Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes

This recipe is so delightfully simple and perfect for a lazy Sunday when the weather has cooled off. Make some of these, brew a pot of coffee, and grab your nearest book. I promise you'll have a good day.

Cupcakes:
1 box yellow cake mix
1 15oz can of pumpkin (NOT pumpkin pie filling)
1 cup water
1 1/2 tablespoons cinnamon

Mix all ingredients on low for 30 seconds, then mix on medium speed for 2 minutes. Scoop into cupcake liners and bake for at 350 degrees for 17-19 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Place on wire rack to cool.

Frosting:
1 8oz block cream cheese
2 teaspoons of vanilla
1 tablespoon cinnamon
3/4 of a 1lb bag of powdered sugar

Mix all ingredients until smooth and pipe onto cooled cupcakes.

Review: Salt Life Food Shack

No matter where you go in Jacksonville you're bound to see the phrase "Salt Life" someplace. Whether it be a decal on the back of a car, or on a t-shirt or hat, just look around and you'll see it. What is Salt Life? It's about living a passionate life of enjoying saltwater sports. The company was founded 6 year ago here in Jacksonville Beach and has grown to a massive line of products featured in all types of surf shops around the globe.

Earlier this year, the folks at Salt Life opened up a restaurant in Jacksonville Beach named the Salt Life Seafood Shack. With a menu that heavily features seafood, there's also delicious choices for those "land lovers" as well. I felt like taking advantage of the gorgeous weather we had this weekend and decided it was high time I pay a visit to the Shack.

The decor inside is all aqua tile with wood accents. There is a salt water tank in the middle of the room. It's quite nice and casual all at the same time. Since I was alone, I grabbed a seat at the bar. I was greeted by a friendly waitress, who suggested I try the Tuna Poke bowl, which has been previously recommended to me by many people. Sounds right up my alley, I'll take it!

The Tuna Poke Bowl ($14.99) is a house speciality, served in a generous portion, with beautiful chunks of raw tuna avocados. Served on a bed of sticky rice and sauteed spinach. The top is sprinkled with sesame seeds and scallions. The soy based sauce has a slight kick to it, and any one that's a fan of spicy tuna rolls, this is a dish for you. It's such a refreshing dish, so light and filling. Perfect after a day on the waves!

Other menu items include:

• Beer Can Chicken ($9.99): smoked chicken with a maple glaze and served with roasted corn.
• Beach Boil ($11.99): shrimp, crab legs, sausage, corn, and potatoes. Similar to a low-country boil.
• Ensenada Taco ($8.49): You choice of grilled Mahi or shrimp and chorizo, served with cabbage slaw and cilantro lime sauce.

They have specials featured every day of the week, so stop by next time you're at Jax Beach and "get Salty!"

Review: Urban Flats

Located in the heart of the hustle and bustle of the Southside is a new place called Urban Flats. It's the newest apres-work watering hole for the blue collar workers. The inside is sleek and modern, there's a huge outdoor seating area with barstools, tables, and comfy couches that will be wonderful for those nights it finally starts to cool down here in Jacksonville.

For a starter, I ordered the Urban Stix ($4.50). These are flat straws made from the same whole wheat dough as their flatbreads. They're baked with smoked gouda cheese and sea salt. What a great bar snack..... the spicy mustard is perfect accompaniment with the smokiness of the cheese. You'll want to enjoy these with a icy cold beverage. I paired it with a generously poured glass of Wente Vineyards Reisling ($8.00).

Since Urban Flats is mainly known for their flatbreads, I ordered the prosciutto and fig flatbread ($9.00). It's topped with slices of prosciutto, bleu cheese crumbles, honeyed figs, mozzarella, and chives. The flatbread is slightly crisp on the bottom and still semi chewy. You get this great combination of savory/sweet with the sweetness of the rich honeyed figs and that salty hit from the prosciutto and bleu cheese. The mozzarella is there to bind it all together and makes sure that the other toppings don't go sliding off every which way.

