PDeveaux's Profile
Your "signature" drink
I've been working on this recently. I got in the habit of always ordering wine or draft beer but I decided I needed a "go-to" drink if I was in the mood for liquor, or if everybody else in the group was ordering martinis, etc. I used to order margaritas but they are not consistently good. So for now, I get a Cosmopolitan. They're better than regular martinis and prettier. :=)
Signature drink recommendations for wedding cocktail hour and reception
My brother-in-law started a family tradition at weddings and other gatherings of making "duck farts". You chill the Crown Royal, Bailey's Irish Creme, and Kahlua. In a straight-sided narrow glass, pour the Crown, then the Bailey's and lastly the Kahlua. This makes a pretty layered drink that is delicious! Be sure to swirl it before drinking, though.
First time in Boston this July
My husband and I will be spending 1 night in Boston in July. Our hotel is in Cambridge. Can you give us suggestions for a lunch and a dinner? We're fairly open-minded about trying new things but don't particularly look for Indian, Thai, Vietnamese, Korean, etc. We're from Florida so we love fresh seafood. We like good sandwiches, burgers, hot dogs, sausage, Italian, including pizza. We like to try dishes that are locally important. I'd really appreciate some guidance.
Tarpon Springs - Hellas
I'm glad to hear that you had a good experience at Hellas. We went there a few years ago and loved it. We told the waiter that we didn't know anything about Greek food and he said "Let me take care of you". We put ourselves in his hands and had the most delicious food and a great experience interacting with our server.
My Favorite places to eat in Pinellas County
Okay, I have new favorites. We just discovered Gulfport. We liked Backfin Blue, Domain and O'Maddy's.
Daytona Beach for Birthday
We love Boondocks. It's a great place to get fresh seafood and we like to take our out of town guests from up north there in the winter months, especially.
Heading to Orlando, St Petersburg/Clearwater and Tampa – looking for healthy everyday eats and chow-worthy hole-in-the-wall finds
Oh, my gosh - those are the most awesome pictures of food I've ever seen! And the ones of all of the Florida plants and animals were great, too! My husband and I are headed over to Gulfport for our anniversary next weekend and it inspires me to go eat!
Daytona Beach for Birthday
Try Spanish River Grille in New Smyrna Beach. It might be a bit over your $100 range but it should be worh it.
st. augustine on v-day
I agree with Raintree. My husband and I had a great romantic dinner there a couple of years ago.
Heading to Orlando, St Petersburg/Clearwater and Tampa – looking for healthy everyday eats and chow-worthy hole-in-the-wall finds
I scanned all of these and didn't see a place called Walt's in St. Johns Pass. It's very small but has only the freshest fish. The gazpacho there is to die for. This place is so dedicated to freshness that he won't even open if he doesn't have the quality he demands.
What's That One Thing You Can't Go A Week Without????
Coffee
Diet Coke
cheese
cheeseburger
What did your Mom always have on hand, that you NEVER do?
What a walk down memory lane reading all of those was! My mother always had:
Miracle Whip (learned to like real mayonnaise from my grandmother)
American cheese slices
Vienna sausages
frozen orange juice
Kool-Aid packets
grape and apple jellies
Spam
Peanut butter (not because I don't like it - because I like it too much!)
Saccharin tablets
evaporated milk
canned veggies (agree with whoever said spinach is the worst)
Braunschweiger
iceberg lettuce
white bread
margarine (I only use real butter in sticks)
Milk
Canned fruit - peaches, pears and fruit cocktail
New Year's Day - what is your food tradition?
I can't believe no one referred to the black-eyed peas and rice as Hoppin' John. I grew up in North Florida with parents from Georgia and North Carolina. New Year's Day dinner has always been collards with a drizzle of vinegar or pepper sauce, Hoppin' John topped with chopped onion, a piece of ham steak, and buttemilk cornbread. Yum!
Nothing traditional to eat for breakfast but use the rest of the champagne from NY's Eve to make mimosas, and add a little maraschino cherry juice. Makes 'em pretty!
What did you learn on Chowhound this year?
Well, I learned not to take it personally when I post opinions and not one single soul finds it interesting enough to respond to it.
I also learned that although I truly love to eat, love to read about food, and am usually entertained if not amused by the chowhound snobs who post on here, I'm not sure what the true definition of a chowhound is.
I love it when someone asks a question that inspires me to reminisce about good food memories.
And I learned that I am not as discerning about good food and drink as I thought I was and that I don't care.
My Favorite places to eat in Pinellas County
What about Walt's in St. Johns Pass? The fish is so fresh there the guy doesn't even open if he can't get the quality he wants. Delicious gazpacho too.
Daytona Beach, New Smyrna Beach--no good food?
Agree with you about Avocado Kitchen. I've only been there 1 time but the breakfast I had was very good.
Waterfront Dining in TAMPA.
Have you tried Walt's at St. Johns Pass? We had one of the best lunches we've ever had there one Saturday and we have a connection in Pinellas who keeps us informed so we know it's still good. The seafood was excellent and fresh and the gazpacho was delicious.
