Ft. Lauderdale: Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.

A little back story from our trip which didn’t start off that great:
Instead of leaving from Montreal, le bf and I bought tickets that left from Plattsburg, NY, since it was cheaper (it’s about a 2-hour drive from Montreal). However, what we didn’t know is that the airline that we chose, Allegiant Air, had poor reviews and their flights are frequently delayed. Our flight was scheduled for 3 pm on Dec. 23, but after 2 delay announcements, and hours of waiting around, their agent finally announced to the unhappy crowd that our flight was cancelled. Le bf and I were quite stressed out since Allegiant Air didn’t tell us what time our flight will be the next day, we were afraid of the prospects of spending Christmas at the Plattsburg airport.
When we finally landed in Fort Lauderdale on the night of the 24th, we were both hungry and relieved.

So we kicked off our first meal in Florida with the family of le bf in Fort Lauderdale at
Bubba Gump Shrimp Co., a seafood restaurant chain inspired by the famous film Forrest Gump (1994).

A famous quote from the movie (:

CoronaRita

Louisiana Lemonade

They were promoting special drinks for Christmas so we got to keep the cup from my Lemonade (the bottom of the cup flashes in different color lights!) and also got a free shaker from the gift shop.

Le bf’s dad being silly with the coasters :P

The restaurant is famous for their shrimp, since according to the film, Bubba Gump is a company that specializes in selling shrimps. So naturally most of the dishes we ordered had shrimps in it.
Starting with some fried calamaris:

Calamari – Deep Fried Calamari, Red Bell Peppers and
Pepperoncinis. Served with Dippin’ Sauces

Both le bf’s aunt and her daughter order this:

Shrimp New Orleans –
Lots of tender Shrimp broiled with Butter, Garlic and Spices, and served with Jasmine Rice.

This one is from le bf’s mom who loves fried seafood:

Seafood Hush Pups Not – Shrimp and Fish
with golden Corn, deep fried and served with
a Remoulade Dippin’ Sauce

Le bf’s dad ordered this one:

Crab Stuffed Mushrooms – topped with Parmesan Cheese

For my meat-loving bf:

Kentucky Bourbon Skewers – Large Shrimp skewered with Red and Green
Bell Peppers, Red Onion and Andouille Sausage, then brushed with a tangy Kentucky Bourbon Sauce. Served with Mashed Potatoes
and Corn on the Cob.

I guess I’m the only one that didn’t order a dish with shrimps:

Jenny’s Catch with Lobster Butter Sauce –
Pan seared Tilapia laid over Mashed Potatoes with sautéed Spinach and a creamy Lobster Butter Sauce

I’ve always loved themed restaurants, and this one even had a gift shop attached to it!
Being a fan of all seafood, I really enjoyed my visit to Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. :D

Follow me to Florida: Christmas Edition

New additions to the Follow Me series in the Around the World section, featuring photos on my second trip to Florida this year with le bf.
This was my first time spending Christmas holidays in a tropical climate since I’ve lived in Taiwan as a child! Gotta say, it felt a tad weird for the Canadian in me to see Christmas ornaments and lights hanging on palm trees :P
Overall it was awesome not to be freezing in the -20 something Celsius in Montreal though!

“Asia”, Disney’s Animal Kingdom, Orlando, USA

And more updates from the holidays will come out soon, I promise (:

Majestic Hotel Restaurant

Ever since our one day trip to Miami and Le bf told me about the huge cocktails they have at the hotel restaurants by South Beach, I’ve been dying for an opportunity to try them. Luckily, after our visit to the Theater of the Sea, Le awesome bf drove us all the way back to Miami the night before leaving Florida, so we could have the chance to get a taste of the famous “big” drinks at the Majestic Hotel Restaurant .

Sample Paella dish on display in the restaurant. They’re HUGE!

More fancy display food. They’re actually real too

I couldn’t believe my eyes when the waiter walked over with our cocktails. The drinks were literally bigger than my head!

My white Sangria (:

I was happy with my choice though, there were plenty of fruits in the Sangria, they were so yummy. I spent the whole night fishing out pieces of pineapples, melons, cherries ,and grapes :D

Le bf’s Raspberry Mojito

We only ordered an appetizer and a salad since we were both not feeling super hungry. This was a good choice on our part, since by the end of the night we were so full from the drinks (and we couldn’t even finish them all).

