This is the first Thanksgiving in years that I do not make a turkey. Okay, that isn’t true. I didn’t last year either – but that was ONLY because I was away for military training and that shouldn’t count. It didn’t feel like Thanksgiving happened at all for me in 2011. Don’t get me wrong, we were taken out to a great restaurant and shared a meal with our shipmates. The food was great and I even took pictures of it (maybe I can dig those up and update this post another time). It still isn’t the same when your family is two thousand miles away (1,949 to be exact).
This year I’m thankful for a lot of things. God has blessed me with a supportive family that enjoys watching me grow as a woman, a mother, and now a wife. I’m also thankful that I could start a new tradition – Thanksgiving Brunch. I love making food for the holidays and brunch is a new meal I never took on with guests.
I am posting links to the recipes that I used for the meal today (see related links below).
Buffalo Wild Wings has a cool vibe. The location we went to is huge and features more than a dozen television screens all showing different sports and news channels. This was a fun place to have lunch and all the staff was friendly and we will definitely go again.
As soon as you enter, you follow a path towards the register and place your order. After you do you are free to choose where you want to sit and someone comes to take your drink order. When it’s all ready, they bring it to you.
Here’s an indoor view of the location we went to
All of the booths and chairs have their logo carved into them
I ordered my wings with the sauce (they have 20 sauce/seasoning options by the way!) on the side (controlling your sauce instead of ordering them drenched is always my preferred option). I also got carrot sticks on the side with ranch – Yum!
Looking forward to our next visit – these wings were good. I can make better tasting ones at home, but their sauce selection is great and I enjoyed our lunch here.
This is one of those posts where I can’t understand why I haven’t shared. YaYa’s is a place that has been part of my life for a long time. Their original location, which I am reviewing, is right down the street from my old high school. As long as I had time before class, I’d stop in for toast with butter and coffee – still my favorite breakfast! And I got it all for about 3 bucks!
When it comes to breakfast sandwiches, I just cannot stay away from this – it is my favorite. A fried egg sandwich. The Cuban bread, baked fresh every day here, just makes it unbelievable. This bakery sells out of their freshly baked bread by 9 or 10 every morning. I think that proves it.
I think the only person that makes better coffee than YaYa’s is my husband, Ruben.
Here’s a video with the restaurant’s owner on the tradition of Cuban Sandwiches and a recipe
Note: YaYa’s caters and even make complete Thanksgiving dinners for great prices and options. Also, if you go there for lunch, try their Pan con Lechon (pork sandwich). It’s very good!
As I search for this place on Google I am surprised to see so many mixed reviews. I personally REALLY enjoyed our drive into Fernandina and the brunch we had at Jack & Diane’s this morning.
The drive to Fernandina Beach was so relaxing. My husband drove the whole hour while I just took in the scenery in the passenger seat. Ruben never minds driving long distances and for that I am so thankful. I had no idea what our destination was – just that we were going to eat breakfast somewhere new. This week we were in Mayport because I was on duty and this morning was my time to rest in between nightly watch shifts.
During the drive we took the St. Johns River ferry – this was my first time ever riding a ferry in a car. You are allowed to get off the car while the ferry is crossing the river and take pictures or just take in the waterway.
After a little more driving we got into a little town that for some reason reminded me of Stars Hollow (a pretend Connecticut town of the old show Gilmore Girls) even though the city in the show wasn’t near a beach – but this area of Fernandina didn’t scream beach town (no surf board & bathing suit stores in sight).
Side note that has nothing to do with the restaurant in this post: I always found it interesting that Gilmore Girls ended and Gossip Girl started in the same year (2007). Two words; similar titles. The end of one type of show and the beginning (to me anyway) of a new show for teens to watch that was so racy. I still love Gossip Girl. But shows that started up after this like 90210 (among others) were just too sexy for me to deal with. The dirty drama is so bad for teenagers to watch. They are adult shows (please make sure you know what your kids are watching). *End rant*
BACK to this post…
So we get to Jack & Diane’s and right away I feel a good vibe. There was so much to describe about this place so I took a lot of photos (sorry if you feel that’s lazy on the writing portion here hehe).
The feel of the small place is very homey. My husband and I discussed that it is obviously a home with a couple walls knocked out to make the open space of the dining area. I wouldn’t host a wedding reception here, but the place is very comfortable and the staff was very friendly.
