Drum roll please….

THE FRITTERING CONCH!

One of my favorite professors, Wayne Garcia, actually came up with the name yesterday and I absolutely love it. Being a native of Key West, I am quite fond of Conch Fritters. Also, in blogging about food I am frittering, or tearing apart dishes and their ingredients in my writing.

Look out for an all new site in the coming weeks filled with lots of gourmet grub!

Speaking of grub..
While you wait for me to update the site, you can also follow me on grubcritic.com. My posts will be listed under GourmetGal

Over the break I took lots of great photos of all of the food I ate.

My favorite was one I took of the 89 cent nachos from Taco Bell. They give you a heaping of chips covered in a cheese substance and soggy beans, no wonder Americans are fat.

89 cent nachos from Taco Bell

Another interesting concotion: Guacamole Pringle breaded barjack fish. No, I didn’t think it tasted all that great. Yes, it looked like a large pile of cannibus.

Barjack breaded in Guacamole Pringles

I would have posted these much sooner, but my cell phone has been sitting in a tupperware of rice for four days. I am terribly clumsy with cell phones. I don’t try to be, really. Inevitably, however, they always find water.
Blackberry #4 wanted to go out to sea and down the toilet. Instead of calling insurance and getting a new phone right away I decided to do an old remedy I heard from a friend. Lo and behold after submerging my cell phone in rice for four days every single button works and I still have all of my pictures and contacts.

Last but not least, I have some good news. I am one of the new food critics for Chompmenus.com so look out for blogs on both sites, and of course lots of interesting photos and dishes to delight your senses.

Her first night in town we decided to go to Bistro 1245, a cute little pasta place with a great wine selection. The restaurant is small and cozy, and you can see right into the open kitchen. We snuggled into our table by the window with glasses of wine and relaxed to the sweet sounds of mellow jazz. My mom is a big fan of escargot, so naturally that is what we ordered first.

The escargot was delicious in its creamy garlic sauce, and it was even better paired with the lightly toasted flatbread for a satisfying crunch. I was so smitten with the food I completely forgot to take a picture until halfway through the course.

I’m a big sucker for pasta’s with light sauces and lots of ingredients. The Roma Tomato Pasta certainly didn’t dissapoint. The dish consisted of linguini noodles in a light olive oil, large chunks of roma tomatoes, fresh mozzarella and spinach. The citrusy tang of the tomatos mixed with the mozzarella was reminiscent of tomato caprice, another one of my favorite dishes.

My mother has been watching what she eats recently, but it doesn’t stop her from enjoying her meal when she orders out. Any meal at Bistro 1245 can be deconstructed and reworked to fit your dieting needs. Mom ordered the duck sandwich with a mixed green salad and chose to forgo the breading and mix the duck into her salad with feta cheese instead.

The next night, however, neither of us was counting calories. After the Gators whooped up on the Seminoles during Tebow’s last game, mom and I decided to head to Emiliano’s one of my favorite family owned restaurants in Gainesville. The restaurant specializes in Tapas and we made sure to order plenty.

The Picadillo Empanadas were melt-in-your-mouth good. The savory flavor of the ground beef with Latin seasonings inside made the flaky outside pastry taste even better. Mom stayed away from the fried yuca frita with garlicky mojito, but I couldn’t get enough. I wasn’t a huge fan of the crab stuffed portobello, a baked portobello mushroom cap with crabmeat stuffing, topped with queso blanco and served over a calabaza-jalapeño cream sauce. The crab was a bit fishy and there were too many flavors mixed together, it tasted too jumbled. The artichokes were extremely light and creamy, and easy to pop in your mouth. The last thing we tried was one of Emiliano’s signature tapas dishes, the Churrasco, or Argentinian Flank Steak. By itself the meat was juicy and tender, and mixed with a chimichurri sauce on top the flavor was even more intense.

For more about Emiliano’s, read my restaurant review in INsite magazine here.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Shred a whole chicken (I recommend just getting one of the pre-made ones from Publix.)
Add 8 oz of shredded cheese
1 cup mayo
8 oz of cream cheese
4 oz of chiles
and a few jalapenos depending on your taste.

Mix it all together and put it in the oven for 40 minutes! Enjoy and Happy Holidays!

To make everything less calories substitute low fat, or reduced fat mayo, shredded and cream cheeses.

After leisurely enjoying a glass of their Sagelands Riesling and devouring a scrumptious bread loaf with garlic butter (I don’t know what they put in that butter but I swear it’s addictive.) it was time to order.