Cheese and charcuterie plate for two

Theater of the Sea

I’ve been so busy with homework that I’ve not had time to update on some of my previous adventures!
Here’s a long overdue post from back in August on my trip to Florida. For the last few days of our time there, we’ve decided to drive to Key West, which is the southernmost city in the Continental United States. After spending a night in Key West, we woke up bright and early the next day and went to visit Hemingway’s House (check out that post here!).
Afterwards, we drove to the Village of Islamorada to go the Theater of the Sea, which le bf had planned since he knew how much I enjoy interacting with animals :D

As soon as I walked in the entrance/store area of the Theater of the Sea, I knew he was right. They had all sorts of rescued animals wondering around in the store ! (Yay more cats!)

Kitty #1 spotted outside the entrance

Inside the shop

This one looks kinda wary

cats everywhere!

                
There was a list of programs lined up for us to see, and our first stop was to take a mini-cruise on the Bottomless Boat Ride with the dolphins!

The view from the bottomless boat ride

The dolphin joined us in the boat (:

Caught a shot at the perfect moment when the dolphin was jumping by!

We had some time to kill after the boat ride, so we stopped by some ponds to check out the marine life.

Seagulls in a row

Such colourful fish

Metallic blue fish

Afterwards, we got an interesting Guided Marine Life Tour with one of the staff and learnt something pretty cool facts about the animals there.
There were quite a few tortoise in the ponds and they’re all rescues, so each have different injuries.

Turtle with a flotation device due to a deformity to its shell

This one is missing one of its flippers

It looks like it’s smiling O_o

Sting ray

Nursing shark

Caretaker feeding the sharks

                
Iguanas are an invasive species in the Florida Keys. They can be spotted everywhere just chilling in the park. We saw a few of them on our way to see the Parrot Show:

A wild giant iguana appears!

Big yawn!

Omnomnom nuts

This one keeps doing silly things like this

                

I was quite impressed by how smart some of the parrots were!

He correctly placed all the shapes!

Walking forward and backwards

He’s got addition and subtraction down pat!

Next on our agenda was the Dolphin Show, featuring the 2 dolphins that we saw earlier on the Bottomless Boat Ride.
We both got to kiss the dolphins at the end of the show! Their skin was slippery.

Kissed by a dolphin (;

Next up on the list, the Sea Lion Show, it was pretty hilarious :D

Dat strength

Sea lion smile… Kinda creepy LOL

Pretending to be a walrus :D

Throwing hoops and he caught each of them!

Since it was late August, I assume that most people were not on vacation anymore so there weren’t that many visitor in the park, which was awesome because we didn’t have to spend anytime in line waiting, and got excellent seats to all of the shows :D

The Hemingway Home and Museum

Though I am not a big fan of Ernest Hemingway’s works (to be honest, I only knew “The Old Man and the Sea” before coming here), The Hemingway Home and Museum has been the one place that I’ve been looking forward to visiting, ever since le bf told me about it a year ago.
The reason? This place is home to approximately 40-50 poly-dactyl (six-toed) cats!

Exterior of Hemingway’s house

View from the balcony. I spot a cat :D

This one reminds me of my cat Mia :3

Not all of the cats have the physical poly-dactyl trait but they all carry the poly-dactyl gene in their DNA, which means that the ones that have 4 and 5 toes can still mother or father six-toed kittens.

Hemingway was given a white six-toed cat by a ship’s captain, and some of the cats who live on the museum grounds are descendants of that original cat, named Snowball. Key West is a small island and it is possible that many of the cats on the island are related.

For this exciting occasion, I even smuggled a small bag of cat treats in so that I could befriend these famous cats :P

Cat cemetery

Kitty guarding the cemetery

Hemingway named all of his cats after famous people, so the museum continued to follow that same tradition today. You can see some of the names on the cemetery plaque:

Some of the deceased cats over the years )’:

Omnomnoming

This one has curly sheep-like fur

In the souvenir shop

Most cats have extra toes on their front feet and sometimes on their back feet as well. Sometimes it looks as if they are wearing mittens because they appear to have a thumb on their paw.

Check out the paws on this one!

One of the more stunning and unusual features of the Hemingway Home property is the in-ground swimming pool, an extraordinary luxury for a residential home in 1930s Key West. The final cost of construction in 1938 dollars was $20,000.

