Sun and Fun - March 21, 2016

Monday - March 21, 2016 What? What? I am late for work. Oh wait. No work today. No real thoughts about work. No real thoughts about snow. I am thankful. I am thankful for natural vitamin D. I am thankful for sun. Oh boy. I woke at 8:00 a.m. but actually got up around 9:30 a.m. The morning was filled with at least three cups of coffee and conversation. Guess what was next? Food! What should we have to eat. Oh wait. Guess what? We have leftovers from yesterday's lunch. Actually not leftovers but the lunch that we ordered at The Deck. Mahi Mahi wrap for me and grill cheese for Tess. We cannot forget the Sun Chips. Crunchy goodness. The pool and sun was calling to us around 1:00 p.m. The pool was a short walj to the pool. No other person was there. It was like it was our own private paradise. Sunglaases and hat all in its place. Lounge chairs situated any where we want to put them. Over here. Over there. No wait. Just where we had them before. Just kidding. Once situated, all done. We know what we want. Bring. On. The. Sun! The suduko book stayed unopened on the lounge chair. Tess read passages from her book. Selfie taken by the pool. All this in the name of relaxation. Can you do it? I bet you can. You can do it. I know you can. Fill in the blank. If I had a certain amount of vacation time and enough cash, what is the simplest thing you could do to get away from normalcy? I would .................. . What would I do? I would eat, drink and fun with friends in a new environment. That is what i like to do. Our next adventure was to take an uber ride to Las Olas Boulevard around 4:00 p.m. Around 5:30 p.m., our first stop is to Pan 'E Dolc, an Italian bakery, for a very and small cannoli. We ate one delicate bite at a time. Of course, we are having dessert first. What I did not realize what our next stop was going to be like for yumminess. Is that a word? We walk down the street and across the street to Cafe Europa just before 6:00 p.m. You walk through the door into an indoor-outdoor area. What do we see as we walk into the main part of the restaurant? Gelato! I have never had gelato so I sampled a dark chocolate. Oh my. Oh wait. What is that around the corner? A dessert case. All types of Italian choices. We decided to hold off making a decision for the moment because we decided to sit in the indoor-outdoor area. After perusing the menu, we decided on a combunation of gelato and espresso called Affogato. I had mine with hazelnut gelato and Tess had hers with stracciatello. It is hard to explain but my taste buds were having a field day with delectable taste of this combination. I could have had more than one but decided to move on to a new selection. Next up is caprese salad and beef carpaccio. Caprese is one of my favorites but the beef cappaccio was thinly sliced and better than expected. Are we done yet? Not yet. The topper was an espresso macchiato. Hazelnut for me and caramel for Tess. These were served with two little almond cookies. I cannot decide which one is best. The whole experience was to die for. A must have experience. Around 7:30 p.m. Daniel arrives to pick us up for our next destination for dinner. We are thankful for light food prior to arriving at the Canyon. We are seated at a two topper made into a three topper. There us ysually a long wait but we were so lucky! Daniel and Tess knew the waiter and the owner. One of their other friends who works there phoned in an order of desserts for us. More to come on that. First up is their famous Prickly Pear which is a nice smooth margarita. After looking at the menu, we decided on three small plates - tuna tartare with wasabi cream on the regular menu and strip steak with arugla salad with chimicurri sauce and pulled pork soft tacos from the specials menu. All three plates were simple but not simple in flavor. Are we full yet? Have declared uncle? No way! Our two desserts are in the way! Peacan pie with cinnamon ice cream and berry bread pudding. The. Best. Dessert. Ever. Every bite was bursting wuth flavor. What did we have to pair it with this night? A port. Not just any port. A 20 year old tawny port. Let's see if i can ever beat this day. Homeward bound and bed around 10:45 p.m. Buenos Noches!