For an appetizer we ordered the Crispy Florida Gator Tail with zesty Remoulade. Now I’ve had gator in Louisiana, but these tails were melt-in-your-mouth amazing. Lightly battered and flash fried, the tails were light and crispy without making me feel like I was clogging my arteries just eating them.

The presentation of the main course was spot on. My Filet Mignon Flatbread with goat cheese and carmelized onions was tender and juicy with a slight crunch from the flatbread. The filet was a deep pink just the way I like it.

Everyone else ordered the burger with varying sides. The Lobster Mashed Potatoes alone are a good enough reason to stop through Embers. A mix of sauteed lobster and butter whipped potatoes, this dish combines two of my favorite things without tasting too fishy.

At some point during our meal two of the University of Florida’s star foobtall players, Brandon Spikes and Brandon James, came to sit at the bar behind us. Being the outlandish person that I am I went up and talked to them. Yes, Brandon Spikes will be playing against South Carolina on Saturday. And yes, you will be sure to see me at Embers again and again.

Another place I miss is Crumbs Bake Shop. Oh man can they make a cupcake. Their red velvet cupcake with cream cheese icing is a sweet lovers dream. And their apple pie cupcake tastes just like grandma’s.

Oh, and let’s not forget Spice a thai restaurant that’s bringing spicy back.

I am supposed to be heading back up to the city sometime soon to help work on a cookbook. All I can do is keep my fingers crossed and dream of all the amazing food you can’t get any place else.

After meeting with UF’s College of Journalism Advisory Council I’ve decided to re-vamp my blog and make it entirely food oriented. (Like it isn’t already anyway, I swear all I write about is food.) The multimedia editor for The Miami Herald suggested it and I love the idea. I still need to do some more research, but I’m thinking entries will include food reviews, my own recipes and of course yummy looking photos. Be on the lookout!

Yesterday I went to Reggae Shack Cafe on University Avenue, and wow was I impressed. Not only are all of their vegetarian dishes 100 percent vegan, but they have tasty burgers and authentic Jamaican food to boot. My favorite dish was actually a dessert. Hush puppies with milk chocolate, white chocolate, condensed milk, caramel and butterscotch make the Dolce de Leche Festival melt slowly on your tongue as you taste the sugar rush. And whatever is in their Tropic-Q sauce. Whoooo-eee! I tasted it on their Tropi-Q Burger and Roughneck Chicken Sandwich and man does it add to the flavor. Look out for my review on it in INsite magazine.

A group of LSU tailgators had no problem roasting a gator!

We thought it was pretty darn funny...

Besides all of the good eating I did this weekend, I also went on a serious road trip extravaganza RV adventure. Six of us rented an RV and made a four-day trip to Baton Rouge and New Orleans. Let me tell you, living in an RV requires maintenance.
The fridge didn’t work at the beginning of the trip.
Every time you took a turn preparation was necessary to avoid spilling drinks/food.
The shower drain clogged, a lot.

The RV Group!

But, it was all part of the adventure. I can now say I am an expert at sleeping in Wal-Mart parking lots, not showering and making it through Arkansas (inside joke) in one piece!

New Gator friends in Louisiana.

Sorry I have been a bit absent recently. Life seems to be on fast forward at the moment– there definitely aren’t enough hours in the day. Between classes, traveling and writing I haven’t stopped.

I guess I should probably start with Friday night. After a delicious meal at Emiliano’s (paella, sangria, hummus and fried meat plantains.. yum!) I reviewed Silversun Pickups and An Horse at The Venue. So amazing. Check out my review for INsite here.

Saturday I loaded up the car with my best friends and headed to Orlando to visit my family. We went to Cirque du Soleil’s La Nouba Saturday night and Halloween Horror Nights on Sunday.

My dad works for Cirque, so I have seen the show quite a lot the last 10 years. Saturday night, however, the show surprised me. The trapeze net got stuck and the final trampoline act was unable to perform. The Diablo girls dropped their diablos. And, one of the passes across the trapeze didn’t stick. I understand nothing is ever perfect, but I have never seen that many errors in one show.

I have attended Halloween Horror Nights almost every year since 1997. This year didn’t disappoint, even though I wasn’t too impressed with Bill & Ted’s Excellent Halloween Adventure.

I got back to Gainesville yesterday morning just in time to make it to work. Now, I have dance and a management test tonight.

This weekend we play LSU. Stay tuned for roadtrip hilarity (I’m traveling in an RV with five other people) and I promise to quit being MIA.

Molly, Deanna & I with Wolverine!

Rice Krispie with peanut butter cups!

True story