Hemingway’s expensive swimming pool

Oh hiiiiiiii there

What do you want?!

Curious kitty

This one is just sitting there looking at us

Little kittens kept in their cage

                   
                   
                   

According to one of the caretakers that we talked to, there were currently 45 cats at the house. Afterwards, le bf and I went through all the photos I took and counted all the cats that we saw, there were 22. Almost half of all the cats, not bad at all eh?! :D

le bf et le chat :3

Finally, a special thank you to le bf, who not only brought me to this awesome place, but waited patiently while I spent 2 hours taking photos and feeding every cat that crossed our path (I was really excited lol). T’es le meilleur mon amour <3

Palm Beach: Ta-boo American Bistro & Bar

I know that from the things that I’ve been posting on my blog it looks like we did nothing but eat LOL. I swear this is the last restaurant review I’m doing from the Florida trip!

We were introduced to Ta-boo American Bistro & Bar through my friend Helena, whom I’ve met in Paris an year ago. We wanted to meet and catch up while I’m in Florida, so she suggested this restaurant. Ta-boo is situated on Worth Avenue, an upscale shopping district. Squeezed between two luxurious clothing stores, the entrance of the restaurant appeared to be a little hidden since it didn’t have a big obvious sign advertising it. Once we entered though, we were surprised by how spacious and comfortable is was inside.

Brie And Pear – a pizza crust topped with brie, pears, grapes, candied pecans and red onion with a balsamic reduction

When I looked at the menu, I was a little doubtful about the combination of brie, pear and grapes. However, with the strong recommendation from my friend, I decided to give it a try. It was an excellent decision on my part, since it turned out to be delicious! Some how the soft texture of the brie worked very well with the sweetness and crunchiness of the pear and grapes. I’m usually not a big fan of pizzas, let alone ones with fruits on them, but I was really impressed by this one. I highly recommend you guys to order this if you ever get the chance to eat at Ta-boo.

Le bf ordered the steak, which was very tasty as well (also recommended by my friend):

Grilled Chopped Steak – topped with gorgonzola cheese and fried onions served with sauteed spinach and roasted tomato

We were so impressed by this restaurant, we decided to come back again, this time with le bf’s parents as well, as our last lunch before they leave Florida the next day.

I ordered the mussels, which had an amazing meuniere sauce/soup. The portion was, as usual, a bit too much for me to handle on my own though :P

Mussels Meuniere – from Prince Edward Island

Le bf’s mom ordered a simple, classic pizza, which was quite good as well:

The Classic Pizza –
our classic tomato sauce with fresh basil and mozzarella cheese

Le bf’s tuna steak burger came with an interesting seaweed salad in it which he didn’t like, but I happily devoured.

Ta-boo Tuna Steak Burger – on a toasted english muffin with wasabi mayonnaise and wakame served with french fries and mixed greens

Le bf’s dad took the tuna carpaccio salad:

Tuna Carpaccio Salad – seared marinated loin of native yellowfin tuna encrusted in sesame seeds and black pepper on a bed of mixed field greens, red and yellow pepper strips and red onion in a balsamic vinaigrette. served with pickled ginger, wasabi and lite soy sauce

We also ordered the fried calamari to share:

Fried Calamari – served with an orange aioli and marinara sauce

And then for dessert, the chocolate mousse, which was surprisingly good (by French standards apparently :P). To me it seemed more like a cheese cake than mousse. A bit too sweet for my standards, but I’m sure the dessert lovers would appreciate it more than me.

Chocolate Mousse

ALSO, they have a bowl of free chocolate mint sticks by the entrance, so don’t forget to be a cheap Asian and take a bunch of them before leaving like I did :P (What can I say? I love free stuff!)

Miami: The Rusty Pelican

A quick review of our the restaurant that we went to on our one day trip in Miami: The Rusty Pelican Miami

The view from the restaurant was stunning!

We were quite hungry so we ordered a cheese and charcuterie platter. I quite like the cheddar, which was a bit of a surprise since I usually prefer soft cheeses.

All American Charcuterie and Cheese Plate – Prosciutto-Berkshire, Iowa
Sopressata – San Francisco, California
Jasper Hills Brie – Greensboro, Virginia
Mature Cheddar-Waterbury, Vermont
Blood Orange Marmalade,
Cornichons, Quince Paste

I ordered the Loster Bisque, it’s not very photogenic but it was really good! The soup was rich with plenty of seafood in it.

