Black Eyed Peas and Hockey - downtown Tampa weekdays

Wednesday eve we went to a long awaited show...the Black Eyed Peas were playing at the Forum downtown Tampa. Parking at the Embassy Suites hotel across the street was convenient, we walked over to Hot Tuna across from the Forum where the DJ was spinning all BEP, and was very crazy busy..so we then walked next door to The Hut...again a very busy crowd inside, we hung outside by the bar, and they also had a DJ, but not as entertaining as Hot Tuna. By 8pm, we entered into the Forum, with Club Seat tickets...the show was AWESOME...very entertaining. After the show we were not ready to head home with all the energy from the show, so we walked a few blocks up to the Hub, and cabbing it back home to end the evening at the Green Iguana south westshore...a great Wednesday night.

Thursday the Boston Bruins were in town, so we all went to the Lightning Game...prior to the game we stopped by Malio's for their great Happy Hour Menu...HUGE Ginormous juicy cheeseburgers, some of the best flavor and fresh baked soft onion rolls; Shrimp Theresa in a garlic lemon butter sauce; Mozzarella planks - cheesy and lightly fried; tower of Onion rings - again lightly fried and large portion...each item only $5 each!! We were pleasantly surprised how much food and how great it was...definitely will be back for the Happy Hour menu again. The game was slow go for the Lightning in the first period, but an exciting third period with lots of action, but could not get one last goal to tie it up, and we lost 5-4.

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Tampa with Hockey, John Mayer and Pirates!

Another great long weekend started Thursday evening when the Tampa Bay Lightning took on the NY Islanders at the Forum in downtown Tampa. I used to watch and follow the Islanders as a kid, my dad would take me and my brothers to the Nassau Coliseum for games growing up in Long Island. Being in Tampa for about 22 years, I was going for the Lightning tonight, and although a sloppy game, Lightning won 5-2.

Friday was a concert night downtown Tampa. We started at Cafe Dufrain, got a nice table outside overlooking downtown and the Forum along the Channel. Food is consistently GREAT here, started with Lamb Ribs(kind of small, and a little over cooked) and Calamari, cooked perfectly with a great lightly spiced oil. Then we enjoyed Sea Scallops entree, and Ahi Tuna. PERFECT. A short walk across the harbour island bridge to the Forum after dinner was perfect(parking at harbour Island is free in the garage if you dine or use one of the services). John Mayer was awesome, played lots of new and old, talked alot with the crowd of nearly 12000. A walk back to harbour island after the concert, we stopped by the Convention Center along the Riverwalk where the Jose Gaspar ship has been docked all week after taking over the city last Saturday.
And Saturday night was the Night Parade for Gasparilla, the 3rd and final parade for Gasparilla. We got to Ybor City early to visit to partake in the Ybor ART walk which occurs every first Saturday of the month from noon to 6pm, only to find out that may of the studios and galleries were closed, because of the parade this evening. We got to the Laughing Cat for the BEST Italian dinner, and were joined by some other friends....filling up on some of the best Italian food in all of Tampa area..Sea Bass Special, Seafood AuGratin, Eggplant Parmasean, Eggplant Rotini, and some soups....all very very good. By then it was time to hit 7th Avenue for the Parade, and what I like about the night parade is it is more 'intimate'...the floats are closer, the people are not as packed, you can get right up to the front, and get the most beads ever. the 2.5 hour parade was FUN..meeting friends from the Krewes at Gaspars Grotto afterwards, and then late night Pizza and NY NY Pizza.

Im looking forward to the Black Eyed Peas this Wednesday!

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A Christmas Weekend in Tampa

Happy Holidays! Christmas Break started early, and on Wednesday evening a few of us went to the Forum downtown to see the Lightning take on the Flyers, was an exciting Hockey Game...with the Flyers up 2-0 in the first period, only for the Lighting to get 2 in the second period, but the Flyers came through for another 2 to win the game. After the game we met up and said hello/goodbye to some friends that were leaving Tampa for the holiday weekend.

Christmas Eve - started early making Italian sauce and a huge Italian feast for my Aunt and Uncle and a few friends - Sausage and Meatballs, Eggplant Parmesan, Four Cheese Lasagna, Broccoli with Garlic/Lemon, Garlic Bread....espresso's and zambuca out in the backyard around the fire pit..dessert of Italian pastries/cookies, and Banana's Foster, and then playing dice games till midnight, when the Cigars came out. Good Times!

