"Coldest Beer on The Island"

Out and about on a Monday night. We found ourselves at Ft Myers Beach, the hub for spring breakers and white tourists with those freshly flushed faces and spots of bright pink where sunscreen was overlooked. A kind of low brow Key West, a party town on a budget. T-shirt shops line the boardwalk and blast island tunes late into the night. The tattoo parlor is conveniently located on the main strip, just in case you want to document your vacation permanently. It's a far cry from the bustle of Highway 41; commerce, strip malls, shopping, young professionals sporting button downs and ties, Mercedes and BMW's buzzing by. Hardly anyone lives here full time, all of the cottages that line the lengthy barrier island have For Rent signs posted in the yard. Here you are in vacationland. It's always nice to head down and pretend we are on our own mini-holiday, people watch and sip cold beer.

We end up at Yucatan Bar and Grill, a converted Pizza Hut turned into a full-on tiki bar with rattan wall coverings and a solid teak and holly bar that's the center of attention. The fact that it was a Pizza Hut in a previous life is not entirely evident off the bat, but is increasingly apparent as you look up at the unique high rise boxy ceiling. They have disguised it well.

We meet up with Dave's parents, aunt, uncle, cousin, cousin's boyfriend and daughter, and grandma for dinner. The energy from not seeing the Northern family members in quite sometime is full on. They are down for their vacation, spending their days at the beach or at the pool with fresh tans and casual Florida attire. It's contagious, the relaxed mentality of one on break from life. We almost forget that we have jobs to go back to in the morning.

After we all satisfied ourselves with some fresh seafood, the girls decide to go shopping and the boys (and me) decide to cozy up to the bar and listen to some live music. Yucatan offers "The Coldest Beer on the Island", a digital thermometer inside a keg as you walk into the bar. It reads 28 degrees F. Their personalized beer, Yucatan Red is a house specialty and served in a pint glass bearing the name. As with most red ales, this one has almost no hopiness and goes down easy. They also had one of my favorite beers which is found all over Florida; Key West Sunset Ale. It is produced by the Florida Beer Company based in Melbourne, about 300 miles away from the famous Mallory Square. The name and the enticing label help to make this beer a hot seller. It lets the drinker embody a sense of place. Sunset Ale is on the lighter side for a pale ale, not a lot of hop flavor, but just enough to compliment the maltiness of the grains. Living in Florida, craft beer and micro breweries are almost unheard of. You have to go to specialty stores to find a major brand from the Northeast or the West Coast. I get excited when I see Red Hook, the Budweiser of craft beer in the Northwest (not that it tastes like an American lager, but that it's mass produced and found everywhere... just to clarify).

Glancing at the imported beer list, I was thrilled to see that they had Kalik lager, The Beer of the Bahamas. After months of drinking solely a light lager, you tend to long for other flavors, but that taste has been ingrained in my memory bank. It has actually been roughly a year since I have had a Kalik and boy did it taste good! Even though it is a light lager, please do not categorize it with an American lager. It has a distinct flavor, a little nutty and no stank or skunky taste whatsoever. Entirely refreshing on a hot, humid island day. And the best part of all was it was only $3.50, compared to $6 in the islands.

Uncle Steve and Mike kept us company for quite sometime at the bar. The musician was playing Jimmy Buffett covers, James Taylor, Neil Young, The Eagles, and all kinds of songs you know by heart. The ambiance was laid back but lively. This was the kind of place that I could be a regular at. We met "the band" as we were leaving for the evening. He had taken his break and was walking his over sized yellow lab out front. Randy Johnson (no, he is not a tall, lanky red head with a mustache and a mean fastball), was from Alabama, down for a few months trying to make a few bucks in this beach town. He asked where he could look to play next season when he came back, so we gave him some ideas in our neck of the woods. He was grateful and we wished him luck.

Life is not so bad living this close to the beach, but we need to make it a point to get down there more often. It is so easy to get caught in the hustle and bustle of urban life and the quest for the almighty dollar that you forget there is a laid back lane with live music, good people and cold beer.

Gulf Coast Shrimp

OK so I don't have pictures of the fabulous meal that I made last night (well I can't take all the credit, my father-in-law was the grill-master). I actually took photos of the meal, but I was halfway through my meal when I thought to take photos, so it didn't look too appetizing. The recipe is derived from one of the pages I tore out of my Coastal Living magazines years ago, but I had never made it until now. I tweaked it a bit because I didn't have everything they called for, so I will give you my version.

