Lose Weight and Gain Health

Last morning in America.

We all had a long day ahead of us so we stocked up with a large brunch at Made 2 Order

We will all miss the sunshine, delicious brunches, water everywhere and friendly Americans.  Thank you to everyone who served us, waited on us, helped us and chatted to us.  We had an excellent holiday.

Good bye Miami.

A short but sweet stop over at Raleigh-Durham.

Eventually, we were home.  It’s lovely to go away but also good to be home.

I bought some magazines to read in Florida and am now going to enjoy cooking some of the recipes from them.

Sunday nights dinner was quite easy and super tasty.   We had blackened chicken, broccoli and a sweet potato dish baked with a brown sugar and pecan topping.

Baked Sweet Potato with Pecan Praline Topping

Ingredients (serves 8)

• 2 large sweet potatoes
• 1 cup of milk
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup dark brown sugar (I used Molasses sugar)
• 1 cup pecans, chopped
• 1/2 cup wholemeal flour
• 90 g butter

Method

• Preheat oven to 190°
• Stab the potatoes a few times with a fork and bake in the oven until tender, about 50 – 60 minutes
• Cut the potatoes in half and scrape the flesh in to a large bowl
• Add the milk, eggs, vanilla and salt and mash in to the potatoes
• Mash lightly so the mixture is still a little lumpy
• Butter a baking dish and pour the potato mixture in to the dish
• In a separate bowl, mix the sugar, pecans, flour and butter together with a fork until the mixture resembles crumble
• Sprinkle the pecan praline topping over the sweet potato mixture.  It will be in clumps but it melts and spreads over the top during cooking
• Bake until golden brown – about 30 minutes

The sweet potato with pecan praline topping was delicious and worked very well with the spicy blackened chicken.

I loved having a break from the kitchen but it was great to be back in it.  Blueberry smoothie for breakfast (blueberries, natural yogurt, hazelnut milk, poppy seeds and a frozen banana).

I made a chicken casserole for lunch, using vegetables from the garden.  It was wonderful to be out there with my trowel, digging up carrots and my first parsnips 🙂 Strange how one parsnip was very large but its neighbour was so small!  The mud washed off easily and I didn’t peel these vegetables as they are organic.

These vegetables (carrots, parsnips, garlic and onion) are all from my garden 🙂

Garlic Chicken and Root Vegetable Casserole

Ingredients (Serves 4)

• 1/3 cup plain flour
• 2 tbsp paprika
• 1 tbsp salt
• 1 tbsp ground black pepper
• 8 chicken thighs, with skin removed
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 head of garlic, separated in to cloves and peeled and crushed
• 2 parsnips, chopped
• 6 carrots, chopped
• 1 onion, peeled and chopped
• 1 tbsp thyme
• 1 cup wine
• 500ml chicken stock

Method

• Preheat the oven to 190°
• Combine the flour, paprika, salt and pepper in a large bowl
• Add the chicken thighs and turn to cover in the seasoned flour
• Heat the oil in a large hob proof casserole dish
• Shake the excess flour from the chicken thighs and fry until browned on each side (about 5 minutes – I did mine in 2 batches)
• Drain on kitchen paper

• Add the prepared vegetables to the fat remaining in the casserole dish and fry for approximately 5 minutes, stirring regularly to coat the vegetables in the flour and oil remaining from frying the chicken
• Add the thyme
• Add 1 heaped tbsp of the remaining seasoned flour and stir to coat the vegetables then fry for 1 minute
• Deglaze the pot with the wine
• Stir in the chicken stock
• Arrange the chicken on top of the vegetables
• Bring the stock to a simmer, cover the casserole dish and place in the oven for 1 hour.

I served this with some of the sweet potato dish I made yesterday which reheated very well.  The chicken fell off the bone and the sauce was thick, rich tasting and delicious.  I used red wine as I had some open hence the sauce is quite a dark colour.  It would be paler if you used white wine.  The sauce is quite peppery so you could cut the pepper down if you are not a fan of it

For supper I made a blue cheese dressing which I poured over a simple salad of lambs lettuce, tomatoes and sprouted sunflower seeds.

