Chillounge Sat. night in St. Petersburg!

Looking for something to do on Saturday night? Check this out. It looks super fun, with lots of good local restaurant participating.

Dinner and a movie at CinéBistro

But do these two great tastes taste great together?... By Brian Ries Dinner and a movie -- it's an icon, the foundation of millions of date-nights every year, for romantic folks and platonic buds ranging in age from 12 to 96. Movie theaters and restaurants have existed for years in this symbiotic relationship, each gaining an advantage from the classic partnership. Why fuck with a good thing? Oh, people have tried to combine the two entertainment options into one unholy whole, with results that reflect the trials and tribulations of Dr. Frankenstein.

Oh No, Foiled Again

A couple of weeks ago, I was out working in our back garden, cleaning out around our pineapple plants and trimming back some of the sun scorched flowers. When I got to the first pineapple plant we had planted, I thought that it is probably time to dig it out. It had all ready produced three wonderful sweet fruits, and I had read somewhere that the plant usually only produces twice and then starts to degrade, so I figured it was finished and time to be retired. I went over to give one last look and to my amazement, I was foiled again, it has not one but two crowns just starting to come out of the leaves, TWINS. Over the next couple weeks I kept my eye on the twins, wondering if the fruit would mature or not. One of our other older plants did produce a pygmy pineapple that we were not able to enjoy, as it was all core. Last Friday I picked one and chunked it up for a snack, boy was it sweet! I picked the other twin earlier this week, but wanted to try something different with it. I remembered an Old Bay recipe, Pineapple Shrimp Pyramids. What a perfect appetizer to go with our beef kabobs! I used my Vacuvin Pineapple Slicer which produced perfect slices, check out my October 22nd post on how to use it.









I placed my fresh pineapple slices in the center of the 4 pieces of foil, arranged 5 shrimp on top of each pineapple slice, sprinkled each with 1/2 teaspoon OLD BAY, 1 tablespoon red bell pepper and 1 tablespoon brown sugar. I topped each with 1 tablespoon butter. The the directions said to "Bring the corners of the foil together up over each serving and twist to close, so that each packet resembles a large pyramid" I was foiled again, I do not have a flair for making pyramids, no matter what I tried, mine looked like large Hershey Kisses. Oh well, I love kisses!

Instead of putting them in the oven, I thought I would try them on the grill since I already had it going cooking the kabobs and potatoes (also in foil). Grilled pineapple is so wonderful and I love grilled shrimp so how could this be anything but delish, and it was! Below is the recipe off Old Bay's website, I used fresh pineapple, and only 5 shrimp as I was serving them with beef kabobs and cooked them on the grill for about 15 minutes.

Pineapple Shrimp Pyramids from OLD BAY®

Ingredients

1 can (16 ounces) pineapple slices, drained
1 1/2 pounds medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
3 teaspoons OLD BAY® Seasoning, divided
6 tablespoons red bell pepper, finely chopped, divided
6 tablespoons brown sugar, divided
6 tablespoons butter, divided
aluminum foil

Directions

Preheat oven to 350° F. Cut 6 strips aluminum foil, each 12 inches long. Place one pineapple slice in the middle of each piece of aluminum foil. Arrange 6 to 8 shrimp on top of each pineapple slice, each sprinkled with 1/2 teaspoon OLD BAY. Add 1 tablespoon red bell pepper and 1 tablespoon brown sugar to each. Top each with 1 tablespoon butter.

Bring the corners of the foil together up over each serving and twist to close, so that each packet resembles a large pyramid. Place packets on baking sheet.

Bake 20 minutes or until shrimp turn pink. Serve with great flourish!

Restaurants open on Thanksgiving Day plan special meals

Not up for cooking your own Thanksgiving dinner? The following local restaurants are offering special holiday meals on Thursday.

Cooking In Memory Of Jerome [Chefs Come Together For ‘A Night Of Extreme Taste’]

Unless you ate or worked at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Washington, D.C., you probably have never heard of Jérôme Girardot. The respected pastry chef was known for his quiet nature and his…

Gather, all ye plant and herb lovers

YO! That's Fun Sushi

I never really planned on eating sushi in London. It doesn't seem like a city where you would get great sushi.

But then all of the sudden YO! Sushi came roaring into my eating life and let me tell you I couldn't be happier about it.

YO! Sushi first caught my attention when I walked by their restaurant one evening. I looked through the window and little plates of sushi were being carried around on belts all through the restaurant. The customers were sitting in front of the moving belts of sushi and just pulling them off and eating them.....at first glance it looked extremely odd.

After about 5 minutes of gazing through the window I decided this hip restaurant must be worth a try. Upon walking in, the host seated us on one side of the moving sushi belt and explained how the process worked.

All of the sushi plates on the moving belt are each on different colored tiny plates. Each plate represents a different price, starting at about $2 and going up to $6 (I'm rounding based on a conversion from pounds to dollars). You're given a menu that has an image of everything YO!Sushi serves with a description...so as the plates come around you can look it up in the menu and decide if you want it.

I must say....I never had any idea that sushi could be so much fun. Throughout the entire evening we would pull plates off the belt, flip through the menu, decide if we wanted it and if not we would put it back on the belt (not sure if you're suppose to do this or not).

In the middle of the moving belt is an open kitchen with two chefs preparing more sushi and placing it on plates and then onto the moving belt. The atmosphere is fresh, hip and a whole lot of fun.

Aside from the exciting experience, the sushi is unbelievable. With all of the variety you get a combination of any type of sushi that you want, plus tuna, squid, salads, soups and desserts....all moving around the belt in the restaurant. The YO sushi roll was probably my favorite (salmon, avocado, mayonnaise, and masago (fish roe). The Chocolate Raspberry Truffle is extremely tasty as well.

So here's the really really really bad news. YO! Sushi doesn't have a single location in America. This means that you have a few choices.

1. Hire a sushi chef and build a moving belt in your house to enjoy fun sushi at home.
2. Eat sushi at normal sushi restaurants and fantasize about YO! Sushi while you're eating your far inferior and boring sushi.
3. Go to London and eat at YO! Sushi.

If you can afford it, option 1 is obviously the best. However, I strongly recommend that you choose option 3 and somehow get yourself to London to eat at YO! Sushi. If you live in the UK and you're reading this, I hate you and I'm jealous that you get YO! Sushi all the time.

YO! Sushi....it's flippin awesome.