Mussels Rock My Socks

My mom knows what I like!

Mussels!

Ever since I was little, I’ve enjoyed shellfish. Clams, oysters, mussels… I love ‘em all! (You may remember that embarrassing story about how I used to eat clams a Hooter’s with my dad when I was younger. Always been a fan!)

Along with the mussels we enjoyed snapper (I had one filet)…

Corn on the cob (I had one ear)…

Broc…

Whole grain bread (I had one slice at dinner and two slices waiting to eat… It was delicious!)…

And, last but not least, fresh fruit salad…

 

The fruit salad included watermelon, blueberries and apple.

I ate a bit of everything, but dominated the mussels. I had a huge bowl of mussel shells to showcase my efforts. 😉

After dinner, my mom, dad, Ryan and I sat at the table until nearly 11 p.m., just chatting and laughing together. It feels good to be home!

Today

We woke up bright and early this morning!

I started the day with a piece of whole grain toast, smeared with a bit of Brummel & Brown butter and blackberry jam.

I gotta go get ready for our meeting with our pastor today. I have some notes to assemble and gotta change out of my pjs!

See ya in a bit! 😀

Seafoodie Feast

In keeping with my promise to avoid the grocery store this week, dinner came in the form of a can and two boxes of frozen food from the freezer!

Is your mouth watering yet?

Our seafoodie dinner included:

• Campbell’s Healthy Request New England Clam Chowder
• Bantry Bay Mussels
• Green Giant Immunity Vegetable Mix

Mussels

This was our first time trying Bantry Bay frozen mussels and they were g-o-o-d!

Mussels in a Garlic Butter Sauce

Immunity Blend Veggies

Broccoli, Peppers and Carrots

The veggies were okay. Ryan was a big fan, but I like the Healthy Vision blend of the Green Giant veggies better.

Creamy Clam Chowder

Soup Talk

New England clam chowder (the creamy kind, not the tomato-based chowder) is my absolute favorite soup. Ryan is a broccoli cheese soup lover.

What’s your favorite kind of soup?

Though clam chowder is my fav, I also have a soft spot for my mom’s homemade chicken noodle soup. It’s beyond delicious.

Wanna know just how delicious her homemade chicken noodle soup is? Then come along on this little journey back to the spring of 2003, won’t you?

My family was in the process of moving from Illinois to Florida because my dad was offered an amazing job opportunity. Though my senior year of high school was over, I was still extremely upset about moving away from my friends and high school boyfriend and refused to pack up my room. (Yes, I was a brat.) I sat in my room amid my unpacked belongings and sobbed and sobbed. My mom called me down for breakfast and I refused to eat (Wow, I really am a brat). Several hours later she told me lunch was ready but I refused to come downstairs.

Then my mom honed in on her amazing mother-knowledge and brought up a tray loaded with the day’s lunch. She had made her homemade chicken noodle soup. I’ll never forget the soft knock on my door. “Honey, I thought you might want some soup. I’m just going to leave a little tray out here for you.”

Chicken Noodle Soup

Initially my approach was to remain firm. I would stay in my room pouting and wallowing in my sorrow.

Then the smell hit me. Hoooooly deliciousness. I had to have a bite. I opened my door just a crack to look at the soup and make sure no one was around. I took a slurp. Wow. It was phenomenal. I moved the tray into my room and polished off the bowl of soup before putting the tray back outside my door.

Then I heard it: laughter. Apparently this was quite funny to my family. Apparently my inability to remain strong and resist homemade chicken noodle soup is humorous. I then felt stupid for letting my taste buds get the best of me.

I continued to refuse to pack up my room and so when all of the boxes from our old house were unloaded into our new house, and my sister’s were neatly labeled “desk supplies,” “clothes,” “bathroom supplies,” my boxes were a mess and were simply labeled “Julie’s Junk” by the movers.

It took my sister about a week to unpack everything. It took me the entire summer.

Ft. Lauderdale is for Lovers

As Ryan’s main birthday gift, I planned a mini weekend vacation to Ft. Lauderdale for the two of us, not knowing at the time that it would be our first vacation as an engaged couple. 🙂 Woohoo!

Happy Couple in Ft. Lauderdale

We woke up nice and early on Saturday morning, took the pup on a walk (thanks Laurel for watching her!), and made a quick breakfast before embarking on the three hour drive (Yes, three hours from Orlando to Ft. Lauderdale. Ryan is “efficient.”).

While Ryan opted for yogurt and a protein shake, I made myself a healthified egg McMuffin, using Laughing Cow light Swiss cheese, egg whites, Canadian bacon and a sweet wheat alternative bagel.

Laughing Cow Light Swiss Cheese

Egg McMuffin: Revised

Breakfast

After a few rounds of 20 questions and lots of wedding talk (I can’t help it!), we arrived at our hotel.