I enjoyed being home and cooking again and managed to eat lots of healthy food today.  I definitely put on some weight on holiday, which is easily done in America.  Now I need to lose it and keep going.  I am looking forward to losing weight again.

I chose what we did today – Key West :-).  I will miss the valet service at Hawks Cay.  We stand on the front deck while one of the charming young men fetches our car.  That gives us some time to admire the view.  Then he opens the door, we hop in and off we go!

I didn’t have any breakfast apart from a coffee which is not at all healthy but I wanted to save myself for a wickedly American lunch.

So what is it like driving through the Keys?  Beautiful!  This is my view while we drove along the Seven Mile Bridge.  We are heading South and it is about 9am.

It was calm and sunny again today.  The Keys are narrow enough in places that you can see the Atlantic Ocean to the East and Florida Bay to the West.  You can see the sun rise over the ocean and then set over the ocean and not have to move.  The sea is dotted with smaller Keys (islands) and boats.

The edges of most of the Keys are packed with gorgeous houses and some hotels, most of which have docks for the boats.

Driving here is easy and pleasurable.  We arrived in Key West and it is just as gorgeous as I remembered.

Practically every house

and every street

or alleyway

or shop (this is a hammock shop)

is worthy of a photo.  I have veranda and swing seat envy.

There are beautiful flowers

and even a lighthouse.  Well, you soon learn to expect the unexpected in Key West.

Such as chickens.

Yes, there are chickens everywhere – this lot were outside the Post Office !

Even the dentist has a sense of humour.

This charming church was cool as they opened all the large wondows down the sides.  It was hot today (86 °) so it was lovely to stand in the cool for a while.

It was urban beauty sensory over load.  I wanted to resign from my job, sell my house and move here.  The ambience and atmosphere is perfect for me as it is so laid back during the day.  Lots of partying by night which is probably annoying for the locals but by day this place is perfect for me.  Apparently it gets very crowded when the cruise ships dock here so maybe I will come home after all.

My main mission for today was to go in to the house along this street.

On the other side of this wall is Ernest Hemingway’s house.

He lived here for 9 years and during that time wrote approximately half of the books for which he is well known.  We looked around ourselves and went on a tour so I can tell you that he built this wall himself with a friend, to stop people peering in.  The house is not big but it is gorgeous.

It was built from blocks of coral stone so the walls are very thick which helps keep it cool.  The vegetation around the house is lush and tropical.

The bananas are nearly ripe.

How wonderful to have a large garden around your house in the centre of town.

One of Hemingway’s 4 wives had the swimming pool installed while he was away as a surprise.  It is the first saltwater pool to be installed in the Keys and was very expensive; it cost $20,000 in the 1930’s which was a lot of money then.

It looks fantastic.

Apparently Hemingway was furious and he retaliated by installing a urinal next to it, taken from the refurbishment of his favourite bar.  A gardener later disguised it and made it in to a fountain.

Hemingway was certainly a character.  Inside his bedroom was a headboard he had made from a gate and posts he found in Spain

plus part of his collection of Spanish birthing stools which he enjoyed carrying around to sit on.

The house has largely been left as it was when he was there.  This family bathroom is exactly as it was first installed in the 1930’s (with the exception of the fan and cabinet!).

The house felt spacious and cool inside.

All round the house was a lovely verandah on the first floor.

Separate from the house is a small building.  The top floor was Hemingway’s study where he wrote.

Hemingway’s study.

He wrote on this typewriter and also with pencil.  I think I need my own little building and study – then I may manage to write a novel or two :-).

There are 45 cats living in the house, about half of which have 6 toes.  I didn’t photograph the cats but Harvey has plenty of photos of 6 toed cats :-).  We all enjoyed looking round the house and gardens and learning more about this fascinating person.  I am trying to read a Hemingway novel, and chose this one as it is set in the Keys.

