Dinner and a Play

 

We had a different sort of evening out on Saturday that felt slightly back to normal, in spite of the dreaded masks required in the theatre. But, you do what you have to do.

A friend offered tickets to a play and that is for sure something that has not been available locally in a while.  This was one of the first shows of the season and while it wasn’t exactly the show we thought it would be (clever, but not really funny), it was still a theatre going experience and that is always special.

Dinner was fabulous as usual at one of our favorite restaurants and the Cosmo I started the night with was perfection.  The Venice Theatre is a quick walk down the street from the restaurant and it makes for an enjoyable local theatre centered evening out.  We are lucky to have a historic theatre right in downtown Venice with a full schedule, including well known musicals.  The arts are alive and well here and we are happy to support them.

Around My Town

 

Summer is such a great time to experience the local ambiance that can be found in Florida. There are many beach communities and if you come on vacation, you most likely stick pretty close to that one favorite place you love to visit. We have visited many beach towns, each having a bit of a different vibe and exploring each one on its own is a great way to spend a few hours.

But, like the title of this post says, I wanted to share some photos from my beach town; Venice.  It has a walkable downtown with shops and restaurants, beautiful beaches, a jetty and is known for its many parks and lovely and award winning profusion of flowers downtown.  We don’t have high rise hotels on the beach, so there is not an overwhelming influx of tourists.  It has a historic, old Florida feel and the residents fight to keep it that way.  

Of course tourists are welcome and there is a vibrant events schedule that includes art fairs, a farmer’s market on Saturdays, concerts in the park and many festivals.

Currently, there are seahorse and mermaid statues scattered throughout downtown, all painted by local artists.  Each is unique and it’s fun to stroll the streets seeing how many you can see.  Read more about this public art project here.

If you do get to the gulf side of Florida and our southwest corner of paradise, Venice is well worth a day trip.

Finally, just a little blog housekeeping.  If receive posts via email, since Feedburner is no longer supported by Blogger, I have switched to a service called Follow It.  All my followers should have been seamlessly transferred over.  I will be also updating my blog design after ten years and at that time adding a link to sign up for this email feed service if you have not in the past and choose to now. I think a palm tree or two may be added to the design :-)

Individual Peach French Toast

 

Peaches are looking so delicious right now (ours are fresh from Georgia) and I keep drooling over all the recipes using them; in both savory and sweet ways.  I am especially intrigued by beautiful summer dishes like Tomato Peach and Burrata Salad or Pesto Peach Chicken in White Wine.  And this dessert - Brown Sugar Peach Shortcakes.

But, seeing some peaches in my fruit basket that needed using, led me to an old breakfast standby.  This recipe from 2016 uses apples, but easily adapts to peaches.  It comes together really quick, is cooked in the microwave and is perfectly sweet as is, but you could add a drizzle of maple syrup if you choose.

The best part, as with all the individual serving recipes I have made over the years, is the built in portion control when you count carbs like I do.

Happy Weekend! We are still watching Tropical Storm Fred, but it looks to be more of a rain event.  Hurricane season in Florida is wild  - Grace is next and coming this way too :-)