me want to cry its so good! For dinner we all got the same thing… the Arrachera. Its just a grilled skirt steak, rice and beans, and topped with chimichurri sauce and sweet red onion. Then to wash it down, Mojitos. Of course!! There’s so much food we always order we have yet to try a dessert. Sorry if I’m ranting about this place but its deeeelish!

The next morning I woke up.. hungry and ready for a good breakfast. The place I recommend : Tiempo cafe. AWESOME breakfast. Its just a little hole in the wall but they feed you.. real good. The have fresh squeezed OJ which is one of my favorite things ever being from Florida. They have the biggest pancakes and omelets you’ve ever seen! I got an omelet with spinach, tomatoes, mushrooms, onions, and cheddar cheese. Other people at my table got chocolate chip pancakes, waffles, and eggs benedict. All were awesome! Definitely recommend this place as well!

Later that night we went to Wrigly Field to see a Cubs Astros game.  Wrigly Field really is one of the coolest places I’ve been. The fact that you’re sitting in the same stands that people were almost a 100 years is really a cool feeling. While we were there my favorite actor was sitting next to the Astros dugout. Can anyone guess?? Vince Vaughn!!!!!!! He’s my favorite actor. I was so excited.. and so were about 1,000 other fans. He stood up to stretch and you see a million cameras come out. Pretty funny!! Well, there’s a lot more about Chicago but I don’t want to ramble. Tuesday we are going to Key West again for LOBSTER SEASON!!!!! SOOOO excited. My favorite times of the year are as follows: 1) Christmas 2) Lobster season 3) Thanksgiving 4) everything else Will be writing soon!!

Sorry I haven’t put up anything new lately… I’ve been here….

I know…. its gorgeous. Every year since I was 2 my family has gone on a family vacation to Paradise Island, Bahamas. If you’ve never been…. GO!!! Its so gorgeous there, you can’t beat it. The people are so sweet and really make you feel like you’re at home. Plus.. the food is amazing!!!! Expensive, but amazing. If you ever get to go there and want to eat like the locals you must go here:

In Nassau, if you ask any of the locals where to eat they’ll tell you to go to “da fish fry”. The “fish fry” is about 10 restaurants all next together that specialize in… well, frying fish. Everything you get there is fresh caught that day and let me tell you… its amazing. Fried fish must be in their DNA or something because let me tell you its the best fried anything I’ve ever had!

When you ask any of natives which one of restaurants they recommend, its always different. The Bahamians are very loyal and only stick to one of the restaurants. To them their favorite restaurant is the best, the food is the best, and it is the only place you should go to. Since I’m basically a citizen of the Bahamas I have my favorite as well… Seafood Haven. I get the same thing every time : conch fritters and conch salad for an appetizer, fried nassau Grouper (fresh caught that day!) with pigeon peas and rice, and plantains. Then… for dessert.. the mother of all that is delicious: Guava Duff. Now, if you can’t already tell I love sweets. As my mom says: ” you can put chocolate on poop and it will taste good”. I live by those words.  Guava duff is a rich dessert that melts in your mouth. It a a sweet dough with pieces of guava rolled up in it. They cook it and serve it with a hard sauce which is basically butter, sugar, eggs, and rum. I looked up the recipe and I felt my butt getting bigger just looking at it! But, its a must if you go.

Another thing that is a must if you go there is the Conch Salad. No matter where you go, they sell it.

Conch salad is made with Fresh conch, onion, green pepper, celery, cucumber, tomatoes, lime juice, wine vinegar, and peppers to make it have a little kick. Its my mom and my grandmother’s (I call her Boppy) favorite. You can’t beat the food down in the bahamas. Then you add a lot of sun, beaches, pools, drinks with umbrellas in them, and you have a bomb-ass vacation!!! We love it….

2 cups all purpose flour

1 tablespoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold, cut

1 cup milk

zest from 1 lemon

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon poppy seeds

egg wash for brushing

Glaze:

2 cups confectioners’ sugar

1/4 cup lemon juice

zest from 1 lemon

1 tablespoon butter, melted

First thing you want to do for these amazing, delicious scones is to preheat the oven to 400*F. In a bowl put together all the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. To the dry ingredients  add the chopped cold butter. With your fingers “snap” the butter into the flour until there aren’t any big chunks of butter and it looks like coarse crumbs. To that add the milk, lemon zest, and poppy seeds. Mix together by hand just until everything is incorporated… no more! Put some flour on your counter and take out the dough. Don’t worry it will be wet and sticky. Put a little flour on the top and press it out by hand into a circle about 6 inches. With a knife (make sure you sure the knife in some flour) cut the circle into 8 wedges. Put the wedges on a sheet pan with some cooking spray. Brush the top with some egg wash (eggs and water) and pop into the oven. Let them cook until nice and golden brown, about 15-20 minutes depending on your oven. When the scones are ready, take out of the oven and let cool while you make the glaze. In a bowl mix together the sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest, and butter. Spoon over the scones and you’re done! Enjoy!!

Sorry I had to rub it in!!! I’m mean I know.  Well this weekend I went with my family down to Key West, FL to do some fishing. We chartered a boat and caught some Mahi Mahi ( In this picture!) along with Snapper. I’ll put a pic of the snapper later in the post. Oh, and just to let everyone know I caught the largest Mahi and Snapper. Boo Yah! We just got back and fried up some of the fish. A-mazing. I’m not really a huge fan of fish but I have to say if you ever get the chance to eat some fresh fish… do it!! It was amazing! Love me some fried fish with malt vinegar. Could it get better than that?? I don’t think so!

