Hawkers Asian Street Fare

I'd read tons about Hawkers Asian Street Fare on Twitter and on other foodies blog posts over the past month or so before my first visit, and everything I read just made me want to go more and more. So, a couple of weeks ago I tweeted an open invitation to my fellow foodies to join me for lunch. It was a weekday, so I didn't expect much of a response, so I was thrilled when three others came along! I also invited my good friend M, and so we ended up with a group of five at that first lunch. I enjoyed it so much I ended up back the following week with another friend for lunch yet again.

Food Truck Friday: Big Wheel Truck

I was so excited about setting up Food Truck Friday when I first started. And then I got busy with, well, everything, and Fridays just seemed to slip by, and I'd completely forget to write a food truck post! Ooops. But don't you worry (because I know, I know, you were worrying), Food Truck Friday is back, and what better way to bring it back than by talking about one of the two trucks from my very first (official) food truck adventure ever!

Pie Party!!! Key Lime Pie with Raspberry Coulis

I was eavesdropping on Twitter the other day when I saw mention of a Pie Party going on across the internet. I had no choice...I had to butt in. I quickly found out (through Marnely of Cooking with Books) that Shauna of Gluten Free Girl and the Chef had set up a pie party through Facebook. The goal of the party? To get people to bake a pie, any pie, by July 5th and then share a photo of that pie on Facebook. How could I not join in?? I haven't made a pie in ages, so this was a perfect excuse to do so.

Restaurant Review: Funky Monkey Wine Company

I had been eyeing the Funky Monkey Wine Company menu for ages. AGES. So when a Groupon came out for the downtown location, I knew I had to grab it. Who can turn down $40 worth of food for $20? I bought the Groupon, of course, and last week convinced a friend to venture out to the Mills50 District for a bite after work.

It is a very small restaurant that is almost hidden in the shadows at night time. If I hadn't known that it was next to Bananas Modern American Diner (owned by the same people that own Funky Monkey), I probably would have driven right past it. As it was, I had to turn around and crawl back to find the parking lot. Is that a bad thing? Absolutely not. I love a hole in the wall, especially if it has good food. It just surprised me, for some reason that I cannot pinpoint.

The decor at Funky Monkey is...well....dark. It was very dark in the restaurant; so dark in fact that I can tell you that I think the main color scheme included a deep purple and black, but don't quote me on that. I'd love to show you a photo but well, you guessed it, it was too dark. Now, don't get me wrong. I adore a small, intimate, romantic setting. The Funky Monkey has the potential to be just that. However, when my friend has to use a cell phone light to read the menu, and when the server needs to move the candle on the table so that we can "see the food better," that is a little too "intimate" for me. I'm at a restaurant, not in bed. On the opposite side of the coin, though, some of the tables are so close together that, frankly, if I was there on a date I'd probably learn just as much about the couple sitting next to me as I would about my companion.

Antonio's on Sand Lake

My littlest sisters (twins) graduated high school a couple of weeks ago. They are ten years younger than I am, so of course, this means I am officially old. They also graduated from a huge high school, and that means that their graduation ceremony was insanely long. However, one of them was a valedictorian and the other was in the honors program, so their names were called fairly early and, as sad as this is to admit to those whose last names begin with Y, I somewhat tuned out the second half of the ceremony. Oops. What was I thinking about instead? The celebratory meal that we were going to have after the ceremony, of course!

The twins' chose Antonio's, an Italian restaurant in the Restaurant Row area of Dr. Phillips, for us to have dinner at following their graduation. A few members of my family, including myself, had been there once before several years ago, and I was looking forward to returning. C and I got there before the rest of the family (we were a party of nine total, including C and myself, my three sisters and parents, my aunt, and a friend), so we decided to go up and have a drink while we waited.

Eversave.com Save Rewards Giveaway! (closed)

And the winner is......Mrs. Downing! I've sent you a message on Facebook as I didn't have an email for you. Congratulations, and thanks so much to everyone that entered! Even if you did not win, you will still have $3 in Save Rewards to use on your first purchase if you just signed up for Eversave as a new user!

If you've read my blog previously, you will know that I am a HUGE fan of the daily discount websites that have become popular of late and use them often to try out new local restaurants. Eversave is one of my favorites of these sites, in part because they were one of the first to start listing multiple Saves in one day and Saves that are available for more than 24 hours. In fact, I visited Oishi just last month using a Save purchased from Eversave, and I have another Save for Maria Bonita (a Mexican/Cuban restaurant located on the east side of town) waiting to be used soon!

So, due to my crazy love for Eversave, I was totally psyched when Eversave Orlando contacted me about doing a giveaway for them here on my little blog. And with that, here are the details: