Our Florida Vacation - Part 2

So….what a great start to the week we had on our first trip together to South Florida. We got to spend such quality time with family and friends, grillin’ and chillin’.

After a few very action packed days, Caitlin and I decided it was time to have some “couple time.” After saying good-bye to Joel and Ryan and getting a good sleep the night before, Caitlin and I woke up early around 6 am on Tuesday and packed the car to take off for Key West!! The weather was a bit overcast, but we busted through morning rush-hour traffic and were finally out of South Florida and hopping onto US-1 down to the Florida Keys. We needed breakfast and, though I had promised Caitlin that we would have Chick-Fil-A at some point on our trip, all we came across was a Wendy’s for a quick pop-in for breakfast. I got a nicely made egg sandwich and Caitlin got a delicious chicken biscuit with honey butter, which she managed to get all over her nice shirt. We continued on our way taking in the sites, naming each Key aloud as we passed through them, and fantasizing about how great it’d be to have an island as we drove through/by the nearly 1700 islands that make up the Keys.

Outside the Hemingway Home!

 Once we arrived, as is often the case in Key West, the clouds parted and the sky was a beautiful blue again. We went to my usual spot to rent scooters and quickly haggled the attendant down from $110/day or $75/4hrs to $65 for the entire day and free refills on gas. Caitlin and I grabbed our things, locked the car, and were off on our scooter zipping around the island seeing it all the best way. We drove by the beaches, houseboat marinas, the Coast Guard and Air Force bases, and through neighborhoods thinking about what it would be like to be permanent residents of Key West. It was a hot day and we had a few things that we wanted to do, so we drove down the  strip, Duval Street, and I showed Caitlin the places I used to frequent while I was down there playing music at the bar, Irish Kevin’s Bar. We parked the scooter and walked into grab a pair of Kino sandals for Joel, which turned into a pair of Keno’s for all of us by the end. We considered visiting the Mel Fisher Maritime Museum, but decided just to commit to Caitlin’s real interest for the day: the Ernest Hemingway Home (with the 6-toed cats of course). We walked a ways to get down there, sweating in the tropical sun and decided a pre-tour beer was necessary. We stopped into the Green Parrot Bar where I had my usual couple of ice cold beers to Caitlin’s one. We cooled off and enjoyed being in Key West together before venturing back out to explore the Hemingway Home and listen to the amazing stories about such an amazing man. Certainly is always an experience learning about the incredible life that just that one man lived. 

Cooling off at the Green Parrot Bar

Afterwards, we walked back towards the main end of the strip and decided to have another cold beverage. This time we chose Fat Tuesday, which specializes in frozen drinks.  I was anxious for their 190 Octane with a 151 floater! Caitlin decided to go with the slightly less intense Pina Colada, but fortunately, due to some misunderstanding, Caitlin also ordered a 151 floater (test tube of 151 Rum upside down in the drink) and was right there along side of me! We took those drinks to-go (love Key West!) and decided to finally grab something decent to eat. We walked into a local favorite, Hog’s Breath Saloon, and sat down outside under the shade trees and blowing fans. We had a basket of conch fritters and then had a couple of pulled pork sandwiches!! I should confess, however, that lunch did end up being interesting and funny after having drinks with 151 floaters. We snagged Caitlin’s dad a shirt and decided that it was time to get recharged. I had the perfect idea! The hotel next to the scooter rental (and our car) has a wonderful little pool and bar area that on previous trips to Key West I’d sometimes hang out at and I felt confident that we’d be able to do the same this time. We scoped it out, changed into our suits, and were splashing around in the cool refreshing/rejuvenating pool in no time. It was such a welcomed relief from the hot day and

Southernmost point of the US...Mile 0!

completely revived us both. We talked about work and Boston, and after a while changed back into clean clothes so we could go enjoy the famous Key West sunset shows on the boardwalk. We had a mojito and watched a juggler on a unicycle while we waited for the main attraction (aka “the most awkward performance ever”)….The Key West Catman!! We stayed for nearly the whole show and then decided to walk back down to another famous attraction, Sloppy Joe’s. There we sat at the bar for a beer, talked and watched the band play. At one moment I slid a pair of diamond earrings in a box out of my pocket and pushed it in front of Caitlin. She was surprised and seemed quite happy by it all! They looked great on her. From there we went to our final stop, my old stomping grounds and employer, Irish Kevin’s Bar! It was great to be back, but it was so different and most everyone who had been there when I was had moved on as well. I did see an older employee who remembered Tyler and me playing there, so we all chatted for a bit. We also got to watch some of the ridiculous show on stage before hopping back on our scooter for our final ride back to the car and then back to Ft. Lauderdale. It was a long drive home, especially listening to the Heat lose to the Celtics on the radio, but I stayed awake (as Caitlin valiantly tried) and we were home by midnight! What a day…

