Food Blogger Cookie Swap Recipe: Sea Salt, Pistachio and Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies!

The Food Blogger Cookie Swap is a fundraiser with all of the proceeds going to Cookies For Kids' Cancer. I try to take part in as much charity work as I can, so this cookie swap allows me the opportunity to tie in two of my other passions: my blog and baking. For my second year in the cookie swap, I decided to keep things slightly old school with a mild twist.  I've been in a bit of a creative funk as of late, so I asked for some help on this recipe. The Hungry Mother was kind enough to share with me her amazing sea salt, pistachio and dark chocolate chip cookie recipe. She makes kick-ass cakes, pastries and all sorts of delicious shit. So, I'm ridiculously lucky to have her helping me with this. 

La Latina Is My New Lunch Time Addiction

A few months back a lot of my coworkers told me I had to check out La Latina. Then, about a week later my blogger friend, Javier from GourmandJ, advised me there was a small Venezuelan place he needed me to check out called La Latina. It quickly became evident that I had to go to this place, si o si. 

Piccolo Ristorante Brings Un-Americanized Italian to Broward

I was recently contacted by Piccolo Ristorante with an offer to host a giveaway to their restaurant on my site. Y'all know how much I love a good giveaway, but I didn't feel comfortable hosting a giveaway to a restaurant I had never been to. So I decided to make the trek to casa del carajo Fort Lauderdale and check this place out for myself.  What I found was a newly opened, cozy little bistro offering delicious Italian fare.

Seattle Recap: The Highlights Part 1

The idea of tackling a recap of my trip to Seattle seemed daunting and overwhelming. So naturally, I put it off and procrastinated to the point where I neglected my blog for several weeks. Instead of boring you with details about every single place I went to, I'm going to give you an overdue quick rundown on the culinary highlights of my trip and #PLP.

Grove Events And A Ticket Giveaway

Coconut Grove has a weekend of back-to-back festivals coming up. Borrachera at it's best. First up is Grovetoberfest makes its way back to the Peacock Park this year to the elation of craft beer fans through out the 305. Its all going down Saturday October 19, 2013, giving you all of Sunday to recover from the mother of all hangovers. This year you'll be able to get unlimited samples of over 250 beers, from national beer breweries to local beer craftsmen. There's going to be live music from Liza Quinn + The Bureau, cooking demonstrations and even a home brewer's competition. If at the end of the night, you had way too much to drink you've got nothing to worry about. Grovetoberfest will offer free shuttle rides to and from the MetroRail to the Coral Gables station to anyone to plastered to drive home. Tickets are on sale now and will be available the day of the event! Prices range from $40-$90.

Craft Spirits Festival Ticket Giveaway!



The Craft Spirits Festival is happening October 10, 2013 at the Cruz Building located at 3157 Commodore Plaza in Coral Gables. It's set to be a boozey good time with atleast 20 various distillers offering upto 100 labels of different alcohol. In other words, this should be tremenda pachanga.

Stove-Top Jerk Mac and Cheese Recipe!

This recipe is what happens when you want mac and cheese with a twist, ASAP. It's really quick and easy, hope you enjoy!

Huahua's On Lincoln Road

I've been to Huahua's about 5 or 6 times since they opened their doors a few months back. Created by the same team behind Haven Gastro-Lounge. This place is located on Lincoln Road, west of Alton Rd, just a couple doors away from Haven. This fast-casual place serves up Mexican classics with a New American twist at affordable prices. Nothing on the menu is over $10, which is a nice change of pace to the usually expensive Miami Beach dining scene. I should warn you, most some of this food is meaty, cheesy and greasy AKA delicious. So if your diet consists of kale chips, lightly dressed salads and comida de conejo... this place ain't for you.

Headed To The IFBC In Seattle And I Need Your HELP!

I've never held back the fact that I started a food blog rather blindly without knowing anything about the "blogging world." So when I saw that Foodista was having their International Food Blogger Conference I was like, "That would be kind of cool." Then, I saw the conference is happening in Seattle, WA and my interest was heightened and I thought, "I WANNA GO TO SEATTLE!" So I'm going mostly because I want to check out Seattle, Washington's forestry and all the coffee I can consume in 4 days.

Upcoming Charitable Events

Instead of doing a post on each individual event, I'm posting a quick rundown of upcoming charitable events going on in South Florida:

The Taste the World Garden is happening this Saturday, September 7, 2013 from 2pm - 5pm. The International Culinary School at The Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale is hosting the event that'll benefit Common Threads. Students from the school will be preparing food from Africa, Asia, Australia, the Americas and Europe. In addition, there will be a cooking demonstration by a local guest chef, raffles and a live auction of numerous items donated by business owners from across South Florida. Tickets are $25 in advance and $30 at the door.

Dark Dining Eyes Wide Shut Masquerade Ball GIVEAWAY!

Over a year ago, I wrote at length about the perverted good time I had at Chef Adrianne's Dark Dining dinner. After 5 years of hosting dark dining dinners, Chef Adrianne has decided to crank up the intensity and get all turnt up for her next dark dining event. Covered in double entendres, the Eyes Wide Shut Masquerade Ball is slated to be all sorts of kinky, fun and delicious. It's happening on September 20, 2013 at the Coral Gables Country Club.

Bar Crudo Brings Raw Deliciousness to SoFi With A Sprinkle Of Autism Awareness

I first mentioned Bar Crudo many moons ago when the folks behind Lee & Maries Cakery had big dreams to open a seafood restaurant next door to their blossoming bakery. Over a year later and Bar Crudo is finally here bringing very needed quality seafood to SoFi at reasonable prices. Much like Lee & Marie's, the team at Bar Crudo plans to employ adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder and bring awareness to the surrounding community about Autism. The restaurant has a cool fifties vibe with a laid back feel. Seriously, the place is, like, SUPER cute.

South Beach's Umami Brings More Burgers to South Florida

Umami came into town from California with lots of hopes of being the burger equivalent of the second coming of Jesus Christ. The restaurant chain is the brain child of former journalist, Adam Fleischman and was even ranked best burger in the country by GQ. So lots of high hopes for this place from the jump. The restaurant took over the previous 8oz burger bar location on Alton Rd, which is considered by some as a hamburger graveyard. So rather hesitantly, I checked this place out. Mostly because the last burger transplant I eagerly went to that was supposed to be, "The Shit," turned out to be just shit.

The Menu Warning: Their website shows an outdated menu

Cooking Class At Edge Benefitting No Kid Hungry

Chef Aaron Brooks (From Edge Steak) and Chef Todd Erickson (From Have Gastro-lounge) are teaming up off for a good cause. Last time I wrote about these two they were getting ready to battle it out at the Heart Of A Chef festival. Now they're joining forces to teach a cooking class at Edge Steak on September 21, 2013. The class will revolve around creating tapas and is aptly titled, "Small Bites, Big Appetites.”

Frita Showdown Ticket Giveaway!

Are you a fan of Fritas? Well my friend, Burger Beast, is hosting a pretty amazing event at Magic City Casino called the Frita Showdown on August 14, 2013. Burger Beast is on a mission to find the Best Frita in Miami and he's doing that by hosting a competition where 5 popular Frita Cubana restaurants will face-off.