Lazy Sunday

September 03, 2015 by Jessi Streator in Food, Travel

Sundays, in my opinion, are one of my favorite days of the week. When I'm not working at the store, I love to sleep in and try out new breakfast spots. This past Sunday, I was in St. Augustine and remembered that I had been wanting to try out Big Island Bowls. We headed over to the island and ordered up some delicious acai bowls and ran to eat them in the car, just as it started to pour down rain. Ryan had the acai mixed with apple juice, granola, blueberries, bananas, and pineapple while I had the acai bowl mixed with almond milk, granola, chia seeds, blueberries, strawberries, and coconut flakes. I've been craving another one since then!

After breakfast we ran several errands around town to pick up some art supplies and groceries to make for dinner that evening. After all of our running around, it was time for lunch. All week we have both been craving Back 40 and when brainstorming ideas for lunch, it was the first place on both of our minds. Ryan stuck with his traditional Cuban sandwich and I tried a new to me salad, the shrimp curry salad with coconut curry buttermilk dressing. I've been thinking about how to whip up my own version at home because I practically licked the bowl clean. The dressing was easily the star of the show, it was that amazing.

We stopped into The Hyppo, per usual, to see some of our favorite workers and I picked up my own dragon fruit ginger pop. Not pictured* Ryan's lemon plum pop that he ate before I could catch a photo ;)

We made a fried rice for dinner and went downstairs to pick up Cousteau's for dessert. A Belafonte with vanilla ice cream hit the spot to end the day on a sweet note. In my opinion, lazy Sundays filled with the best food are kind of the greatest.

The Weekend // 5.15.15

May 19, 2015 by Jessi Streator in Food, Fun, Travel

I had a weekend free of dogsitting and babysitting this past weekend, so I hopped into the car and headed up to St. Augustine for a couple of days. I arrived late Thursday evening, so come Friday morning, Ryan and I woke up early to head out and cross some activities off of our "favorites" list. First up, we drove down U.S. 1 to Out There Antiques and Graybeards Antiques. It took a while to sift through everything, and we ended up leaving with a few treasures. I found a few little antique glass bottles for little bouquets of flowers and a vintage Tampa postcard. Ryan found a variety of items from comic books to letterpress drawers and printing blocks. He ended up purchasing an old safety razor, so we each had a successful trip!

It's been several months since we have eaten at The Floridian. Our go-to is the fried green tomato hoagie...I'm getting hungry just thinking about it now. We've made our own version at home before, which was delicious, but there's just something you can't quite duplicate about The Floridan's. I've tried a few other menu items before, such as the veggie burger, and everything I have had is just as delectable.

Post hoagies, we learned that it was National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day. I have a bit of a sweet tooth and could easily eat an entire tray, or seven, of chocolate chip cookies. They are my absolute favorites, as are most cookies, and I've kept note of the best ones I've ever had. Note to self- Levain Bakery in NYC still has the best chocolate chip cookie, hands down. One of my top favorites was the cookie that they used to bake and serve at The Hyppo Cafe. They recently did away with them a few months ago (why Hyppo, why?!?!) and St. Augustine will never be the same without them...RIP. Since The Hyppo no longer makes them, I figured the next best thing would be a cookie dough milkshake from Cousteau's.

Later that evening, we stopped by the opening reception for the Flagler Art & Design Alumni Exhibit. Ryan had a piece of work that was chosen for the exhibit and it was so exciting to see his work on display. I'm proud of you Ryan! Now if only I could draw a decent stick figure...

Saturday was another early morning as we wanted to beat the breakfast crowd at The Blue Hen. Corned beef hash and scrambled eggs for Ryan, two eggs and sweet potato home fries for myself. Let me just stop and make a special note about their biscuits as well. I have no clue what they do to make them so addicting, but I am convinced it's magic. Plus, I need the recipe for their peach butter asap. I find myself craving it in Tampa all. the. time.

The cute little guy below is one of my favorite houses in St. Augustine. He reminds me of the house from UP. Just add a few thousand balloons and I'll be sailing away to Paradise Falls. I'll send you a postcard when I get there!

We strolled around downtown a bit more stopping into some of the antique shops and galleries at The Lightner Museum. Of course, we had more popsicles at The Hyppo, raspberry and blueberry rose, before heading home to whip up some frozen pierogies we had picked up at Gaufre's and Goods.

I had planned to stay until Tuesday morning, but Saturday night I was in a fender bender on the way to pick up dinner. It ended up cutting the trip short, and I had to bring my car back to Tampa Sunday afternoon. My little bug and I are okay; he's at the shop being fixed as we speak. Although the weekend ended abruptly, and not on the best of notes, we made the most of the weekend and the situation at hand!

Thanks for having me and for more little fun adventures, Ryan!

St. Augustine Days

April 10, 2015 by Jessi Streator in Food, Fun, Travel

I took a few days last week to head back to St. Augustine and wanted to share a few photos of some things Ryan and I were up to. On my first night in town, we drove up to Jacksonville to have dinner at Whataburger. Ryan had been telling me about a secret menu item called the, "brown burger," that replaces a regular burger patty with hash browns. Funny enough, when I ordered so called, "brown burger," the manager looked horrified because had no clue what I was talking about. After explaining it a bit more, he graciously said he would try making it for me anyways. I was beginning to believe this was a trick Ryan had played on me to order an item that has never existed, however, according to the internet (my incredibly valuable resource) the brown burger does exist! The very sweet manager did a wonderful job making it for me and I will definitely be back to order another one next time we drive up there.

The next day, Ryan and I spent the morning running a few errands before meeting up to hang out with our new friend, Calli. We ate waffles at Cousteau's, popsicles at Hyppo, shopped around Uptown and stopped into Ice Plant for pretzels and cocktails before calling it an early evening. Calli snapped a few photos of Ryan and I at Cousteau's; we're pretty silly.

We stopped into Jenna Alexander's shop to check out some of her work. I am so in love with her Stripes and Buns collection (on the right) and wanted to take the entire gallery wall home with me.

Declaration also recently reopened their new space called Declaration & Co: The Market Place. My best friend, Britni, used to intern for them when we were in college. It's been a lot of fun to see just how much they have grown over the past five years. On one side of the shop they sell a variety of home goods, gifts, clothing and their own line of stationery and textiles. On the other side of the shop is Mr. George's Candy Corner which pays homage to the building's original use as a candy and tobacco shop.

We quickly popped into the Yield shop and studio so Calli could take a look around and see where Ryan keeps his letterpress for M.C. Pressure.

More Hyppo pops were consumed...I can't stop and won't stop until I try all 450 flavors. This time, we had pistachio coconut and papaya pineapple.

Treasure hunting at its finest.

And of course, no trip to St. Augustine would be complete without an order of shrimp tacos from Catch 27. If given the chance, I'm fairly certain I would eat them every single day.

See you again soon, St. Augustine!