More Christmassy Stuff and Other Stuff

 I see that my last blog was December 11th,  so here we go on a small wrap up of some of what I got up to over the last three weeks.  I hate when I don't blog at leas weekly because it means I miss things. This month being an example of that...

Found an animal carrier for Buddy in the Salvation Army.  $10.  Made in Italy.  I then saw it on Amazon for $40 new so I was pretty pleased buying it second hand.  One of my resolutions for 2024 is to thrift/buy secondhand more: less landfill

Last blog I mentioned my instagram Christmas Tree little project.  This is Patrick and Buddy's addition to the album.

When I unpacked the Christmas decorations I found Patrick's childhood bear "George".  Buddy loved him!

Went to a gingerbread making house thingy with the Squad :) There were three prizes up for grabs and our table got two! Nicki won best "Key West" themed house.  And I won best costume lol.  I just threw on an apron over my dress and called myself "1980's mom on Christmas Day"

We drank this wine with the special wine label with Patrick's mam and dad.  They loved the label....little did they know that I had a bottle with a special label for them and Aisling later that December! No photo am afraid, sorry :( 

I made 120 "teddy beds" for my work Christmas party for dessert.

Packed nicely into three boxes!

They were a hit!

Work Christmas party

Bill and Feliz were invited to the hotel party too!

I bought special label wines for my colleagues for Christmas!

Holiday season = Baileys Coffee every morning

Christmas Day arrived!

Another lovely Christmas day hosted by us :)

Yesterday evening I prepped this baby (brisket) and popped it in the fridge for the night.  Today we smoked it for 2 hours and it was great!! We had it for dinner this evening.  And tomorrow when we go fishing we will bring brioche bread brisket sandwiches!

Happy New Year, dear readers!

What I've been up to

I marched in the Key West March for Women's Reproductive Rights.  

There was a crowd of about 150 of us which I thought wasn't bad for a little island of this size

Went back to yoga and did two classes last weekend which was lovely!

Got my hair cut and colored by an awesome Irish stylist who like myself lives in Key West

Am digging The Bobby Shop where I got it done.  Anywhere that has this many Elvis and albums/pictures of albums and little models of Elvis has an immediate fan in me.

My friend Katrina made HOME MADE TORTILLAS.  From scratch.  Completely home made.  

They were amazeballs

 

Girl time at The Venetian

 Yesterday I hung out with Emily, Isabelle and Katrina in Emily's house. Her house is on Venetian Drive so her and her husband like to call their place The Venetian.  It fits!

Emily had a terrific spread of cheese and charcuterie and her famous air fried wings, mmmm.  I brought Key Lime Pie (which got very MELTY btw! It is HOT here these days), and Katrina made her famous stromboli, which let me tell you is amazing. 

After a big load of eating and some drinks we made it to the pool.

We hung out there for hours!!! I didn't get home until 9pm last night!

Blurred as this photo may be, it captures perfectly the good time with this fun little gang

Bahahahahahahaha! 

How cute is Bandit on the raft! Who wouldn't let this little dote join in girl time?!

Good food is all the sweeter when shared with good friends

 The day arrived for our hosting party!  We did a lot of preparing, cleaning, pre planning, planning, deciding lay outs and talking through timelines, to make it run smooth, and we are delighted because in the end it went great!

First things first, covid. I feel very lucky to live somewhere that the climate lends itself to being outside a lot, if not all of the time.  Also, it was really, really breezy (windy) yesterday which meant that even when we were indoors there was a huge amount of air blowing through the house.  We had all the doors open, and this movement of fresh clean air helped make things feel safe also.

Preparing: We cleaned all morning on Sunday.  Also included in that time was a run to the grocery store to get key lime pie (dessert), mayonnaise (for the key lime mustard) and cupcakes for a colleague leaving The Saint. Patrick kindly drove me down to the hotel so I could run in quickly with those and that was during the morning time also. Patrick figures it was 4 hours cleaning between the two of us.  I think it was more like five.  How can a small house need so much cleaning?  But I must say it feels nice now, the morning after, having everything spick and span.