New Smyrna Beach Restaurants
Didn't you love the breakfasts at Night Swan? We stayed there a couple of years ago and thought they were delicious.
sweet melissas cafe (any thoughts)
Just so you know, there's also a Sweet Melissa's in DeLand in Volusia County. The seafood is awesome here and they have a great beer selection. Friendly too. If you're a first-timer, expect one of the regulars to welcome you and give you the "newbie tour". We live close by but were recommended by some foodies who live in Clermont. Go figure.
Great find in Gainesville
Gator21 - Thanks for the tip. We've been alternating between On the Border and Ballyhoos either before or after games this season. We'll definitely give this one a try when we're there for the SC game. GO GATORS!
When Your Assets Decline, where do you still Dine?
We have definitely not reduced the number of times we go out to eat. We have however scaled back on going to upper scale places quite as often. In DeLand, we have Sweet Melissa's, Bellini's Deli, Mainstreet Grille, Mi Mexico, as well as the chains like Chli's, Beef O' Brady's. Instead of buying a bottle of wine, we'll just get a glass each. And we usually cut out the appetizer and dessert, which luckily helps with our waistlines, as well.
Gainesville recommendations?
That's interesting because we were there on the Friday of Labor Day weekend and our service was fantastic in the dining room. The service in the bar was also friendly. We loved our food.
Have you been to Ristorante Deneno on Main Street in Alachua? We had good service and food there and the menu was a bit different than the usual Italian.
Jacksonville: breakfast place?
There used to be or still is a place called The Beach Hut in Ponte Vedra. I know this isn't Jacksonville but if you can find it, it's one of those neighborhood kinds of places where you can go as you are and the food is good. Plus, you get to go to the beach as a bonus.
What have you learned from CH?
"A world of food blogs that I never knew existed, many have become happy frequent additions to my personal world"
"people are people
and most of them are good!"
*I am not alone in this obsession!"
I read almost everyone's posts and liked yours the very best mostly because (surprise) I agree with you. I'm a very optimistic "glass half full" kind of person for the most part.
* I have learned that you can literally spend hours talking about food when your stomach is growling (go figure that out).
*I have learned that I was pretty sheltered when it comes to eating even though I considered myself to be a person who likes everything except liver and anchovies.
*I learned that it's ok to be passionate about eating in this world of obsession with being thin and dieting and going green and organic.
*I've learned that I'm low on the food chain (ha ha) when it comes to being a food snob. And that I don't care anymore.
*I've learned that my husband and my sister have come to depend on me when we're going someplace new and need ideas for where to eat. They always ask me what my "chowhound people" say.
Hurricane Cuisine
Living in Florida on the central eastern side, we get a lot more threats of hurricanes than actual hits. However, we do believe in preparing for the potential of power outages. We have a gas grill that we put to good use when things start thawing. We also boil all of the eggs in preparation for the storm. They make great protein snacks, either eaten whole or you make egg salad with the mayonnaise that will go bad anyway. We ate a lot of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches during our last long seige in 2004. Since none of us eat PB&J on a regular basis, it was fun for awhile since it acted as comfort food. We also bought granola bars, PopTarts, a variety of nuts, and wine. Did you know that in some areas (not sure about everywhere of course) that you can't buy alcoholic beverages for a certain period after the storm passes? We didn't the first time and we'll never make that mistake again.
I forgot to mention that we used to make instant coffee with hot water from the grill. Now that we have a generator, we hook it up to make real cofffee. Things are inconvenient enough - we don't need to be cranky and caffeine-deprived too!
Does chow not taste as good with unchowish friends?
I have a sister who used to remark every time I added salt to a dish. Fortunately, she and I are really close and I just told her to keep it to herself. For the record, I always try something first to see if it would benefit from a small amount of salt, with the exception of eggs and grits - restaurants never put salt in those.
Does chow not taste as good with unchowish friends?
I do think that somehow psychologically the food just doesn't taste as good when your dining companions aren't chowish enough. I also thought that we sure do know a lot of rude people, don't we? I was taught growing up that it's extremely bad manners to comment on what people are eating and how it is cooked. I feel very fortunate that my husband and my sister (my most frequent dinner companions) are very chowish and we all make a point to share our yummy choices with each other.
Rude to Bring my Own Dinner to Party?
I have to say there could be something to this theory also. Again, grow up and deal. Remember, your husband can gripe and criticize his family but if you do it, it's just asking for trouble.
Rude to Bring my Own Dinner to Party?
How long has this person been your MIL anyway?? If she clearly knows about your food pickiness, she would be a most gracious hostess to suggest that you bring something you can be comfortable eating and then both of you just not bring it up at the dinner. OTHERWISE, yes it's rude and will cause hard feelings in the family. And who is coming to this dinner that it would be so awkward for you, a known allergy-sufferer, to just deal with it upfront?? It seems to me that this is family and everyone should be considerate of each other's feelings but that's just me and I'm fortunate enought to have a family who would understand. ON THE OTHER HAND, if you're just a fussy eater, grow up - it's only 1 meal.
