I love fish tacos. No. Better stated, I adore fish tacos. For me, it is really difficult to order something other than fish tacos if they are there on a menu. I love to see different interpretations of this delicious (sandwich, snack, wrap, meal…taco…). I had a delicious one at Beachcombers on the beach, with fresh rare cooked tuna, olives, cabbage – red and green and a spicy chipotle like sauce. But when I want a classic Baja style fish taco, I go straight to Madre’s on Aviles street. It is a fairly new place, but the food is great (and cheap), the service is great.

They have nice chips and salsa AND a little dish of pickled carrots and jalapeños that they serve up as soon as you get there.

The beer is also great – I just love the Wailua from Hawaii with the passionfruit…
and the fish tacos are just perfect. You can order them a la carte, in a meal with beans and rice or as a burrito. I suggest getting one taco and a side of the Jah coconut rice. Oh, and skip the salad.

When you are finished with lunch or dinner or evening snacks at Madre’s, walk up and down Aviles Street. If you forget where you are for a minute you could believe that you are walking the cobblestone streets of an old European city somewhere – perhaps, Spain…or maybe just New England.

Roberto and I, since we both work at home, have been trying to go to lunch once a week somewhere within walking distance of our place. We don’t go every week, but we go as much as we can, because it is a nice way for us to get out – take a break from the desks and computers and get to know our town a little better.

Saint Augustine is one of those places where no matter how many times you have walked up and down a particular street before, you always see something new.

We particularly enjoy all the old houses and the doorways on some of the older (and recently renovated with an old style) places. One day I will have to post about all the cool doors in this town!

I was recommended to The Present Moment Cafe , by a fellow blogger I know, Inga from Taste Memory. She is a resident of Jacksonville, but comes all the way to Saint Augustine to eat at The Present Moment. Based on that alone, I really wanted to try it as soon as she mentioned it, because she and I have a similar food philosophy – one that I share on my other blog, The Leftover Queen. which is all about local, fresh and seasonal eating. So at her recommendation, I knew that this was a place that I could go and eat and feel good about it.

Now the day we decided to go to Present Moment, it was hectic. I wasn’t exactly sure where it was and we were starving. Two things that generally don’t go well together in this family. So when Roberto inquired about the type of cuisine and I said it was a vegetarian and raw food place, his face fell. Now neither of us are strangers to this type of food, in fact we love it and eat it frequently – but when Roberto is starving he wants something hearty and filling and he was sure that this meal was not going to satisfy his hunger.
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A few months ago we had a fabulous dinner at Caps on the Water. It was to celebrate our first month as a married couple, so Roberto found out about this awesome sunset cruise that a chartered fishing boat does, once a month on the full moon. The boat picks you up at Caps on the Water. When Roberto called ahead the woman said we should get there by 5:30, because tickets for the cruise sell out fast, even though the boat doesn’t leave until 7. So we decided to go have dinner there as well. What else could we do?!

Let me just preface by saying that Caps on the Water is a beautiful beautiful restaurant. The outdoor eating area is a huge wooden deck, covered by a canopy of oak trees covered in Spanish moss. There are twinkling lights everywhere and you are literally right on the water. It is extremely romantic and peaceful. When there is a nice breeze blowing, you really feel like you could relax there all evening and just be completely content.
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BY: KARI HOEL

When talking to someone who has been to Thailand, the subject of visiting the islands always comes up. There is a reason for that: Thailand has several islands that are worth the visit. This time, I visited two of them: Ko Samui and Ko Tao, situated on the south-eastern coast. They are close in proximity, but widely different in all other aspects.
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I have been wanting to try The Tasting Room for ages. I have heard a lot of really good things about it and nothing bad. I knew that it is partnered with Opus 39 another high quality restaurant that I am dying to try, so with all of these pros, I thought there was no time like the present to enjoy some fine dining in Saint Augustine.

We have been trying to work our way around some of the local restaurants, and I am sad to say that it has been a while since we had a truly inspired meal. I do have my favorites here in the Oldest City, but I wanted to get more well rounded and try some other places, before getting stuck in a routine. But each time we tried a new place, we were starting to feel like we just wasted some money on a mediocre meal. So I figured that we needed to have a meal to really get us excited about dining out again, and really get our money’s worth, not only in the food, but the ambiance and the staff. All of these needs were met at The Tasting Room.
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Hi All!

Here is an article I wrote for my other blog, LeftoverQueen.com, however, I feel it is relevant material for this blog as well, since it features many local St. Augustine vendors. Hope you enjoy!

I am talking about this post of course. It could be taken the other way too. We are not “old” but we are not kids anymore either, so I guess you can take it however you like it!

