Category: Food/Restaurants

Night of Lights Sail

Debbie Roney Smith on

Take a fun day-trip to St. Augustine this Sunday for a special event held by St. Augustine Sailing. The Hop On, Hop Off: Night of Lights Sail is a one night only event that allows guests to enjoy one-hour cruises along St. Augustine’s bayfront in a luxury yacht.

Guests will be able to reserve spots on the yachts; they will leave every 15mins starts at 4:45pm. Each cruise includes a spectacular view of the city’s millions of lights, a waterfront BBQ feast, and live entertainment from local muisician Rob Peck. The BBQ feast will be held at the Camachee Cove Marina Patio Deck. Come enjoy the last weekend of the Night of Lights spectacular with this special cruise event! Tickets range from $69.00 for children under 5 to $149.00 for adults. For tickets, go here.

Amelia Island: Closing Restaurant Week

Debbie Roney Smith on

Amelia Island Restaurant Week closes with a Celebration of the Sea at the Coast Restaurant. Located at the Ritz-Carlton, the closing celebration will be held on Sunday, January 30th. The reception starts promptly at 6pm EST, and a lavish dinner will be served after. The meal will feature a buffet that includes chilled seafood, sushi, shrimp and grits, scallops with pork belly, chicken and waffles, and mini-crab cakes. Dinner closes with a delectable array of dessert specialties. The cost is $125 per person and includes a service charge and wine service. 

Register online at the Amelia Island Restaurant Week website. 

Butts & Clucks Cook-Off

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The 2022 Butts & Clucks Cook-off on the Bay, sanctioned by the Florida BBQ Association, will be held today and tomorrow. The event will be held in Battery Park in Apalachicola. With over $12,000 in prizes to be awarded and delicious food to be enjoyed, this two-day event is sure to make a fun weekend. There will be a Shut up and Shuck party, judges, and a Deviled Egg contest on Saturday the 22nd. Visit the official event webpage to learn more. 

Amelia Island: Sip & Shop

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Amelia Island Restaurant Week is underway! This Friday, January 21st, Amelia Island is hosting Sip & Shop at more than 20 downtown retail shop locations. Presented by Fernandina Beach Main Street, Sip & Shop attendees will receive an insulated wine cup, wristband, and a map to the shop locations participating in the event. The event will be held in Downtown Fernandina Beach from 4-7pm. There are two occasions for registration: online registration that ends at 8pm on January 20th, and in person registration at the Pocket Park starting at 4pm the day of the event.

Support our local businesses by shopping local, sipping local, and eating local during the 3rd Annual Sip & Shop! 

Amelia Island Restaurant Week

Debbie Roney Smith on

Amelia Island’s Restaurant Week kicks off this week. Celebrate the new year and this year’s Restaurant Week with a reception and 5-course dinner at the Omni Amelia Island Resort. The dinner will be held on January 20th at 6pm at the Sunrise Café. Tickets are $99 a person (includes tax and gratuity). The 5-course meal is designed to give participants a glimpse into a day in the life of an Amelia Island fisherman with themed courses. Visit the Amelia Island website to reserve your spot today!

Oyster Cook-Off

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The annual Apalachiocola Oyster Cook-off is back! The cook-off and related activities benefit the Apalachicola Volunteer Fire Department and will be held in downtown Historic Apalachicola at Riverfront Park. The cook-off event features a silent auction, oysters galore, shrimp, smoked mullet, hot dogs, hamburgers, local beer, live music, kids’ activities, dancing performances, and a 5K run! Additionally, well-behaved dogs on a leash are welcome. Learn more at the Oyster Cook-off website or the Facebook event page. Tomorrow, Saturday the 15th, events begin at 8am with the 5K run while the cook-off runs from 12-5pm.

Damayan Garden Project

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Damayan is a non-profit located in Tallahassee that works to provide schoolyards, community centers, and low-income housing communities with the necessary materials to establish raised-bed vegetable gardens. The Damayan Garden Project is a volunteer organization that relies heavily on donation-based support from the community. It is run by gardeners, educators, and volunteers who want to help enchance the quality of life in their community by fostering opprotunities for fresh produce, gardening experience, and a healthy relationship with food and community. If you would like to volunteer your time, the organization has numerous opprotunities including new garden installations, weekly garden assistant, social media coordinator, and more! Visit their website for more information. 

Pensacola Mardi Gras Ball

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This evening is the Pensacola Mardi Gras Kick-Off, and tomorrow is the Krewe of Priscus Inaugural Mardi Gras Ball. While the Kick-off is free, the ball is $65 per person. The ball promises to be a night of glitz and glam with food, an open bar, and music provided by the local bad Horseshoe Kitty. There will also be a cash shot bar for charity. The ball will be held at the Court of Deluna Event Space in Pensacola from 7:30 PM – 11:30 PM.

 

Mardi Gras Kick-Off Event

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The 11th annual Pensacola Mardi Gras starts tomorrow! There will be a special Mardi Gras Kick-Off Event held tomorrow, January 7th, in Seville Quarter at 5 PM. The floats will be parked on Jefferson St. south of Romana St. all the way down to Zarragossa, and Government Street between Palafox and Tarragona Streets. The event will feature the unveiling of the float themes and a blessing ceremony for each float. Learn more about the kick-off on the PMG website, and stay tuned for more posts on this year’s Pensacola Mardi Gras.

Lucky New Year’s Food Traditions

Debbie Roney Smith on

Food is an important part of New Year’s traditions. Listed below are some lucky dishes traditionally eaten around the New Year to bring good fortune in the year to come.

Hoppin’ John: a Southern menu staple originating from the enslaved Africans in the South Carolina Low Country. It is a mix of black-eyed peas, rice, and pork. The black-eyed peas shape to coins, the greens signify money, and the cornbread stands for gold.

King Cake: traditionally eaten on January 6th (i.e. Twelfth Night, Epiphany), the King Cake is a Louisianane favorite. It is a sweet ringed king cake topped with colorful icing and sprinkles; it is baked with a trinket hidden inside. The lucky person who finds the trinket is named “king” or “queen” for the day.

Tamales: bundles of masa stuffed with meat, wrapped in corn husks and steamed. They arrived in Los Angeles and San Antonio in the 1870s. They were sold by steet vendors from Mexico, and have since come to symbolize family as generations historically gather in the kitchen to make the labor-intensive food. 

Toshikoshi Soba: a soup with buckwheat “year-crossing” noodles. Soba is a New Year’s Eve tradition in Japan and is now practiced in the U.S. The long, thin noodles symbolize a long, healthy life, and date back to the 13th or 14th century, “when either a temple or a wealthy lord decided to treat the hungry populace to soba noodles on the last day of the year.”1

Grapes: las doce uvas de la suerta is a Spanish tradition also known as the 12 lucky grapes. The tradition holds that eating 12 grapes at the stroke of midnight—one for each chime of the clock—will bring good luck in the coming year. According to the superstition, failing to finish all 12 in time will mean misfortune in the year to come.

Lentils: an Italian New Year’s Eve feast favorite. Round and shaped like a coin, they’re a symbol of prosperity. Lentils are often served with pork sausage. 

Pork and Sauerkraut: a savorful, slow-cooked favorite for those in Pennsylvania and Ohio. The dish is said to bring good luck and progress; pigs are known to root forward and sauerkraut is made with cabbage, which symbolizes riches, prosperity, and a long life. It is a Germanic tradition that was brought to the U.S. by the Pennsylvania Dutch.