Jen Caputo

My Other Wedding

Little known fact. Our wedding in Mexico wasn't legally binding.  Well we knew that but most other folks didn't. So a few weeks ago, we flew down to Florida to make it legal. Adam's parents came too. We flew in on a Thursday and while Adam slept, my dad and I took his parents on a tour of Hutchinson Island (where my parents live).

But first, we made a stop at the Fruit Stand to buy dozens of Honeybells and Grapefruits.

Then we went to bathtub beach (it was cold!)

Followed by the House of Refuge

Since it was so cold on Thursday, we'd had enough of outdoor activities so we headed back home to make some cocktails with those delicious honeybells.

Here's Adams mom, Trish, enjoying one in my Aunt Sherry & Uncle Steve's condo where they were staying.

The sunset that night

For dinner, we went to the one and only chain restaurant that Adam and I enjoy. Bonefish. We LOVE Bonefish. Our appetizers below: Mussels, Sesame Seared Tuna, and Bang Bang Shrimp. It was also happy hour when we got there meaning a round of drinks for 6 people only cost $15! Florida happy hour sure is awesome.

The next morning, Adam and I got up early to go to the court house to get a marriage license.

Remember Charlie?

For lunch, my dad cooked up bucket after bucket of stone crab that they caught in their crab traps along with some leftover bonefish.

Now that's a legal-wedding day lunch to write home about!

At this point, it was time to get dressed for the real wedding and head back to the Stuart courthouse.

My grandparents (who weren't able to come to Mexico) were able to come to this wedding!

They did the quick 5 minute legal ceremony in this gazebo outside of the County Clerks office.

It was casual Friday at the office :)

  

After the 3pm ceremony, we headed to Conchy Joes for Happy Hour!

Our favorite part of Happy Hour is the .50 oysters and clams (steamed or raw, we eat 'em raw!)

Then we went back to my parents condo to kill some time. My parents neighbors (Ed and Edie) brought up a bottle of champagne so we squeezed a bunch of honeybell and grapefruit juice and made mimosas. (Ed is a florist and he made the bouquet I was holding out of some flowers that Adam's parents picked up on a grocery store run)

For dinner, we went to Courtine's (a french restaurant in Stuart). It was delicious. Almost everyone got one of these three things.

Rack of lamb

Lamb Shank

Or Rib Eye (this one was stuffed with blue cheese!)

The next morning, Adam's parents had to leave. They weren't too upset to go though as they were catching a flight to Tahiti!

We bummed around for a bit and then headed to a chili cookoff for charity. They just happened to be serving Churros so  Adam and I decided to recreate this picture from our real wedding:

The next day we woke up bright and early to go out Deep Sea Fishing.  About an hour in, we caught this Dolphin

But then we didn't catch anything else so we went back home and went swimming.

Monday was our last day in town but my mom had to work so my dad took us to this beer and wine bar they thought we'd enjoy called Vine and Barley.

They had a great tap list and Adam enjoyed a few samplers.

 

We got a meat/cheese plate to share for lunch.

For the wine, you got to serve yourself! You purchased a pre-paid card and then got to fill it with a taste (1oz), a half glass (2.5oz) or a full glass (5oz). The amount of the sample was deducted from your card and you could try as many as you wanted. It was a really cool concept!

 

Well that was it for our second wedding vacation. We flew home Tuesday morning on a 6:30am flight and had to go straight to work from the airport.

Milwaukee in a weekend

It was a few days before Memorial Day and we realized we were without plans.  So we hopped on priceline and a few minutes later had booked the Hilton in downtown Milwaukee for just over $50 a night. Not too bad!

Saturday morning we stuffed our bikes in the car and took the quick drive up.  Our first stop (after lunch) was at Great Lakes Distillery.

It was the perfect first stop! 

They have a lovely tasting room and a great bartender who pretty much pointed us in the direction of everything we did that weekend. 

We started out by trying a little sample of each of their spirits:

A gin, vodka, citrus vodka, rum, Kirsch, Grappa, and 2 kinds of Absinthe's.

The absinthe's are getting ready for us to drink them.

But first, they need some ice cold water dripped in so they do their magic!

 

See it changing colors? See the oil slick on top?  That means it's almost ready to enjoy!

After a tour, our bartender offered us a cocktail.  He could tell we were into the good stuff so he brought out all of his homemade bitters and syrups.

And then he mixed up this puppy which contained lime juice, pepper infused vodka, and rose water (along with a few other things...)

Yum! 

Next stop -  Sprecher Brewery.

We took a tour

And then did their 10 course Reserve Beer and Cheese Pairing.

These were all the beers we tried:

I highly recommend the Reserve tasting but all-in-all, the beer's were just ok. 