Hakim makes a new friend

We had planned Wednesday to be a fairly uneventful day, so we got up and had breakfast. Then I offered to treat my mom and Samir (and Caitlin, of course) to an afternoon at Flamingo Gardens. Mom used to take Samir and me when we were younger with our cousins, running around, terrorizing the park. I had a feeling Caitlin would like the visit because it gave a real nice snapshot of Florida in about 3 hours. The first stop was the juice bar to grab fresh squeezed juice and smoothies. We toured the park’s botanical gardens full of local trees/plants/flowers/etc, animal and reptile exhibits featuring gators, panthers, bobcats, otters, and others, an aviary with a birds-of-prey sanctuary, took a guided/narrated tram ride around the park, and visited the historical home of the original owners. From there we went to Beverly Hills Café for a healthy (yet HUGE) salad lunch. This place is famous for their salads and we wanted something light since we’d be grabbing a bite to eat before the Marlins game later that night, these salads were anything but. We then headed home while Mom took Caitlin to get their nails done. My dad came home from work around the same time they got back and we all got ourselves dressed and ready to go to Jersey’s Wings and Raw Bar for some wings/beer before the Marlins game. Though we were all still a bit (or a lot) full from our big salads (reference Seinfeld here), we still found ourselves getting excited by the prospect of the delicious hot dano wings (a combination of buffalo, teriyaki and butter garlic sauces together). We had just enough time to enjoy the meal, and were off to the game at the Marlins’ new stadium where the Miami Orange Bowl used to be. What a sight it was to see…WOW…it’s a massive stadium with the retractable roof, closed that night in fear of inclement weather, and comparable to the inside of a mall. It was comfortably AC’d and the array of foods and drinks that were available was unbelievable. Ceviche and mahi tacos where one would expect hot dogs and chicken tenders to be, though those items were certainly still available. We all watched the game, munched on peanuts, ate cookies and cream ice cream out of a mini helmet, and enjoyed one another. The Marlins were playing the Atlanta Braves and sadly lost, but fortunately we all weren’t very bothered by that. After the game ended, we hopped in the car and decided that it was only appropriate to drive Caitlin over to Miami Beach, through South Beach at night since we were so close. We saw all the art deco hotels and restaurants, Versace’s house, outdoor musicians, fancy cars and the many other movie star style things that go along with Miami.

 

Marlins Stadium

On Thursday, our last full day, Caitlin and I decided to take a nice long drive around to see where I grew up. We went by my elementary school, through the ranches, and over to Everglades Holiday Park to see the gators and look out into the expanse that is the Florida Everglades. I had wanted to grab some gator bites there, but decided that we could just get them when we went to visit Samir at Bass Pro Shop. So from there we went by my old high school, down towards 595 and 95 and over to Bass Pro to see Samir. Caitlin and I chatted with Samir for a bit, wandered around the store, then played some cool hunting and target shooting games before sitting down for a quick bite with Samir during his lunch break. Caitlin and I ordered conch fritters and alligator bites to split and Samir ate the rest of Caitlin’s Beverly Hills Café salad from the day before. From there we headed home, stopping off at Bob Roth's New River Groves on Griffin Road for some fresh juice, little jars of honey for my staff and an award winning key lime pie to have after Caitlin and I made dinner for everyone that night. She and I stopped off at Publix (not for subs this time!) to get our ingredients for the night’s dinner. We prepared a cool cucumber/avocado soup to start, followed by fish tacos with avocado, rice/beans, green onion and picante/salsa and Caitlin’s delicious spicy Asian shrimp with a cool yogurt raita. We sat on the patio and Caitlin served everyone while explaining everything to everyone wonderfully.  We had our soup and then everyone was immediately dug in, making tacos with fish and/or shrimp. We had some beer and wine to accompany it all and enjoyed the meal together. From there, we moved inside to have some key lime pie, said good-bye to Nana and spent the rest of the night watching the Heat beat the Celtics.

