Alabama + Graffiti

- a lifestyle blog -

Nothing Better Than A Cuban Sandwich

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One of the main things B wanted to do while we were in Miami was get good Cuban food.
I did not protest much (although there are some days where you just want to shove a cheeseburger and french fries in your face a call it a day.  this was one of those days for me), so we found a cute little place with outdoor seating.
It was semi-beautiful out ( aka 80 degrees in the shade), so we sat outside.
So we went to Havana 1957.  B said it was supposedly one of the best places for Cuban food, so voila.  We were done.  To begin with, they give you these fried plantains, sliced incredibly thin.  They were so good!  They also gave you water in old Bacardi bottles!  Hello Pinterest project!!  Their sangria was delicious, their Cuban sandwich was amazing, and even B’s plain old chicken had some great spice to it.
Did I mention how amazing their sangria was?  I could really use some right now.  B’s spicy Cuba Libre was pretty good too.

On a side note, I was reading someone’s blog that I truly love and she was talking about how much she hated travel posts, and how she couldn’t stand seeing a million pictures of someone’s vacation.  It kind of made me sad.  She also listed about seven other things that I am definitely guilty of.
But again, I don’t blog with the intention of getting big and famous from it; I really do it for myself.  And for my family and friends who like to read about what is going on my life.  Mostly I do it because I love to write.  And what someone else thinks is relevant in a blog (ie, just trying to be funny to just be funny, or pictures of their amazingly put-together outfits every day) may not be what I think is relevant.
Point being, live on vacation/travel pictures, because I sure hope I have a lot of you.

A Tiny Mid-Air Freakout

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It’s not a big surprise to anyone who knows me and/or reads this blog that I hate flying.  It makes me more anxious than anything in the world.  If I have a few adult beverages, I’m usually ok.  However, the most dreaded words to me, are “Flight attendants, please be seated.”  
A.  This means that he doesn’t even have time to get on his little “ding” intercom thing to tell them to sit down.
&
B.  There is going to be some turbulence ahead.  
So, we’re on our second leg back from Key West, the Tampa to Birmingham leg, and the captain gets on the intercom and says that hey folks, the weather in Birmingham is bad, so we’re gonna fly in some circles and see if it clears the area.
It didn’t.
So, then he comes on again, and says that oh, we’re diverting to Jackson, Mississippi.  That’s right folks.  We’re diverting to Jackson, MS to “fill up.”  So not only do I have to worry about the evil clouds lurking out of every window, now I have to worry about us running out of fuel . (I mean, not really, these are all delusions that I make up in my head).  But if you are that scared of flights, these are thoughts that go through your mind…and then your face looks like this.
These were actually the faces we made when we found out that we were not going to be in Birmingham at 6pm, but instead head to Jackson!
So we land in Jackson.  And then there’s a line a million people long to use the bathroom.  I really try not to use the front bathroom, because I’m a million percent convinced that it’s smaller than the back one, BUT we were only seven rows from the front, so it didn’t make much sense to walk all the way to the back.
But then some one got baby powder everywhere in the cramped little space, so I came out with baby powder all of my shorts.  The lady in front of us was also acting like this was the end of the world, and being quite loud about it, while leaving doom and gloom messages about not being able to make it to Birmingham and having to spend the night in Jackson.
Anyway, we finally take off.  And guess what guys?!  There’s a storm in Birmingham still.  So cut to us landing, I mean almost crashing into the ground.  Ever see lightning on either side of the airplane out the windows?  Yeah, I did.  While bouncing like a ball through the clouds.  I don’t think my heart stopped beating at 190 bpm until we hit the car.
People clapped when we landed.
That has never happened to me.  And although I was quite grateful for the man landing us without killing us, nobody claps at me for doing my job.  Also my hands were shaking like crazy, so applause was out of the question.
Oh, and seeing the pilot handing out peanuts?

