Carrabbas in Ft Myers

Our final night in Ft. Myers, we went to Carrabba's Italian Grill with my parents.  It's owned by the same group as Bonefish, but we all liked Carrabba's better.  We called ahead to put our name on the wait list, so our wait was not too long. http://www.carrabbas.com/ The portions are large, and all entrees come with your choice of soup or salad. 

We started off with the Cozze in Bianco.  Nice and plump PEI mussels steamed in garlic, white wine, basil and lemon butter.  (Full or half sizes available.)

Lobster Ravioli in a white wine cream sauce.

Linguine Pescatore - mussels, sea scallops and shrimp in a spicy marinara.

"The Johnny" - Sirloin marsala and Chicken Bryan (chicken topped with sundried tomato, goat cheese and lemon basil butter).

Crab cake with sirloin and sauteed spinach.

Bonefish Grill in Ft. Myers

http://www.bonefishgrill.com/ We went one night to Bonefish Grill with my parents.  Ft. Myers has pretty much any chain restaurant you can think of, and everywhere is crazy busy once the snow birds arrive.  With the cold snap, everyone was stuffed into the entrance way waiting for their party to be called. 

Bang Bang Shrimp - fried shrimp tossed in a creamy, spicy sauce.

Imperial Longfin stuffed with shrimp, scallops, crabmeat and lemon caper butter sauce with mashed potatoes and spaghetti sauce.  (If you ever see a photo of a Longfish, eek!)

Wolf Fish sauteed with rockshrimp with lemon butter sauce.

Grilled salmon with mango salsa, mashed potatoes and spaghetti squash.

Sesame-crusted Ahi Tuna with jasmine rice and vegetables.

Christmas in Florida

We headed to Florida for the Christmas holidays.  Driving south, we stopped for the night in Savannah, Georgia.  Looking online, we debated which place to try out for dinner.  We ended up going to the southern classic, Lady & Sons, owned by Paula Deen.  Now Paula is not really known as a "less is more" kind of gal, but we were on vacation.

The buffet has a nice variety of southern classics.  Fresh fried chicken, collard greens, creamy macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes with gravy, and a variety of beans.  There were also ribs and ham, corn on the cob, salad and desserts.  Really nice collards. 

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We finally made it to Florida after another day of driving.  It was the first time for my boyfriend to meet my parents, and happily everyone got along really well together.

Christmas Eve dinner we had portabello mushrooms stuffed with crab, shrimp and a cheesy rice mixture.  With a light salad, rolls and a crisp Pinot Grigio, we had a very relaxed night before Christmas.

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Christmas morning tradition:  coffee, juice, fruit salad and cinnamon rolls.  This year we had orange cinnamon and regular glazed cinnamon rolls.

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Christmas Dinner

Grilled potatoes, grilled pork tenderloin and asparagus.

Shrimp casserole

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After a bit of home-cooking, we picked up some pizza to eat after watching True Grit.  It's become a holiday tradition to go see a movie. 

Vegetable lovers pizza - garlic, onion, fresh tomato, olives, mushrooms and peppers.

Mushroom, onion, sausage, and pepperoni.

Cracker Barrel

http://crackerbarrel.com/ After seeing billboards lining I-95 for hundreds of miles, we finished our chain restaurant tour of Florida at Cracker Barrel.  It was my first time, and I think it beats the pants off of iHop and Denny's.  Loved the biscuits and gravy.

Old Timer's Breakfast with 2 eggs sunny side up, 2 sausage patties, with a side of grits, biscuits and gravy and hashbrown casserole ($7.49).  Sunrise Sampler with 2 eggs sunny side up; sampling of country ham, sausage and bacon; fried apples, hashbrown casserole, grits and biscuits with gravy ($7.99).

Pizzeria Orso in Falls Church

My friends in Vienna have said they really like Pizzeria Orso. http://pizzeriaorso.com/index.php I finally made it out to Falls Church to give it a try over the weekend.  I knew the owners came from 2Amys, which I like a lot for its Neopolitan pizzas, and overall enjoyed Orso.  Is it worth driving on Rte. 7 from Alexandria?  Probably not.  But very little would be worth that traffic headache.

 Some of the loveliest things at 2Amys were the salads and small plates.  I had to try Orso's fennel salad. Sliced fennel, oranges, chives and olives.  I love that they have a half size ($4). 

Half-portion of the mixed greens salad ($4).

 Margherita DOC ($13).  Nicely charred crust with a light tomato sauce, buffalo mozzarella and fresh basil.  We opted to forego the olive oil finish.  I like the restraint used in topping the pizza.  Massive in size.

Orso ($18).  Ricotta, mozzarella, grana padano, fontina, pecorino, garlic and prosciutto di parma.

Great Wall Sichuan Take-Out

I finally tried the ma la dishes at Great Wall on 14th St NW.  Their menu is 3/4ths American-Chinese dishes, but the last page has the Sichuan dishes that make this bare bones take-out place worth trying.  We did carryout and waited only 15 minutes for our bag of spicy treats.

 Mapo Tofu $8.95 Soft tofu with ground beef, chili and Sichuan peppercorns.

 Dan Dan Noodle $7.95.  Fiery mixture of chili, Sichuan peppercorns, scallions and ground beef.

 Baby pak choy with garlic $8.95.  Not bad, but I liked the baby bok choy with garlic at Mark's Duck House better.

Ma La Wontons $5.50.

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Everything was good, although the last bowl of Dan Dan Mein I had at Sichuan Pavillion on K Street was definitely hotter.  We ordered enough to share and still have leftovers.  The next day I boiled some dumplings and mixed them in the leftover mapo tofu.  Delicious.  If you like Sichuan dishes and don't feel like trekking to Rockville, Great Wall is a solid alternative.

Hank's Oyster Bar in DC

The holidays have crept up so quickly.  Still haven't finished my holiday cards yet. Christmas shopping?  Yeah, haven't done that either.  Last night was a lovely gathering to catch up with a friend who spent her Thanksgiving in Spain, and another who's preparing to resume her world traveling.  We all love Hank's, so despite the cold we met at their 17th Street location.

 If you arrive before 6:30 pm, they have a happy hour oyster special where the types with an asterix on the board are $1 each.  Luckily I arrived at 6:28 pm and my friend quickly put in an order for 2 of each of the HH special oysters for each of us.  All three were excellent.  Cold, briney and one had a hint of creaminess to it.

 I've been thinking about lobster rolls since summertime.  Hank's version is respectable, but for $23 (plus $2 to substitute mac and cheesy for the fries) I think I could do a comparable rendition at home for less.  I think I like bigger chunks of lobster too.

Bouillabaisse special ($23)

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It was lovely to see my friends and share a relaxed dinner together.  After hearing the travel stories, I now want to go to Spain and eat copious amounts of tapas. I hope my traveling friend stays safe and happy in the new year.