Avocado-cucumber soup and fish tacos w/ all the fixings

Finally, Friday had arrived and we were slow to pack up our things, not wanting to leave the great week that we’d spent with everyone. Ian was still in town, so Caitlin and I met up with him for breakfast at Bogart’s Bagels and Samir met us halfway through. After breakfast, we drove over to a local farmers’ market to pick up some things for family and friends back north and then returned home to gather our things and have Samir drive us to the airport. It was an amazing trip and felt so great to show Caitlin South Florida through the eyes of a Floridian, hoping that she would/could appreciate all that it had/has to offer in terms of fun, sun, people, activities and, of course, food and drink!! As we always do, we drank well and ate well and enjoyed the week to the max in between! We’re definitely looking forward to going back again soon!

Our Florida Vacation - Part 1

Well, it has been two weeks since our South Florida vacation. It was an action packed Friday to Friday trip and I don’t think either of us could have hoped for more or even fit more into the busy week we had. We did so much, saw so many people and of course, enjoyed soooo (too) much delicious food!! 

Our meals at Marco

Caitlin got in town Thursday night and I surprised her with dinner at Marco in Boston’s North End. We had a nice late dinner, European style, with a wonderful bottle of montepulciano d'abruzzo (red) wine and we started off with goat cheese stuffed/prosciutto wrapped figs and some calamari. Caitlin then ordered the orecchiette alla salsiccia and I got the tagliatelle alla bolognese. Both dishes were so good and we wrapped up the meal with some sorbet and cheesecake. We enjoyed every bite and every sip of wine as we thought about the next 10 days of vacation together.

Fort Lauderdale beach at twilight

We started the trip by catching a stand-by flight on Jet Blue out of Boston on Friday morning (June 1st). We even got complimentary extra leg room window seats and we were in Fort Lauderdale by lunchtime. For a quick tasty bite we decided it was only appropriate for our first stop before we got home to be Publix for a classic Publix sub. Caitlin got her chicken tender sandwich and I just got good ole turkey. Went home, gave a good round of hugs and kisses and introduced Caitlin to my dad and my parents’ humble abode. We enjoyed our subs on the patio and had a nice dip in the pool while we waited for Samir (and Ian) so we could all go get Joel at the airport around 4:30 pm. Once we got Joel, the weekend was officially initiated and we all met Tim down at the beach for drinks while we waited for others to show up and the party crew to grow. Natasha, Josh, Amy, Jason, Angel, Naomi, Robbie, Rebecca, Mike, and others showed up and we had a nice little wild welcoming evening before the BBQ the next day. 

Setting up the shelter

Saturday’s Reunion Rager, as it was called, was understandably a little slow to start, but once final supplies (i.e. chicken and keg) were secured we headed over to Markham Park and met Gareth to setup the 80 person shelter with all the goodies we had. People slowly started showing up around 11:30 am or so and the BBQ was underway. At one point I looked up to see what looked to be a truck, on fire, plowing down the street. It turns out it was Brandon with his smoker securely fastened to the truck already filled with logs, heated up and smoking. The day was a HUGE success with friends and family from South Florida all in one place enjoying the rainless day, playing horseshoes, ladderball, volleyball, eating, drinking and chatting and laughing it up. We had people from SC, NC, TX, CO, ME, MA and all the regulars from back home. We had a keg and hunch punch, but people brought local craft brews from

Brandon making his entrance with the smokin' smoker

wherever they were traveling from (Caitlin and I had attempted but broke one in our bag before even leaving the apt, so we aborted). Ryan, working at Nantahala Brewing Company brought a plethora of beers, which were enjoyed by all. We had corn on the cob, smoked pork, chicken breasts and thighs, potato/pasta/macaroni/broccoli salad, homemade guacamole made with 20 avocados, stuffed burgers, beer brats, hot dogs, buffalo chicken dip, cakes and cookies. It was truly unbelievable. Needless to say, we all drank and ate very well that day. We even wrapped up the day with a little physical activity to burn some of those calories off…a massive adult and kid combo kickball game!!

Almost the whole gang!

