Da Kine of Place You'll Love

Since I started the new job and the misses started at home training for her new gig, we really haven't had any us time besides the few moments we relax on the couch together before bed. So on the day where we were both off we took advantage of it, I decided to stay out of the house doing this that and the other for as long as possible. We were doing this and that, we were talking about looking for someplace new to eat, this is every time we want to eat out occurrence so nothing new there. I had planned to take her to Pinkberry the night before, but the time at the gym kind of ran over and by the time we were showered and ready to go they had closed. So while out I decided we would get Pinkberry for sure but that doesn't fill you up.

Mid way through our entire day date the misses and I started to get hungry so we started looking for a small (by small I mean non-chain) place to get some good food, We drove by Da Kine and I'm a fan of food trucks, since the idea of food from a truck is sub par, most food truck vendors go above and beyond when it comes to quality food. So I had the Misses urbanspoon it based on the reviews and the fact we were starving and without any other hopefuls in sight we stopped by (and thank god we did).

We get out of the car and you could smell the wonderful aroma of all things great. It's a small food trailer where everything is cooked out of, they have all types of options on the menu, dinner plates, mix and match, samplers, and more. A few different drinks that you can't normally find, so we walked up scanned the menu, placed our order and watch as they cook our food, then take and hand chop the chicken and fill the styrofoam containers completely full.

We got our drinks and I should have got 2, the coconut water with pineapple was the best I have ever had, and I can't find the brand they sell anywhere else in town. The service was great, very quick to get the order ready. Now the seating is small like only one picnic bench under a tent, but what do you expect from a food trailer? So we opted to get it to go and headed down to cypress point park, found a nice spot under a tree for some shade. Then proceeded to open up the containers, the smell again was amazing as we look at 3 types of chicken Sweet Shoyu, Sweet'n'Hot, and Teriyaki.

All three were good, the sweet shoyu had great flavor and was a perfect match with the Sweet'n'Hot, the only complaint was with the teriyaki was a bit salty, more than to be expected. Besides the over dose of sodium the food was great, the chicken was cooked perfectly, not overcooked. We ordered a side of veggies and macaroni salad.

 I have to say that Da Kine has the only macaroni salad I have ever tasted and liked. The veggies were just steamed bag veggies so you can't really mess up on them. I plan to go back if I'm in that neck of the woods again, the food was great but not worth the trek from my house to just get some grub. If you're in that part of town and looking for some good food for a decent price that will not only fill you but give you something to eat later go check out; Da-Kine Hawaiian Café located at 3316 S Dale Mabry Hwy

Tampa, FL 33629 or visit their website at http://www.dakinehc.com/

We also hit up Pinkberry for some frozen yogurt and fresh fruit, then decided we needed to walk off all the food we ate from Da Kine and walked through Westshore mall for a few, over all the day date went well and I enjoy spending time with the Misses as she is the best company I could ask for.

Celebration and a cooter!!!!

So I make ends meet always have, its just in my DNA. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a hustler, and that I've been identified as one at pretty much every job(mainly sales gigs) I've ever had. You can also ask around, I'm the guy that can make a dollar outta 15 cent... So I embrace this and know I will with Gods help make it. So that being said, I've been out of work for a few months, and been doing what I do with help from my amazing wife, who is also unemployed due to a company having no moral code whatsoever, she's better off without them. I would much rather work a full time job, than make money here and there to pay bills. I like a regular paycheck to pay bills and my money I make here and there(all legal may I add) to go and have fun with. I've worked so many B.S. jobs that I could write a book, so to find out I got hired on at a international lending company, with great pay and even better benefits I was thrilled. So my wife decided to apply and not use all of her unemployment benefits, low and behold after weeks of the website glitching every time she tried to contact them her phone rings. After her conversation they wanted her to come in the next day, so we did and everything seemed to go very well......seemed.

So we decided to hit the beach for a lil celebration and relaxation. Out of the blue I sold another electronic cigarette kit so there was a lil extra money so I decided to treat my wife and myself to one of our favorite beach side spots. Plus I wanted an excuse to write another restaurant review style blog. So as we are pulling in the round about off of Clearwater Memorial Causeway I tell the wife to take the second right instead of our normal way to Sand Key Park. She looks puzzled but when she ask why I think she had already answered her own question, but I told her anyway.... We're going to Cooters to celebrate before we hit the beach for the rest of the day.

 We get there right in the middle of happy hour (from 3-6 daily), so after navigating their rather small and packed parking lot. We walk up on their wood deck and are greeted right away. We decided to sit on there deck, the weather was perfect and a great breeze was coming off the gulf. We meet our waitress and place our drink order, and since its happy hour they have .50 raw oysters (on of my favorite foods).

When our drinks come I place an order for some oysters, and we start to look at their daily specials and browse the menu. We wanted something filling but light enough we could go straight to the beach and not feel to full. So the oysters come and were amazing nothing new here.

