I Recommend...

So if my past journals are any indication, I'll post a flurry of information for, say, 3 days, followed by radio silence. I'd better get some info in here while I still remember that I have a blog.

First, I want to recommend a baking website I came across last night. Baking Bites is a site full of delicious recipes. I made the Blueberry Banana Bread last night and just finished a slice (or 3) for breakfast. Super easy, and surprisingly the only oil/butter in the batter is vegetable oil (3 tbsp). There is a cup of sugar in the loaf, but for a breakfast pastry I'd say it's not that bad for you! I can't wait to try more of her recipes.

Also, since I'm moving from St. Pete to Sarasota in less than a month, I wanted to make a list of my favorite 'Burg restaurants.

Z Grille Fun decor, not stuffy at all, way delicious. My favorite things: 1/2 price wine bottles on Mondays; Dr. Pepper Ribs; any deviled eggs (I even liked them with horseradish, and I HATE horseradish); Chicken and Waffles (order them at brunch for half the cost of the dinner version).

Bella Brava Consistently good food, and plenty of deals that make it less insane to eat out all the time. The deals I currently know about: lunches during June and July are buy-one-get-one-free with a FB coupon; 1/2 price wine bottles on Wednesdays (we went to a Wednesday lunch and got the BOGO lunch AND 1/2 price wine); every third Monday of the month, all food is 1/2 off at dinner.

Tangelo's I really really love their Veggie Burger, and I'm not a Veggie Burger kind of girl.

Red Mesa Cantina Gorgeous outdoor patio with a fountain in the center. I especially love their brunches. They're delicious and pretty affordable -- I think everything on the brunch menu is under $10, and you can get a mimosa (OJ, pomegranate, etc.) for $3! I usually get the Sweet Potato Pancakes since I'm rarely in the mood for burritos before 5 pm.

Whistle Stop Okay, technically this place is in Safety Harbor, but it's effing amazing. It's completely outdoors, they use grass-fed locally raised beef for their burgers, and they have live music on weekends that's actually not obnoxious. (Most live music at restaurants is way too loud in my opinion, but theirs is just right.) Anything with pork seems to be great -- love the BBQ Pork Sandwich (with Sweet Potato Fries, natch) and the Shredded Pork Tacos.

Kahwa I'm pretty whatever about coffee (if it has caffeine I'm all set), but the coffee is amazing at Kahwa. Any food I've had there has been great -- yogurt parfait, and some sort of tomato/basil/mozzerella sandwich.

Those are the places that immediately come to mind. I'm going to truly miss downtown St. Pete, but hopefully in a few months I will have discovered a new set of places to love in SRQ.