The next day, as if we hadn’t had enough eating and drinking on Saturday, my parents hosted a 61st

Backyard at the family BBQ

birthday party for my aunt and welcome home for Caitlin and me. It turned out that nearly everyone from Saturday decided to show up and we were even able to repurpose some leftovers. My mom had herb roasted chicken legs that were gone in a matter of minutes, beef teriyaki skewers, tilapia with fresh (our own tree) mango salsa, baked beans, salads of all kinds, corn, burgers and dogs and an assortment of desserts. We all splashed around in the pool, nursed our beers after Saturday, and enjoyed all the  food and wonderful company. We relaxed in the grass in the backyard under the tree catching up while we ate and drank -- the day was another wild success.All the friends began to trickle out, as did the aunts/uncles, cousins, etc. and once the remaining group of us (Ian, Ryan, Joel, Samir, Caitlin, Nana, Auntie Beryl) were the ones left…..we busted out the Stone Fox Farm

Enjoying SFFC ice cream

Creamery Ice Cream that had been so graciously sent by Caitlin’s parents via dry-ice-packed cooler. They sent us Bananas Foster, Pistachio, Chocolate, Mango Sorbet and Grapenut…Everyone got a taste, but that is about all that was had because before we knew it we had devoured it. It was all delicious, as it always is. We wrapped up the night at Ian’s just hanging out like old times, feeling good about the weekend. 

Monday was a much easier day, with a slow easy morning picking up Ian, Ryan and Joel at Ian’s and heading over to the West Coast to see Mike, Jamie and the baby, Camden. Of course, we had been eating grillables all weekend so the only thing we all wanted was a Publix sub. We drove across Alligator Alley and by the time we got to Marco Island, we were starved. We snatched up our Publix subs, grabbing one for Mike, and we were on our way to the water. We enjoyed our subs, complimented by Sun Chips and jalapeño Cape Cod chips, with every single bite. Once we were fed we decided not to wait 30 mins before going in the water and instead decided to hop on two fully gassed wave-runners that Mike’s parents so graciously let us use. Caitlin and I on one…..Joel, Ian, Ryan on the other. Haha…such a sight. We enjoyed 3 fun-filled hours of wave running and came back to spend time with Mike’s folks, Jamie and the baby. We were kindly treated to pizza, we all talked for a bit and headed home. Once back on the East Coast (of FL) Caitlin and I said our good-byes to Joel and Ryan who would be leaving on Tuesday.  Luckily, we still had until Friday to continue our adventures!

Cardboard Pete and I wave-running!

Springtime Dining in Maine - Part 2

On Saturday we decided to enjoy the sunny day by getting in a nice hike in Camden Hills State Park, which is about an hour drive from my place. We decided to hike Mount Megunticook from the entrance off Route 52. I believe we hiked up to the Ocean Lookout via the Ridge Trail and then back to Maiden Cliffs along the Jack Williams Trail, but I am not 100% certain of that. It was very windy (no black flies!), but also cool and clear.  It was a really pretty hike and a great way to spend the day.  After hiking down, we drove into Camden to have a little picnic on the grass by the harbor of curried chicken salad sandwiches (my mom's recipe) with grapes and pecans and some brown butter chocolate chip cookies that didn't turn out so great (maybe I'll share the recipe if I ever manage to perfect it...). 



Looking out to the Atlantic from Mount Megunticook



On our way back to Belgrade, we stopped at Uncorked Wine & Cheese shop in Augusta.  This little shop is one of my favorite things about Augusta.  Kim, the proprietress, is lovely and she always offers an interesting and reasonable selection of wines and cheeses to select from. We ended up with a lovely bottle of an Italian red (the variety escapes me at the moment) and some tasty cheese to have before dinner. We also picked up a bottle of St. Peter's Grapefruit Beer from England!

Once home, Hakim set to work marinating the steak tips we had procured for for dinner.  He used a super-secret combination of different sauces, oils, and vinegars from my cabinet, so I will leave it up to him to decide to share his recipe with the world or not. Hopefully he does, because the tips were delicious!

Some ingredients for the Spring Farro Salad

After the meat had marinated for a couple hours, I set to work preparing my Spring Farro Salad inspired by this recipe that I found on FoodGawker.  But before we go any further, let's back up a moment...wtf is farro? Well, farro once fed the greatest military on the planet (at the time), the legions of the Roman Empire! It's a grain (kind of like Spelt), but due to its low yield, many farmers switched to higher yielding grains as time went on. I first encountered farro thanks to my Uncle Jeff, who is the family foodie and oenophile, when he brought it to a gathering (he later gave me a bag of farro as part of my Christmas gift).  I really enjoyed its nutty flavor (so much better than brown rice) and was curious to learn more recipes to use it in, which brings us back to the aforementioned recipe.  I pretty much followed it exactly, except I used Better than Bouillon, omitted the peas (I couldn't find any fresh ones at the supermarket), and used a very small amount of dill (neither of us are particularly fond of it).  It came out splendidly! It was light and refreshing - a perfect side to any spring or summer meal. It'd also be great to bring to cookouts, since it's easy to make ahead (I'd just wait to add the avocado until the day of). 