We decide, order some sandwiches, the Misses went for their Fisherman's Ruben and I chose their Philly Cheese Steak. We finish off the oysters and take in the scenery (not an inch of wall is uncovered).

The food comes and smells amazing, then the wife has a moment of greatness and suggest we trade half of our sandwiches of course!!! (I was feeling a bit down about not ordering seafood as an entree this close to the beach, so she solved that.) This Fisherman's Ruben was perfect, just like a ruben minus the corned beef and add blackened mahi, my Cheese Steak had the right amount of peppers, shrooms and onions to complement the rib eye. So good I almost forgot to take pictures.

We chow down and swap thoughts on each others choice of sandwich and ponder what to eat next time we come back. After we finish our plate...well baskets... We decide there's room for dessert and since its Florida we opt for Key Lime Pie. We get our Pie and its placed on top of this green sauce so the wife has to taste it to see what it is.....gotta love her always up to be a guinea pig. Turns out it was a Key Lime sauce/gel, that complemented the pie rather nicely. The pie was good, not enough key lime taste for me, tasted more like a key lime cheesecake of sorts, but it completed the meal great.

We get the check this place has amazing food, but it's even better if you're on a budget! So we tip and head to the car, with sand and salt water on the mind.

If you're looking for a great west cost beach side spot that's great on the taste buds and even better on the wallet be sure to check out; Cooters at 423 Poinsettia Ave. Clearwater Beach, FL 33767

http://www.cooters.com/

Plus its just a stones throw away from one of our favorite beaches located at Sand Key Park. We hit the beach after feeding the meter, find a spot on a rather empty beach(just the way we like it).  We walk the beach for awhile, noticing a wedding taking place down on the far end. So that spun off talks of ideas for our vow renewals and such. Then we get back to our spot and head into the water. It was nice luke warm water, after chilling in the waves for a bit, we decide to go relax on shore. And relax is what we did, it was so peaceful just laying on the shore with the love of my life by my side it was truly a gift from God. We just laid there for over a hour or more, then some tourist plop down about 20 or 30 feet from us, which is no big deal. Being born or living in Florida for any given time you get use to a few things; Tourist, Snowbirds, Lovebugs, Mosquitoes, and a thousand other annoying things we deal with to live in paradise. The only issue we had with the tourist after they entertained us with all their picture taking and amazement of the surroundings. Then they start to feed the seagulls and if you've ever did this you soon realize what a mistake you just made. What seemed like every seagull on the beach was flying over us and to them. They keep feeding them to get more pictures, and keep feeding them and keep feeding them...it didn't stop...

 Then the seagulls start to hover and me not wanting to have to shoot a bird for dropping a deuce on me and the lady. We decide to call the day quits, so thank you annoying tourist for making us miss the sunset and ruining the mood and flow of a great florida day. But we live here so enjoy your trip, this is our backyard! That alone makes me okay with them doing what tourist do. We head back home shower up and enjoy our night...

Well enough of my rambles that started out  as a restaurant review. See you never know with me...   P.S. To my lady, I love you!

For the love of waves & BBQ

So a few weeks back we ventured across the state, well not really ventured since we have made the trip time and time again. Plus it’s the coast I was born on and where God lead me to the love of my life. Back to the story we decided to head to Cocoa beach instead of going straight to my hometown.

Although we have some of the worlds most beautiful beaches here in the Tampa Bay area, the main reason to go to Cocoa beach is the waves, if you have ever visited a Gulf coast beach you know its rather flat and to an Atlantic coast born soul like me when I go to the beach I expect nice borderline knock you down size waves. So we made plans to get there around noon spend some time on the beach and then find some place to get some grub and head down to our original destination. We arrive at the beach late, and if you know me this is a regular occurrence.... Ha.

So we get out on the beach and quickly remember its spring break season so it’s packed. We find a nice spot to set up and rub each other down with some SPF 50 (gotta protect the tattoos and the kiddies). The misses is not really in a beach mood (cause aunt flow) she said she didn't want to attract sharks, so she was nominated to hold down the fort, while us boys head to the ocean. We hit the water and realized the marine forecast was a tad bit off on the water temp, but we forge on in and get use to the water rather quickly. The waves were decent when we got there but picked up as the day went on. Of course we get the random fish swimming between our legs, my oldest swears a snake swam around his leg and wrapped around one, I still say it was seaweed. Then I feel a small mouth with what felt like tiny little teeth try and take my baby toe from me, but my cat like reflexes let me keep the toe... but the father and his two daughters that were playing in the water about 20 feet from us didn't get as lucky. The wife says she heard them talking (they were seated near us to) after the dad carried one of the girls to shore with blood running down her face, saying a fish had bit her eyebrow then they ran to doctor her up in the bathroom and we didn't see them the rest of the day (hope all is well with her). So me and my boys play in the waves a little more, then went to dry off a bit on shore. We talk about our dinner plans and since we don't go to chain restaurants I had a few places in mind we decided on a beach side BBQ joint.