Dave and Karen are at a real estate investing course this weekend so Mike and I decided to do Surf and Turf and spoil them a little bit. They were in class from 9am-7pm, so that makes for a long day! I think they appreciated a good meal waiting for them when they got home. We had fresh local corn (I guess Florida growing season is a little ahead of the rest of the country), thick steaks which were lightly seasoned with Worcestershire and s&p, pecan spiked rice and grilled shrimp with a key lime beurre blanc. The grilling marinade for the shrimp is now my new favorite. The shrimp didn't stick to the grill at all and came off perfectly done and flavorful. I used my Nellie & Joe's Key West Lime Juice that I had leftover from my Key Lime Pie on Easter and it worked perfectly.

Key Lime Grilled Shrimp

Recipe from Coastal Living

Serves 4

16 jumbo shrimp, peeled and deveined

1/2 cup no-stick grilling marinade

1 tbsp honey

1 tsp Key Lime zest

Pat shrimp dry with paper towels. Combine shrimp, marinade, honey and zest in a large bowl, tossing to coat. Marinate 1 hour in refrigerator. Drain shrimp well before grilling.

Grill shrimp on a hot grill for 3 to 4 minutes each side, or until done.

Serve with Pecan-Spiked Rice and drizzle with Key Lime Beurre Blanc.

No-Stick Grilling Marinade

1 egg yolk

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 tsp Dijon mustard

1/4 cup canola oil

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1 tsp Key Lime juice

1 tsp Old Bay seasoning, or other seasoning salt

1/2 tsp Old Bay blackening seasoning

3/4 tsp dried minced onion, onion powder or garlic powder

3/4 tsp paprika

1/4 tsp ground white pepper

1/4 tsp fresh ground black pepper

1/4 tsp dry mustard

1/4 tsp dried oregano

1/8 tsp red pepper flakes

Put all ingredients in a bowl and whisk thoroughly. Makes about 1/2 cup.

Pecan-Spiked Rice

2 tbsp butter

1 small onion, chopped

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1 bay leaf

1 cup uncooked brown rice

2 cups chicken broth

1/2 cup dry white wine

1 cup coarsely chopped pecans, toasted

1 stalk green onion, chopped

Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add onion, salt and pepper. Cook until onion is tender and lightly browned.

Add rice and cook, stirring constantly, 1 minute. Stir in chicken broth, wine and bay leaf. Bring to a boil over medium high heat. Cover, reduce heat and simmer 20-40 minutes, until liquid is absorbed and rice is done. Remove bay leaf. Stir in pecans and green onion.

Key Lime Beurre Blanc

1/3 cup white wine

3 tbsp Key Lime Juice

1 stalk green onion

2 tsp white wine vinegar

1 clove garlic, minced

2 tbsp whipping cream or 1/2 and 1/2

1 cup butter, chopped into small pieces

1/2 tsp Key Lime zest

3/4 tsp salt

Combine first 5 ingredients in small skillet; cook over medium heat until reduced to 3 tbsp. Stir in whip cream and cook until reduced to 3 tbsp. Reduce heat to medium low, add butter, 1 tbsp at a time, stirring until butter melts. Remove from heat. Stir in lime juice and salt.

South of the Border

I apologize for not staying current with blogs lately. Our internet is being finicky and intermittent. So I'm hoping that it will hold out long enough for me to get a recipe out there for you.

I made this one the other night based on what I had on hand. I had gotten home from work at 8:30 pm and was looking for something fairly quick and painless. I used plain Manatma brand brown rice and it called to cook for 45 minutes. I'm sure you can find another type that cooks quicker if you are in a hurry, because the chicken only has to cook for about 20 minutes after browning it. If you don't have chipotle chili powder you can use regular chili powder, but I actually use the chipotle chili powder a lot. It has a really nice smoky flavor and it's worth having in your spice cabinet.

I keep reading my "South of the Border" title and keep hearing a bell ringing afterwards. Anyone else getting that? Marketing at its best.

South of the Border One-Pot Chicken

Serves 2

3 boneless skinless chicken breasts

Chipotle chili powder
Cumin

Flour

2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp butter
1 cup brown rice
1 onion, chopped

5 cloves garlic

2 ½ cup chicken broth
½ cup dry white wine
½ can black beans
½ can corn
Shredded cheddar cheese
1 Hass avocado
Sour cream

Cilantro for garnish

Put olive oil in medium sized pot and turn to medium heat. Sprinkle the chicken breasts with salt, pepper, cumin and chili powder and dredge in flour then pat the flour off so it is just lightly dusted. Place chicken in pan and brown all sides. Remove chicken to a side dish. Add butter to the pot and let melt. Add onion and sauté until golden and tender. Add garlic and let cook for 30 seconds and then add the rice, stirring until lightly browned. Add white wine and chicken broth. Bring to a boil. Add chicken back to pot. Reduce heat and cover and cook for duration on package, mine said 45 minutes.