I can't remember where we went next... maybe just back to the hotel to relax for a little bit.  But pretty soon after we found ourselves with more cheese...

... at the Wisconsin Cheese Mart Cheese Bar.

I had a wine flight, Adam had a few beers, and we enjoyed this delicious aged cheddar flight

 

Next, we went back to the hotel and found the series finale of Lost was re-airing on ABC.  I refused to leave the room until it was over and then refused to leave the room because I was crying so hard but I finally cleaned myself up enough to head out for a nightcap and a late dinner.

At the recommendation of our new friends at Great Lakes Distillery, we walked over to Bacchus where Ira, the mixologist (who used to work at the Violet Hour in Chicago) crafted us a few amazing cocktails. 

Ira sells his line of Bittercube bitters at Bacchus so we picked up a few flavors. I didn't get any pictures here but we highly recommend it, especially if Ira is working the bar!

Sunday morning we went to breakfast at Honey Pie. Oh My.  Let me show you what Adam ate.

You start with a giant pile of handcut fries.  You top them with BBQ pulled pork.  And cheese sauce. And 2 eggs.  And Bacon.  And pickled jalapeno's if you are feeling saucy. Adam is always feeling saucy.

Nothing like a nice healthy breakfast to start the day off right!

Our big plan for Sunday was to take one of the Riverwalk Boat Brewery Tours. It was a 4 hour ride that took you to 3 breweries.  You could take a tour and enjoy 2 pints at each one.

We started the tour at Lakefront Brewery (which is also the best of the three)

This also happened to be the best brewery tour we'd ever been on (and trust me, we've been on a lot!)

This guy is what made the tour so great.  He was hilarious.  And poured a mean pint.

After about an hour at Lakefront, we got on the boat.

The next stop was Milwaukee Ale House which has an awesome outdoor space.

 

And finally, we went to Rock Bottom, which is a chain.  Some Rock Bottoms (Chicago, for example) are amazing.  Some are not. 

Either way, we were feeling pretty good when the boat pulled away from RB.

We rode our bikes back to the hotel and relaxed for a little while before trying to track down some dinner.  Which sounds easier than it was.  A lot of places were closed Sunday nights and we are too picky to just go anywhere without a recommendation, so instead, we went to the place that all of the other bartenders recommended (but which didn't have food) - Bryant's Cocktail Lounge.

Walking into this place is like walking into another time.

Like... 2am maybe?

Seriously, pitch black.  You walk in and just stand there for a minute while your eyes try to adjust because you cannot see anything.

This place mixes up some amazing cocktails though.  You just tell them what you like to drink and they will whip you up something brilliant!  They make three types of drinks there: ice cream, tiki-inspired hurricane, and depression-era cocktails.  I'm going to go ahead and insist you order a depression era cocktail ;)

Like I said, it's pitch black in there but I did get this picture of our awesome bartender

And this is with a 2 second exposure (ISO at 800)!

Since we seemed to be doing so well with our bartenders recommending the next place we went, we let him pick our dinner location: Lulu

Yup, Lulu also made great cocktails.  I had the Mid-East Falafel Pita for dinner and loved it. Their Asian Slaw was awesome! I don't remember what Adam had but I know he didn't like it as much as I enjoyed mine.  Guess he picked the wrong thing!

Well, that's our quick weekend tour of Milwaukee.  We loved it!  Who knew Milwaukee was such a classic cocktail haven?  Can't wait to go back!

Florida Trip Recap

Before I recap our recent Florida trip... did you see that my kitchen remodel was featured on Young House Love yesterday?!?!?

It's so exciting to be featured on my favorite blog ever. If I showed you my blog stats you would die laughing at the spike in page views yesterday.... Literally jumped 1000%. Ha!

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A few weeks back we took a long weekend trip down to Florida to visit my parents.  Our friend Chuck is a lawyer down in Miami so he drove up to meet us at my folks place on Friday night.  We did a bit of night fishing on the dock before heading to bed with plans of waking up early and taking the boat out for either a leisurely ride up the Inner Coastal or hopefully some deep sea fishing!

But, when we woke up it was cold and windy and a boat ride was out of the question at least until later in the afternoon.

So instead, we took a drive up to Fort Pierce in search of some manatees.  There was a story on the news about how all of the manatees were hanging out in the warm waters near the power plant so I figured this was my big chance to finally see one up close and personal.

This is as close as  we got...

yep... they may have been hanging out at a power plant, but not the one in Fort Pierce.  Instead we mulled around the big farmers market and  around town a bit.  It's really an adorable place, with lots of fun art such as:

Made from junk found in the area. 

Well it was nearing 11am and a boat ride was looking less and less likely so we started driving back when we found ourselves distracted by a sign that said "Honeybell Mimosa's 2 for 1"

If you don't live in Florida you probably don't know what a Honeybell is because they are only in season for 1 month out of the year and you can't get them anywhere else (unless, like me, your parents send you big flat rate boxes full of them). 

