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