Dinner at O and P's

O and P were amazing hosts who let us stay for a whole week. P cooked for us several times - making Lentil Stew and cooking up whole meals in minutes. He made us Pizza and a great Frittata. I contributed Banana cake.

Cuban Food at La Carreta

O took us to La Carreta to try Cuban Food though he warned us it was very heavy on the meat. We ate a whole bunch of sides and they were awesome. I've never had Plantans in so many different ways - some were familiar (like goreng pisang but without the batter), but Fried Green Plantans were unusual - savory and delicious. Plantan chips were amazing. We also had Yucca and in texture, it tasted like a savory Thai dessert and Mamey Milkshake which tasted almost like Chiku - delicious. We finished with a traditional Tres Leches dessert - O told us every single Cuban restaurant makes it differently.

Mango Jam

I made scones and we had them with Mango Jam. Yum.

Skyline

Interestingly we saw a lot of construction going on in Miami as well.

Tiong Bahru

Doesn't this look like Tiong Bahru? This is a pretty posh area around South Beach.

Buildings near the beach

South Beach

 

The famous South Beach - miles and miles of beach. We spent about two minutes on the beach.

Miami Ink

The Miami Ink Store - I did a double take and went back to take a photo.

Versailles

 

Simian and I just spent a week in Miami and our friend, O, took us to Versailles - which touts itself as the most famous Cuban Restaurant in the world. O assured us the bakery next door was very old-school and authentic and it was great! He told us to avoid the restaurant (also because Cuban food isn't very vegetarian friendly). Versailles had Empanadas of all shapes and sizes, plus they had pastries with guava and guava with cheese. All delicious and reasonable. Almost everyone speaks entirely Spanish so be prepared to point and use your few words of Spanish, por favor :)

Cherry Pie

I finally got around to using the pie dish goiriego got for me and made cherry pie. I used sour cherries as suggested by Cooks Illustrated and the pie turned out pretty delicious.