And of course it was worth it, for all of THIS:

Fruits of our Labour! 5.5lbs or 32 crab claws (4 each)

After everyone arrived and were outside, set up with drinks etc., Patrick and I moved swiftly (all that communication and preplanning work paid off!) and set the table and laid out the claws on ice.  When everyone arrived in to eat there was a lot of oohing and ahhing, and lovely convivial conversation all about what a treat stone crab was.  It was really lovely and gratifying to hear how much everyone was enjoying the food. After all that was always the objective - to provide something lovely that people would enjoy.  Oh and prosecco, everyone had a glass of chilled crisp prosecco which is always a good accompaniment to crab claws.

Smorgasbord

I know I keep mentioning the preparation, but actually, a crab claw party is probably one of the easiest gatherings I've hosted from a cooking/preparing perspective. They are boiled fresh once we catch them and then immediately frozen.  So all you really need to do on the day is have defrosted them prior (18 hours in the fridge starting the night before!) and then lay them out on the ice displayed nice.  I made the devilled eggs earlier that morning in between the cleaning - but they are easy to make, in fact I enjoy it/find it therapeutic. And I popped the (Publix) garlic bread in the oven 30 minutes before everyone was due to arrive. Oh! I made a key lime mustard dipping sauce too - which is sooooo easy and delicious, and got lots of compliments!

Happy Birthday Emily! Celebrated with a Key West "birthday cake", lol

Even with it being breezy, it was just perfect outdoors

Good people! Love this gang!

The cooler behind us doubles up as place for ice and a bench seat. I like this photo of us!

Monday's are certainly easier after a wonderful weekend like this. 

I wish you all a fantastic Monday and week ahead everyone! 

Can I harvest two claws from a stone crab?

 Following my last few blogs about Florida Stone Crabs, one of my regular readers (ok, Enid. It was Enid) queried my statement that you are allowed take the two claws off of the crab.  Actually, she pointed out what she thought was a typo in my blog "you left a word out - the word "not" - before allowed".  She could barely believe it when I told her there was no typo, you are actually allowed take the two (i.e. all!) of the crabs claws.

It sure seems wrong to me too. And as I noted, we always just take one.  It feels like the right thing to do.

On the basis of Enid's queries I did some more reading up on it.  You can get more info here. It appears that the commission in charge of the rules and regulations (The Florida Fishing and Wildlife Commission) have ok'd the practice - although they also acknowledge that it does leave the crab with less (to nil) defences when their claws are gone.  They also note that the claw regrows back quicker the more that the crab can eat and grow strong - so with two claws they have more chance to get themselves food.  So overall, morally, I am happier with our decision to leave this sustainable resource to rejuvenate with the best chances possible. And hopefully the more we have next season and each one onwards!!

Living in Key West. Some fun facts!

1. It is Florida. Things grow reeeeeally fast

Coconuts and the coconut tree in your yard for example.  This will need to be trimmed VERY regularly so as the coconuts don't fall on someone's head and kill them. It is a huge piece of work but there is the reward of fresh coconut water after all your exertion

2. It is Florida. Things propogate reeeeeally fast.  Got a problem with mosquitos in your garden?  It is likely that you have "standing water" somewhere.  (a) It doesn't have to be there long for the mosquitos to arrive, we are talking hours and days, not weeks and months (b) It doesn't have to be much water.  A friend told me, that once they saw a mosquito grow/feed in a fanta bottle cap

3. You will see (and hear) really cool aircraft above your house.  The Navy fighter jets do their training out of Boca Chica and over Key West, so it is pretty much a twice weekly event seeing Top Gun style planes.  And every couple of weeks these massive carrier aircrafts go over.  

4. You can live on the same street as Tennessee Williams used to live.  We do! Two blocks away :)  I pass it every day on my cycle to work, how cool is that.

5. They don't call it Key Weird for nothing. 

A gem, below, from the Key West Lost & Found Facebook page

*Apparently only 70% sure, because "it might have been a lemur"

6. You can buy a book in a bookstore and it will be rang up at the till by JUDY BLUME.  She owns a fabulous book store on Eaton Street

7.  Things rust and rot reeeeeally fast here.  Our barbecue, bought just two years ago, all shiny and new, is now rusted like crazy and on it's last legs

8. You will hate leaving the island and want to get back as soon as you leave.  We had to go up to Miami (shudder) before Christmas and have not stopped talking about how we don't want to have to go there again for a long, long while

I will add to this as I think of more things you might find interesting or amusing

Manai (A man cave in Key West, Florida)

I love our little outdoor space aka "the lanai".   