Then back to the water we go, we have to deal with what feels like even colder water this time but the waves are twice as big as when we got out. We get a decent way out and we start to dive through some waves and then body surf back to shore. After a few times of doing this and being at the beach for a few hours we decided to head back to shore and go get changed for dinner. After drying off and tossing on some clothes we head to our dinner spot "Slow & Low BBQ" home of the 6lb Joel's Crazy pork sandwich.

 We get there and let the kids pick where we sit so out on the patio we go, and the place is packed so this is a good sign.

We get seated at a nice table by the bar and we all dive into the menu's; deciding on their BBQ nachos for our appetizer, I see a cup of Brunswick stew on their menu and after watching an episode of Diners, Drive inns, & Dives with this stew in it I wanted to try some as soon as I came across it. What luck the very next time we go out to eat there it is staring at me on the menu. While we all pick and choose what we want for our entree and sides our nachos come and we are ready to order..... My oldest gets their "Big Brat" sandwich, the youngest of the group got a hamburger, the Misses got the normal sized "Joel's Crazy pork sandwich on garlic Texas toast, I went with a Blacken Mahi Mahi sandwich and of course a cup of Brunswick stew.

Our awesome waitress takes the menus and we dig into these amazing nachos that are topped with pulled pork, fried jalapenos, and all your favorite nacho toppings. They were delicious and the perfect start to an amazing dinner. After we finish off the nachos she brings out the stew, which was absolutely fantastic (be on the look out for my version coming soon!). We relax and reflect on the day as we wait for dinner, and talk about service the food came quick and hot. We all get our food, the big brat was huge and from the time it took my son to inhale it I'm guessing it was quite tasty, my wife's sandwich was piled high, the youngest was delivered a great looking burger and curly fries, and my Mahi was blacked perfectly! Although I didn't get pictures of the food (a mistake I won't make again) it all looked great. The table was pretty silent except for the occasional can you pass this or that for the next few minutes which is always a good thing when eating. We all are pretty close to being finished, and the question of dessert comes up, everyone is a little worried that by the time they finish dinner their won't be room.... but me being me I had looked at the menu on the drive over (via: urbanspoon blackberry app) and was already set on getting their fried banana sundae. The misses and I decided to share our dessert (trying to eat healthier), each of the boys get their own, one with a peanut butter pie and the other with a chocolate oreo cookie cake. I can say that when the fried banana sundae came to the table I was amazed they also did half caramel and half chocolate for us, they sat the oreo cake in front of the youngest his eyes grew wide, the peanut pie was inhaled as fast as it was sat down so I didn't get a sample, but this oreo cake was the choice of the slowest eater I know(which is fine by me I like to take my time as well) so I got a bite and as it was tasty, their cake couldn't hold a candle next to my wife's homemade chocolate cupcakes (check her out at http://www.electriccupcakes.com/), the cake was a bit dry and flavorless but the kid didn't seem to mind to much. We finished off our dessert and waited for the youngest but he opted for a box to take the rest home in, they both begged for the cherries we had placed atop our sundae, so they each got one and I paid the tab left a good tip and as we all stood up it became all to knowledgeable that we ate WAY too much but it was so worth it.

So if you're ever in Cocoa Beach and hungry be sure to stop at Slow and Low BBQ at 306 N Orlando ave Cocoa Beach 32931, check their site http://www.slowandlowbarbeque.com/ for specials and more. Great atmosphere, even better food, perfect pricing, and awesome service!

While there I was inspired to make a BBQ ranch spinach and cabbage salad with BBQ Chicken. Here's that recipe for those of you who like a quick and easy dinner this is another one. It’s close to my southern BBQ shrimp but tastes so different you could eat them back to back and not grow tired. So try it for yourself……

Here’s the recipe;

BBQ Ranch Spinach and Cabbage Salad (with bbq chicken)

Pinch of each Rosemary, Sea salt, old bay, paprika, basil, and minced onion

8 Grinds fresh black pepper

½ ts liquid smoke

1 ts Worcestershire sauce

Splash of Red wine

Water to cover

Boil chicken

Sauce:

1 ¾ tbls Ranch

¾ tbls Mayo

Few drops hot sauce

1 tbls Garlic

½ tbls Dijon

1 ½ tbls Horseradish

Pinch Old bay

40 Grinds black pepper

Pinch Paprika

Pinch Cayenne pepper

½ ts Basil

½ ts Parsley

½ tbls BBQ sauce

Salad:

Spinach

Cole slaw mix

Sprinkle of your favorite Italian cheese

Croutons to top

Eat and Enjoy!!