Tuesday was a relaxed day where I got the chance to enjoy some sunshine in the Gables, get in a much needed run and have dinner with Dave in my favourite BBQ spot in Miami, Shorty's. Whenever I'm in the UK and craving some real dirty food, my mind always wanders to Shorty's ribs with slaw and garlic bread. Bodeans feels like a poor substitute for this place!
My face paints the perfect picture!
I finally made it to the beach thanks to a kind lift from Ilysa on Wednesday. Luckily the weather held out long enough for me to get some sun in. I've got a strange love for South Beach in a similar way to how I feel about Vegas. It is what it is, proud of it's cheesiness, cool in a unique way, and largely successful due to its corrupt and seedy history that is too easily overlooked. People in Miami are nicer than Vegas however... and tend to wear less clothing.
Dave had a crazy couple of days at work coming up so I agreed to be Ilysa's companion for fun and frolicks up until the weekend. With Ilysa being a frenzied food lover much like myself we ended up having some amazing taste sensations whilst I got the chance to meet some of her friends and family. We ended up back on South Beach one night for dinner with Pete and Charlene at the newly opened eatery 'Pubbelly'; Charlene being an old colleague of Ilysa's from London. They had flown in from Blighty the night before for a two week tour of Florida so we obviously had loads to talk about.
The next night we had dinner with Ilysa's sister, Loryn and her boyfriend, Omer, in the local oriental fusion restaurant, Yuga. It was great to get know them over a couple of bottles of unfiltered sake and some pretty impressive curry type dishes. Unfortunately I have been left mentally scarred from the evening due to certain video clips being shown to me involving a woman doing a yoga session with a baby. Weird...very weird!!!
Friday saw a trip to Fairchild Botanical Gardens and a lucky stumble across the Miami chocolate festival. Further bingeing occured in an amazing tropical setting. I had a small taste of Peru with some Mole Chicken wrapped in a Banana leaf whilst strolling through tropical fruit gardens.
As the rain started hammering down I decided to head back to Casa Corns, but on the way out I spotted a posh chocolatier selling chocolate covered S'mores, an American treat that Rebecca had introduced me to a few nights earlier that are basically a marshmallow sandwich with biscuit that you heat over a campfire. I decided to buy a couple as a little present for Ilysa and Rebecca. Aren't I nice?
Upon getting back Casa Corns I proceeded to dump my bag on my bed and pop to the bathroom for no more than two minutes. When I opened the door to the bedroom again I found a hyperactive Winslow crunching down on said s'mores, melted chocolate spread all over the crisp white bed sheets. He'd got through two layers of plastic and the zip on my bag like some kind of Houdini mutt to get to the treats. Chocolate being poisonous to dogs, I panicked! The sheets went straight into the wash and I tried to figure out a way to explain to Dave and Ilysa, my closest of friends, how I'd killed their dog, the love of their lives, the creature Dave lovingly refers to as 'my son, my first born'! Luckily Winslow survived, I think I got to him before he managed to get to too much of the chocolate. When Dave got home we took Winslow to some friends to spend the weekend, I explained to Dave what had happened, Dave explained to his friends that they should expect some Diarrhea. I worried I might have lost Dave and Ilysa a couple of friends!
Friday night saw Dave, Ilysa, Rebecca and myself take the four hour drive up to Orlando as a treat for Ilysa's birthday. We were to go to the newly opened 'Wizarding World or Harry Potter' in the Universal theme-park with Loryn and Omer, Ilysa's brother David and his girlfriend Leanne, and two of Dave and Ilysa's closest friends in Miami, Aryel and Vanessa. An early start on Saturday started with a trip to 'The Waffle House', seemingly an American institution for a ridiculously unhealthy but so delicious breakfast.
David, Leanne, Omer and Loryn's arm. Oh and 10,000 calories.
Like sugar loaded 10 year olds we headed to Hogwarts. It was pretty incredible. We drank butterbeer, ate in 'The Three Broomsticks', went on some amazing rides and bought Gryffindor scarves. There were more adults there than kids. It honestly was magical and a little surreal.
We went into Olivander's wand shop where Ilysa found the wand that had chosen her, a birch beauty strengthened with unicorn hair or some thing like that. I made sure she got it as an early Birthday present. The look on her face was priceless!
Ilysa (Ravenclaw) & Rebecca ( Gryffindor)
Upon leaving the park my childishness took over. I saw one of Spiderman's bullies so tried to kick him in the nuts. He wasn't happy! He was a 7ft Aussie who kept on shouting 'That's not Cricket', I thought he might punch me so I proceeded to run away.
The evening saw all ten of us take a trip to a hilarious but brilliant theatrical dinner type affair called 'Medieval Times'. The premise being you sit in a kind of mini stadium and have a medieval style feast that you eat with your hands whilst cheering on your chosen knight. Our knight was rubbish and died early on, obviously not literally. Great fun though. We got back to our hotel at 9.30pm at which point pretty much everyone crashed out. Rebecca and I managed to stay up and although we had great intentions of hitting a local nightclub, we made it as far as the hotel's lounge bar but somehow still didn't get to bed until close to 3am.
This morning meant a visit to 'Cracker Barrel' for the group as a stop on the way back to Miami. The restaurant is a classic institution, inspired by the deep south and seemingly untouched since the 50's. My breakfast involved a curious combo of Chicken Fried Chicken (????), biscuits (bread rolls), gravy (a strange floury sauce), grits (still not sure about this stuff, something inbetween porridge and polyfill?), two fried eggs sunny side up, buttermilk pancakes with maple syrup, hash browns, and 3 cups of coffee. Delicious, but a bit weird to the british palate!
We're now back in Casa Corns watching cheesy TV. Dave, Ilysa and Rebecca just introduced me to 'Whip and Dip' Ice cream parlour where I felt obliged to have a chocolate and Vanilla fundge Sundae with cookie dough pieces. I think I'm going to go to bed and dream of raw carrots and fresh fruit instead of my upcoming adventure. I love this place and my old friends as well as the new ones I've just made, but for health reasons it's probably a good time to leave!
Oh, and Dave has told me he's booked a flight to meet me in Ecuador on March 5th, the day before my 30th, what a guy!
Hola Panama, Adios Florida.
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