I confess I am struggling and failing to grasp what is so great about Hemingway’s writing.  I shall persevere.

Lunch was not a dieter’s dream but it was enjoyable.  We returned to Mattheessen’s 4th of July where I had a blackened burger with blue cheese

followed by a Cookie Monster sundae.  I did share this with Harvey but even so it was a disgusting amount of ice cream, hot fudge sauce and a choc chip cookie to get through!

On the way back from Key West,

I saw loads of Pelicans – one of my favourite birds :-).

We returned to our hotel for a final afternoon of swimming,

braving the cold shower

and jumping in to the hot spa.

Then we went out for a final meal.  We looked up the top local restaurant on Trip Advisor and went there – The Butterfly Cafe.

It was great but I ate way too much and am now completely stuffed.  This was one of the very few places we ate in this trip which provided bread when we sat down.  One had cheese in and the other was herby, served with whipped butter.

I had the daily special which was Yellowfish Snapper stuffed with crab meat, served with a modest amount of mashed potato (hiding under the flower) and asparagus.  It was light, full of flavour and delicious.

For dessert Lara and I shared a Creme Brulee and a date cake (like a sticky toffee pudding).

Lara could eat a large dinner with no guilt as she didn’t have lunch with us today and spent an hour in the gymn before dinner.  Hmmm, I can learn from my daughter’s disciplined ways.

It was all very lovely and a delicious treat with which to end our wonderful holiday.  I have loved the Florida Keys and highly recommend them as a holiday destination.  I feel rested and refreshed which is  stark contrast to how exhausted I felt when I arrived here. I am definitely ready to get back to eating healthily and losing weight again though.

See you back in England 🙂

Firstly, apologies of you don’t like nature.  Today’s post is rather long with lots of pictures of my amazing day out.  If you just like the food bits, you only need to read the very beginning and the very end.  There is no food in between, just some water 🙂

We returned to Mangrove Mike’s today and sat at the counter which was fun.

The food was great again and we had a chat with Mike who wanders round and checks everything is good.  I had a fruit salad

and then an unexpected meal.  I wanted to avoid bread/wheat so thought I was ordering a Rosti with bacon, cheese and poached eggs.  It turns out that Tater Tots are an American brand of potato nuggets.  They were ok though and the eggs were cooked perfectly.  So no sugar rush today and this breakfast I ate at 9am kept me going until supper at 8pm with nothing except water in between.

We had a wonderful day out, in the Everglades.  It was FAB-U-LOUS 🙂

The Everglades was described as a “river of grass”  by Marjory Stoneman Douglas who was a passionate environmentalist.  The more I read about Marjory the more I admire her.  She was an amazing person, particularly when you consider that in the 1940’s, environmentalism was not a well known topic in the world and it was absolutely not the norm for a woman to be banging the green drum.

She was an advocate for all matters related to the preservation of the natural world and understood the importance of preserving the water in the Everglades for all people and creatures living in Southern Florida.  She was an invited guest when President Truman dedicated the Everglades in 1947.

The Everglades is not a swamp, as many people consider it to be.  It is technically a river, flowing southwest at the slow rate of about a quarter of a mile per day.  It is a fragile and delicate ecosystem, inhabited by some extraordinary creatures and a remarkably varied landscape, which we really saw today.

On our previous visit we spent the day in Shark Valley in the North of the National Park.  Today, we drove along route 9336  to Flamingo, which took us from East to West.

Along the route of 34 miles, there are several places to stop and hike or just stand and stare and admire this extraordinary place.

The first stop was the Anhinga Trail which was a very easy boardwalk.  It was absolutely fascinating and I loved it.  The Visitor Center was superb and this part of the Everglades is much deeper than the rest which is actually very shallow.  But here the water is deep but so clear you can see a long way down.

