Lisa Visits Tampa!

This past weekend my best friend Lisa visited Tampa! She arrived very early Friday morning and after a little nap we headed to Clearwater for the day. Our first stop was a little beach bar called Frenchy's where we both tried Grouper for the first time and had a few midday rum runners. After our lunch we walked right out onto the beach and spent the day soaking up the sun and swimming in the almost too warm, 88 degree, Gulf of Mexico. Here is a picture from our table at lunch

After a few hours on the beach Lisa, Jamie and I went to happy hour with a few friends from work. The weather hadn't been too hot all week, so being outside all night was a lot of fun!

On Saturday Jamie and I had some friends over for a beer festival 'themed' bbq/pool party. Our guests all brought different kinds of craft beers and I set up a tasting so everyone could try each beer. It was a fun way to try a lot of different beers! Lisa and I cooked up a storm preparing for our guests. Here is a picture of some of the yummy apps we had

Chili con Queso served with Hot Pretzels and Chips                           

                                                      

Lisa's Avocado and Corn Salad

Cheeseburger Bites

                                                      

Rummy Bears

 

After a day by the pool, complete with a beer tasting, we were ready to bbq. For dinner I made stuffed burgers, each burger was stuffed with some combination of cheddar cheese, grilled onions and bacon. These were a lot of fun, especially because our guests were surprised to find the toppings that they requested inside of the burger instead of on top! Here are some before shots of the stuffed burgs

Here is a shot of the grill with all of the food for the night-stuffed burgers, spicy bourbon chicken and french onion potatoes

After the bbq we headed across the street to our favorite beach bar, Crabby Bill's! It was a fun and relaxing night with good friends. I was sad that the weekend came to an end so quickly and that Lisa had to return to New York Sunday evening. We were able to squeeze in one last outing before Lisa needed to get to the airport and had a few cocktails over looking Tampa Bay

Exploring Tampa-Bucs Practice

Tampa has been quite hot these past few weeks-not that I am complaining. It is just another excuse for us to spend an afternoon by the pool, which is what we did all weekend. Saturday, Jamie and I ventured out to the main pool in our apartment complex for some fun in the sun. Later that day we headed over to our favorite local beach bar, Crabby Bill's for happy hour and the start of pre season football.

Sunday Jamie and I went to check out the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' pre season practice. Other than the heat it was a great time. A few weeks ago we discovered that Elbert Mack and Kareem Huggins from the Bucs are our neighbors, so we went to cheer them on! Here are a few pictures I took while at practice

After practice we went and cooled off at the pool and spent the rest of the night doing our favorite thing in Tampa, watching the sunset over the water.

My best friend, Lisa, will be visiting this weekend so we are getting ready for a fun few days:)

This Week's Dinners!

This week Jamie and I have been cooking some of the chicken items we purchased from Land and Sea Market that I previously posted about. On Monday we headed out to the grill and grilled up some chicken sausage, onions and potatoes. Jamie piled his onto a cuban roll and made a sausage and onions sandwich with a side of grilled potatoes.

We had some terrible weather on Tuesday and Wednesday so we needed to cook something indoors. We decided on the chicken meatloaf. Tuesday night we ate it the traditional way but on Wednesday we wanted to change it up and created a chicken meatloaf sandwich. We reheated the meatloaf and cut it in to thin pieces and stacked it on a cuban roll with cheese, sauteed onions and Frank's hot sauce. It was one of the best meals we have had here!

Tonight we decided to try these chicken parmigiana burgers. We grilled the chicken and then brought it back and baked it in the oven for a few minutes with the cheese and sauce on top. We then put them on fresh bakery rolls and they were very delicious!

All in all our chicken dinners have been a hit and much healthier than if we had used the beef or pork alternative!