MySideOfTheBar

Continuing down the Keys we were focusing on a few areas to see if we may be interested in living there. The first stop was Cudjoe Key which is about 77 miles from Key Largo. We knew of a place for lunch and drinks, The Square Grouper and My New Joint.  The latter not open till 4 or so we sat at the bar in the Square Grouper. The adds did not do the place justice as the food was phenomenal. (I may need to develop a rating system as the food only gets better from here. Not finding much around that was interesting to us we continued our journey onto Sugarloaf Key.  A distance of only about 7 miles. We were pleasantly pleased to find a rustic place to stay called Sugarloaf Lodge. It is hard to describe the Lodge and it is really the only thing on this Key. It consist of main office building and restaurant (Currently closed :) )right off HWY 1, a building consisting of rooms (only about 30 or so) The place was very well kept and clean. Oh and did I forget to mention the Tiki

Yes it is true that I have at least on other post with the same name, however this seems appropriate for the next few posts. Especially in light of where we are traveling to. Yes it is Key West once again and I am happy to report that we have been most fortuitous to be able to spend so much time on the Rock in the last few years. If  you recall this past March Central Patti  and I visited around 130 different establishments in the Keys. We have set our goal to 150 this year since we have a couple of extra weeks. The title of one of Hemingway's classics and one of my personal favorites as well.  Also  a couple of my favorite quotes are from this book. “If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a movable feast.”  (I feel the same about the Florida Keys) and “We ate well and cheaply and drank well and cheaply and slept well and warm together and loved each other.”  Central Pa

Best commercial ever!

This is one great series and if you are a fan of Don, it is a must see. Great to binge during a happy hour. We watched a couple of weeks back on a #KCWW

WTH? So last summer I was bragging to a couple of the "Usual Suspects" about O'Dowd's Irish Pub here on the beautiful K.C. Plaza. We have been frequenting this establishment for more years that I care to recall. On this one particular day when I was full of hope for the newbies, I found it to be closed for remodeling. Keep in mind that the original Irish Pub was transported piece by piece from Ireland and at one time rankled as one of the top ten Irish Pubs in the U.S. Well last Saturday Central Patti and I finally went inside to check it out. While the atmosphere was very sterile compared to the old antique look, it was definitely more spacious and warm. We went up to the upstairs deck for a couple of V.T's and to have a cigar. It was a beautiful day so we asked for a menu to look it over. All of the standbys (boxty's, shepherds pie, fish and chips etc.) They also added many new items. We choose a few from the appetizer list: Parmesan zucchini chip

As usual they had me at bacon A couple of weeks back I was in the liquor store and stumbled across Ol' Major Bacon Bloody Mary Mix. So naturally I had to take it back to the lab and give it a try. WOW! Without a doubt this is the best mix I have every stumbled across. Very much bacon! The only thing I could recommend is maybe adding a little hot sauce. However, be careful and not choose a hot sauce that has very defined characteristics. I used just a simple ghost hot sauce to give it a little spice. I also found that this same company has a bacon bourbon that I am going to give a try this weekend. Speaking of a little spice I also tried this Bloody Mary Mix about the same time Hot Pepper Bloody Mary Mix is as advertised, HOT! I recommend using just a splash with other ingredients as shown here. Cheers The Professor