Looking over a boardwalk enables you to see the life in the water without, for me at least, the fear that accompanies diving.

It was like getting a glimpse in to the private world of what happens beneath the water’s surface, which we can not usually see.

The calm and clear water made it as easy to watch the fish and turtles as if they were in an aquarium.

It was quite magical and all we had to do was look over the edge of a walkway.  Simples!

I felt very safe here and thoroughly enjoyed being so close to the amazing wildlife we saw here.  One of the highlights was an alligator swimming under one of the bridges we were on.

Close up of it’s back.   What makes one look at this and think of a hand bag?

It was fascinating to see how it swims from so close up but knowing we are not altering its life in any way.  The alligator is in its natural habitat and yet we are so close.  But I felt very safe.

It really was brilliant.

Another glimpse in to the secret under water world.  The silhouette is of Harvey and me on the boardwalk taking the photo.

We also saw some turtles:

Red Bellied Turtle basking on a log.

Florida Soft Shelled Turtle.

Birds:

Tri-Coloured Heron (these are quite unusual apparently).

Green Heron.

Grey Heron.  These are tall and rather majestic – one of my favourites.

So here’s another one 🙂

Egret with small fish

Egret with baby turtle 😦

At eye level we came across a Green Anole lizard who was gorgeous.

Air Plants (they live epiphytically on other plants i.e. they just use the other plants as somewhere to grow.  They do not tap in to them to obtain nutrients or water).

We all enjoyed the boardwalks in our own ways 🙂 .

We parked under a tree covered in this beautiful Spanish Moss.

The rest of the trail was wonderful but not as special as the boardwalks of the Anhinga Trail which is one of the most fascinating places I have been to.  Mainly I confess, because you could get so close to nature but feel so safe.  You could also feel good about it too, or at least not guilty for damaging the area, because apart from the initial construction of the boardwalk, we were not in any way damaging the natural environment by being there.

The next place we stopped was the Pineland Trail.  It is extraordinary how the landscape changes so much within just a few miles, from a wetland to a pine forest.

This alligator can not read the ‘No Swimming’ sign.

In fact, this alligator hissed at me!!  Just when I was beginning to feel more comfortable around them.  I wandered too close trying to take a close up photo of a dragon fly and then Harvey pointed out I was close to the babies.  Ooops!

Notice how shallow the water is.  Most of the Everglades is very shallow which makes it a very fragile ecosystem as it is so susceptible to changes in the water level through the seasons.

Along the road to our next hiking spot at Pa-Hay-Okee, we rescued this creature.

Is it a turtle, terrapin or tortoise?  None of the above.  According to our resident wild life expert it is a Cooter!  I bet you knew that didn’t you ?

Please note that we would never touch any of the animals within the Everglades.  This was an exception as it was walking very slowly across the road and we nearly hit it with our car.  We have a tortoise at home and so are rather fond of all the Chelonians.  So we stopped and picked it up to place it next to the nearest water hole.

Which happened to be just on the opposite side of the road i.e. where it was heading.  What a clever Cooter 🙂

The next landscape we came to was of the Bald Cypress trees.  It looks prehistoric!

Amongst the densely forested areas, there are also the open saw grass areas.

I suspect this is the landscape Marjory Stoneman Douglas described as the rivers of grass.  This “river” is 8 miles wide.  It was incredibly peaceful out here.  Plenty of bird chatter and the occasional splash from the water but that was about it.

Eventually we made it to Flamingo, the end of the road – literally.

There was a pretty marina at Flamingo where James saw a crocodile basking on the bank.  Not an alligator but an actual crocodile, so much scarier as they are more aggressive.  I couldn’t bring myself to see it.

I was also being bitten by mozzies so retreated to the Visitor Center.

There was not much to do here unless you want to kayak or hike.  We enjoyed the views over Florida Bay, took some photos and decided we were more or less done for the day.  Boys and toys eh?

