I Took A Little Trip To The Oldest City In the USA And It Was DELICIOUS!

This past weekend I visited St. Augustine, the oldest city in the United States.  I’ve lived in Florida my whole life, and somehow I’d never been, so I made a plan with some friends and we headed out on Sunday for a much needed girls’ weekend.  As could be expected, we ate a lot, drank a lot, and luckily, we walked a lot.

I love walkable beach towns.  I need one for my very own.

We stayed in at The Pirate Haus, a pirate-themed hostel (my first time!), in The Jungle Room, which is exactly what you think it is.  Check it out:

Stairway to Pirate Heaven

They weren't kidding when they said it was The Jungle Room

Chi Chi in the jungle

Yes, bunk beds. Hostels are fun.

In addition to being the oldest and most historical town in Florida, St. Augustine has some bang-up food.  Get ready to get hungry.  Here’s a sampling of the delicious eats we enjoyed:

Voodoo Shrimp at Harry's, a haunted Cajun-style restaurant. Yesplz.

I made sure to get some vegetables. And some tequila.

Shrimp and Scallops over grit cakes with red beans and rice

Gourmet Popsicles! YESSSSS!

Marisa had Pineapple Cilantro, I had Coconut (yummm!), Chiara had Mango Habenero, and Stephanie had some Diablo Strawberry

I'll never be able to eat a shitty non-gourmet popsicle again.

Pirate pancakes at the hostel!

My Dirty Girl Scout martini at the Tini Martini Bar on our St. Augustine Ghost Pub Crawl. It was one of many adult beverages I enjoyed on the trip.

A traditional Cuban sandwich washed down with sangria at Colombia Restaurant

Chocolate Hazelnut Coconut Gelato--yesplz!

As you can see, we certainly enjoyed the tastings that St. Augustine had to offer, as I’m wont to do on vacations.  I love eating what I want on vacations without feeling the least bit guilty.  It reminds me of how far I’ve come in my thinking about weight and body issues.  We walked a lot, ate a lot, and enjoyed every minute.  It’s just too bad I don’t have pictures of the pepperoni, mushroom, and onion pizza and buffalo wings we inhaled at 2 am on Sunday night because everything closes at 9 pm on Sundays in St. Augustine and we were on a ghost tour with plans to eat dinner afterward and no one told us we wouldn’t be able to get food anywhere.  That was not a pretty sight.

Best quote of the trip: “Isn’t it great to eat in a way you’d never eat in front of a guy!”-Marisa, while sucking a chicken wing clean.

As an added bonus, Chiara managed to take a photo of me in a bathing suit that I don’t hate.  Proof that working out (and someone with decent camera skills) does make a difference.

If you’re looking for a good eating-drinking-window shopping-ghost touring-beaching weekend, check out old St. Augustine.  It was a good time.

Jaclyn Can Cook: Light and Satisfying Veggie Plate

It’s fall everywhere else, but here in Florida, it’s still about 1,000 degrees out.  Actually, I just wrote an email to my father in which I said it seems to be cooling down in Orlando.  So it’s like, 999 degrees out.  My point is, while everyone else in the free world is buying gourds and cinnamon brooms, I went to the beach on Sunday and it was 93 degrees outside.  I actually went to a nude-friendly beach and saw a lot of stuff.  A lot.

Like, a lot.

Because it’s so hot outside, eating delightful, warm, hearty, fall and winter-centric meals is not yet a serious option around these parts.  I mean, I could make some veggie shepherd’s pie or some homemade soup or some apple crisp, but those things would just sit in my stomach like bricks.  Big, hot, heavy bricks.

Mmm, dinner.

Since I don’t like feeling like I ate a brick in 100 degree weather (which I did after my Cajun lunch today–fried pickles make my soul complete, but have just been sitting there all afternoon), I’ve been forgoing traditional meals in favor of my very own delightful mixed veggie plates.

Oooh

Ahh

The first photo is of the starter plate, which features carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, avocado, whole wheat pita, reduced fat feta, and a red bean dip.  The second photo is of the advanced plate, which has the base vegetables on the starter plate, but also includes organic wheat crackers, some thinly sliced Parmesan cheese, and FRESH FIGS STUFFED WITH FETA.

Seriously, fresh figs will change your life.  For the better, of course.

