Miami

Southwest Airlines used to be my airline of choice.  Now they are an utterly abysimal airline.  They used to be very timely, early most of the time and I love the fact that they don't have change or baggage fees.   My last few flights I have had have all been delayed and I have grown tired of flying on Southwest airlines.  My flight arrived to Fort Lauderdale International Airport (FLL) on time, and I usually pay the little extra cash for the early bird check in.  Early Bird check in is usually a necessity because it's choose as you go seating on Southwest.  This time, my Early Bird check in got me seated in boarding group B, and I usually get grouped into group A.  When I approached the the counter to ask about this,  I was informed that "...if you are unsatisfied with your boarding group you can pay another $40 to get upgraded to A 1-15".  Why would I even pay the $10 in the first place just to have to pay another $40.  Not to mention that it is totally not worth it for a short flight.  When I pay for an early check in I shouldn't be getting seated after the family boarding time on a flight that leaves late.

When I got to Miami, I went ultra cheap with the rental car and went with Fox.  I know FLL pretty well, and went right over to search for the counter only to find out that Fox doesn't have a counter in the airport and I had to take a short shuttle ride over to get the rental car.  This was a minor source of annoyance, but the fact that I was saving about $60 relative to the next cheapest rental car company for my two day trip, I was ok with it.  They tried to upsell me into a Camaro, for an additional $80, but to me even though $65/day isn't outrageous for a Camaro, it isn't like that car is absurdly better than the Corolla that I had booked so I stuck with it.  I gotta say though, they didn't do the best job of cleaning that car, as when I dropped my phone in between the seats, I retrieved it with a bunch of nasty stuff that looked like old lettuce and food on it.  I hadn't even eaten in the car at all.  Hey, I couldn't beat the price though.


My first stop was at Shaker's Conch House.  I feel remorseful every time I have conch since it isn't sustainably fished, but sometimes I can't resist.  Shaker's is a chain that's dotted through South Florida.  They sell a variety of fried seafood.  My only source of annoyance for Shaker's is that they don't offer fresh lemon anymore but packets of lemon juice from concentrate.   They go straight to the trash for me.  The sauce that comes with the conch which is sort of like a remolaude is pretty tasty as well.  The food is cheap, fresh and fried to perfection.

I would spend the night enjoying the Spring Break crowd at Fort Lauderdale Beach.  I stayed at the Doubletee Bahia Mar.  I love this particular Doubletree.  It has that perfect distance from the bar scene so that you are still within walking distance but away from all of the riff raff.  There is also a short walk over the bridge that takes you down to the beach.  My room was on the corner of the fourth floor and it overlooked the Marina.  You also had a partial view of the beach and a full balcony.    The air conditioning unit sounded as if it was struggling to keep up in my room, but it was still kept cool, just a little loud.

The next day I wanted to eat at Mr. Chow before heading to the basketball game, unfortunately they don't open until 6pm and it would have been a stretch to get to the game on time.  After circling around the Downtown Brickell area for a bit, I finally decided to eat at Morton's Steak House.  I have had good experiences with Morton's in the past, but this time it just kinda sucked a little bit.  Not to say that the food wasn't good, just from a value perspective it was  far overpriced, and I usually don't get this from their restaurants.

For $240 (not including gratuity) I got a crab cake appetizer, which was very tasty and had very little filler, and I could argue that it was probably worth the price.  The drinks were well made, and I enjoyed a Manhattan.  For the mains my mom had the 8 oz Fillet, and I had the bone in Ribeye.  We had sides of Grilled Jumbo Asparagus and "Twice Baked" Au Gratin Potatoes.  The Potatoes were quite tasty, but these cheese laden potatoes could easily be replicated in a home kitchen.  My steak was cooked to perfection and perfectly moist, and it was a pretty good steak.  I wanted a great steak.  It didn't have the quality that I was expecting.  All it did was make me want a great steak.  I was also kind of upset by the fact that contrary to my previous experience at Morton's where they bring out all of the cuts of meat and lobster to explain to you the menu, that I was just handed a paper menu.  That experience is part of why you pay a premium to eat there and we missed out on it.  Needless to say I won't be a customer again.

Feel The Heat

American Airlines Arena, is one of my favorite arena's for basketball (Yeah the fan in me is talking a bit).  You have all sorts of food you can enjoy there from the normal fanfare to sushi and Chinese food. The arena is right near the ocean in Downtown Miami, and  has this awesome red glow at night.  The greatest part of going to a heat game is watching the amazingness that happens on the court.  Even if the Heat loose, they typically do it pretty stylishly.  Fortunately the Heat won their nineteenth game in a row that night.

