I'm back...

And here's a quick sample of my delights to keep you occupied until I a) find my luggage and b) get over my jet lag!


Fried green tomatoes from Thirsty Marlin

Blackened Grouper cheeks, with a side of red beans and rice.

road trip food.

Hush puppies at Rusty Bellies Restaurant.


Sunset over the Anclote River, from the balcony of Rusty Bellies.

It's the final countdown!

For those of you NOT following me on Twitter or FB, you may not be aware that I am off this week to the US.. specifially Florida, to fullfill a promise to a friend of mine that suicided this year. We had planned to meet last year, but what with Furry being out of a job, I just couldn't justify it.

What Bella's death has taught me is that I need to live more in the moment, Live less for "what if..." and more for "Why not......." Spend more time with people who fullfill me, and less time with those whom my relationship can be best described as "habitual"

So, despite the fact that Bella won't be there, I am heading to Florida to meet with several women that all know each other via a women's forum that I run. I've been moderating The Tavern for about 5 years now.. and have know these women online for about 8.

It's the first time that many of us will have met IRL.

**gulp**

My kids have grown up with me being involved with Internet forums, way back in the early days of MSN Groups. My kids think nothing of getting birthday cards from Auntie Lunchbox, or Auntie Catnaps. Random people with accents and names like "Narf" ring asking for "pee-gee" quite often!, so noone in my house even batted an eyelid when I announced that I was off to Florida to hang out with some internet peeps.

Neither is anyone suprised when I presented my list of "Must Do's" for my trip.

My Must Do's include:

eat biscuits and gravy
eat collard greens
eat po boys
eat a slider
eat hush puppies
eat a crawfish
eat gumbo with file powder
eat andoille
eat a poke salad
eat BBQ
eat blackened grouper
eat real Mexican


eat at a seafood shack
eat chowder with conch
eat Cuban bread and cafe con leche
eat stone crab
eat chayote
eat a Cuban sandwich
eat grits
eat Key Lime Pie
eat Cajun/Creole
eat oyster crackers
eat peach cobbler
eat red beans and rice
eat chitlins
eat an American hot dog
eat an American pizza

Apparently there are places in Florida called "tourist attractions" and consist of things like "Disney World" and "Dali Museum" and a place called "Miami", but none of my Google searches threw up anything about them, so they can't be that important. Or maybe because all my holiday research has involved searches like "best food in FLA", "history of soul food in FLA", "traditional food in Tarpon Springs"

I am heading to the Florida Panhandle for 4 days, if the BP oil slick doesn't bugger up that plan, and then spending the rest of the time eating my way around the Tarpon Springs area.

If any of you, dear readers, have anything I should add to my list, please feel free to drop me a line.

And I somehow think the 12kgs I have dropped this year might be waiting for me, lurking in some fabulous U-Peel crab shack in Apalachicola.

I will try to post when I can, but if not, be prepared for an ONSLAUGHT of photos and recipes from Southern US of A when I get back!

Happy eating from Auntie PG, until I get back!