However, the point is that we are in our second month of marriage (celebrating 2 months on Thursday) and I am just now getting around to posting about the wedding. It took us a while to get our photos, due to technical difficulties and then there was so much catching up to do when we returned. So sorry it’s late, but here it is! I already gave you a look at the honeymoon, but now it is time to write the story of our wedding day and all the wonderful vendors that helped us to make the day even more special. Plus, I know you are all dying to hear about the food and the cake.

I know everyone says this, but we had the best wedding ever. It was small and nearly everyone that we are close to was there to spend the weekend with us – Roberto’s mom, all of my parents, Roberto’s daughters, Gwen and Rachel, my best friend Jen and her family, and several other relatives and close friends. Just having all the people we love surrounding us, made it an amazing day.

We were married early in the day, so we opted to have a Brunch for our reception. I have always loved brunch – there is something just so classic about it, not to mention very budget friendly.

Since we had a small guest list, we were able to procure a beautiful Spanish style restaurant to host it. Saint Augustine, FL is well known for its Spanish history. Although it was held by the British as well, before the Americans, it is the Spanish who will forever be associated with the place. You can see this influence reflected in the architecture all over town, as well as the street names. It is such a beautiful place. When you are coming over the bridge from the beach into downtown, if it weren’t for the American flag, you would think you were in Spain.
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Since we moved to Saint Augustine, I had been getting mixed reviews about The Reef, some people really like it, some people really don’t and others were kind of indifferent to it. So, as usual, I decided to check it out for myself.

You can’t argue that the restaurant has a magnificent view. Like the menu boldly states: “Every Table Has a Fine View”. There are huge windows everywhere, and you can see the waves crashing into shore. This is what really attracted us to The Reef to begin with. It is always nice to have a great view while eating – and we figured even if the food wasn’t much, we could enjoy looking at the ocean. But much to our pleasant surprise, The Reef had more to offer than just a great view.
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We have walked past La Pentola (which is Italian for The Cooking Pan) many times on our evening walks and it always looks so romantic and inviting with their tiled courtyard filled with greenery. So a few weeks ago when I was looking for a place we could take my mom to Mother’s Day Brunch, I decided to check out La Pentola. We wanted to take her somewhere special, to thank her for all the help she has given us over the past year and especially during the time of the wedding. So we wanted it to be a place that would show our appreciation. La Pentola had gotten a lot of good reviews on Trip Advisor with special regard to their brunch. Plus it is known as a restaurant using a lot of Mediterranean flavors. So we decided to stop by the restaurant one night, to find out what their brunch menu for Mother’s Day would be. We were told by one of the hosts that there was no set menu, that it really depended on the mood of the chef that day and what he would decide to prepare. I always find these kinds of chef’s to be rather creative, so we took the gamble and made reservations.

We got there a few minutes early, but they showed us to our table straightaway. It was a really hot day that day, so we were happy to see that our table was under the roof. We were still able to enjoy the courtyard without burning to a crisp.

Brunch at La Pentola is a la carte. They had a lot of interesting breakfast options as well as more lunch type fare. I found their menu to be more Latin infused than the Mediterranean cuisine they are known for, but we all like Latin flavors, so we were still happy. We ordered coffee and browsed the offerings. As always, I looked for the dish with the most interesting combination of flavors. I found it in their fried egg selection which was served over corn tortillas with roasted red peppers, peas and a tomatillo sauce. I am a big fan of Huevos Rancheros, so I decided to give it a go. Mom chose the omelette with chorizo and cheddar cheese with a side of grits and Roberto went for the roasted pork shoulder. The coffee arrived with a very cute touch. We each got our own mini pot of French press coffee accompanied by a little stick with rock sugar on it to stir into the coffee. Nice attention to detail there. Our server was very polite, and nice, but seemed really frazzled. In fact, it seemed that they were short staffed for a Mother’s Day brunch. There were about 10-15 tables outside and at least as many as 20 inside – and the servers were individually working tables both in and out.

Soon the meals came. My eggs were cooked to perfection and the tomatillo sauce was delicious. I liked the addition of red peppers, although they seemed to be from out of a jar, rather than roasted at the restaurant. Also the tortillas had been fried and they were very hard to cut through. But all in all, I really liked my meal – it was a large portion and served with a side of tasty home fries, very filling and had that unique flavor combination I was craving. Mom enjoyed her omelette as well. It was packed with chorizo and cheese – although it looked to me like the cheese was not totally melted in the omelette. The grits she said, we “just grits”.

Roberto’s pork was really tasty, it was like a Ropa Vieja and came with a delicious and fresh salad with gorgonzola dressing which was outstanding. Although the pork was tasty, it was not a very large portion. For $17 he thought he’d be saving half to take for lunch on Monday, but he said that if it weren’t for the bread basket he consumed alone, along with it, he would have left the restaurant still hungry.