We recently got it wired up properly by an electrician so it means we have the option of watching tv outside. Patrick particularly likes it for watching sports and having an evening drink so I guess it is a bit of a man cave.  Hence the name "the manai".

We scored the white wicker chairs at a yard sale.  They are REALLY good quality.  Proper old wicker, and heavy and solid.   Whereas the brown yokes are just Home Depot plastic wicker...

...BUT! When the brown are sprayed up white, they sure look better don't they?  

Before and After pics below!

Letter from Key West, May 10 2020

4,097,158 Worldwide Cases
282,495 World Deaths
1,328,201 USA Cases
79,508 USA Deaths

Key West continues to be in the early stages of opening up/planning an opening.  A small amount of restaurants are open at 25% capacity.

We went to Alonzos for Happy Hour appetizers yesterday and we pretty much had the restaurant to ourselves.  A good thing for us, not so good for the business.  It felt good to be out and having a drink, even with facemasks etc.

There have been reports of some businesses not managing the crowds adequately, and the patrons not practicing good social distancing.  Yes, Smokin' Tuna I'm looking at you.

Us...we've been practicing social distancing by heading out on the boat. A LOT.  So happy with it.

Yesterday morning we took home 4 fat grunts.  

Stuffed and seasoned, with garlic, lemon, rosemary and thyme, we enjoyed them for lunch yesterday and today.

Key Largo 2019

So!  It was my birthday yesterday!  (Yes I'm old, moving swiftly on).  

For maybe the best birthday present I've ever been given, we snuck away for a little weekend break "up North". 

Ha!  By "up North" I mean Key Largo, 2 hours away.

I do love a road trip as I think you know. Heck who doesn't?  (Seriously though, is there someone out there who doesn't like a road trip?? Please leave a comment if this is you!).  Funny though, the weather was not what I expected of a drive through the Florida Keys.  Overcast, cold and WINDY, it got cooler and cooler as we drove towards our destination of the Key Largo Bay Marriott Resort and Hotel.

A little stop off, along the way, at Tonio's for a spot of lunch. It was positively blustery but a perfect little dive place, just like I like 'em!

We arrived and checked in and we were delighted with our room. It was big!  

But cold.  The weather was cold.... 

As demonstrated by me wearing of long trousers in this photo (taken on the way home from dinner)

We had an early enough night (yes, I/we're old. Moving swiftly on).

Happy to report that we woke up to sunshine the next morning!

After a light breakfast I headed to the beach.  Seriously cute little beach with the sunbeds lined right up to  literally the shoreline which was very nice - nothing like hearing the waves lapping as you sunbathe.  

I started my Meg Cabot (author signed!) book which was an entertaining little read. The gist of my weekend, it has to be said, was either beach or pool and fantastic it was too.

Lunch was sushi!

On the way back from lunch I stopped off at a yard sale/consignment sale/storage unit sale....where a woman admired my dress ("Is it a Lilly? [Pulitzer]") and gave me a pair of sunglasses for free ("They go with your dress").  How nice was that?!

And then dinner!  Wow.  We ate early so that we would catch the sun setting while eating.  What a view!!!  Great food too.  Would it be weird if I described it as an (all encompassing) experience?  Ooh not forgetting the wine also!  Malbec ;)

After dinner we decided to do something we never do and have some cocktails.  They weren't the fanciest (e.g. craft) cocktails, I guess they were just "resort" type cocktails, but they were pretty good. And as I said, it's something we never do, so just getting them in themselves was fun.

After another light breakfast (coffee and bagel & cream cheese mmm) I headed down to the beach and pool for a last few hours of relaxing before getting on the road home.

For something fun and NEW we stopped off for some bridge fishing on the way home!  I can't lie, it was not the best fishing. We have a lot to learn about what bait, hook, lures etc to use...but sure it was a start! You have to start somewhere eh!

And home!  Where I realized that I had left my bike at work and it was needed for the next day.  So I headed downtown - where I caught the Veteran's Parade and bumped into friends Dawn and Gwen.  It's a small island lol, you can't go anywhere without bumping into someone.

Finally we finished a lovely (perfect even??) weekend with dinner in our favourite place ever Half Shell Raw Bar.  

Already we are talking that a weekend away in the Key Largo Bay resort may turn into a yearly event.  Get's a big thumbs up from me!