FoodFash

Adventure Begins in the Kitchen

@OxfordExchange

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As soon as Thanksgiving fullness wore off, Val and I started scheming about weekend brunch plans.  She suggested Oxford Exchange, the newest of her favorite places in Tampa town.  She described the concept and I was sold.

I woke up this morning beyond excited for brunch, appropriately humming Oxford Comma.

We sat in the main dining room, which was the perfect combo of light, airy, crisp, and cozy.  Every detail, from the wall tile to the ceiling panels to the light fixtures…  amazing.  Architecturally speaking, Oxford Exchange might just be the best restaurant thing Tampa has going on right now.

After I finished ooohing and ahhhing, I read through the varied, yet simple, menu.  My biggest brunch peeve is when a major breakfast component is forgotten.  That was certainly not the case with this menu.  Eggs, pancakes, oatmeal, lox, all covered.  We went with smoked salmon bagel and fresh berry pancakes and couldn’t have been more pleased.  The goodness and proportions were as equally thought out as the ambiance.

And when we finished up, the server brought us the check with a quote of the day.  It was the brunch equivalent of a fortune cookie, but cuter.

Bamboozled, In Pictures

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Breakfast:  Peanut Butter on Sprouted Wheat Toast

Lunch:  Bamboozle Savory Tofu Banh Mi

Dinner:  Bamboozle Vegetarian Pho

It was very apparent as I pulled the last slices of sprouted wheat bread out of the freezer this morning, toasted them, and spread them with peanut butter, that I was going to be a very hungry girl today if I didn’t order some kind of take-out.  Thankfully, Bamboozle has a $20 minimum for delivery, or else I would have never considered ordering dinner at the same time as lunch.  Because of this freakishly abnormal foresight, I was able to run a boat load of errands, get my hair highlighted one last time in Tampa (I’m going to miss Helena SO much!), and almost finish packing.  The movers are coming in the morning and I have a few random things that I wish would just pack themselves!

A Gluttonous Goodbye

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My last weekend in Tampa was one for the gluttonous books.  It started on Friday, ended on Sunday, and provided me with five pounds of extra errr love.  I am perfectly OK with tighter than usual pants.  It was completely intentional and oh so worth it.

Friday night, Lex, Lindsey, and I went to The Refinery where we split a handful of small plates and entirely too much red wine.  We cleaned our plates and headed to Fly, where we bounced back and forth between the upstairs and downstairs bars, sampling concoctions from my two favorite bartenders.  We laughed, we danced, we woke up on Saturday with upper-twenties-hangovers.

We completely failed in the picture department.  Thank goodness for Facebook…

Saturday night, Val, Amber and I cashed in my coveted Pizza Fusion coupon and had a pizza/movie/brownie sundae sleepover.  I think we all agreed that we had never felt so full in our entire lives.  The feeling was worse than hoarding candy on a childhood Halloween, but we powered through it until it was time for the deepest food coma sleep EVER.

On Sunday, after two serious girls nights, it was time to meet up with the boys and the family for brunch at Gaspar’s Grotto.  We packed around a few umbrella covered picnic tables and dug into more deliciousness.  My mom and I split the eggsters rockefeller which was so much better than I would have ever imagined.  Forget Canadian bacon, I’ll take spinach and fried oysters any day.

I couldn’t have asked for a better day.  My oldest friends, newest friends, and family, enjoying yummy food, bloody marys, and sunshine together?  Nothing could have topped that!

And there were even presents!!  Colette brought me a pair of Austin approved shades that I can’t wait to pair with my favorite bikini this summer.  They’ll be a good conversation starter, don’t you think?

And it dawned on me as I uploaded this picture that brunch was my last Tampa resident meal with Robbie, my all time favorite lunch buddy…  Yikes.

But it wasn’t just an amazing day, it was an amazing weekend filled with as many good memories as we could possibly squeeze into a way-too-short-two-days.  I am beyond blessed to have so many wonderful people in my life and, even though it’s so tough to imagine my day-to-day without them, I know without a doubt that we’ll be seeing each other soon (benefit of moving to a cool city, right?).

Last Of The Cafe Hey Days

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Am I sad that limited grocery runs mean more Cafe Hey lunch excursions for the next TEN days?  Absolutely not!  I used today as the first of many excuses to mangia mangia on new-to-me menu items I’ve neglected over the past few years.

Seeing Mushroom Miso soup as the soup du jour meant only one thing:  my favorite specials board knows me all too well.  I ordered the cup of warmth and a half of the hummus and fresh veggie sandwich.  I waited patiently for my order, catching up on my Scramble with Friends  queue (KVGator, add me!), thinking about how I take Cuban bread for granted.

And then I spotted this “local is the new black” sign and got a little giddy.  Because I appreciate local businesses.  Because supporting local businesses is something my mom has encouraged for as long as I can remember.  And what do you know… I’m ten days away from living in a place where local isn’t the new black, it just IS.