Cuban Food Rocks My World

Well I am officially CPR and First Aid certified now! I am SO glad I did this because so much has changed since I last took the course. I mean, obviously, I hope I never have to use the skills I have but as we all know very well, life does not always go according to plan. It is such a wonderful feeling knowing that if I had to, I could save someone’s life.

Midway through the five hour course I snacked on a larabar that I had brought in my purse!

And then right when the class was over I headed straight to Ryan’s parents house to meet the boy, who had just come in from a mega spear fishing excursion, so we could meet everyone at the restaurant for dinner. Ryan and his friend Nino went 30 miles out in the gulf and dove with tanks to shoot us some tasty red snapper, hog fish and grouper. We are bringing the red snapper fillets over to my parent’s house tomorrow night so my mom can whip up something extraordinary for dinner!

As for tonight, we feasted on Cuban food! I ADORE this restaurant on St. Pete Beach, Bella Habana, because they have two for one mojitos and they are the BEST mojitos ever!!! Erin and I split an order and it was delicious—

Since we had so many people we ordered a bunch of tapas to start off. Most contained chorizo so I didn’t have any but I did have one yummy shrimp that had been sauteed in garlic and olive oil. I didn’t really partake in the appetizers because I knew I had a big dinner coming and was happily sipping on my mojito!

I also had a nice sized chunk of bread that I used to smoosh up all the sauce!

EVERYTHING on the menu is fantastic here….if you are in St. Pete you must stop in for dinner! I love the live music, too.

I chose the same thing I had last time…..chickpeas!!!

I adore this dish! Its super random but so good. The chickpeas are cooked with crawfish, tomatoes, olive oil and garlic and seriously, the portion is enough to feed a family of eight. Last time I ordered this I brought leftovers home and made four meals out of it. Can’t beat that!

On the side, I ordered my absolute favorite…….plantains and yuca! I heart me some yuca big time. I think my next project is going to be making yuca at home. Can’t be too hard, right?! All they do at Bella Habana is just boil it and then serve it with sauteed onions. For some reason this just screams comfort food to me. I could eat it every single day!

Of course when I had finished eating it looked like I hadn’t even dug a fork into my meal but I swear I ate about half (plus all my yuca and plantains + one of Ryan’s plantains that I stole in super stealth mode). I was stuffed but saved room for ice cream of course

We love this little beachy dive. I love it because their gelato is freakin’ fabulous and they have every flavor under the sun. Ryan loves it because they have chocolate peanut butter ice cream. Enough said.

I got a sugar cone with tiramisu gelato and it was nothing short of ridiculous. I actually closed my eyes during the last couple bites of cone point and gelato because it was THAT good. The gelato actually had pieces of ladyfinger in it……sooooo good!!!

How could gelato taste so sinful yet be…..healthy?!

Okay, not healthy but not horrible either. Servings range from 110-130 calories but a serving is probably the size of my finger. Oh well. Its still way too good to pass up!

Finally home now and totally ready for bed. Its a little late though and I’m not sure if I have it in me to wake up at the crack of dawn and go to spinning. Tomorrow starts my BIRTHDAY WEEK after all. I’ll definitely exercise at some point but I don’t know if its worth feeling exhausted all day over because I still have some stuff to do before bed tonight and think I’ll probably be up for another hour or so. We shall see!