I really enjoyed my evening here. There was an acoustic guitar performer strumming away and the crowd was quite lively. It makes for a nice spot for a evening with your significant other, girls only night, or your work crew. Try it next time after you're catching a movie over at TinselTown!

Easy Key Lime Pound Cake

Anytime there's a bake sale at my work, I always get asked to bring a little something. I decided to switch it up from my normal goods and bring a pound cake. I have a great and super easy pound cake recipe that impresses everyone!

Ingredients:
1 box Lemon cake mix
1 box Lemon flavored instant pudding
4 eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup Key Lime Juice
1/4 cup water
Zest of 1 lime
Can of cream cheese frosting


Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F . Prep your Bundt pan with Pam or any type of grease or flour.
2. Combine all your ingredients (except for the frosting) in a mixer, and mix on medium speed for 2 minutes. Pour batter into prepped Bundt pan.
   
3. Bake for 45-50 minutes. Once you remove it from the oven, let it sit in the pan for about 10 minutes on a cooling rack. After resting, take it out of the pan and sit on cooling rack until completely cooled. Transfer to plate or platter of your choice.
   
4. When ready to frost the cake, remove the lid and seal from container of frosting. Microwave for 30 seconds at a time, until frosting is pourable.
   
5. Casually pour the melted frosting over the cake, looking like a complete domestic diva.
   

This cake is fabulous and easy for so many occasions. And you can change it up with different cake flavors and juices. I think a chocolate cake with coffee used in place of the juice and water, along with some melted Nutella drizzed on top would be wonderful!

Review: Bistro Aix

Right in the heart of San Marco and 5 Points, lies Bistro Aix. I have had many of my foodie friends gush over how delicious it really is, so I decided to treat my mom to a dinner there before catching Mamma Mia at the Times Union Center.

The atmosphere is bistro/lounge hybrid. Exposed brick walls combined with hammered metal bartops creates a cool look.

Our server handed us the menus, and even they had a nice well worn copper look about them. A definite first for any place I've been to in Jacksonville.



Mom and I scanned the menu and each decided to try the $29 Prix Fixe menu. I decided to get the Fire roasted Tomato soup, Mussles Frites, and Profiteroles. Mom got the French Onion Soup, Roasted Chicken with port and mushroom sauce, and the German Chocolate cake.

Our soups came out, steamy and hot, in these adorable mini tureens. My tomato soup was garnished with a dollop of creme fraiche and chives. Mom's french onion looked like it was straight from a Parisian Bistro with the broiled gryuere and toast on top. The first taste of my soup, I could taste that delicious smoky tomato note. I took a bite of mom's and the broth had a deep and rich onion and herb flavor. We both at as much as we could, and our server brought our entrees.

Mom's chicken looked delicious, the chicken's skin was roasted to perfection and was lovingly surrounded with the roasted mushrooms and cipolini onions in the decadent port reduction.

My Mussles Frites looked incredible. They were drizzled with a saffron garlic aioli, served with toast pointes to soak up the broth. But the superstar of the evening was the fries. I could sing praises for days about these fries. Hand cut, double fried, tossed in cracked salt and pepper, chopped rosemary, and thyme. Every bite had me groaning and exclaiming how amazing they really are.

I was completely shocked that I actually saved some room for the dessert, and I am glad I did. My profiteroles were served with vanilla bean ice cream and drizzled with warm chocolate ganache and caramel.

Mom's German Chocolate Cake was a generous slice, served with fresh berries. She said it was one of the best tasting German Chocolate cakes that she has ever had.

If you're looking for a fantastic meal here in Jacksonville, but want to try something new, drive over to Bistro Aix for a meal you're not soon to forget!

Review: Bento Cafe at St. John's Town Center

One of my new go-to places out at the Town Center is Bento Cafe, located in the same area as Best Buy/Toys R Us/ Ulta.

