Sand & Sun: A Story In Photos

Once upon a time…

… we went to Miami (cue Will Smith song) for the BlogHer Food Conference. I picked up some excellent Pinterest tips from Lisa Wells of Cook Eat Paleo, had the great pleasure of meeting Dianne Jacob in person, ate my weight in yuca (fries and boiled and chips, oh my), and spent quality time in the sun and sand of South Beach. Here are some highlights from our adventures. And stay tuned for a recipe for crispy oven-fried yuca!

Running

Dave and I escaped the fluorescent lights and the marketing talk of the conference to run along the waterfront at a cute little park decorated with mosaics, adorable dogs, and attractive, healthy, tan humans. (There are no photos, but we also ate breakfast and lunch multiple times at The Daily Creative Food Company — delicious egg dishes, amazing salads.)

There are three thrones covered in mosaic tiles in the park. This was my favorite:

And here are some detail shots of the tile work:

And the obligatory pics of us on the chairs.

Wynwood Art District

My dear friend Annie’s dad took us on a tour of the Wynwood Art District which included a side trip to a punk rock bar in little Haiti and ended with a delicious dinner on the patio of R House. (The Brazilian Seafood Moqueca on their menu has inspired me to experiment with the recipe. Luscious!)

Here are some shots of us and the murals that decorate EVERY wall in that part of town.

South Beach

Dave and I teamed up with Dianne to take a walking tour of the Art Deco architecture in South Beach. It’s sponsored by the Miami Design Preservation League, and it’s both educational and entertaining. In addition to the confectionery architecture, we also got an eyeful of fabulous when we accidentally stumbled through the Drag Brunch at The Palace restaurant. Colorful, exotic, brash, glamorous… South Beach was everything we imagined it would be.

Dianne Jacob — She can teach you everything you need to know about food writing. For real.

For the record, we did not see Will Smith, but I did sing the line “Buenvenidos a Miami” about a thousand times during the weekend.

The end.