Osteria Del Teatro is a MUST

You find perfection when you find Osteria del Teatro at the corner of Washington and 3^rd in South Beach. Miami has a gazillion restaurants, but Osteria is THE BEST.

Last night was not my first time dining here and it sure won’t be my last. The large menu pulls you in, the service and food in what lingers in your mind. Osteria del Teatro knows northern Italian food like no other restaurant that I have ever been to. Over the years I have tried many of their dishes and they are all sublime. Seasonings are subtle which keeps the pasta dishes light, yet the appetizer I had (layered Maine lobster, mango, arugula and avocado) had a bright bold dressing. Delicious and often a special of the day.

I ordered (can’t remember the Italian name) pappardelle pasta sautéed with crabmeat in a light vodka sauce, and my hubby had the Sea Bass. We ate as umms came with every bite. You know, that involuntary noise that slips from your throat as good food passes it. Absolute perfection.

The maître de, Gilbert, was very welcoming and gave us a nice window table. I am an avid people watcher and this restaurant is the perfect spot to see the most unique collection of people walking the streets of South Beach. He chatted with us as a waiter brought our menus and water. Our server, Carlos, who has been there for over 25 years was attentive and friendly. Gilbert recommended a wine for Jim and stopped by the table several times. As people would come in, Gilbert remembered the names of many of them, and I half expected to see someone famous come in (Billy Joel is a frequent guest, as is the mayor), but it wasn’t to be.

I can't give Osteria anything but a five-star rating. If you are in South Beach you should definitely should give this gem a try. Off season you might not need a reservation if you dine early, but you should get one just in case. There is valet parking right in the front.

Website: www.osteriadelteatro.miami/

Sole' Cafe in Jupiter

We had been on the beach  all day and by the time we got home, we were starving.Jim had picked up a menu from the Sole' Cafe a few days ago and it looked like it was time to use it. We both wanted pizza,but there were so many yummy listings on the menu it was difficult to choose just one.

Their menu choices include the usual pepperoni, sausage or plain cheese, but also grilled veggie pizza, spinach and artichoke, greek, and portobello pizzas. Then it gets real interesting with a BBQ Chicken pizza, Potato Chicken pie, Shrimp Pesto pizza, Sole' pizza (grilled eggplant, mozzarella, fresh spinach, diced tomatoes, red onion, sliced mushrooms, gorgonzola and their own balsamic dressing) and the one we chose was their Tostada Pizza, which was a good meld of tastes and texture. The crust was topped with black bean spread, cheddar and mozzarella, then a mixture of shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes, red onions, black olives topped with ranch dressing. This was a take-out order and I was wondering if the items that should be cold (lettuce and tomatoes).

When I went to pick it up, I was instantly greeted by a friendly woman who guessed correctly I was there for pizza takeout. The atmosphere was great, the food smells were incredible and the air conditioning felt wonderful on such a hot day. My pizza came out with a small bag on top, which I assumed correctly was the lettuce mixture.

There was nothing dainty about the way we dove into that pizza. It was absolutely delicious and the hot/cold contrasts made this pizza a real winner.

They also homemade soups, salads, sandwiches and roll-ups, and serve beer, wine, soda, juice and water. There is seating inside as well as outside.

Sole' Cafe is located at Bluff Square Shoppes, 4300 S. US Highway 1 in Jupiter, Florida. Their phone number is 561-626-0575.

Cabo Flats is a Winner!

I am just loving spending the winter in Jupiter Florida. I honestly cannot come up with a bad thing about this lovely city. We've eaten at a number of restaurants here and I have to say Cabo Flats rocks!

For one thing, it's very easy to find as it is right on Route 1 and has plenty of parking.  We went for lunch and were very pleasantly surprised with the decor, the service and especially the food. There is a very cool looking circle of sofas on a covered veranda with a great fire feature in the center. That would be a great spot to mingle with friends and discover a few of their long list of Tequilas available.

I ordered the sizzling beef fajitas and my husband ordered a beef burrito which was good but needed a bit more beef. My fajitas were outstanding and I was sad that I couldn't eat it all. If I had been able to eat it all, I probably would have burned my tongue on the sizzling platter.

It was slightly pricey, but it was well worth it. We are here for three more weeks and chances are, I'm going to have to go try something else to see it the whole menu is good. Go find out for yourself and I believe you'll find out Cabo Flats is indeed a winner.

The Nor'Easter Restaurant

The Nor'Easter Restaurant in Dover-Foxcroft is a great lunch spot. The decor is nothing fancy, but it is neat and tidy, the service is great, and so is the food.

My daughter, now 15 weeks pregnant and finally not tossing her cookies all the time, has just been dying to eat real food. With her last three pregnancies I used to take her out for lunch once in awhile and she swears it's the reason she has three healthy girls. We aren't taking any chances on this one, so at least once a month we'll go out.

I had one of their specials, Coconut Shrimp, which was served with cole slaw and french fries. Everything came out of the kitchen hot and delicious. They served an orange aoli with the shrimp which was very tasty. My daughter had a fried haddock sandwich, which she declared to be one of the best she had ever eaten. I know her to be a fried haddock lover, so she knows her stuff. Her sandwich came served with potato chips which she couldn't eat because she had just had a tooth pulled the day before.

They have a good menu; something for everyone. They do have a full bar, and are open for breakfast lunch and dinner and are located right across from the post office at 44 North Street.

You'll see many locals here and if you happen to start up a conversation, you'll have a new friend.

Choo-Choo! All Aboard!