They call themselves "Pan-Asian", and they have menu items featured from multiple Asian cuisines. In fact, when you walk in, there's two menus, one is the Kitchen Menu and features dishes like Garlic Broccoli, Curries, Kung Pao, and the other menu is strictly sushi. For this visit I figured I'd try a little of both.

I start off by ordering one of my favorite cold drinks.... Boba Tea ($3.25) . It's a blended drink that has sweet and chewy tapioca pearls floating in the bottom. I was delighted to find they had Honeydew as a flavor choice, it's always my preferred flavor! Within a minute or two, I was happily slurping down my drink. Cold, sweet, refreshing. Make sure you don't suck up that drink too fast, otherwise you're likely to start choking on one of those tapioca pearls!



For my sushi selection, I picked my old standby, a spicy tuna roll ($6.25). I can always judge a place by how good the spicy tuna roll is. The roll arrived so nicely plated and drizzled with a spicy shrimp sauce. Inside the roll, the tuna was seasoned perfectly, with the perfect bite of heat from the sriacha mixed in with it.

For my entree, I ordered the Garlic Chicken and Broccoli Bento Box ($7.50). I love how visually appealing this looks in the seperated compartments! Each bento box comes with small sides of ginger salad, white rice, noodles, and vegetables. You can also order the entrees as a Noodle Bowl (served over udon noodles) or as a Rice Bowl (served over white rice). My garlic chicken was very flavorful, and even had a slight bit of spicyness from the kung pao sauce they toss it in. The ginger salad was fresh, I always enjoy the ginger dressing. After my tea and sushi roll, I couldn't finish my entire bento box.




I frequent this place quite often now, pretty much go every other week. I always know I can get a good meal here, and get my sushi fix for a great price! And right next door is the ever delicious Mochi frozen yogurt... but I'll save that review for another day!

Review: French Pantry

One of my favorite lunch spots in all of Jacksonville is The French Pantry. Located in what looks like an old warehouse, this place is truly a treasure.

Only open from 11-2:15, Monday thru Friday, there is almost always a line that goes out the door. Seating inside is at French farmhouse tables, and more than likely, you will be sharing your table with others. Your menu choices of the day are featured on 3-4 chalkboards. As you wait in line, you can check out the menus, French Pantry is well known for their Bruscetta, which is unlike any you've had! They also have salads, sandwiches, and sometimes soup. The best part is that they feature items that change daily. Sometimes you can get lucky and they will have the crab cakes or Bang Bang shrimp salad. Two things NOT to miss if you see them. This is also the kind of place where everything is made fresh for you, to order, and once they are out of that item for the day, it gets wiped from the blackboards. Drinks to choose from include water, brewed iced tea, Diet Coke, regular Coke, or Sprite. They do have coffee and espresso available.

Once you place your order, you will be directed to a table, and fresh bread quickly follows you to your table. A steamy loaf of bread served with a bowl of dipping spices, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar is yours to share with your table mates. Your food is brought out very quickly, faster than most table service restaurants. At our table that day, there was very little talking, the only sounds you could hear were sighs and groans of contentment. My party ordered the Chicken and Artichoke bruscetta with goat cheese, the Fried Shrimp and Green tomato salad, and I got the Ar

tichoke, Prosciutto, and mozzarella Bruscetta. Most items are served with a small mixed green salad. Food is never scarce here, you will be stuffed if you eat it all!

The French Pantry also has a delicious selection of desserts to choose from, and it changes daily. Popular items are the Strawberry Cake, Carrot Cake, German Chocolate cake, and the White Chocolate Cheesecake. Make sure you ask for it when you order, because if you think about it and try to get it later, it may not be available anymore! You can also purchase freshly baked bread and rolls while you're there. Some choices include French baguettes, 7 grain, whole wheat, goat cheese and sun dried tomato foccica, and their delightful goat cheese rolls.

Menu items range anywhere from $8-$12, and desserts are $5.50 a slice. Definetly check this plac out for lunch one day, trust me, you'll be hooked!