We had a lot of fun with Cookbook Guy, his beautiful, sweet wife and really nice kids (who put up with a lot of crap from Cookbook Guy and his old pal, Sales Guy) this past week in their lovely new condo on the Florida beach (and awesome house near Orlando. They have the most gorgeous, lush landscaping that would never come close to surviving the cold, dreary Missouri winters. Beautiful! I’m jealous!). The Sunshine State didn’t completely live up to its billing since it rained part of the time we spent there, but, hey, it was 30 degrees warmer than the Midwest and we had enough sun that I got sunburned for the first time since high school!  A great time!

Let me explain the name “Cookbook Guy”. Sales Guy’s oldest friend owns a book distributing company and he knows I love to cook, so he recently sent me a wonderful surprise-a box full of sample cookbooks! Around 20 of them! What a gift to a person who reads cookbooks like, well, you know, books! And this week, he sent me home with a few more! The suitcases were not overweight, unlike the suitcase owners after nearly a week of eating delicious Florida food! So, if I don’t take the time to write over the next few weeks, you know I am busy perusing my cookbooks!

Anyway, no new recipe posts this week as I didn’t cook so much as a cup of tea from Sunday noon until tonight! Except Shrimp Night, but more about that later!

I thought I would give a quick rundown of the best foods we had on our mini-vacation and where you can find it, should you ever go to the Orlando & Daytona Beach area. It was all great!

Best crab cakes (and I, along with one of my besties- Shelley and Daughters 1 & 2, are crab cake experts!) – Malibu Grill, Port Orange FL. I had them at 3 different restaurants on our trip (and every day on our short trip to California a couple of weeks ago-keep in mind, we are land-locked in Missouri and I love seafood) and these were hands-down, the best!  Crabby, with not too much filler, but with a little spice and the mustard based sauce was tangy and delicious. I usually like a remoulade sauce with crab cakes, but this was different and yummy.

Best coconut shrimp – D J’s Deck, Port Orange FL. The shrimp were big and crunchy and the sauce was almost like a grape jelly, melted. The combination was awesome! Best coconut shrimp, not only of the trip, but probably that I’ve ever eaten! It was an outdoor restaurant, with picnic tables along the dock on the inlet where fishing boats come in. Fun atmosphere and super clean. Plus, great coconut shrimp!

Best breakfast – The Cracked Egg, Daytona Beach Shores, FL. Big omelets, some messy concoction with biscuits, sausage gravy, scrambled eggs and country-fried potatoes all piled up. I stuck with my go-to breakfast, sausage and potatoes, but my three fellow diners said it was all excellent.

Best brisket – Four Rivers Smokehouse, Longwood, FL. It was lean, smokey, delicious!! It rivals our favorite barbecue restaurant in Missouri, Half Sauced BBQ, in Osage Beach.

Best Slaw – Cole slaw can be dry or so soupy and runny that you need to drain it or eat it with a spoon.  D.J.’s Deck wins its second category of the competition! It was not too dry, not too runny. Goldilocks, it was just the right consistency and very tasty.

Best Salad – Aunt Catfish’s on the River, Port Orange, FL. Actually, best salad bar. It’s huge and has some unusual things. Lots of fresh vegetables to add to your lettuce mixes, and also things like pepperoncini, which is always a hit with us and pickled beets which are a hit with Sales Guy. They had interesting salad toppers (I said interesting-not healthy) – those little canned French fried potato sticks I hadn’t seen in years, a crunchy mixture of different little cracker-type things, including wasabi peas and chow mein noodles. They also have a small hot bar with baked beans, grits, corn bread (and cole slaw that came in third. Sorry, Aunt Catfish).  Interesting place. Touristy, but fun!

Best Hush Puppies – D.J.’s Deck wins again! A little jalapeno, a lot of taste!

Best Fried Shrimp & Best Boiled Shrimp – Home cooked by all of us!  Our family has a tradition that whenever we go to Florida (we have taken the kids to the Florida panhandle 6 or 8 times over the years where we rent a condo on the beach-it’s a fun, relaxing trip) we go to a seafood market and buy a few pounds of raw shrimp and fry some and boil the rest and just pig out on it. No veggies, no salad, no bread, just shrimp (well, maybe hushpuppies or cheese and crackers too…) Even though our kids weren’t with us, we decided to keep the tradition alive and it was yummy. Sales Guy is still complaining about the taste of the brand of cocktail sauce he bought, but I say it was better than any shrimp we had in a restaurant (well, except for that delicious coconut shrimp!) the whole trip.

Now back to the real world! Steak, potatoes, salad and Aunt Louise’s chocolate chip cookies tonight.

Thanks so much, Florida friends, for a wonderful, delicious week!