Christmas Day - after opening gifts and enjoying the morning, met my Aunt and Uncle at Channelside for some Christmas Thai dinner and Thai Thani - at 330pm, not many people in the restaurant yet, but more and more were coming in as we were eating, the area was very busy with people going to the movies as well. Food and service were good, as usual, we ordered some of the Soups, rich and flavorful, Dumplings - fresh and delicious, and House Fried Rice, and another dish with Shrimp, Chicken and Pork and a very light and flavorful sauce. An excellent Christmas meal. Afterwards we walked it off along the Tampa Riverwalk, starting at Channelside, taking a look at the new Heroes Plaza and Cottanchobee Park. Then it was time to see a movie at Channelside, and Up in the Air was the consensus, great movie!! And a great Christmas Day!!

Saturday a good friend of mine in the Seminole Heights neighborhood was having a few dozen people over for a Cookies and Wine get together, everyone that showed up at to bring two dozen cookies, and at the end of the night, you were able to take home a few dozen cookies...interesting, but had alot of fun.

Sunday, went to downtown St. Pete, and tried Yummy Mama's - Russian Brunch Buffet. I never went to a Russian restaurant, this was very authentic, and had a little market next door, large bar area with live musicians. The Brunch was thoroughly explained in detail of all the variety of foods, everyone that worked there was overly friendly and Russian...Stuffed Cabbage, Chicken Kiev, Goulash, Stroganoff, Russian salads, Russian soups, Perogies...and lots of other foods such as Cheese Blintzes and Crepes, Omelet station, Carving Station, Salad Station, Seafood Station with Crab legs, Oysters and Shrimps. It was good, included Mimosas or Bloody Mary's. I'M not sure I will be running back to the Brunch Buffet, but would love to try the menu for freshly prepared meals...I thin that had there been more people dining and they were able to turn the food over more in the steam tables, the food may have been fresher.
Afterwards it was a walk around the park areas of downtown St. Pete. Sunday night, another good friend of mine had a dinner party at her Wellswood neighborhood home, about a dozen of us on the back porch, with a fire pit, and heaters on, enjoyed company and winding down of a great Holiday weekend.

Short week, and looking forward to New Years!!
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Going 'Green' with the Tampa Bay Lightning

Thursday evening was 'Go Green' night with the Tampa Bay Lightning Hockey team...they were promoting green awareness, powering the Forum with renewable energy the entire night, recycling all plastics/aluminium, etc. And if you rode your bicycle, you received a free ticket to the game, OR if you brought a phone book to be recycled you received a ticket for $5. Soooo, a few of us rode our bikes, and getting onto the Forum Plaza, there was an area set aside for Bike Parking where someone watched them all evening, and we were each handed a great seat to the game. In addition, City Bike Tampa gave anyone with a bike a free maintenance check. While in the Forum, we snacked on some awesome BBQ Beef/Chicken and Pork atop nachos, just like at the Rays games...if you can find these, they are a steal and very filling. During the game we received a call in the 1st period about our friends who had a Suite on the 1st level...soooo, we ventured down to the Suite to watch the rest of the game, noshing on Chocolate Fondue with a picture perfect view from mid ice of the Lightning beating the San Jose Sharks.

There is so much going on the rest of the weekend, just need to figure out what to do:

VM Ybor Neighborhood Historic Home Tour
Johns Pass Seafood Festival
Tampa International Auto Show
Tampa Bay Oktoberfest

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Lunch with the Tampa Bay Lightning

This past Tuesday, the Tampa Bay Lightning Hockey Team(2004 Stanley Cup Champions) opened up the Forum to the public for Free Lunch while watching them practice on the ice. It was a nice gesture for the group, Hot Dogs and Cheeseburgers, and plenty of them..and it was great to look over the new Roster, and watching them practice on the Ice. It also gave some new comers an ability to see the Forum.

Happy Holidays Tampa!