I had the advanced plate with some red bean dip leftover from the starter plate.  It’s not pictured because FRESH FIGS STUFFED WITH MOTHERFUCKING FETA took up all the space.

This is something of a variation of Rachel’s The Feast, but absolutely no cooking is required.  A little chop of some fruits and vegetables, a little spin of beans and garlic in the food processor, a tablespoon of cheese, and I’m done.

You can use whatever vegetables, fruit, and cheese you have on hand.  If you have some wheat crackers, whole wheat pita, or even a chunk of whole wheat baguette, throw that on there too.  I just got some grapes and a cantulope from Orlando Organics and I bought some fresh strawberries and Muenster cheese earlier today.  I see a fruit plate in my future.

You can make this meal without breaking a sweat. It’s light, it’s satisfying, and it will keep you cool and collected.

If you go outside in Florida in September, however, I can’t make any guarantees.

Real Magic: Eating at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter

Yesterday I spent 8 full hours at Islands of Adventure in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.  8 hours.  In the Florida sun.  8 hours.

And it was magical.

I’ve been a HP fan for a few years now; my good friend Nicole talked me into reading the books, and now I just feel sorry for anyone who doesn’t experience the magic.  As a writer and a generally imaginative person, I do have a tendency to love things that allow me to suspend my disbelief, but the Harry Potter series really blows other fantasy series out of the water for me.  I seriously love that shit.

STFU IOA. I LOVE YOU!

That being the case, I loved every second I spent inside The Wizarding World of Harry Potter and I’m thoroughly impressed with the meticulous level of attention to detail.  Non-readers could certainly enjoy the park for what it has to offer, but would definitely be missing out.  Every inch of the park really pays homage to the story, right down to the food.

People keep asking me about the butterbeer.  What does the butterbeer taste like?

Tastes like magic!

For real.  Butterbeer is delicious.  It tastes like magic, if magic tasted like cream soda with a touch of butterscotch, topped with whipped cream, which it does.  You can get butterbeer frozen or cold.  I definitely preferred the frozen–it’s like a Magic Slurpee! Also, someone told me that because we were in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, where magic is real, butterbeer contains no calories.

I wish. That would be truly magical.

In addition to the delicious butterbeer, I also drank some Pumpkin Juice, the wizard breakfast juice of choice.  Pumpkin juice contains real pumpkin and apricot puree, apple juice, and spices, and has a really rich, robust fruity pumpkin flavor.  It does not contain high fructose corn syrup and is 81% real juice.  Not bad, IOA.

Double fisting butterbeer and pumpkin juice. You know how I roll.

We ate lunch at The Three Broomsticks, which boasted fresh roasted chicken, ribs, vegetables, corn, potatoes, and shepherd’s pie.  My two friends got big, beautiful plates of roasted chicken, crispy potatoes, and vegetable medleys. Nicole also had a chocolate trifle, which was as beautiful as it was delicious–I had a bite, of course!

Some kind of wonderful

Quite unfortunately, The Three Broomsticks wasn’t very vegetarian friendly, and I ended up eating the kid’s macaroni and cheese meal, which came with grapes and applesauce, and a crappy iceberg lettuce salad.  That was the only part of my day that wasn’t magical.  I’ll be writing a letter to IOA, in which I will argue a case for adding a vegetarian option and will offer suggestions.  I’m also going to work on whipping up a vegetarian shepherd’s pie this week, because now I have it in my head.  That all being said, The Three Broomsticks was still really cool.

Not pictured: Vegetarians

Between riding the Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey ride (which, btw, IS THE BEST RIDE EVER) three times, drinking our butterbeers, and bopping all around Hogsmeade, we made sure to visit the Honeydukes candy store and Zonko’s joke shop.  Honeydukes was filled to the brim with sugary delights, including Ton Tongue Toffee, Sugar Quills, Dark Mark lollipops, Acid Pops, Peppermint Toads, Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans (watch out for bogey-flavored ones!), and HUGE chocolate frogs.  Though I wanted everything, I limited myself to one chocolate frog, which is still sitting on my kitchen counter.

All in all, the park and the day were both amazing and I can’t wait to go back.  I spent today recovering and I hit Power Yoga, Abs Stretch, and a spin class to burn off those butterbeer calories.

EXPECTO PATRONUM!