The delicious result!

In other exciting news, we just purchased tickets to the Food Truck Festival of New England (Charlestown Navy Pier Edition) and we're pumped! Now we just gotta figure out how to get the MobileCone in there next year...

Springtime Dining in Maine - Part 1



Hakim hides behind the pretty tulips he brought me



It may be Monday, but I am still savoring the memory of another excellent weekend. 

We enjoyed a lovely couple of days at the "barn-partment" preparing delicious meals, watching movies, and basking in the sunshine on the deck.  We also got in a nice, albeit windy, hike in Camden Hills State Park. 

This week I thought I'd share with you a couple recipes from the weekend. I am going to do this in 3 parts, just to make it more manageable.

On my way home from work on Friday, I picked up some wild-caught sockeye salmon for dinner.  Hakim was already there waiting for me, so after a glass of wine to unwind, we got to work making some dinner. I found a simple recipe at epicurious for grilled salmon with lime-butter (we decided to broil the salmon on account of the chill in the air).  It turned out beautifully, and I think it's the perfect spring or summer meal.

For two people, you will need:

• salmon filet (we got one that was a little under a pound, which was just right)
• zest from one lime
• 1 garlic clove
• 2 tablespoons lime juice
• salt
• pepper 
• 1/2 a stick of butter, melted

First, make the lime butter. Purée the garlic, lime juice, salt, and pepper in a blender or small food processor until smooth. While it's still running, add melted butter and blend until emulsified (30 seconds). You can also make the lime-butter the night before.



Then, you prepare the salmon. You may choose to grill it, but, as I mentioned before, we broiled the salmon and it came out great!  Hakim drizzled the filet with olive oil and seasoned it liberally with salt and pepper and then popped it into the oven until it was nearly cooked (medium). This probably took about 6-8 minutes.   

The end result!



We removed it from the oven, sprinkled it with the lime zest and basted it with the lime butter, then stuck it back in the oven to finish cooking (about 2-4 minutes).

We then served it with some red potatoes (mashed with the skins on) and a colorful salad with a homemade vinaigrette (honey, dijon mustard, extra virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt & pep). We put on the Whiskeytown Pandora Station, a bottle of pinot noir accompanied the meal, and we finished it off with some of Stone Fox Farm Creamery's refreshing lemon sorbet!

It was a splendid way to kick off a weekend of excellent eats! Recipes for sweet & savory steak tips, a spring farro salad, and light & lemony pancakes will be forthcoming!

A few photos from the past

Just thought I'd share some photos of some our past creations from the kitchen: 

  

 

Making gravy at pre-Thanksgiving 2010.
Hakim later carved the turkey!























 

Banana Stuffed French Toast that I made on one of Hakim's

first visits to Maine



   



Hakim taught me how to make roasted garlic!



 



Hakim, the salmon dinner he made for us,
and a Beck's, of course!





Hakim's Amazing Chicken Legs







 







The spicy shrimp with raita and napa cabbage cole slaw I made
for St. Valentine's Day dinner this year

 



 

Did I mention my family owns an ice cream co.?
Stone Fox Farm Creamery!



 

Stay tuned for more posts about some of our dining experiences, some recipes we've recently tried, upcoming adventures, and more!

A trip to the Boston Speed Dog

Hakim here! So it was St. Patrick’s Day Saturday and my mother had just left Boston after being in town the past week and filling up my fridge. Caitlin had driven down from Augusta the night before after not being able to get out of work early and arrived at my apartment soon after I dropped my mom off at the airport. An relaxing night in on Friday made for an excitable, energetic St. Patty’s morning. And what better way to prepare for the night of revelry ahead than with a Boston Speed Dog? We had a light breakfast, called ahead to make sure they were open (since the last 2 times we’ve been it was either raining and closing or had just closed 10 min. before we arrived), and dropped off my rental car. We drove down Mass. Ave from Central Square, listening to my Irish Planxty Pandora channel to set the mood, convinced that we could already smell the lunch that awaited us. We swerved around potholes as we made our way into the empty lots of the packing and loading docks of Newmarket Square in Roxbury…..and there it was. Open. Speed Dog!!!

