Driving to the Island

Looking out to the right thinking it must be Manhattan in the fog..or smog, we were closing in on Long Island. 

It was a long drive with several stops. Both of us were sore. Ted sore from a leg workout as well as the bike ride on Thursday night. I was sore from the bike ride plus the 9 mile run Friday morning before leaving for the Island.  My left hamstring kept cramping up again (last time it did that was after my half and on the road to S.C.). 

We pulled into the hotel in Islandia too late for lunch so hit the road to find food. We stopped at TGI Fridays. 

It’s kind of a mini vacation so we enjoyed a couple of “spirits” with our late lunch.

Ted wanted to try the Modelo beer. It’s a Mexican beer and I have to say, was pretty good. I don’t even like beer.   I had house chardonnay. Nothing special but quite necessary after a long drive and intense running week.

The garden salad was cool and rewarding.  I inhaled it since starvation had set in.  Oil and vinegar with bleu cheese crumbles topped my salad.

The Shrimp Key West was my main feature. It was tasty with steamed broccoli. I did have to dab the sauce off the plate AND the shrimp.  It was swimming in a buttery sauce – a bit too much.

The next photo was the first one taken of my dish…see how hot it was.  It steamed up my camera lens.  I LOVE my food hot.

After lunch, we drove to the nearest marina which turned out to be a private marina restricted to residence only.  We made our way back to the hotel intending to go for a swim but Ted fell asleep and I decided to blog resulting in the above.

TED WAKES UP! …. and we went to the pool only to find it filled with children.  We took a quick dip then headed for the hot tub. The hot tub was NOT hot. It was 75 degrees, just like the pool.  That just made me cold so while Ted sat in the COLD TUB, I sat wrapped in a towel then in a robe. Really pretty!

We decided to head out in search of MEXICAN.  It has been a while since we have enjoyed Mexican food and two restaurants were recommended that were located close to the hotel.

We ended up at Maria’s Mexican and Latin Cuisine. 

Very cute bar area.

The tortilla chips were fresh and crisp and the salsa was smooth, on the sweet side but with that ethnic flare.

A Maria’s Special Margarita for Ted and a Sangria for me. It was suppose to be a WHITE sangria but the bar tender didn’t hear what I asked for. I told her it was fine and settled for the very sweet red.  Love the apples soaked in sweet Sangria wine!

It didn’t take long to be seated and our salads arrived in no time.

We both commented on how fresh the artichoke was. Nothing pickled about those pieces.  The entire plate of greenery had a “just picked” taste – not PICKLED, P I C K E D!!!

While we were seated at our table, three parties had birthday celebrations. The waiters arrived at the tables with cakes, maracas, horns, and a large Mexican hat.  The birthday celebrant received a good loud blow of the horn in the ear at the end of the song.

Dinner arrived.  I ordered seafood enchiladas with rice and black beans.  Fresh guacamole was on the side. There wasn’t enough. That guacamole was GOOD!

Ted ordered the coconut encrusted sea bass with fried plantain slices and rice.  The sea bass was excellent but a small serving.  We ended up switching entrees.  I finished the sea bass and Ted finished the seafood enchiladas which were filled with shrimp, fish, and calamari.  Delicioso!

No Mexican coffee for us. Good old American coffee hit the spot after a DELICIOSO dinner. Other than the too sweet sangria, everything that passed our lips was excellent. Two thumbs up for Maria’s!

I didn’t tell you that since the sangria was so sweet, after having maybe 4 sips, I ordered a Chardonnay and drank 3/4  of that.  On the way out of the restaurant, I did some kind of funky move into the Porsche and cut the skin in between my thumb and index finger. Neither Ted nor I have any clue how I could have cut that hand.  Weird and only a feat that Joanne could do.  Note to self:  Never drink sweet sangria and chardonnay in the same night again.

Saturday:  It’s off to class for me at 8 AM and golfing crazy for Ted at 9:30 AM. 

What’s your favorite Mexican dish?

Joanne