After the rice is cooked, add the corn and black beans to heat but do not cook. Add additional chipotle chili powder and cumin at this point if desired. Dish rice and chicken onto serving plates and top with fresh cubed avocado, sour cream and cilantro.

Quick and Easy Pressure Cooked Chicken

I finally got to use my pressure cooker where I intended to, aboard Pegasus, our 32 ft sailboat. I’ve used it several times at home, but the great thing about a pressure cooker is that it cooks so fast. On a boat, fuel is precious so any cutbacks in cooking time can save a lot. During a trip through the Okeechobee Waterway, I whipped up some chicken in red wine with garlic and tarragon and it turned out fantastic. And it only took 6 minutes to cook!! At anchor after a long day of motoring, we celebrated happy hour with a Milbrandt Vineyards Riesling from Washington. It was a nice dry Riesling, perfect for the cockpit. The wind picked up and chilled us down so we went below to prepare dinner. We opened a bottle of the Carmenere from Chile that I talked about in my previous blog. It complimented the meal fabulously. Our first night on the boat we had a bottle of wine from Chile, now a new beginning, we were celebrating with another bottle from Chile.

So I am going to share with you my EASY and QUICK recipe. If you have a pressure cooker, wonderful! If you don’t, you can just cook it longer on low heat in a stove pot, or even a crock pot for a few hours. I never use tarragon, but it is such a bright herb, adding so much flavor to this dish that it makes me want to use it more often.

Quick Chicken with Garlic, Tarragon and Red Wine

Serves 2

2 tbsp olive oil

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

5 cloves garlic, halved

2 tbsp chopped fresh tarragon plus extra for garnish

1 cup dry red wine

2 tbsp butter

Heat the oil in the pressure cooker over high heat until beginning to smoke. Add the chicken, sprinkle with salt and pepper and turn to coat. Add the garlic, tarragon and red wine. Lock on the lid and bring to pressure over high heat, about 2 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium and cook for 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and let sit for 2 minutes to finish cooking.

With the steam vent pointed away from you, release any remaining pressure. Transfer chicken to a serving platter, cover and set aside.

Reduce the juices left in the pot over high heat for 2 minutes. Swirl in the butter and pour over the chicken. Garnish with extra tarragon.

Back to the Boat

We are on our way to the boat tonight, again, for the millionth time. I sure am getting sick of that 2 1/2 hour drive. It should take us about two days to get her in the Ft. Myers/Naples area. I will be back next week with pictures of our adventure down the Okeechobee Waterway. It will be like a mini-sail blog post.

I tested out my pressure cooker last night. Karen just got her wisdom teeth out on Friday, so I was trying to make her something that was easy for her to chew. I cooked up some Argentinian style beef in red wine and seasoned with herbs and spices. It only cooked for 40 minutes, but it came out of the pressure cooker like it had been cooking all day long! She appreciated the fact that she could get some substantial food in her tummy. Two days of eating yogurt and pudding gets old I imagine. I am going to cook up some chicken in red wine and tarragon on the boat tomorrow night with my pressure cooker. We have to be conscious of our fuel on board so it helps if we don't let pots simmer for hours. The chicken should only take 10 minutes or so. I got a Chilean Puerto Viejo Carmenere to celebrate being back on the boat. The first night we ever spent on the boat, we opened a bottle of wine that we brought back from Chile. It kind of tasted like vinegar because we had transported it across the country so many times in our hot cars. Oh well, we drank it anyways. We were too excited about our new boat to care. So I figured since this is basically a renewing relationship with Pegasus, that I would get us another Chilean wine. Hopefully this one doesn't taste like vinegar.

I'd never really heard of the Carmenere varietal previously, but it is essentially the "lost grape." It was considered one of the six original Bordeaux grapes, the others being Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot. It was transported to Chile in the mid-1800's, just before the phollexera virus ravaged Europe, destroying many varietals, including Carmenere. When the Carmenere grape was first grown in Chile, it was thought to be Merlot. It wasn't until years later in 1994, when they did extensive testing that the so-called Merlot grape was actually found to be Carmenere. Since then, the Chileans have capitalized on their new found varietal and have been producing some outstanding wines. The Carmenere grape is in between a Cabernet Sauvignon and a Merlot, the tannins are softer than that of a Cabernet with cherry, fruit, smoke, spice and earth. It is typically not meant to age.