Home Sweet Home

There are some places that I absolutely have to go and thing I love to do when I go back to Miami. Growing up there and then not living there for a long time I am always surprised by how much the city grows and develops every time I return home.

My vacation got off to a rocky start that turned amazing. I can't emphasize this enough, when you are travelling, be nice to the cashiers, flight attendants, desk clerks, etc. I bought my tickets to Fort Lauderdale a few months early. I was worried that I was going to get bumped from my flight since I wasn't given a boarding pass when I checked in for my flight. Usually, I am like the last person on the plane, but I was very early for my flight this time. I went to the gate and asked for my seat assignment, and was told to come back a half hour before the flight. I asked again nicely and was told that my name would be called before the flight boarded. I was growing increasingly concerned because there was a bit of a standby list on display. Five minutes before boarding my name was called and I was upgraded to first class.

The first class experience on an American Airlines flight in my opinion isn't as worth it. Previously I had only flown first class on Virgin America. The food is terrible. The seats aren't much more comfortable. Value wise, I wouldn't have paid more than say, fifty bucks to upgrade to first class on American.

Once I got to the airport, I had to deal with the rental car situation. I reserved a car from Avis (Pro tip, sign up for the rewards program at whatever rental car company you use, worse case scenario you waste five minutes of your time, best case a couple of free days and signing up is free). Reserved an MKZ but was assigned a MKS. If you know me you know that I am not the SUV type. So eventually got everything corrected and was given a MKZ, but on the way to the parking lot there was this beautiful white 328. I went back inside to do my negotiations and was informed that that car was a 2012. Then I was offered a brand new 2013 with very low mileage.

Imagine how pissed I was when I found out that there was no satellite radio in this car. Really Avis... No satellite radio in your BMW. I must say that after buying a Toyota Camry... There are some features that my Camry has that the BMW just has a much better navigation system in some ways. The controls are a bit more intuitive. The Camry's voice control is much more straightforward. It took me about 20 mins to figure out the Bluetooth in the BMW.

I had dinner with my grandma, more like a large late night snack considering it was well after midnight at the Latin Cafe 2000 (1149 W 49th St, Hialeah). There are several Latin Cafes dotted through Miami. We had the appetizer sampler. The sampler consisted of:

• Tostones Rellenos con Picadillo: Delicious fried plantains which are smashed to form a little cup which contains a savory mix of ground beef and olives it has a tasty tomato base to it. Fresh they are amazing but the tostone, or plantain part of the situation doesn't reheat well at all as I learned the next day. 
• Croquetas: A Cuban staple which is essentially chopped up ham breaded and deep fried. They are a tasty treat that is usually served with saltine crackers. I usually forego the crackers when eating them. Done right they have a soft inside and a crispy outside. A delicious ham flavour that isn't too salty. 
• Tamal: which was tasty and had the correct proportion of masa to meat. It is absolutely horrible when you get one that is overwhelmed with too much masa. 
• Pork: what makes pork taste better? Frying it in its own fat. You get the nice lemony flavour (though most mojo marinades are made with tasty bitter oranges) of the mojo marinade accentuated by a hint of garlic. The cooked onions that accompanied it have a slight vinegary taste. The pork is very tender with a crisp exterior. 
• Papas Rellenas: My favourite part of Cuban cuisine hands down. I fiend for these when I am away from home. It is the perfect snack. Devinely smooth mashed potatoes coat a delicious filling of Picadillo and is deep fried to crispy perfection... Hey nobody said Cuban food was healthy.

I must admit the service there left a little to be desired though.  The Media Noche sandwich I had there wasn't the greatest I have had either.  I was looking forward to that sweet bread with the pickles, roast pork and ham.  The ham seemed of not the greatest quality and the bread was greedy.  Needless to say I've had better.

The next day I ended up being at a loss for what to eat and taking my uncles and grandmother to dinner at TGI Friday's (90 N University Dr, Pembroke Pines, FL 33024).  Friday's is my standby when I pretty much don't know what to eat.  It's not great by any means but it isn't bad either.  You can't get much more reasonable than $155 for dinner for five adults and a child including tip.  I was underwhelmed by the steak tacos (serves me right for going against my staple Jack Daniel's Burger).  But the appetizers didn't dissapoint and I was well fed.