Tableside Poured -Lobster Bisque
Lobster, Sea Scallops, Crab,
Roasted Tomatoes, Toasted Corn Relish

Le bf’s dish:

Crab Cake Benedict – Poached Egg, Brioche Toast,
Potato Hash, Chipotle Hollandaise

Le bf’s dad took this one:

Duck Confit – Nueske Bacon Hash
Pee-Wee Potatoes, Bell Peppers,
Teardrop Tomatoes, Fried Eggs

I tried a bit of the dish that le bf’s mom ordered, I think it was my favorite dish from the meal:

Local Catch Sliders –
Beer Battered, Blackened, or Grilled
Local Catch, Caper-Lime Remoulade,
Brioche Bun

And chocolate dessert is always delicious no matter what (:

Chocolate Sabotage

Busch Garden, Tampa, Florida

After our brief stay in Orlando, we drove straight to Tampa, which took around an hour and half. Le bf’s parents dropped us straight off at Busch gardens, which I’ve been really excited about, since le bf told me they have a very good combination of animals and rides there (both of which I absolutely LOVE).

Five minutes inside the park and we saw a whole flock of flamingos by the entrance:

My first time being so close to a flamingo!

I was so surprised and delighted by this I asked one of the animal caretakers to take a polaroid of us with the flamingos. As we positioned ourselves beside the birds, one of them suddenly started to approach me very closely, and the caretaker told me, “Don’t move, looks like you’re getting a flamingo hug!” This literally made my day :D :D :D

The polaroid was able to capture this perfect moment :

Hugged by a flamingo. My life is now completed <3

Apparently there are over 200 Caribbean and Chilean flamingos in Busch Gardens!

A whole flock of flamingos

These little white birds are wild, and they’re everywhere!

The park was huge and organized in different countries, for example, there is Morocco, Egypt, Nairobi, Congo…etc. I loved how each region had different representing animals and that the architectures and even the music changes accordingly as well.
After our little run-in with the flamingos, we started with the Egypt section, and saw some animals on the way:

The hyena was sleepy due to the heat

We saw one of the animal shows: The Cheetah Run, where the caretakers demonstrate the speed of these felines. It was really quite impressive how they can go from 0 to 70 miles per hour in the matter of seconds.

I think most of the time they prefer being lazy and lying around like cats though :3

Continuing our journey alongs the trails toward Nairobi and Timbuktu, we saw a variety of other interesting animals:

Oh hi there meerkats

The hippopotamus

A white skunk that I touched (:

Sleeping aardvark

Baby flamingos, their legs look all messed up O.O

What a cutie :D

He sang a little song for us!

It’s hard to tell from this photo but this bunny was HUGE.

Just hanging out :P

Pretty colors but definitely poisonous

Tiger chillin’ in the shade

The snake skin had an interesting texture, it was heavier than I anticipated!

The mud/grass mixture on their backs is suppose to be like “elephant sunscreen”

We ventured in the Walkabout Way just in time to see some of the Australian animals and to feed the kangaroos and wallabies:

Super friendly kangaroos

They were all so hungry lol

Check out those luscious eyelashes ;)

Le bf feeding the kangaroo

Can’t refusing this cute face :3

They’re not afraid of humans at all

While most of the kangaroos were super friendly and not afraid to interact with humans at all, the wallabies appeared to be more timid, and wouldn’t eat off our hands. It was a bit of a shame, they were so adorable, and I really wanted to pet them!

Cutest wallaby (:

Omnomnom

Oh hello there

Throughout the day we saw a variety of shows in the park, some of the must-sees including:
– Iceploration: a 30-minute ice show which explains some of the park’s history. It was really entertaining, featuring some world-class skaters, larger-than-life puppets, amazing costumes, and 21 different live animals.
– Critter Castaways: a really cool show featuring lots of different animals that were trained to do some amazing tricks. Probably my favorite show of the day :D

Here are some snaps taken during the Critter Castaways:

3 little piggies

I’d like to hold a kangaroo like this :3

Random llama in the show lol

The best part is the meet-and-greet portion after the show:

Mr. Owl doesn’t look too impressed …

… Possibly cuz I took my sweet time to touch him :D

                   
                

I realize that my post was really animal heavy and I didn’t really take many photos of the rides in the park, but this doesn’t mean that they weren’t awesome!
We went on most of them throughout the day, some of my personal favorites were the Cheetah Hunt, the Scorpion, and the Montu. You can check all of them out here.