My assessment is that La Pentola is the kind of place you go to enjoy the small plates, appetizers and salads which are all reasonably priced, and inventive, but avoid the entrees which are pricey and small of portion.

Where did you take your Moms to brunch?

In all truth, Jamaica is a food lover’s paradise. Everything is fresh and delicious, from the fruit (Papayas and Mangoes like you have never tasted), to fish and even some of the best tomatoes!Let’s not forget the Blue Mountain coffee and the Scotch Bonnet peppers. There was just so much to try it was great. I sampled things that I had always wanted to try, and tried some things I had never even heard of before. We drank coconut water straight from a green coconut. We snacked on raw sugar cane, refreshed ourselves with sour sop juice, which was not sour at all, but milky and tasting like a cross between banana and coconut with a bit of tang.

We enjoyed the national dish of Jamaica – Ackee with Salt fish – which is made up of Ackee fruit – that looks like scrambled eggs and tastes very rich, and Cod, which Jamaicans call salt fish. I thought it meant salted codfish, but it was uncured. I liked it, but I think the ackee was a little too rich for me.

But the story behind it is great. I arranged for a private beach dinner to surprise Roberto. His birthday was in March and with all the excitement of wedding planning it was not that inspired of a celebration, so I wanted to make sure that he was recognized. So they set up a private table for us on the beach, surrounded by tiki torches. There were tropical flowers on the table and the path that lead us out to the beach was lined with votive candles. We enjoyed a delicious 5 course dinner, full of treats. It started with …

“I’ve got a new love baby, a new love, oh, oh oh” …besides my new husband that is… and it is Smoked Marlin Ceviche. Now I don’t know how something they is already cooked can be a ceviche, but I am gonna let this one slide because it is so freaking good. There were many new tastes and delicious things to be eaten in Jamaica but I must say this little gem was my favorite and I ate it every chance I could get – in sushi, as an appetizer, over pan fried grouper as an entree. Hell, I would have eaten it for breakfast or dessert, if they had offered it. This stuff was addicting. So smoky in its under notes, yet incredibly citrus-y in the high notes. It was like nothing I ever had – but the best was when they served it that night with an ackee fruit and lemon aioli over a slice of pineapple. It was pure heaven. I can honestly say possibly the best thing I have ever eaten, ever.

Next was a Cream of Carrot, Seville Orange and Ginger soup – creamy, refreshing and delicious, served in a coconut bowl. Then the salad course, a green salad with nuts, cilantro, feta cheese and passion fruit vinaigrette.

Then the Entree – 2 huge pieces of fish – Pan Fried Grouper and Salmon, with Garlic Shrimp, over Mashed Potatoes in a Lemon Buerre Blanc with Capers. Talk about fresh. Everything just melted in your mouth like a symphony.

Dessert was a chef’s choice trio: Chocolate Espresso Tart, Tropical Fruit Compote with Coconut Brittle and some kind of citrus pie that I can’t remember… mind you all of this was served with copious amounts of champagne. So that is my excuse!

Irie! The food was amazing as I said, but the service was great. Jamaicans are some of the nicest people I have ever met – always ready to laugh and smile and at the same time, almost everyone we talked to was a philosopher. The first experience we had of this was with our waitress that night, Carlene. We talked a lot in between dishes about family, roots and doing the best you can with what you have. During this conversation, when we were talking about her working at the resort, I mentioned that I really wanted to try Ackee and Salt fish. She also works at one of the restaurants at the resort, and said if she was working there tomorrow, she would talk to the chef and see of he would make it. So the next morning, we go over there, and of course it was there. It was so sweet and heart warming that she did that for me. We saw her there and she gave me a big hug and made sure I knew the dish was available.

This is what I am talking about. There is a spirit to the people of Jamaica that Roberto and I really had an easy time relating to. People there have had a lot of adversity in their lives, but most of the people we met, had used that to learn something from. They have taken it and embraced it, and risen above it. People were proud of their country and happy to talk about all sorts of topics relating to Jamaica, its culture, history and food. They don’t worry about the small things, and value love above all. This is Roberto with one of our favorite bartenders, Fraser, who hopes to move to FL for work. He is the same age now, as Roberto was when he came to the US. So we wished him luck and told him to be sure to work somewhere that his enormous skill, talent and personality would be appreciated.

Always sinting deh yah fi nym (There is always some food here to eat). Other foods of note were Coco Bread which is a soft delicious bread that accompanies a lot of Jamaican dishes, like one of our lunch favorites, Snapper baked in foil with onions and peppers. Also good was the Jerk dishes – we had Jerk Chicken and even a Jerk Burger. It was great to try Jerk in Jamaica – it is so different than the “Jerk” stuff we get here in the US. So spicy, but yet with a bit of sweetness to it. Delicious stuff. Also a local green called Callaloo was a favorite. It is kind of like spinach, but often eaten for breakfast, which I loved. Roberto even had callaloo risotto with dinner one night. Roberto also enjoyed Jamaican pizza – he doesn’t know how they learned but he says the crust is perfect. He enjoyed it several times while we were there, even for breakfast. For me, I loved the use of Scotch Bonnet peppers in so much of the food. I love spicy foods and this was great. Like in this remoulade dressing for grilled romaine. YUM.