A great long holiday weekend has concluded, only to be followed by another short week and long weekend this week for New Years.
Tuesday evening a bunch of us went to a buddies annual Holiday Party in the Seminole Heights neighborhood...lots of food, drinks, and laughs...over 60 friends and acquaintances showed up through the night.....and we couldn't end the night without a stop by the Green Iguana Westshore near my house..good times!!
Wednesday was Christmas Eve, easily picked my brother up at TIA to head to Madre's house outside of Sun City Center for the annual Italian 'Feast of the 7 Fishes' Christmas Eve dinner with family.
Christmas Day was nice and warm, near 80, sunny skies. We met up with my Aunt and Uncle at Centro Ybor in Ybor City to see the opening of the movie "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button". This was a very different routine for us on Christmas, but discovered that ALOT of people actually go to the movies on Christmas Day, the theaters were busy. Ybor City itself was a ghost town, with most shops and bars/restaurants closed during the daytime hours this Holiday. The movie was EXCELLENT.
Friday, decided to venture out to International Plaza with a buddy and grab some eats at BayStreet's Bar Louie. We got a great table outside, perfect for enjoying the warmer than ususal temps this December day, and people watching. Bar Louie's food was good, started with a Hummus Platter, which unfortunately had more taboule than hummus, and I decided to get the Friday Lunch Special, 3 Baja Fish Tacos served with Guac, Salsa and Black Beans and Rice, very filling and good; my buddy enjoyed the Buffalo Chicken Sandwich, which was Buffalo Chicken bites on a soft roll with Lettuce and Tomato...fries on the side....there wasn't as many people walking around the Bay Street area, but once we entered the Plaza, it seemed a bit busier this day after Christmas.
Saturday, took the bikes up to Wilderness Parks off road biking trails, we biked a few of the more than 15 different trails, through all kinds of terrain and topography, the only wildlife we saw today was a few Armadillos. After that biking, we went over to Lenny's down the road off Fletcher Avenue for great sandwich's(there are a few Lenny's throughout Tampa), sitting outside an relaxing...then it was a bike tour of the USF campus, where I reminisced about the good old days, and couldn't believe the amount of construction and new buildings all over campus, it was a busy campus when I went to school there from '87-'92, and continues to grow to this day. A few hours of rest, and it was off to the Tampa Bay Lightning v Florida panthers Hockey game, and again our tickets included the Champions sports Lounge where we noshed on White Castle burgers, Parmesan Meatballs, Clam Strips and Roasted Turkey being carved, along with the all you can drink drafts and wines, and excellent view of the game...we pulled a third straight win, 6-4. A short 10 minute walk to a friends Clubhouse in the Seaport Apartments in Channelside area of downtown, and it was another Holiday Party for all of us to enjoy.
Sunday was a disappointing loss for the Bucs against Oakland, and we are officially done with the season. I met up with my family at AMC Westshore for another blockbuster movie, Valkyrie. There is just something about these true stories concerning Hitler's Germany that are very chilling and emotional to say the least...very good movie, I will probably see this one a second time, it was that good.

Happy Thanksgiving Tampa!

Nice to be home for the holiday this year, although I do miss seeing my brothers and niece and nephews. Thanksgiving Eve(last night), got a call to see the Lightning hockey game against the NY Rangers at the Forum downtown. I ran in the shower, and caught the 7pm bus 3 houses down from my house(Yes... the Hartline City Bus). For $1.50 I get a comfortable, clean ride, that took less than 30 minutes(about 5 miles), and I did not need to find parking downtown, and I did not have to fork over $20.00 for parking, and I was able to have a few beers at the game and not worry about driving home....the game was Great, excellent seats in the 104 section, went into SO(shootout), which I have never seen before...unfortunately the Rangers came out good in the SO, and won the game.
It was then we all went back towards my house to celebrate an annual tradition at the Green Iguana Westshore, the Huuuuuuge Thanksgiving Eve Party...with people home for the Holiday, it was a packed house, and we ran into several people that you don't get to see but on holidays and some special occasions...Great Band as usual...Good Times!

Turkey Day was with the Aunt and Uncle in Brandon, on the way home stopped by Club Chelsea to see some good friends, and called it an early night.

Channelside Eats and a Hockey Game

After touring the Tampa Riverwalk a few weeks back, the City of Tampa handed out free Lightning tickets for last nights game against the Ottawa Senators. We parked at Channelside garage(which is $10 for game nights unless you have your parking ticket validated by one of the establishments in Channelside, then it's .50 cents per hour). The group wanted to meet up at Bennigan's - not my choice! We waited about 5 minutes for a table for six, the place was VERY busy. Typical Bennigan's, but the views were incredible, floor to ceiling windows overlooking the waterfront, Harbour Island and the Port of Tampa. Besides the company, that was the best part of this Bennigan's experience. The chicken dishes were all rather dry and bland, my French Dip was very small, lacked any flavor but salt, the bowl the aus juice came in had mustard on it, the fries were all cold. Service was fine...but food quality was at it's worst. This is the second time I have been here(not on my decision), and will be the last. There are FAR better establishments in Channelside to grab some eats(Stumps, Splitsville, Thai Tani to name a few) for a quick bite before the game.

We walked over the the Forum, (About a 10 minute walk)..it was a nice chilly evening, temps in the lower 50's, hockey weather for Florida. Lightning won 4-3, after dominating the game 2-0 during the first two periods.