+Cool Points & +Community Points
The walls are covered with local art for sale. There is also a small little area where collectibles are sold (travel memorabilia of the town, wine made locally, and business cards of a few local entrepreneurs).
The first (and only) negative I saw to this place was how extensive their menu is. A place that has more than 30 options sounds ridiculous. BUT after eating the food I realized that every entree must be good if they feel it’s important to leave it in. This means the ONLY negative of this place is retracted and I actually found nothing wrong with Jack & Diane’s. I would definitely recommend.
My meal was the Carne Asada & Eggs ($11) (hash made of regular and sweet potato, really diced up fries, eggs, steak/carnita in jalapeno)
I could not get enough of my food. This came with flour tortillas for me to build my own and everything tasted so great. Each piece was individual and full of flavor but complimented each other so well. I would definitely eat this again.
Ruben’s meal was the Mel’s Bagel Sandwich ($8) (bagel, ham, egg, and cheese) which came with the house remoulade, in addition he ordered the mango salsa to try – it’s obvious he went a little safe here, but he did say it was all very good.
I would say give them a try, but don’t bash the place for not being your “type” of place. Make sure you describe things constructively. I really did enjoy this place.
Related links:
St. Johns River Ferry (Website), (Here is the schedule) Gilmore Girls (website with information if you’ve never heard of the show) Trip Advisor (reviews) – I could recognize the table’s design so I know the picture on there is legit. Urbanspoon – I cannot believe the “Like” percentage is so low. Hopefully my review will show more detail of the ambiance before some people head over with the wrong expectations. Jack & Diane’s (official site)
Thanks for reading,
Zulaika H.
for easy sharing of my reviews and recipes and a bunch of other fun stuff on there.
I discovered Jeremiah’s Italian Ice as a teenager (years ago). Tonight, I visited this location with my husband after a craving for coconut flavored Italian ice… and my wish was granted. I think their 28/30 Zagat rating is attributed to many things.
One of the most important things to know about Jeremiah’s is that the experience never changes. There is always a young teenager who takes your order and serves you who is polite. Your selected item always tastes the same, always has the same texture, and always satisfies (large servings).
I also like that the business owner seems to embrace giving teenagers the responsibility of running a small business. If there is an adult supervising these teenagers, I have never seen them. Perhaps they’re hiding somewhere in the back (of the tiny work space) counting money and checking inventory.
The business, according to their website, was established in 1996 and serve 40 varieties of Italian ice, gelati, and soft ice cream. Although, the experience is scheduled and the same no matter which location you go to, they still present as a small business with an “at home” feel. Will always be one of my favorites.
My coconut Italian Ice has 220 calories for every 4 ounces and no fat 🙂
After breakfast at Fatty’s Cafe and submitting some homework for my online class, we headed to Times Square to see the sights (it’s about 4 p.m.). We planned to attend a show by the Discovery Channel on Spies and the history of special agents. After climbing back on street level, we stopped in this very much tourist filled cafe called Europa Cafe. My husband had been to it before and so knew we’d find a quick snack.
The sense you get when you walk into Europa Cafe is that it is very touristy. That’s okay, we’re in Times Square, right? The place is very clean and so organized. I was most impressed on their Snapple flavor selection – they had everything. Of all the places we visited on our weekend trip no one bodega had them beat (at least 25 flavor options). We collected so many Snapple caps on our trip that I made them part of our scrapbook (maybe I will digitize and share that later).
Aside from our regular drink of choice, we opted to share a dessert. Both of us love tiramisu (and sweets in general). The tiramisu from Europa Cafe is very good. It was creamy and luscious all at the same time. It also seemed to melt in your mouth… definitely recommend if you’re ever at this spot. It’s worth getting past the tourist crowd.
I’m realizing that there are still a few more places I have to post about from our trip of only a few days. We really pigged out! Can’t wait to post part 5 – which will still be about this adventurous Sunday.
I’ve already said this before – I’m all about holidays, crafts, and decorating. I’m already excited that Thanksgiving is next. Which I think is the best family holiday. Everyone gets together and are all ready to eat and enjoy time together, AND we get to put our Christmas tree up! I really can’t wait.
On Saturday, I took Jazlynn to this cute place on Lake Picket. (more…)
Happy Thanksgiving!