It was about 6pm and we had dinner on our minds so we headed back along the road we had come, to get back to the Keys, for dinner and bed.  We stopped to photograph the mangrove swamp.

And then we spotted a Snapping Turtle by the side of the road.  Sorry fella but you is ugly! We didn’t try to move this one, partly because it was already nearly off the road but mainly because they can literally bite your finger off.  The large ones can take your hand off.  Truly!

So pleased we didn’t see any of these today!

We had an amazing day in the Everglades and enjoyed the sunset as we headed back along Highway 1 for dinner which we had at the Tower of Pizza in Key Largo.

I started with a house salad with home made Blue Cheese dressing – yum 🙂

Followed by a Hawaiian pizza.  Well, half a small one anyway.  It was great.

Then Lara and I shared a slice of pecan pie.  This was a lovely place to eat.  It was relaxed and full of people like us who had been out for the day and were looking for a quick and easy way to fill our bellies.

So today was wonderful.  I saw so many wonderful sights and felt very lucky to spend a day in such a beautiful place.  Of all the amazing sights I saw, these are the 2 best ones.

I am even luckier that I got to take them home with me :-).

We woke up to plenty of clouds again today but the winds have gone for the first time in about a week!  We watched the news with horror this morning, now that Sandy has moved on to New York and beyond.

We tried somewhere new again for breakfast.  I really wanted somewhere healthier so opted for a Cuban juice bar.  I had a watermelon and orange juice

with a ham and vegetable omelette.   I didn’t eat the chips or the bread it was served with. It was all a bit disappointing though, from the basic cafe environment to the quality of the food.  The coffee was good, the rest mediocre.

We had planned a pool day today but decided we didn’t want to be in the sun after yesterday’s over exposure so late morning we made the decision to drive to the end of the Keys to Key West.  There are so many stories about Key West and I had been waiting quite impatiently to get down there.  We decided against it until now due to an enormous festival going on there.  Key West is known for it’s “anything goes” attitude so we decided the Fantasy Fest Parade and parties were probably not a good option for a family!

As soon as we arrived I loved it.  There is such a fascinating history to Key West which is reflected in the buildings.  They are gorgeous and  I could have photographed nearly every single one.  First stop was a traditional old fashioned style ice-cream parlour –  Mattheessen’s 4th of July on White Street.

It was hard to decide what to have.

I saved a couple of calories by having my toasted coconut and butter pecan in a bowl rather then a cone.

We had ice- creams and shared a huge white chocolate and macadamia cookie.  Everything here is handmade in small batches so it tastes like home made.  It was a naughty treat but so delicious it was worth every calorie.

After the ice-cream we walked around this amazing town.

You see a lot of this blue colour painted on to furniture round here – the sea around the keys is a similar colour.

Key West is very colourful.  A lot of the buildings are painted pastel colours.  Everywhere you go there are bars, many with live music playing. Where are you girls?  I want to party here – it would be amazing :-).  This is a colourful bar along a pier looking out due West.

In the distance is a little island with some houses and boats bobbing about.

Key West is only 90 miles from Cuba so there is a big Cuban influence here; restaurants, cigar shops

and art for example.

There are plenty of shopping opportunities, many of which are rather tacky but great fun when you are pootling about, such as this shell shop.

I think I should add some of these to my daily ‘To Do List’ 🙂

Many well known people have lived in key West; James Audubon, Harry S.Truman, Tennessee Williams and Ernest Hemmingway.  Hemmingway regularly drank in a bar that was called Sloppy Joe’s in his day but is now known as Capt. Tony’s Saloon.

Inside the walls and ceilings are covered in visitor’s business cards.

I wanted to have a drink here but that would not have been much fun for Lara and Harvey so instead we settled down in a Mexican restaurant opposite for an early super.

We sat at the open window and enjoyed watching the street life pass us by.

A frozen margarita was required while I chose what to eat.

I ordered Nachos with beef, black beans, tomatoes, cheese and sour cream.  I thought the large green circles were peppers so popped a whole piece in and ate it but they were in fact chilies – a very spicy error!

Much hotter than this amusingly named hot sauce!

After dinner we strolled back to the water front to Mallory Square.  Apparently every night at dusk people gather to watch the street performers and watch the sunset over the ocean.

It was great fun with a festive atmosphere.

Not the most amazing sunset but it was still a pleasure to watch it, with nothing between you and the sun disappearing but miles of ocean and the occasional ship or bird.

There was still so much to see !!!!  I didn’t want it to get dark.  We walked about a little more but it was more appropriate to head back to our hotel.  I don’t think Key West as night is the place for an inquisitive 10 year old.  We had 2 particular things we had to see before we left though.

One was this pillar which we had seen countless pictures and models of.  We had no idea it was so big but it is the marker that we were standing in the the Southernmost point of Continental USA and were only 90 miles from Cuba.

We also visited another marker.  On the way we came across the Kapok Tree.

Look at those buttresses!

This is a hint of one of the signs we wanted to see.

In the Keys, locations are pinpointed by the mile markers.  They start in Key West at zero and every mile along the keys to Miami is a green sign telling you the mile marker.  So we know our resort is at Mile Marker 61.   That means we are 61 miles away from Key West.  It makes getting around very easy.   We wanted to see mile marker zero, where it all begins.

On the other side of this road is the sign telling us that US Highway 1 has ended.  So Key West is the beginning and the end.  With everything in between accepted.  It really is an amazing place and one I want to return to.

I am sure one day I will.

James chose today’s activities which means we were up close and personal with nature.  For years he has wanted to head off in to the Everglades so we all went too.  En route we stopped off at a superb eaterie called  Made 2 Order where we all had an amazing breakfast.

We had a table beside the docks.

It was sunny and the view was lovely.

There was an extensive breakfast menu – I wonder if anyone actually orders ‘ The Heart Attack’ !

I went for the Very Berry Short Stack pancakes (there were 2) with bacon.  They were served with raspberry butter which was butter whipped with raspberries and icing sugar – absolutely delicious.  The pancakes had pureed berries inside which made them this dark colour.  One of the best pancake breakfasts I have ever had – and I have had a few!

I drank freshly squeezed orange juice and coffee.  I was very grateful to such a large breakfast later on in the day!

We arrived at Shark Valley in the Everglades National Park.

I am really scared of alligators due to a very close encounter with a huge Saltwater Crocodile in Kakadu, Northern Australia.  That encounter still haunts me today, 22 years later, so I was a very reluctant visitor to the Everglades.  In fact, I confess now, that on setting off for a walk and seeing a huge alligator immediately, I was in tears.  Tears of terror.

But I wanted to do this and I also knew that I didn’t want to prevent Lara and Harvey from heading off in to the wilderness.  I didn’t want to impose my own fears on them and I knew I would find it more relaxing to be with them than to be waiting at the Visitor Centre where I would have spent 2 – 3 hours verging on the hysterical with my imagination in over drive.

I chatted to a very kind Ranger at the Visitor Centre who assured me that as long as we kept away from the alligators we would be safe and in her many years of working there she had never experienced an alligator attack.  So we hired bicycles and I set off to confront one of my Demons.  I thought I had a better chance of fleeing on a bicycle than on foot.

I soon realised that I had been unlucky by seeing such a large alligator near the Visitor Centre.  Most of them were quite small.  There were loads of them though; one in front and one behind in this picture.

We set off on a 15 mile loop which had a look out tower in the centre.  We took plenty of water but no suncream which was stupid.  Due to Hurricane Sandy it is still very windy here so one forgets how sunny it is.  Plus we had long sleeves and trousers on to protect against the mosquitos (which we didn’t actually experience) but I forgot about my face and neck.  Anyway, I began to relax and actually enjoyed the experience.  I even found this little baby alligator rather cute.

And this one.

The path was tarmac’d so the alligators come out to bask in the sun.  We always kept Harvey close to us (as the smallest he would be the likely victim in the event of an attack) and he was sensible around the alligators and didn’t race ahead or do anything silly so my constantly rising hysteria was kept in check.  Seeing large alligators, especially when they showed their teeth, terrified me every time though.

However, we all kept going.

The look out tower was a welcome sight, mainly because it meant we were half way round the loop 🙂

The views from the top were good and it provided a shady respite from the hot sun.

We had water and an energy bar to provide fuel.

We saw several snakes, large terrapins and alligators.  Lots and lots of alligators.

We also saw lots of birds: Vultures, Kestrels, Egrets and Cranes to name a few.  I enjoyed seeing several grey cranes and particularly enjoyed seeing them in flight – they are so graceful.

Most of all, I enjoyed seeing the Visitor Centre again !  15 miles seemed a very long way, especially the last 5 miles as we were cycling in to quite a strong wind (about 35 mph according to the weather forecast).  Apart from the stationary bicycle at the gymn last night, I have not ridden a bike for years so I found it hard going.  Lara did a sterling job of encouraging me and the fear of being left in the park with the alligators propelled me to the end.

Lara and I are very burned and have bright red and sore faces.  Harvey’s helmet seems to have protected him and James rarely burns so he was lucky.  We got caught up in the Miami rush hour so coming home took much longer than we had planned.  We didn’t sit down to eat until 8 pm, about 12 hours after breakfast, so we were very hungry.  I may even have been a tad grumpy but that is perhaps a matter of opinion 🙂

No salad for me tonight.  Linguine in a creamy sauce with blackened chicken, cheese and 2 bread rolls.  I devoured the lot in about 10 minutes and drank a beer while we waited for it.  I can’t even remember the name of the restaurant as we were in and out in a lot less than an hour because we were all tired and too hungry to take in and appreciate the surroundings.

So today was not the day I had planned ( I was expecting a short walk on a boardwalk and a ride in either a large bus or boat) but it turned out rather well and I enjoyed my trip in to the Everglades.  I enjoyed the cycling and the physical challenge of the day.  Most of all, I will enjoy sleeping tonight, knowing I tamed one of my big fears slightly and didn’t spoil my family’s pleasure in one of the world’s extraordinary ecosystems.

Today was so relaxxxxxxxxing.  We started at a fabulous breakfast cafe.  These places are  brilliant.  They look so uninspiring from the car but get inside, sample the food and soak up the atmosphere and they are just the thing.

Brought to you this morning, from the Stuffed Pig cafe, on the A1A in Marathon, FL, USA is this breakfast menu.

James went for the Aligator tails, which we all tried.  It was quite chewy but no more so than a Calamari.  Initially the flavour was pleasant but it did leave quite a strong after taste which I disliked.  James liked it though.  I really did not like the “gravy” which is on the biscuit as it was too floury.

My breakfast was awesome.  One of the best pancakes I have ever had – pumpkin and pecan.  It was light, fluffy and delicious.  I would walk a long way for such a pancake.  Eaten with butter, maple syrup, 2 scrambled eggs and a slice of thick ham.  It was WOW!  Yummy.

We sat outside under a “Tiki” structure.  There are lots of these open sided structures with a roof made of palm leaves, called variously Tiki Lodges, Tiki Bars etc.

That was a good start to the day.

The carob tree was in bloom – such lovely bright flowers.

In the supermarket we saw some Key Limes which are much smaller than a standard sized lime – I put one next to the bag for comparison.

We had such a lazy day today, relaxing by the pool.  We tend to sit in the same spot, between the swimming lagoon and the dolphin lagoon.  We sit next to the 2 Tiki shelters you can see in the distance.  It is so wondrous to be sitting there and then look up and there are the dolphins.

Next to the resort is a boat channel so we see lots of gorgeous boats sailing in and out of the nearby marina.