Honeybells are the sweetest, juiciest oranges ever and these mimosas were hands down the best we ever had.  And with the 2 for 1 special they were only $3 each!  If you are ever in Fort Pierce in January, stop at Buckshot Bay for them - they're a must try!

At this point it was almost noon and we figured we should head back to Hutchinson Island and check on the water to see if we could go out for a ride yet but then my dad mentioned this drive through bar where you could get a six pack of rum runners to go in Fort Pierce. He claimed that the Rum Runners were delicious (and potent), so of course we had to stop.  We picked up a six pack and took them to the beach back at my parents place to enjoy.

They come in these juice bottles and you are supposed to drink them in the paper bag with a straw so that you look really classy :)

See those big goofy smiles?  It means the rum is kicking in ;)

Well... the weather still wasn't ideal for boating so we headed out to lunch at the Riverwalk Cafe in downtown Stuart where we decided it would be fun to take bad pictures of everyone (including our cute waitress) (hmm... it appears Chuck escaped the bad picture taking)

We then decided to show Chuck the rest of the island including bathtub beach (which is shut down), sailfish point, and then the beautiful beach and rocks at the House of Refuge.

 

 

At this point it was about time for Chuck to head out so we bid him goodbye.

Of course the very next day the weather cleared up enough for us to go out deep sea fishing and ride around the inner coastal...

We only stayed out on the ocean for an hour or so as the waves wound up being a little bigger than planned and the fish weren't biting.

We took the boat to Shrimpers for lunch and then under the draw bridge to the Return of the Jolly sailor for a quick round of cocktails.

Besides these fun adventures we pretty much spent the rest of the time laying in the pool on innertubes with magazines and beer.  My favorite way to while away a day.

Playa del Carmen Vacation Recap

Quick little vacation recap :)  We only went down for 4 nights.  We stayed at the Playa Maya which was perfect!  It's not fancy but it's right on the beach, the service is impeccable, the food is some of the best out there, and it's located only 1 block away from the heart of downtown so you can walk to anything!

Here's our quaint little ocean view room

and the view from the balcony of that room

 

Pretty nice huh?  You can hook the hammock up out there which I did every morning while checking my email and waiting for Adam to wake up.

Here's us on the balcony... taken after the sun went down so that you can't tell where we are at all!

This is what our room looked like after we stopped at Walmart

Pretty well stocked for 4 days, right? Walmart was only a 5 block walk and they have the cheapest booze there so we threw our backpacks on and loaded up - yes, we fit all of that in 2 backpacks. And no we didn't drink all of that Tequila while we were down there. It's a lot cheaper down there so we wanted to get some extra Anejo's to take home. An $80 bottle in Chicago costs $25 down there.

This is the beach in front of Playa Maya

and some of the amazing food you can get delivered to you on that beach

 

This ceviche was so good! and so big!  Well worth the $10 price tag.

You can even snorkel right there in front of the hotel.

(this is why we make Adam take the stretch out your arm for a picture shots. I tend to cut off his head)

and this is the view from my beach chair

those waters were the most wonderful shade of blue in the world!

For the price, Playa Maya can't be beat. It's not the fanciest hotel but it's super clean and the food and location are the best.

Our favorite meal down there was at this local joint called El Fogon

We were the only gringos in there for sure.  Our waiter was amazing, we would ask him for something and within 10 seconds it was on the table.  It was so dirt cheap too... Adam and I probably only ate about 2/3 of our food and we split a meal - they give you so much!  The bill was under $20 for 4 beers, a taco platter, several a la carte tacos, guac, and soup. 

I'm going to try to get this guy cutting the Pastor to come serve it at my wedding :)

Where I disappeared to

We had Martin Luther King Jr day off so we decided a mini-vacation was in order.  As my Aunt & Uncle just built a house out there we decided to go visit Arizona (I'd never been).

I have to tell you, I didn't really expect too much from Arizona, it just didn't seem that interesting to me.  Boy was I wrong. We had a blast! Everything was so beautiful and there was so much to do!!!

So, the rest of this is just a lot of pictures!

This is my uncle and I overlooking their golf course and their mountain (Superstition Mountain).  Uncle Bill insisted the golf course be in the background :) heheh

Uncle Bill & Aunt Lucy's adorable dog, Charlie

One of the days we were there, my aunt and uncle took us on a scenic drive around Apache Trail which was on the other side of that mountain you see from their yard.

Look - there are lakes there!

a one lane bridge heading to Tortilla Flats

And I thought this was crazy. Apparently it rained the week and the rain is still coming down the mountain and flooded the road.