Mojito – Latin Cuisine and Bar

We decided to celebrate our one year anniversary with a simple dinner date at City Place, a plaza with lots of shops and restaurants, located in downtown West Palm Beach.

We’re all dressed up for the big night(:
I feel as if we’re going to prom lol

We walked by Mojito, a Latin Cuisine and Bar and decided that we would eat there, since the atmosphere and menu seemed pleasant. It turned out to be a pretty good choice, as both the food and drinks were delicious.

Kiwi Apple Mojito

We decided to order 4 different tapas, which are small plates of Spanish appetizers designed to be shared. I liked this since I enjoy tasting a variety of different dishes. We each chose 2 tapas, I took the paella and lobster guacamole, and le bf ordered the sliders and the “Ropa Vieja” (clearly he likes his meats :P).

Paella – mussels, clams, featured fish, shrimp, chorizo, saffron rice

Lobster Guacamole – maine lobster, tomato picante, Mojito chips or crispy plantains

Mojito Sliders –
ground chuck, shaved romaine, tomato picante, spicy aioli, manchego cheddar

Ropa Vieja – shredded beef, tomato ragu, sweet pepper, cripsy plantains

We were especially impressed by how much seafood was in the paella. The sliders were really tasty too, the meat patty was tender and the small size was perfect for me. The portion of the plates were more than enough for the 2 of us, I had to depend on le bf to finish most of it of at the end as usual :P

The inside of the restaurant was dimly lit and the atmosphere was quite casual. Towards the end there was a live music group playing and it got quite loud, so we left a bit earlier to walk around outside in the plaza. Overall it was a wonderful night :)

City Place Plaza

First impressions of Florida

Though I’ve visited Florida when I was younger, I had almost no memory of it. At the end August I was delighted to get the chance to go on a 2 week vacation with le bf to join his parents at their summer house in Wellington, Florida.

Exterior of le bf’s family’s house in Wellington

Awesome pool in the backyard that le bf’s dad built

Impressive lights :D

The weather was more hot and humid then I’ve expected. It was a nice change though, the perfect temperature for going to the beach and swimming outside, in my opinion. I enjoyed the tropical climate, with all the palm trees and little lizards running around everywhere, which I found very fascinating :D

These little guys are everywhere in Florida!

During our stay in Wellington, le bf and I tried our best to go to the nearby community center to exercise in an attempt to not gain too much weight from eating so well in restaurants all the time.

At the community pool in Wellington

For dinner on the night after we arrived in Florida, we went on a 2 hour yacht cruise on Delray Beach for dinner.

Dinner cruise in Delray Beach

All of us on the yacht

Interior of Lady Delray

Buffet in the yacht. AC was so strong that we were all wearing jackets lol

We saw a lot of beautiful mansions on the way:

Most of the houses I saw in Florida were nice, spacious and often with a big swimming pool. Everyone seems to be super relaxed and on vacation mode. Not a bad place to plan for one’s retirement, in my opinion :P

Follow Me to Florida

We didn’t take many Follow Me photos during the Florida trip, but all of them turned out quite well (:
Check them out in the Around the World section.

City Place, West Palm Beach, Florida, USA

Back to school for fall term

Hello everyone, sorry for not updating the blog for so long. After my last final exam I was caught in a frenzy of packing to go back to Montreal, and then packing again for 2 weeks in Florida. With fall term starting again in 2 days, I’m back again in Waterloo, and I finally have time to go through the numerous amount of photos that I’ve taken during the trip and do some belated updates.

Here are some of the things from Florida I want to cover for the next few days:
– Restaurant reviews (we went to so many good restaurants during the trip, and I took a ton food photos being the foodie I am :P)
– Some of the cool places that we’ve visited:
> Aquatica
> Busch Garden
> Clearwater Beach
> Miami
> Bahia Honda Beach
> Hemingway House
> Theater of the SeaAnd of course I’ll try to keep up with the L’Amour du Jour quotes and Places to Visit Before You Die as well. Looks like I’ve got a lot of blogging to do! :P