Now, Caitlin had been telling me for some time now that I just had to try this hot dog, that it was absolutely out of this world. We pulled up and noticed that there were already some patrons enjoying their lunches. I decided to make a quick bathroom stop on the side of one of the loading docks so that nothing would distract me from what I hoped this hot dog lunch would be like. We walked up and the co-owner, Greg Gale, greeted us with a “Happy St. Patty’s” and a “what can I get ya?” I let Caitlin go first, of course, and she ordered her dog with everything (really the only way to go) including Speed’s special mustard, BBQ sauce, cranberry and onion sweet relish, delicious hot sauce and special chili with no beans (Caitlin does not care for beans). The massive dog is grilled and butterflied before going into a fresh sub roll. We waited for our food and listened to the Irish music blasting out of my jacket pocket while we watched the other patrons sitting on the cement bench alongside the food truck. I watched as each of them awkwardly tried to figure out how to best approach eating the huge, messy hot dog. Despite their difficulty in tackling their dogs, my hunger and excitement continued to grow in anticipation to finally try it!

When Caitlin and I both got our speed dogs (I grabbed a bag of chips), I decided this was an event we needed to genuinely prep for. We walked back to the car, took off our jackets to minimize the garments that could be potentially dragged through the chili and other sauces. Caitlin chose to sit and I chose to stand. We both decided to leave the dog in the paper it was served in and took a sideways approach to pretty much eating off the hand it was resting on. The first bite was unreal….such a good dog, brined in apple cider and brown sugar beforehand, and all the sauces complimented each bite perfectly! Once I started I decided there was no need for drinking, long breaks, or talking….this was just too good. Caitlin took the slow and steady approach as I tore right through mine. I had been worried watching the other patrons earlier because they were asking one another if they were going to finish, causing me to wonder if it’d be that hard for me.

It was not. I finished mine and began to survey the sneaky mess I had somehow created on my sleeves and jacket that I wasn’t even wearing. I then need to decide on a beverage to wash it down: whiskey (for St. Patty’s), Monster (green), or water. I went with the Monster. Poor Caitlin had to fend me off while she valiantly tried to finish her dog. I helped her with the remaining bread and sauce, which was pretty delicious by itself! More people began to arrive and their excitement was apparent. I reflected on how good it was while Caitlin just smiled and enjoyed the beautiful St. Patty’s Day morning before we embarked on the rest of the day. What a great base for drinking, what a great lunch, what a great dog!

The beginning

So we've decided to start a blog to share our culinary adventures with friends and family and the world!  And who are we?  Well, we're Hakim and Caitlin, a couple who find joy in almost all things food-related! 

Here is a little background information on us: 

Hakim hails from sunny South Florida, Fort Lauderdale to be more precise, and found his way to the cold, white North when he landed a job at Harvard Law School.  He has also lived in Washington, D.C., Las Vegas, Indiana, and even spent time living abroad in his father's native Morocco. Fun loving, and always up for an adventure, his humor, enthusiasm and zest for life is infectious! Home-cooked meals, whiskey, and the Florida State Seminoles are three of his favorite things.

Caitlin currently lives in Maine, her native state.  She returned there about a year ago and now works for the Maine House of Representatives. Prior to that she lived in Boston for nearly 7 years where she attended Northeastern University and made some wonderful friends! She also spent a year living in France, developing a taste for Champagne, croissants, and fine chocolat. To balance her love of food (especially food made with butter), Caitlin enjoys training for marathons, downhill skiing, and hiking.  She is also hoping to hit the links (both traditional and disc golf) with Hakim this summer!  

Enjoying poutine and beer in Montreal

Anyway, since the very first time we met on Caitlin's roof-top in late summer of 2010 for a relaxed BBQ session, the shared enjoyment of food has been a major force in our relationship. Along the way we've had so much fun cooking together and for each other, from Hakim's superb fish tacos and frittatas to Caitlin's fluffy buttermilk pancakes and infamous "Caitlin-sagna." And with the help of Yelp, Groupon (and Living Social and Gilt), and pure chance we've also experienced some excellent meals together throughout the Northeast.  This blog will document some of our past adventures and most of those that are to come - we're heading to Florida in June - and we hope you'll enjoy following along!