Adam and I made Margaritas to go out and watch the sunset one night

And our view of the sun setting over Silly Mountain

After 2 days we left Aunt Lucy and Uncle Bill's and went to stay at the Hyatt - Gainey Ranch in Scottsdale.  (no pictures of that yet but it was incredible!)

From there, we drove up to Sedona - incredible! We started by checking out some of many wineries in Page Springs.

This is the backyard of one of them

Once we got up to Sedona we took the Broken Arrow Pink Jeep tour - so awesome, highly recommended!  The red rocks of Sedona were breathtaking!

 

If you want to see more of my pictures from Arizona (like I didn't share enough here)

click here:

 

Highly Recommended Arizona places:

• Pink Jeep Tours of Sedona - we did the Broken Arrow tour. It's a 2 hour off roading adventure with some of the most stunning views ever
• Filly's of Apache Junction -  I consider myself quite the aficionado of ranch dressing and theirs was killer.  Plus their broasted chicken was like nothing I'd had before.  Mouth watering awesome.
• Papago Brewing Company - Best beer bar in Arizona, hands down. A really cool place with a great atmosphere and a heap of games to play while you enjoy your brews (not just theirs, but about 25 other taps and a giant coolers full of bottles)
• The Hyatt at Gainey Ranch - as long as you can get the rooms for much less than the $450/night going rate.  Try priceline, we got an insane deal.

Ringing in 2009 and wrapping up the Florida trip

Can you believe we are already 5 days into 2009? I sure can't. With a new year comes lots of resolutions in my house. Eat healthier, exercise more, floss daily, etc. Lots of boring things. I figured I needed a fun resolution to go along with the boring ones though so this year, I am participating in Project 365! For those who are unfamiliar, Project 365 is basically just a challenge to take a photo every single day for the whole year! To help me display all of my photos, I created a new template set so I can scrap all of my pictures.

This set includes 12 double page templates so you can scrap all 365 pictures you take this year! Heck, even if you don't want to take a picture a day it would still be an awesome way to do a month in review layout. These templates are Shutterfly ready and I plan on ordering my book at the end of the project.

You can pick up the templates right here. The normal price is $12 but I currently have them marked down to $8 so grab 'em fast!

I wanted to share a few more pics from Florida. On our last full day there my dad took Adam and I out to try and catch Spanish Mackerel. We failed miserably so instead we went to the beach and on the way back home we came across this pod of dolphins.  It was crazy, they were everywhere!  Totally awesome.

This picture kinda sucks but you can see a ton of fins.

ditto

They were swimming all around the boats

and I love this one of the 2 dolphins together, I imagine they are out on some sort of date :)

I'm ready to go back :)

Meet Diesel

Look at that adorable little face!  This is my brothers new puppy, Diesel. He's 4 months old, a pit bull/bull  mastiff mix.  He's going to be a big boy.  He's the absolute sweetest best dog ever! 

I took a bunch of pictures of him while we were down in Florida (we flew back to Detroit yesterday and will drive home to Chicago tonight or tomorrow).  Here are some of my faves.

He was not supposed to be on the furniture.  oops.

 

He's quite the poser huh? 

We took him out for his first boat ride ever and he did great!

hehehe

but on the way back the water was a little rough and he got a tad bit scared

I love this dog. I miss him already.

I leave you with a picture of the whole family on Christmas

Betsy (Jimmy's fiance), my mom, my brother Jimmy, my dad, Adam, and me

In Too Deep

My brother doesn't get a lot of days of work so when he does, all he wants to do is go Deep Sea Fishing. Every day we've been down here (Hutchinson Island) so far he has been asking my dad to take us out but the waves have not been agreeing.  Today was the first day that the ocean was even an option so, out we went!

I was a bit scared at first but it wasn't as bad as I'd expected (even though my dad said it was his absolute limit of the roughness he would go out in).

I straightened the horizon on this one so you could see the angle the boat was rocking on. That's my mom, my brother, my dad, and Adam.

While my dad and Jimmy got the lines up, Adam got to drive and I stood by and watched.

 

Going out in the rough water proved worth it though when one of the lines hit!

Jimmy worked up a sweat fighting it like crazy for about 15 minutes before passing it off to Adam and then my dad.

About 20 minutes in, we realized what we had - a Sailfish!

We actually got it all the way to the boat where my dad could remove the hook before we let it go.  They were so excited, it was the first Sailfish they'd ever been able to release.

Here's Jimmy posing with it just before we let it go.

Insane huh?

Check out this video of it's final moments with us:

Unfortunately, the sailfish was our only hit all day but it was still a super exciting outing.  We might go back out tomorrow to try for some Spanish Mackerel. (We were hoping for Mahi Mahi today)

Man I wish I lived down here.... how many more years before I can retire?