Wanga-guts for sure! Ya Mon! – oh yeah, did I mention that we also took a Patois (Jamaican dialect) class…
Really fun stuff!

Then of course there were the drinks – frozen, shaken and stirred. This was a resort, so we enjoyed as much rum as we could take (among other beverages like wine, and cordials, and martinis) and we certainly had more than enough, it will be a very long time until I crave another frozen rum drink.

But my favorites were the ones that contained Papaya and Blue Mountain coffee! YUM. Roberto liked the ones with Coconut the best.

Did I mention Jamaicans also like to cook a lot with Rum? Like Italians cook with wine, so do Jamaicans cook with rum. But we were well behaved, no bangarangs, I promise.

Although, there are incriminating photos, I will not put them here of Roberto dancing on stage during one of the resort shows, Roberto singing O Sole Mio! at the piano lounge and both of us with a big snake wrapped around our necks….ok, well I guess its not so bad, so here you go.

Next time we go to Jamaica – because there WILL be a next time, I would love to see more of it. We really didn’t do much besides snorkeling, swimming, kayaking and taking boat and catamaran trips. But it was what we needed this trip. It gave us a chance to really relax and connect with each other away from the world at large.

Luckily we were able to see the Southern most point of Jamaica and on the way, enjoy the Pirates Caves – caves in the ocean, that we were able to swim into and explore a bit. The water there was about 25-30 feet deep and still crystal clear.

It was a gorgeous place and certainly a highlight of our trip. While snorkeling and swimming we saw lots of sting rays, tropical fish, starfish, sea cucumbers, coral, and someone on our scuba trip even saw an eel.

Also a highlight were the beautiful sunsets! There is nothing more romantic and beautiful than sitting on a beautiful beach, under swaying palm trees, holding your new husband’s hand and watching the sun disappear behind the endless sea.

disclaimer: no starfish were harmed in the writing of this article.

Many people these days have begun to look at the travel industry with a critical eye. With gas prices rising and the dollar struggling, people are beginning to see that things in the world are not status quo anymore – things are changing. With that, mindsets are changing and people are starting to travel in a different way. A way that benefits other people who are in need, helps the environment or for cultural exchange. These are not new concepts for me. I took a year after high school to travel to Norway as an exchange student. It was a life changing experience. It changed the way I looked at the world, and helped me to see that people all over the world have ways of life that are unique to them and that I feel should be preserved. That fascinated me and still does. This is one of the reasons that I write this blog – it is because I believe that through travel and cultural experiences we can learn so much – not just about the world, but about ourselves.

After my Norwegian experience, I officially came down with the Travel Bug. Not just to see other places, but to really experience them. Being an outsider has its lessons. So while in college, studying anthropology and contemporary Native American issues, I found out about Black Mesa and Big Mountain – part of the Navajo Reservation in NE Arizona and their struggle for survival. To read more about the history and my experiences there, please read this.

I have stayed in touch with some of the people I met there and try to keep myself up to date with what is going on there on Black Mesa. These elders that live there, have a very hard life and they always need volunteers, people to go out to their homesteads, do a home stay, help with sheep herding, carding and spinning wool, cooking, chopping wood, cleaning and doing just about anything and everything to do with traditional Navajo life. I spent 6 months with a family there and it truly was a life changing experience (yep, that is me in the jeans and gray sweatshirt hanging with my Navajo grandparents and their children during a family reunion). Without that time in my life, I would not be the person I am today. I am so thankful for that experience, because even though I was there to help them, I think in so many ways they helped me more.

Black Mesa Indigenous Support Group - the group that arranged my home stay, is now calling for volunteers to go out to the land and stay with families. They are a small grass-roots all-volunteer group organized to work with and support the issues of traditional, indigenous peoples of Black Mesa who are impacted by the coal mining and forced relocation policies of the US government. There is a lot going on that you can participate in that will help immeasurably. There are people all over the world, struggling and living in third world conditions who face human rights violations all the time. It saddens me deeply, but what saddens me even more is the fact that we have a similar situation going on here in America, and so few people even know about it!

Continue reading to learn more about how your next vacation can be one that helps people in need.

*On a personal note, I will be getting married very soon, so posts/ updating comments will be more sporadic than usual with gaps – don’t worry I will be back with more travel articles and Saint Augustine Resturant Reviews!* Read the rest of this entry »