It was windy here on the ocean side though so later on in the day we moved to sit beside the main swimming pool.

We discovered a spa pool which was incredibly warm and very pleasant to sit in.  I can’t believe we hadn’t noticed it before.

I was rather regretting sampling a red filled Oreo to see if it tasted as good as the white ones (it did) as one inevitably led to many more :-(.

So to make amends I joined Lara in the gymn.  I hate going to the gymn and would rather walk outside but I wanted to make sure I did a reasonable work out so we went together. I did feel rather aged and decrepit as she managed to jog 5 miles while I counted down the seconds until I could stop.  It was so boring but I felt better afterwards.  Mainly relieved it was over!

We have been using Trip Advisor to help select places to eat breakfast and dinner.  Tonight we went to Ma’s Fish Camp in Islamorada.

As with many other places we have been to here, portions are huge.  The four of us shared two starters:  Buffalo wings, which were served NY style with fresh celery and blue cheese dressing

and conch fritters.  I am not a fan of conch but the buffalo wings were good.

I had a Cobb Salad which was huge.

Lots of Romaine lettuce, tomatoes, crispy bacon, chicken, blue cheese and an egg.  I had mine with a blue cheese dressing which was excellent.

We had 3 desserts between us.  Harvey’s strawberry shortcake was big enough to have split 4 ways.

I had the hummingbird cake.  The waitress assured us it didn’t contain hummingbirds.  The locals call this cake “trash” cake as it has everything thrown in – pecans, bananas, pineapple, dates, golden raisins and cranberries.  It was similar to a carrot cake.

We all ate way too much tonight.  So we started the day and ended the day as stuffed pigs and piglets.  Tomorrow we must all eat less and exercise more (apart from Lara who is very disciplined and doesn’t over eat and she keeps up her exercise programme).

We were very unlucky with the weather in South Beach but even so, I do not think it is a great holiday destination for us.  It is perfect if you want to spend your days lying on a beach and your nights drinking and clubbing.  There is not much to do though for a family.  I am glad I saw it but I probably wouldn’t return.  I much preferred Coral Gables.

Breakfast looks like lunch but we were clearing out the fridge and I hate throwing away good food.  I have been looking for broccoli sprouts for a long time, since I read about how amazing they are for you.  This little tub kept on giving and never seemed any emptier.

They joined 2 slices of multi grain bread, some mashed avocado, a plum tomato, 1 slice of ham and some Swiss cheese.  It was very tasty.

We packed up, hired a car and set off.

Farewell wet and windy Miami.

Hello, er……. wet and windy Florida Keys!

The drive down through the keys was lovely.  They are often so narrow you can see sea on both sides.

The sea is a milky colour  – we are not sure if that is because of the hurricane or if it is always like that.  We saw lots of Pelicans, Ospreys and a Kingfisher.

We stopped for lunch at a place offering a famous fish sandwich.   Hmmmmmmm.

The menu said it was a “Dolphin” sandwich which we didn’t want to eat.  But they don’t mean the dolphin we know but a fish called Mahi Mahi.  The fish was good, but the coleslaw, processed cheese (one of my pet hates) and sliced bread scored nil points.

The vats of soda were unnecessarily large but appreciated by some.

As this is our first day in the Keys we had Key Lime Pie.

This restaurant/cafe was comical for all the wrong reasons.  It was ok but we won’t be rushing back.

We arrived at our resort and the check in was very slick and efficient.  Before we knew it, we were out by the saltwater lagoon.

I think we are going to enjoy being here very much.  They have a dolphin research facility so there are dolphins in a lagoon at the hotel.

We haven’t explored much yet.  A long walk was planned around Duck Key, where we are staying, but the sky turned black and it poured with rain.

So we are relaxing in our comfortable hotel room, snacking on apples and nuts and drinking rum and Diet Coke.  The forecast for tomorrow is much better so we are optimistic about a day in and beside the water.