How are we supposed to stay slim.... with all this good food?

Warning, don't read this post and follow links if you haven't eaten in the past 2 hours. But if you are looking for some really tasty food, read on. Aside from the occasional breakfast at Sammy's or LePeep and a once in a while lunch at Lil Porgys, (http://lilporgysbbq.com/) when we are home, I think we eat in a fairly healthy manner. Of course those breakfasts and lunches only occur when the timing and route of my business takes me there. (It's amazing how those things just seem to work out). When we are on the Oregon or Florida coast we make it a point to eat as much fresh local fish as possible. Over the years I have migrated from the deep fried version to grilled and blackened cooking methods. That all sounds like it shouldn't be so difficult to shed this "apple" shape that I inherited. We just returned from our (every 2 year) week on the Florida coast. Did pretty well the first night by eating grilled fish at the River Grill. (http://rivergrille.net/), but on the way home we stopped at Rita's (http://ritasice.com/). That blew all the good decisions I had made earlier. The next night, I again made good decisions by eating ahia tuna at the North Turn (http://www.racingsnorthturn.com/index.php) at Ponce Inlet. Alas, the group had a hankerin for ice cream again. This time we stopped in at Hershey's ice cream (http://www.hersheyicecream.com/) another place I had never heard of. I really recommend the peanut butter cup if you like that sort of thing. Before we launched out for Disney, we ate one more meal out (I think).... I had seen the Bonefish Grill (http://www.bonefishgrill.com/) before and knew it was a chain of sorts. Some how, we passed up a couple of my favorites from the past, Since we never made it to the lighthouse at Ponce Inlet, we didn't eat at Down the Hatch (http://www.facebook.com/pages/DOWN-THE-HATCH/176321229346). It is a real boat dock restaurant with fishing boats coming in and out of the inlet and brown pelicans roosting on the dock posts. We had some really funny conversations about another great eating place, Barnacles (http://barnaclesonline.com/) . As it turned out, the Bonefish Grill was fantastic although maybe a little "spendy". I again made a good choice with fish tacos.... mmmmm good!. I think everyone in the group was again fully satisfied, until we walked out the door. That big ice cream cone flashed in someone's head and away we went again. this time south to "Cowlicks". For years we had driven past this place on the way to the North Turn or Ponce Inlet. Let me tell you that Cowlicks and Hershey's makes Baskin Robbins seem like the McDonalds of ice cream. Sorry, I couldn't find a site for this Cowlick's, but here something to help if you're in the area. (Oh, the black raspberry was absolutely wonderful.) (http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/124/892119/restaurant/Cow-Licks-Homemade-Ice-Cream-Daytona-Beach) . Well, we ran out of eating times with the whole group, so after a couple of days at Disney and a last breakfast together before the kids left, we could now eat a bit more on the healthy side, right????  Well, we finally got clear on a couple of "new" place Georgia's sister recommended from her trip last spring. Friday night, we went another direction and took her advice to eat at a place in Port Orange. Genovese's, an Italian place, which also had a site in Ormond Beach, but supposedly the bread is better in Port Orange. (http://genovesesitaliancafe.com/) We asked what they were famous for. She said, "the pizza". We had seen the menu, so we ordered a "small" pizza as an appetizer and each ordered a pasta dish. It was all really tasty. The pizza dough seemed more "authentic" and Georgia who had had pizza in Italy said it tasted much the same. We had stuffed ourselves, so made it past the ice cream pangs although there was still a Coldstone located in Daytona. Now we had one more chance to eat in the area, so took Nan's other recommendation, back to Port Orange to Aunt Catfish's (http://auntcatfishontheriver.com/) . I don't know which of our fish places will be replaced, but for the next trip down, this place is surely on the schedule. Again, had a pretty healthy fresh fish meal and got out of town without the ice cream.

I have told you about the places we ate in the Daytona area, but would be remiss to leave out the trip down and back. We met up with the kids in Macon at the Hilton Garden Inn. I think they have one of the best breakfasts of the travel lodging chains. We ate our first meal out together near Jacksonville at Buffalo's Southwest Cafe  (http://www.buffaloscafe.com/).... Not BWW. I really got off on the wrong foot. I don't even remember what I ate, but it was deep fried and tasty. Not a good way to kick off the trip, but then maybe that was why I made the good choices (for main event eating). Going home it was even worse. Our last meal out was in Nashville. If you read this post a couple of years ago, you will surely remember me saying that if you are in the Nashville area, don't miss the chance to eat at the Loveless Cafe. (http://lovelesscafe.com/)  Well, we did and I still say the same thing. Their Blue Plate Special for the day was "Watermelon Ribs".. Never heard of it. I considered if for a while, wrestling with the pork chops (which Georgia got) and the ribs. Although I love good ripe watermelon, I don't like watermelon flavored stuff. In the process our waiter agreed that it was a gamble, but "well worth it"!. Finally, I went for it. IF YOU EVER GET A CHANCE TO EAT WATERMELON RIBS AT THE LOVELESS CAFE: DO IT!

 I walked out of there stuffed because I ate all the ribs and greens and the really tasty baked beans. Georgia being a bit wiser, saved quite a bit of her pork chop and caramel sweet potato to carry home. We have this cool little electric cooler we got as a reward from our bank. So we got to take the food home.

That's the end of this eating saga. Now it's oatmeal for breakfast and grilled or stir fried, or steamed meals with lots of fresh summer veggies, right???? Actually it sounds good. I didn't yet tell you that we stopped in Georgia and got some "fresh from the tree" peaches and several different versions of pecans (http://www.werenuts.com/) Well, those peaches were so good and so ripe that we have to eat them up as soon as possible. So goes the battle!!!