My, My, My - Key Lime Pie

Desserts and holidays go hand in hand. You can't celebrate any holiday without a home baked sweet of some kind. Christmas and Thanksgiving get Dad's pumpkin and pecan pies, 4th of July has it's three tiered red, white, and blue Jello (ok, that was only once), birthdays get birthday cake, you know the deal. Well with this being Easter, I had to prepare a dessert. I have been meaning to make a Key Lime pie for quite some time now, but I needed an excuse to do so. This seemed like an opportune occasion.

Now, there are several rules for making a traditional Key Lime pie, and since it is the official pie of the state of Florida, I wanted to do it right. Rule number one: Traditional Key Lime Pie must be pale yellow in color, if it's too green, that means food coloring was added, a big no, no. It also must be made with condensed milk. Back in the late 1800's when the pie was invented, there was no refrigeration in the Florida Keys, meaning no milk. The pie bakers needed to be a little creative and thrifty when making their famous pies, so they relied on canned sweetened condensed milk. Sweetened condensed milk gives a wonderful smooth texture and delicious flavor. You could also squeeze your heart out to make 3/4 of a cup of Key Lime juice (Key Limes are really small), or an easier option would be to use bottled Key Lime juice. The most popular choice is Nellie & Joe's Famous Key West Lime Juice right from Key West, FL. It has a tarter flavor than regular lime juice. Most specialty grocery stores will carry some form of bottled Key Lime juice.

There are many different recipes for the Key Lime pie lovers, each restaurant in Florida has its own version. The recipe I chose is very simple and very traditional. I actually made it even simplier by using a premade crust. Usually I would definately go for the graham cracker crust, but with Karen's gluten allergy we couldnt do the graham crackers. She was able to find a gluten-free crust however, so she could enjoy some pie. This recipe is out of Nordstrom's Entertaining at Home Cookbook.

Key Lime Pie

Serves 8

Graham Cracker Crust

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted, divided

2 cups graham cracker crumbs (about 25 crackers)

1/2 cup granulated sugar

Key Lime Filling

6 large egg yolks

1 1/2 cans (14 ounces each) sweetened condensed milk

3/4 cup Key Lime juice

Sweetened Whipped Cream

1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract

Lime slices for garnish

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Butter the bottom and sides of a 10 inch pie pan with 1 tbsp of the melted butter.

To make the Graham Cracker Crust, in a bowl, stir together the graham cracker crumbs and sugar. Stir in the remaining 7 tablespoons of butter until the mixture is evenly moistened. Press the crumb mixture firmly onto the bottom and all the way up the sides of the prepared pan. Place in the freezer to chill for about 15 minutes.

To make the Key Lime Filling, in a large bowl, whist the egg yolks until pale yellow and nearly doubled in volume, about 2 minutes. Whisk in the condensed milk and then the lime juice until smooth and thoroughly combined. Carefully our the prepared filling into the crust.

Bake the pie until the top is lightly browned and the filling is softly set, about 25 minutes. Transfer the pie to a wire rack and let cool completely. Cover with plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator for several hours or overnight.

Just before serving, make the Sweetened Whipped Cream. In a large chilled bowl, using an electric mixer set on med-high speed, whip the cream until soft peaks form. Add the powdered sugar and vanilla and whip until cream begins to hold a firm peak.

Slice pie and top with whipped cream and lime slices.

So you may be wondering what we did with the leftover sweetened condensed milk. I'm glad you asked. One of our favorite boat drinks was Rum and Coconut Water. There's actually a great song by the Baha Men (the guys that sing Who Let The Dogs Out), they are actually Bahamian and have lots of fun island songs. One of my favorite songs of theirs goes Gin and Coconut Water, can not get it in America. I prefer rum, so that's how we make it. And you can get this drink in America if you just go to the grocery store and buy some coconut water. Usually in the Hispanic section you can find Goya brand in a can. It's different than coconut milk which is creamy. And make sure its unsweetened. This drink is a popular drink in Trinidad. Although I've never been there, I did manage to get the recipe through the coconut telegraph.

Rum and Coconut Water

2 ounces rum

4 ounces coconut water

1 tbsp sweetened condensed milk

nutmeg

Mix all ingredients together and pour over ice. Top with nutmeg.