Will Travel For Food

One of my favorite things about traveling is finding new, great places to eat. Recently, I returned from the land of oranges and stone crab - Florida! I spent about a week in Sarasota, FL and had some seriously good eats! Despite the unseasonable temperatures - one of the coldest winters on record for the Sarasota area - I still gorged away on the local seafood and shellfish, and even managed to cook a few meals while visiting. 

We had a birthday to celebrate and went to a well known restaurant downtown - Cafe Bijou. To start I had a trio of soups (because you can always tell how good a chef is by their soups!) featuring their popular shrimp & crab bisque (and obviously 2 others, which escape me now). I had the special, which at first I was hesitant to order - wreck fish with an edamame puree with a mango salsa and micro-greens on top.

But it ended up being a fabulous choice! Another fantastic meal I had was at Dry Dock where I probably throughly grossed out The Boyfriend by literally getting every last shred of stone crab out of the large pile of stone crab I ordered for lunch, together with some of the freshest, most delicious Louisiana oysters I've ever had. So if you're ever in Sarasota, these two standouts cannot be missed!

On the non-food front, two attractions in Sarasota that cannot be missed are the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens where I took this photo, among many others of amazing flowers. It's such a peaceful and beautiful place! They even a small tea house where you can grab a cup of something warm and stroll around. 

And the Mote Aquarium, where we took an Eco-Boat Tour. Although it was freezing, everyone had a great time. We even got a chance to catch some local critters from the Gulf, and the marine biologist

 (<--- click that link, it's classic!) on board explained about them. A trip well worth braving the 60 degree temperatures (which in Florida, means break out your full on winter gear because it's freezing).