What we did in Key West....

So aside from visiting the awesome bars and restaurants, chilling by the pool and hanging out at the beach here's what we got up to on our recent visit to Key West.

Hemingway House
I reckon I have visited Hemingway's House on Whitehead Street about 5 times and every time I visit I see or hear something different. And I love seeing those 6 toed cats!

This is where some of the the cat's live - in a cat size replica of the Hemingway House!

Truman's Little White House
President Truman seemed like a great character. He spent a lot of his presidency down in Key West, enjoyed the odd game of cards (every night) and started each day with a shot of Old Grandad, as per doctors orders to start his heart!
To hear lots more about President Truman, be sure and visit the Little White House.

Custom House Museum
Custom House has loads of great exhibitions (we especially enjoyed "You don't know Dick" which was running while we were there) and also has a really great gift shop. I bought bamboo reusable straws and also cute metal starfish food picks.

Butterfly Museum
I had heard how good the Butterfly museum was, so I was looking forward to visiting it. It was very relaxing and tranquil and I enjoyed seeing all of the butterflies and also the two resident flamingo's Scarlett and Rhett!!

Happy Pride month! 
I am delighted to present "Duval Flag" by Pigsy. “Duval Flag”  (410mm W x 920mm H)  (16” Wide x  36”) Mixed Media On Canvas Key West Business Guild are selling raffle tickets for a chance to win this piece "Duval Flag" which Pigsy painted on a recent trip to KW. It includes the famous sea to sea rainbow flag flying high and is painted in his usual expressionist style. It is an uplifting joyful piece that highlights the Key West motto of One Human Family. It will be on view during the week in the Key West Business Guild. Tickets are available, plus the painting is on display: *In the Business Guild, 808 Duval Street right now!

*At the Business Guild luncheon on Wednesday at the Marriott Beachside

*At the street fair on Saturday

Pigsy's curator Kemp has this to say about "Duval Flag": 

"While PIGSY was vacationing in Key West the overall vibe of the islands ethos of “One Human Family” compelled him to compulsively start painting. The result is an inspired flow of expressionism which helped him to subconsciously recall the sea to sea rainbow flag which was 1.25 miles long and ran along Duval Street from the Gulf of Mexico to the Atlantic Ocean created by the designer Gilbert Baker (happy image on the bike exploring his creation) who passed away in 2017. The island created a sense of creative happiness which manifested itself in the positive message that,  all people are created equal.

The painting reflects the joyous pride that one can feel when prejudice and judgement of other people’s decisions are discarded and a free positive happy all for one, one for all approach to everyday life is embraced in a fair inclusive way, as it is with Key West which has embraced the motto “One Human Family”. The butterflies , flowers and smile on Gilbert’s Face show happiness and freedom along with pride and gives us a sense that the world is a brighter place with rainbows in it, along with an acceptance of diversity".

By Kemp

Farmer Browns with Alice

I love a good brunch and what I love even more at a brunch is a good natter with a great friend. So I was happy that Alice suggested we meet up.

We went to Rathmines with no plan of where we would go. I was thinking Pot Bellied Pig, Stella Diner or even Elephant & Castle for wings.

But then as I looked down the road, I hit upon it: "Farmer Browns". Alice was amenable to this so off we went to the restaurant where we got a table straight away.

Alice was driving so she had a Coke Zero. I was not driving so I ordered a prosecco......sure it was a Bank Holiday, so why not!

We both had burgers. Alice had the Massey with onion rings on it while mine had roasted red peppers. They were really tasty along with potato chips which were very good too.

 

A lovely fun morning and a nice meet up with a friend.

Happy Bank Holiday weekend from Dublin!

It's the "little" things that are special and make me happy. 

I made myself a cup of Little's Irish cream flavour coffee. What a gorgeous smell when I opened the jar and it tastes great too. Seemingly only 4 cals a cup...wonder how many carbs?!

Also using my new KW coasters which I got in the gift shop of the Custom House on the last day of my trip. I love them - don't they have a vintage look about them?

 

I bought my cute little jar of Little's coffee in Meadows and Byrne in Dun Laoghaire

Happy Hour in Key West

Alonzo's Happy Hour used to be a big favourite of mine, however, on my recent trip to Key West we didn't do happy hour there and actually ended up doing very few happy hours during the whole trip.

One place that we ended up doing happy hour at (twice) was Half Shell Raw Bar and I was pleasantly surprised at how good it was.  I've done HH at the bar here a good few times (sampled their 50c oysters - but I don't know if they still run this deal) and always enjoyed it - however that was before I liked Buffalo Shrimp.