Can also cause a mini-freakout.  
(just kidding, I’m sure there were two other ones in the cockpit)

Miami Sights

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We learned very quickly that we weren’t big Miami fans.  There were so many people, and so little parking, and so many people in very little clothing, or no clothing.  We just felt like if that there any city on earth that could make us feel more like we don’t fit in, it would be super hard to find.
Also, it was hot.
And people bug you to eat at their restaurants — where they have the fake food and stuff glued to a tray, and where all the menus have a $9.50 special for seafood that didn’t look that great.
I don’t know, maybe I’m just biased against the Atlantic Ocean all together.  You get pretty spoiled getting gulf seafood and the pretty sand of the beaches.
And to top it all off, we accidentally booked the hotel room for Saturday night for the wrong day, and this place was incredibly unhelpful and rude.  So we ended up driving to Fort Lauderdale and staying in an unbelievable hotel 2 blocks from the beach for $60 less.  More on that place later.
One thing we did love about Miami?  Okay, two.  The clear blue water and the art deco buildings.

Almost all of these hotels are home to restaurants on the bottom floor..the annoying aforementioned kind.
As pretty as those hotels are, I’m not sure that I would want to stay in one.  I know those windows, because we have them in our house and yes, they are pretty, but they pretty much let all the heat come in from the outside.  I would much rather cross the street and sleep on the beach.
So while the Cuban food we had for lunch was fantastic, that was pretty much it.  
Sorry, Miami, you were definitely not our favorite.

My First Cuban Coffee

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Last week we took a vacation to Miami/Key West.  I will tell you that I have no desire to go to Miami ever again.
Too many people.
And I enjoy being a hermit way too much to enjoy anything that involves lots of people, clubs, jerky people at a hotel, and fifty-year old women with their boobs.  Again that confidence thing.  Where do they get it?  Foreign country women, and their body comfortableness.  Makes me all sad face.
The first day after our rainy night in Miami, before we drove down through the Keys, we just had to have some Cuban coffee.  So we went to Roho Coffee House in Miami.  B got two little coffees, and I got a cafe con leche.  
 

I will tell you after that coffee, I was pretty much buzzing through Key Largo.  It was super awesome.  Any sort of coffee definitely makes my day.  I can’t go through the day without out.  I should have taken some of this awesomeness with me.  Do they check for that on airplanes?  Who knows. Maybe it was good idea that I decided not to get some.  Seeing as how they thought my tanning lotion was a humongous threat to the entire nation.
I sure hate when they find secret stashes of liquid over 3 ounces . Those TSA agents sure know what they’re doing.

NOLA First Night Food – Jacque-Imos Part Deux

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So after our thirty minute delay in Shuttlesworth Birmingham International Airport (umm, I could have screwed up the order of those words, but you know.  I do live here, so I guess I get a pass?)  Just as an FYI, they have remodeled this entire airport, and with the exception of the tragedy with the sign falling on that family, the airport looks great.  I really think that they did a good job… they even implanted one of these…
Yes, a Good People in the airport!  We had 30 delay minutes to kill, so we enjoyed a few Snakehandlers before getting on the plane.
As soon as we got off the plane we went to meet Linds and JM at Jacque-Imos.  Yep, we’d already been there, but we had to share the deliciousness that was the alligator cheesecake with them.  They also got the fried grits, which they both said was delicious.  So next time, we’ll check that out.
Linds and JM.  Sweet ass couple.  JM’s first NOLA trip!

Me and Linds.

Linds’ first fried oyster (oh you knew I was going to post this!)  B’s sweet face after eating the cornbread (oh you knew I was going to post this!)
B had the quail and I had the drum fish, in an amazing almondine sauce thing.  Ugh, it was fantastic.  But honestly, share a dish if you go here.  You will never ever be able to eat it all (especially if you get that amazing alligator cheesecake), and then you’ll be stuck with almost two full meals in a refrigerator in your hotel that you are probably not going to eat.
And then when your husband does try to eat the leftover fish, he gets just a tiny bit sick.  Of course this was just the first stop of the night…more on the rest of the night later….