The Pillars Hotel

I booked our room at The Pillars Hotel, a gorgeous, small boutique hotel about a block from the beach. Ryan and I instantly fell in love with the romantic, comfortably elegant atmosphere of The Pillars.

Our room overlooked the pool and had a view of the intercoastal waterway.

The Pool at the Pillars

Outside Our Room

By the Water

There were a bunch of cute lounging areas in various cozy spots around the hotel.

Lounging Area

Outside our room was a gorgeous high top table and snuggly love seat.

Our Room

I can honestly say this hotel was beautiful, luxurious, quiet and oh-so-romantic. Ryan and I both agreed it was one of the nicest hotels we’ve ever stayed in on a vacation. Boutique hotels are the best!

In Our Room

After checking in and getting situated, our tummies were grumbling, so we headed out to Las Olas Boulevard, where lots of cute shops and restaurants line the street.

In passing, Ryan selected Indigo, a restaurant located on the bottom floor of the Riverside Hotel to stop for lunch. In support of breast cancer awareness month, the tablecloths and napkins in the restaurant were pink. I loved it!

Indigo Restaurant

After looking over the menu, Ryan opted for a tuna salad sandwich and a cup of white bean soup.

Tuna Salad and Soup

Fishy!

I chose the marinated vegetable sandwich with feta cheese and sweet potato fries.

Veggie Sandwich and Fries

We both agreed that our lunch was just “meh.” Not particularly good, but not bad either. We left full, but not overly impressed with our food or the service at Indigo. At least the company was good!

After lunch we made our way over to the Rivership Cruises platform for a 90 minute tour of Ft. Lauderdale on the water.

Boat Tour

On the tour we got to see lots of multi-million dollar yachts and homes. Wow, Ft. Lauderdale is one wealthy lil’ place. We saw the old homes of Sonny and Cher, John F. Kennedy’s mother, Farrah Fawcett and more.

After the boat tour, we headed back to our hotel and changed for a walk on the beach. The water was so pretty and the perfect temperature. We ended up on a part of the beach that was, um, male dominated… and Ryan got a lot of looks! 🙂 My fiance is a hottie!

We then jumped in the pool at our hotel and lounged on the chairs overlooking the water before showering and heading off to dinner.

Before Dinner

Being on the ocean made both of us want seafood. We decided to go to 15th Street Fisheries Dockside Cafe, a restaurant that was pointed out to us on the boat tour.

We started off with an order of two dozen steamed clams and a dozen mussels steamed in a garlic sauce.

Clams

Mussels

I LOVE steamed clams and mussels and these were absolutely perfect. So tasty. I think I could eat hundreds.

For our main dinner, I ordered peel-and-eat shrimp and Ryan ordered a Cuban sandwich.

Shrimpies

Cuban Sandwich

Both options were phenomenal, though Ryan said my selection was “too much work.” 😉 His sandwich was the best Cuban sandwich I’ve ever tasted. (I’ve only had about two ever, but this was the best!).

His sandwich came with plantain chips which were super-addicting. They were attacked first!

Plantain Chips

As we were eating outside, we enjoyed a beautiful sunset and had a great time watching other diners feed the tarpon and fish near the dock. Those fish were huge! Very creepy.

Check Out the Rays!

Heeeere Fishy, Fishy, Fishy

(Yes, the above picture caption is a Deuce Bigalow reference. ;))

Though we were full, that didn’t stop us from hittin’ up Cold Stone Creamery for an extremely thick cookies ‘n’ cream milkshake. We slurped that puppy down before I snapped a picture, but it looked an awful lot like this:

Shake, Shake, Shake

Taaasty! Day one in Ft. Lauderdale was a success!!!

Day Two

Ryan and I are both cursed with the inability to sleep past 7:30 a.m. on weekends, so we were up before the sun this morning and headed out to the beach to catch the sunrise.

Me and Da Suuuun

Though light clouds blocked the view, we still enjoyed the refreshing morning air… and a nice sunrise kiss!

Sunrise Kiss

We also enjoyed watching a passed-out college kid wake up on the beach as the sand-churning truck was headed straight for him. Classic.

Today Ryan is playing in a soccer game at 1 p.m., so we packed up our bags and hit the road by 7:45 a.m., stopping at McDonald’s for breakfast (the first time I’ve been there for anything other than ice cream in years), and I ordered an egg McMuffin while Ryan opted for two breakfast burritos (and a Snickers bar at the next rest stop… thatta boy!).  We arrived back in Orlando just in time for an early lunch. Our Ft. Lauderdale mini vacation was a perfect escape from Orlando.

Today will be relaxing. I plan to hit the gym and grocery store and run some errands with Ryan while showering Sadie with lots of puppy-love since I missed my lil’ girl this weekend. Happy Sunday!