OK OK, i get it. It's a lot.... but trust me, I know. I lived it!
Ok, so after finally gettin home to the states it was "pack up your bags" once again, "we're off to Florida!"
Yessir, it was time for my cousin's wedding.... BUT, before we get to that, a great friend of mine moved down to Florida after culinary school and is living in a city on the West coast of the peninsula on essentially the same lattitude as Miami. SO, what a better excuse to go visit then a wedding only an hour and a half from his house right??? My thoughts exactly!!
Soooo, with a little help from my boy Dan, I got to Florida a little early (for the wedding) and made my way to his (new) hometown, Naples. There, Dan, his brother Aaron (who definately gets a shout out as well), and I tore up the town, had a GREAT time, and ate some fantastic food. As per the usual, when u visit a friend who's a chef there's pretty much two things you've gotta do:
1) Visit his / her restuarant & 2) Cook a meal with him / her
Fortunately we took care of both, having a excellent array of everything his restaurant (Chop City Grille, http://www.chopscitygrill.com/) had to offer, and whippin up a great meal of potatoes, green beans, and pork chops complimented with a spiced apple chutney (he didn't call it that and i know he's gunna kick my ass for saying "chutney" instead of his classification...haha) that really sang. Fortunately, a new hobby of mine (thank you blog!) has become food photography so feel free to paroose the pics below for a better spread of what the meal looked like.
As one could imagine, it was great chillin with Dan & Aaron, i really missed those guys while I was away.
For some reason, my new obsession has become taking macro shots of food with the person preparing it in the background out of focus... so here's dan with the super-macro Potato, and a shot of him plating the dish in it's final form.
Ok, so after finally gettin home to the states it was "pack up your bags" once again, "we're off to Florida!"
Yessir, it was time for my cousin's wedding.... BUT, before we get to that, a great friend of mine moved down to Florida after culinary school and is living in a city on the West coast of the peninsula on essentially the same lattitude as Miami. SO, what a better excuse to go visit then a wedding only an hour and a half from his house right??? My thoughts exactly!!
Soooo, with a little help from my boy Dan, I got to Florida a little early (for the wedding) and made my way to his (new) hometown, Naples. There, Dan, his brother Aaron (who definately gets a shout out as well), and I tore up the town, had a GREAT time, and ate some fantastic food. As per the usual, when u visit a friend who's a chef there's pretty much two things you've gotta do:
1) Visit his / her restuarant & 2) Cook a meal with him / her
Fortunately we took care of both, having a excellent array of everything his restaurant (Chop City Grille, http://www.chopscitygrill.com/) had to offer, and whippin up a great meal of potatoes, green beans, and pork chops complimented with a spiced apple chutney (he didn't call it that and i know he's gunna kick my ass for saying "chutney" instead of his classification...haha) that really sang. Fortunately, a new hobby of mine (thank you blog!) has become food photography so feel free to paroose the pics below for a better spread of what the meal looked like.
As one could imagine, it was great chillin with Dan & Aaron, i really missed those guys while I was away.
For some reason, my new obsession has become taking macro shots of food with the person preparing it in the background out of focus... so here's dan with the super-macro Potato, and a shot of him plating the dish in it's final form.
Finally, the finished plate, and an action shot of Dan sprinting down the line shot along the bar at his restaurant.
Nice work kiddo. =)
Anywho, at the end of that same week, Dan, Aaron, and I jumped in the car & drove to Miami to meet up with my family for the wedding. Much to our surprise, when we arrived in Miami (at 1:30 am) there was actually a pretty sick lineup of DJ's in town so we jet over to Park West and got a chance to see Boris spin there 'til about 4:30 in the morning. At that point, my sister (rightfully so) pulled the plug and suggested we get some rest before the "big day tomorrow." We all crashed in our hotel room, and the next morning my parents woke us nice and early for a pretty cool surprise. "Strap on your baithing suits, we're goin PARA-SAILING!"
hahahaha, I'm still waitin on some pics from my mom, but suffice it to say, Para-sailing was amazing. We each flew alone (with the exception of my sister and dad), and the experience was amazing. The boat must've pulled us at least 15 stories high when we were at full tilt. I sware, there was a point where my parachute caught enough of an updraft to take me slightly higher than all the South Beach hotels and the whole city of Miami just seemed to open up in my view. It was truly breathtaking.
That night, we took my sister to an awesome dinner at a Latin restaurant called Cacao. It served some great food, but was hardly the notion on my mind as my mom, dad, sis, and I had finally got to have dinner as a family for the first time in what seemed like a LONG time. After dinner, it was layin low 'til about midnight where we heard that Hernan Catanea was spinnig at Mansion. SO, like any body else would've done, it was "get dressed, we're goin out!"
Long story short, Mansion was sick. Myself, Dan, Aaron, and a bunch of their friends (guys & girls) had a great time and ended the night like any good South Beach local would... with cuban sandwiches from Dave's Cafe. Oh man, i DEFINITELY forgot how much i love those damn things. =)
The next day was my cousin's wedding, and like any family function, it was a madhouse. All in all the ceremony was beautiful, my cousin and her new husband looked extatic, and the party went off without a hitch.
Before finally heading home to Baltimore, my family made a quick stop in Del Ray Beach to spend the night with my Grandpa, then it was back on the plane home.
In the last few weeks i've done a LOT of travelling, and i'm ready for a break....
Oh, and did I mention that my (Italian) boss asked me to come back to Italy in August for another few months.
TIME TO START PACKING!!!! =)
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