Key West–Part 3 and Quick Biscuits

I am not going to lie – coming back to our frigid temps would make me pull out my camera and scroll through all the pictures of walking outside in tank tops and wearing sandals.  Part of me wanted to wear sandals to work last Wednesday, but it was super cold, and I would have to walk through snow.  Hoping that our weather near the 50s this week will melt the remaining ugly ass snow we have on the ground.

We ended up driving one Key up to Big Pine Key – the weather could not have been more perfect.

We were laughing so hard because we kept trying to get a selfie of all of us – I love how the top right one it’s just mainly me!  I also used picmonkey to whiten my teeth!  My cousin was trying to get a shot, and I knew I was going to make a face – it looks like I am 12 years old in this picture and I love how long my arms look!  I burst out laughing every time I see this picture!

We were starting to get hungry, so I pulled out my iPhone and searched for restaurants near where we were driving.  Up popped Kiki’s Sandbar – my nickname for my cousin Karen is Kiki, so I made an executive decision that’s where we were going to eat.

We sat next to the window, an amazing breeze was blowing in and come on – look at that view!  And I love a place that will do a medium rare burger – so flavorful and juicy.  I think my brother and sister just threw up in their mouth seeing that picture.  No idea how we all grew up in the same house and I am 99% sure neither one of them would eat that rare of a burger.

We walked to dinner that night to meet my cousin and his wife for dinner.  He suggested New York Pasta Garden.  We had some time to kill so we walked up and down Duval street.  Love how everything was basically within walking distance of the condo.  Um, can’t you just see my Mom’s face is saying “yes, Biz is my favorite!”

The server somehow “offered” us one of her favorite appetizers at no charge.  Holy balls, I need to figure out how to recreate this – it was artichoke fritters drizzled with their lemon, terragon, white wine and butter sauce.  My mom isn’t even a true fan of artichokes but loved these!

My entrée was penne pasta with a spicy red sauce – it was delicious, but I probably only ate about 1/3 of it – um, I may have had a few of those fritters!

And guess what?  I wore a dress!  Yep, that is correct.  I bought this for $2.99 at Goodwill before we left.  It was a little low cut, so I just paired it with a purple tank underneath.  Probably the first time in 10 years I’ve put on a dress!

Tomorrow I’ll post about my favorite day – kayaking!   I need to spread the Key West pics out.

Hannah’s birthday was Saturday and she requested that I make one of her favorite restaurant breakfasts:  biscuits and sausage gravy.   I adapted this recipe for the biscuits.   I used almond milk because that’s what I had on hand, I mixed it all in the food processor, and my trick for flakey anything is to shred frozen butter.  Her recipe also made six giant biscuits, mine were still very fluffy and I got 10 biscuits out of my dough.

• 2.25 cups flour
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/3 cup frozen butter, shredded
• 1 cup cold milk (I used almond milk)

Heat oven to 450.  Mix the flour, salt, sugar and baking powder and pulse in food processor.  Shred the frozen butter and using a bench scraper put the butter in the food processor and pulse until the butter pieces are the size of small peas.  With the food processor running, add milk and mix just until combined and the dough pulls away from the bowl.  Put on a lightly floured counter, roll out to your desired thickness and cut using a 2 inch biscuit cutter.  Place on Pam sprayed baking sheet.  Bake for 8-10 minutes.  Mine took exactly 8 minutes.

I used this recipe for the sausage gravy, except I cut the recipe in half.  I don’t think sausage gravy reheats very well.  It was a delicious start to the day!   We got Hannah a Fit Bit (yes!), a new iPhone, gift cards and a bunch of small stuff.  Since she was going to be doing Chinese food with Jacob’s family later that night, she opted for Mexican for lunch – good call Hannah!

Tony and I have been to this place over a dozen times, and it’s always amazeballs – Las Cazuelitas is an authentic Mexican restaurant, not an “Americanized” Mexican restaurant if you know what I mean.  They sell whole fish, Jacob LOVED their enchiladas with mole sauce, and I got my standard – one pork carnita taco with lots of cilantro, and a beef taco with lettuce and tomato with a side of rice and beans.  People this is so good and so cheap!  Each taco is $1.79 and each side was only $1.50!  I could swim in their refried beans it’s so creamy.  Their creamy tomatillo salsa is also so flavorful and spicy.

As the server was bringing us the check I casually mentioned “it’s Hannah’s birthday!” and pointed to her.  I like embarrassing her in public!  They brought a tres leches cake to share – so nice!

I hope she had a great birthday! It’s just weird because I was 23 years old when I had Hannah (okay, well – a few weeks before turning 24!) and it’s just so weird that my daughter is that old already!  I still have 3 years before I turn 50 – so I am still considering myself young!

I have more recipes to share later this week – I was Bizzy in my Kitchen yesterday!  Homemade flour tortillas, blueberry muffins,  a new granola recipe, pork carnitas – good stuff I can’t wait to share.

Hope you had a great weekend – what was your highlight?  Make it a great day!