Isn’t that thing huge?! It’s a Mutton Snapper. GOOD eats!!! Let me tell you when… when I caught this thing I thought I was catching Moby Dick. I woke up this morning and my arms felt like jello from hauling this thing it. Took me about 10 minutes to get it in! So much fun. Oh, and in case you’re going to comment saying I’m holding it far out to make it look bigger… I’m really not! Its just THAT big!

We ended up catching 6 dolphin,4 yellow tail snapper, and my huge Mutton snapper!  I apologize in advance for all the photos.. I just had such an amazing time I have to share all the pics!

The first night we went to this amazing island off Key West called Sunset Ket. On Sunset Key there is an AMAZING restaurant called Latitudes. Its seriously unbelievable. For an appetizer we had oysters rockafeller. Oh. my. heaven. Deeeelish! I recommend this! All the food was so amazing we all finished our plates. Of course… The second night after we went fishing we went to this restaurant called the Hot Tin Roof. They were so kind to cook up our catch! Whenever we go to the Keys for lobster season they always cook up our lobster for us. They blackened some of the Mahi and the other half they sauteed in a lemon butter. SOOO good. I was impressed! The sides were so inventive and I really recommend going there if you are even in Key West. Also, if you’re in Key West, you must go to Blue Heaven. They have the best breakfast there. Its such a great place. Its all outdoors and theres roosters running around and the style is very eclectic… just like Key West! Well, that is all. I hope you enjoyed all the pics. I had fun taking them! Has anyone been anywhere lately that they really recommend? I’m always looking for new places to go! Well, off to bed for me. I have a 22 hour drive to Texas tomorrow. Fun? I think not!

Crust:

2 cups graham cracker crumbs

1 tablespoon sugar

1 stick butter, melted

Cheesecake:

1 1/2 pounds cream cheese room temperature ( 3- 8oz packages)

1 pint (16 oz) sour cream

1 cup sugar

zest of 1 lemon

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

4 large eggs

Strawberry topping:

1 pint strawberries, sliced

2 tablespoons sugar

juice of 1 lemon

1 tablespoon cornstarch, mixed with a little cold water

OK, I know what you’re thinking. Stop thinking it! It’s not too hard…. I promise you!! First thing first preheat your oven to 325*F. While that is preheating make the crust. In a bowl combine graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and melted butter. Combine until the crumbs are all covered in the butter. In a spring form pan put the graham cracker crumbs on the bottom and  smash down to make it compact. Put in the refrigerator while you make the filling. In a bowl with an electric mixer mix together the cream cheese, sour cream, and sugar until smooth. Add to that lemon zest, vanilla extract, and eggs. Mix together until all incorporated. Pour the batter into the spring form pan. Around the bottom of the pan, take foil and wrap around the bottom. To ensure that your cheesecake is cooked evenly, you want to bake it in a water bath. If you have a larger, deep pan use that or if you have a roaster pan even better! Put your cheesecake in the pan and add water to the pan. Put the cheesecake in the water bath into the oven and let cook for 45 minutes. Take out of the water bath and let cool. Don’t worry.. it will still look jiggly in the middle but it will set up trust me! Let cool for at least 4 hours, but preferably overnight.  When you’re almost ready to eat this delicious cheesecake, it’s time to make the topping! In a saucepan combine the strawberries, sugar, and lemon juice and bring to a boil. Once it has come to a boil, add the cornstarch. BUT you can’t just add cornstarch to the hot liquid because it will make lumps. So to avoid the lumps, you need to add a little bit of cold water to the cornstarch to dissolve it, then add it to the hot liquid. Let cook for about 5 minutes and let cool. After it cools you can spoon it on the top or serve it alongside as a sauce. Your choice! Either way… it’s delicious. Enjoy!!

3 eggs

6 tablespoons melted butter

3/4 cup light corn syrup

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

2 tablespoons Bourbon

1 tablespoons all purpose flour

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup roughly chopped pecans

1 cup semisweet chocolate morsels

1 unbaked ( 9 inch) pastry shell

This recipe is amazing and makes me feel like I’m at the derby like last year. This pie is everywhere at the derby and I have to say that I ate a little too much of it! This recipe is so easy there’s really no way to screw it up! First what you want to do is preheat your oven to 350*F. In a large bowl whisk eggs until frothy. To the eggs add the melted butter, sugar, brown sugar, syrup, bourbon, flour, and vanilla. Mix together until well combined and add the chopped pecans and stir to combine again. In the bottom of a unbaked pie shell add the chocolate. Pour the pecan mixture over the chocolate  and pop it into the oven. Let bake for an hour. Don’t worry, it will be puffed up but it will go down when it cools. Once cooled, slice and serve with some whipped cream! Happy derby!!

4 cups baby spinach

half red onion, sliced in thin rings

orange segments from 2 oranges

1 avocado, sliced

1 cup candied pecans, rough chop

dressing:

1/4 cup fresh squeezed orange juice

1 teaspoon dijon mustard

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

salt

pepper

This salad is so easy and is deeeeelicious! A must try for sure. Salads are great to make ahead of time, assemble the salad and keep the dressing in a separate container and when you’re ready to eat, just toss together. In a salad bowl put in the baby spinach, red onion slices, orange segments, avocado slices, and candied pecans. In a small separate bowl, mix together the orange juice, dijon mustard, salt, and pepper. When mixed together drizzle the olive oil and whisk until all incorporated! When ready to eat add the dressing to the salad and toss together. Thats it!! How easy is that?