Last weekend Chris and I made the two hour trek to Orlando, Florida to begin our 4th of July weekend away trip to see Sting in Tampa. Luckily we didn't hit much of the Orlando 5:00 traffic as we were heading into the city.
We settled into the Westin Imagine which is a contemporary hotel 1.5 miles from Pointe Orlando and about five minutes from the outlet mall. They have fridges and microwaves in each room which is nice. After showers we headed to Pointe Orlando to dine at Tommy Bahama.
Mojitos in hand we had Island inspired dishes that included pecan encrusted goat cheese to start. We followed this up with entrees of sautéed shrimp and scallops with crisp/tender asparagus over a light and sweet coconut curry sauce as well as a chicken dish served over a cumin scented rice and beans with a small shell with fried plantains and a sweet slaw on the side. Finally we had the Pina Colada cake which was a layered rum cake with pineapple, white chocolate and coconut.
Friday morning I worked out, had a quiet breakfast of coffee, fresh berries and cottage cheese and then hit the outlet mall to shop till I dropped as Chris was doing an audit for work. (We combined business with pleasure this weekend and saved the fare for two nights at the hotel!)
I found a Barnes and Noble bookstore to stock up on books and magazines for reading by the pool that afternoon. One book I picked up was called Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. I'm only through her trip to Italy and I can't put it down. I envy the way she has mastered the description of food.
On page 80 she speaks of her trip to Naples to get pizza.
“The dough, it takes me half my meal to figure out, tastes more like Indian nan than like any pizza dough I’ve ever tried. It’s soft and chewy and yielding, but incredibly thin. I always thought we only had two choices in our lives when it came to pizza crust – thin and crispy, or thick and doughy. How was I to have known there could be a crust in this world that was thin and doughy? Holy of Holies! Thin, doughy, strong, gummy, yummy, chewy, salty pizza paradise. On top, there is a sweet tomato sauce that foams up all bubbly and creamy when it melts the fresh buffalo mozzarella, and the one sprig of basil in the middle infuses the entire pizza with herbal radiance, much the same way one shimmering movie star in the middle of a party brings a contact high of glamour to everyone around her. It’s technically impossible to eat this thing, of course. You try to take a bite off your slice and the gummy crust folds, and the hot cheese runs away like topsoil in a landslide, makes a mess of you and your surroundings, but just deal with it.”
As one foodie to another....pick this book up. You will love it!
That night I met my old college roomie, Cindy, for dinner and drinks at Season's 52. I so wish we had one in Jacksonville. They feature seasonal ingredients and as the website states they "Celebrate Living Well" with the entire menu under 475 calories.
I chose the special of line caught grouper with citrus mint infused couscous and tzatziki sauce on the side and two shot glass desserts to finish. One was the creamy summer blueberry cheesecake and the other was the peanut butter chocolate mousse.
Cindy and I followed up with dancing at a little bar across the way and had such a great time catching up!
Saturday Chris and I hit Ikea (for two hours) and decided with all the eating that had been going on we wanted salads at Sweet Tomatoes. Have you ever eaten at one of these? We loved it! It was inexpensive and you can choose from a huge salad bar, fresh soups, home made breads and muffins, pasta dishes, fresh fruit and even fat free Edy's Ice cream with toppings!
We went back to the hotel to relax (and read!) and then got ready to go see Sting at the Tampa Amphitheater.
We got dressed and headed out. We got there with not much time to spare for dinner and lo and behold the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino was across the street! Since we were in a rush to get to the concert (there was no opening act) we ate the food court. I know, it sounds terrible but for $9 I got a huge Greek salad with crunchy romaine, soft, dark red tomatoes and salty feta, a soft, chewy slice of vegetarian pizza and a small side of seasoned veggies.
We headed to the Ford Amphitheater and Sting started at 8:15. He is touring with the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra.
We made our way to the seats. It was an older, quieter crowd than our usual concerts (for example, the Black Eyed Peas) and people basically stayed seated. When the orchestra started playing I got chills. It was such all encompassing sound. Sting's voice rose over it clear and smooth and his backup vocalist, Australian born Jo Lawry, was sweet and jazzy.
Before each song he shared a brief story about where it was derived from. I thought the one about the song I Hung My Head was rather comical. He describes, in his British accent, how as a child he loved Country Westerns, in particular Bonanza. He imagined Adam, Ben and Hoss Cartright riding across the plains with him, "little Sting".
I can officially say that in my 33 years of attending concerts, this was my favorite.
Sunday we made the trip home and relaxed at the house and Monday we took the boat out on the Intracoastal to Caps on the Water where our friend Jim proceeded to use our daughter as cute-waitress bait.
He said it worked well with her whole watermelon ensemble of matching top and shoes. The shoes were key.
But that's a whole other restaurant review.....