Now I love Buffalo shrimp so I lapped up their HH while sitting at one of their bench tables in the super atmospheric main dining area which is right out at the water on the bight. We also ordered beer steamed shrimp, conch and lots more. With friendly staff, great food and good drinks there is nothing to not like this place!

A couple of afternoons we ended up at First Flight on Whitehead Street during HH as it was convenient to the attractions we had just visited (Little White House and Custom House museum). They do great HH drinks and Ciaran partook in tasty Margarita's both days. On one of the days we sampled a sliders option from the HH menu. Two beef sliders with cheese for $7. Tasty little bites but I think Ciaran may have eaten his in two bites and thought it was small. I thought it was perfect!

First Flight was where Kelly's formerly was (previously owned by actress Kelly McGillis) and it is a historical building as it was the original Pan Am office in Key West. See here for further info.

On this Key West trip I visited The Saint Hotel on Eaton Street for Happy Hour as I heard really good things about their cocktails and also their HH burger which is raved about. Their happy hour uniquely starts at 4.17pm as this their address! Very clever indeed!! 

The Burgundy Bar is to the right as you enter the lobby and it is very salubrious and darkly lit, the perfect place for a special date.

The cocktail list is very cool - it is based on the 7 deadly sins. I had the "Wrath" which was a rum based cocktail which was very good indeed and was 40% off for Happy Hour. The cocktails here are top notch as they use top shelf liquors which always makes me a fan!

After most Happy Hours we ended up back in The Green Parrot listening to brilliant live music. This is a great chilled out joint full of locals and tourists having a great time. I reckon it is my favourite bar......I think it may also have a happy hour but am not sure what time it is on for and because they don't do food it is just drinks specials.

Eating out in Key West

Here's a selection of some of the restaurants we visited on our recent trip to Key West, Florida.

Bistro 245 at Margaritaville Resort
As a treat for Amy because she graciously hosted us in her gorgeous conchy cottage we went to the fabulous brunch with the million dollar view on Front Street in Bistro 245 on the Sunday that she was off from work. Truly, is there anything nicer than sitting in the sun drinking mimosa?!
Check out some of the delights we feasted on.

Sarabeths
We visited Sarabeths twice. Once for their famous fried chicken on Sunday night and then on our last day for their fat and fluffy french toast for breakfast. There was a special offer of 2 mimosa for 1 so I partook - sure it would be rude not to!

The fried  buttermilk chicken was so delicious, crispy on the outside and moist on the inside. With sides of mashed potato, coleslaw and gravy it made for a nice meal.

Origami
We love sushi and our favourite sushi spot in Key West is Origami. It's a little place at Duval Square and to me it has a really authentic Japanese feel. The sushi is soooo good and we asked for a suggestion as to what we should order next and the chef made an amazing off menu spicy Mexican sushi roll for us. Unbelievably good!

 



Flaming Buoy
We had planned on making a visit to Flaming Buoy but it looked like were going to be disappointed when we cycled past the restaurant on Margaret and Packer and saw it all shut up. However, we then heard they had moved to a new location on the very convenient Eaton Street.
We had a wonderful meal here, the food was great and the venue is really lovely - a perfect place for a nice date night meal.  And they still have their Star Wars memorabilia in the bathroom!

7 Fish
With a new location on Truman Avenue, we were looking forward to visiting 7 Fish. The food was as good as ever with the meatloaf being enjoyed by Ciaran. I had their delicious signature fish curry. It was really good but perhaps a little pricey. I missed the old location it was a cute tight for space little restaurant.  The new venue just doesn't have the same charm.

Goldman's Deli
Is there anything as American as sitting at the counter in a deli eating breakfast and reading the newspaper?

Santiago's Bodega
We saved our favourite for last and sat outside as we can't do that in Ireland. The food was divine and the ambiance and setting in the Bahama Village was chilled out. We started with blue cheese wedge salads and then ate lots of different tapas dishes including lamb and beef.  If you are visiting Key West make sure Santiago's Bodega is on your to do list!

Keto Egg bites!

I was introduced to Starbucks Egg Bites while on my recent holiday to Florida. They are sous vide cheesy eggy delicious bites.

I wish they were available here in Ireland but for the moment I have do by making my own.

In my first batch I made them with eggs and cottage cheese and also cheddar with some bacon bits.

For my second batch, I switched out the cottage cheese (too low fat) for some ricotta and also some cream cheese. I made this switch because I am back on keto due to too much Key Lime Pie on holiday!

I also added a little parmesan cheese when I was adding the cheddar - this was added for taste along with a bit more hot sauce than I added to the first batch.

So voila!  Here they are.....

One tip I would say is that you should whip the eggs with a blender and then add the cream cheese or cottage cheese. I don't think you would get this mixed properly if you were doing it by hand.