A new restaurant, All Aboard, opened in Dexter last year and I've been there a few times; enough that I feel like I can accurately and honestly give an opinion of it.

The tried hard on the decor; there are train tracks right behind the place, but they were pulled up years ago and a recreational trail was put in. The ATV-ers, bikers, and dog walkers love that trail that runs for miles and miles between all the surrounding towns.

The interior is train themed, and they have done a good job of collecting old photos of trains, and the decor has miscellaneous train stuff all around. I'm happy to say it didn't do what some places do and have an annoying miniature train running on a track by the ceiling in every damn room.

The menu is good, offering several choices of Maine seafood, pasta dishes, dishes for the kiddos and offer steaks, chicken and pork. I chose the Almondine Shrimp which was perfection. The linguini was al dente and the sauce was a rich brown butter sauce, My husband kept swiping my pasta thinking I couldn't eat that much, but I fooled him. I had to stop myself from licking the plate.

Hubby had the Chef Salad with grillled Shrimp which he would have liked more if the salad hadn't been overdressed.

The dessert board looked wonderful but I've been trying to lose weight for so long that I no longer am tempted, although I do love Red Velvet Cake and it was on the board.

The have a full bar, and many more beer varieties than wine.Service was very good. It Saturday night at 6:00pm and it was not at all busy.

Would I go there again? You bet! They have a back deck where you can eat and I would choose a sunny day and sit outside. I could probably be talked into an ice-cold Corona while looking over their menu. I even take my good buddy Cooper. He has better table manners than I do!

Graves Seafood in Greenville, Maine

As you look out over Moosehead Lake, you must realize that most of your lunch doesn't come from there: Lobsters,Clams. crabs,haddock come from the ocean hundreds of miles away on the coast waters of Maine, but it's still tasty,The transportation company keeps it on ice so arrives fresh to stores like

Graves Seafood

I had been craving a lobster roll,and it came with cole slaw and french fries. Both were delicious. Hubs had a haddock sandwich and sweet potato fries that were very good.

The outdoor seating is great on a dry day; it was most enjoyable making conversation with the locals.

Graves Seafood

As a friendly  place to have a great lunch of fried seafood, I would highly recommend Graves Seafood. They have beer, wine and stronger alcohol beverages available, and the food is really dekicious

A New Adventure-Retirement

Yesterday, my dear husband worked his last day. He is officially retired and I couldn't be more excited.

His days of drawing a real paycheck started when he was 13, helping his father in his job as a delivery driver. He worked full time during his high school years, working second shift in a woolen mill and often worked three jobs while in college. He certainly doesn't shy away from hard work, and the bigger the bank balance the happier he is.

He spent much of his adulthood working in sales, then he started his own office equipment business, which eventually was bought from a Fortune 500 company. He then steered his career towards economic development for one of Maine's poorest counties, which he has done for the past 13 years. He found great personal satisfaction in that position and wasn't really sure he wanted to retire.

Last year, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer and our little world went into a tailspin. He didn't want to give up his summer of golf, or his autumn of bird hunting, so he had a hormone shot and prostate removal surgery was set for November. We grew incredibly close as the months went by; the hormone shot had put him into man-o-pause. He had huge fluctuations in his mood and his body temperature (something I had already been through). We talked for hours, alternately laughing and crying and sharing our most personal thoughts. He really suffered and told me he wished he'd forgone the shot and had just had the surgery when he was diagnosed.  He continued to suffer months after the surgery in November with mood swings and hot flashes; now he had a painful catheter (he said it felt like a garden hose) in his penis and couldn't sit up straight for very long. He had to wear a diaper as well, since urine leaked around the tube.

We discussed life in general and our dream since our first trip to Bermuda 25 years ago was to travel a great deal once we retired. I became disabled in 2004--thus I was already retired. He is Scottish and very frugal with money and it was because of his money management skills that we were able to reach our magic number before he turned 65. I asked him if he still wanted to travel and he was definite about his answer-YES!  Then why would you keep working?

The cancer had scared us both and made us ask ourselves some hard questions. Honestly, I was ready to sell our home because if he were to die there was no way I could handle the maintenance, and frankly I didn't want to. What if he couldn't get back to "normal" and keep up with the maintenance? We agreed to put off the decision for a few months and see how things worked out.

He felt he needed to let his board of directors know that he would retire at the end of June, so they would have ample time to replace him.  I was the only one who knew how much he struggled with his decision. The plain truth was that he truly loved his work, and the thought of not getting a regular paycheck twice a month scared him, and why wouldn't it? He'd been working for over 50 years!

He signed up for Social Security and had collected his first check. He is cancer-free! Our first trip is next month when we drive up to Cape Breton Island in the Canadian Maritimes for ten days. He is going on a fishing trip in Canada in September, bird hunting in October and November, and right after Christmas we head south with the rest of the snowbirds. We decided to keep our home for now.

2014 was a terrible year for us. There were several family crisis' that we got through with God's help. The cancer was just one of the year's many challenges.

 It's July 1, 2015 and so far the year is going great. One of our three daughters is flying up from Miami in just a few days, and we are so excited to see her and her four children. She is staying at a huge home on Moosehead Lake and will celebrate her 40th birthday and marry her wonderful Scott. I will be performing the ceremony--now how cool is that?  Another of our daughters, who has three beautiful daughters, discovered a few weeks that "surprise!" they are having another baby in January. This will be number 10 grandchild for us, and we will have plenty of time to spend with all of them.

I've always said that God loves me best; my blessed life proves it.