Miami is...

People have different ideas about what Miami is, especially if they don’t live here. To me Miami is a collection of splendid sunrises, melancholic sunsets and stormy days.











What is Miami to you?

Knaus Berry Farm and the best cinnamon rolls

Mr. Green-go et moi recently visited Knaus Berry Farm on Homestead Florida. What a wonderful little place!

This is how crowded it was

I could not resist buying a strawberry shake: cold, refreshing and sweet

I don't have little ones but kids can pick strawberries and tomatoes when available 

you can find flowers

all kinds of jellies

fresh produce that lasts longer than the stuff you buy at publix

cookies, pies, cheese cakes, different types of bread (we bought two)

and the world famous fresh baked cinnamon rolls: trust me no frosting needed; they are fluffy, warm, they melt in your mouth.... ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Back home we made a very healthy spinach soup and fried green tomatoes with the produce we bought at Knaus Berry Farm. Delish!

Beats After Sunset

Every first Friday of the month the Bass Museum hosts a happy hour called “Beats After Sunset". It is an opportunity to visit the museum, check out current exhibitions, sip some gratis alcohol and mingle with beautiful Miamians and snowbirds. Yes, as the country is freezing, we anticipate having them until March.

Here are a few pics I took from my last visit. Isaac Julien’s exhibition will be up until March 6. You can check out “Ten Thousand Waves” which is a “collaborative effort between Julien and some of China’s leading artistic voices”.

Writing

I’m really happy when I’m writing… wow! How thrilling it is to choose between black or blue ink! Like when I have to decide what to wear daily: Mondays through Fridays the corporate costume and on weekends everything that’s allowed under Miami standards.

Writing is commitment and faithfulness to my notebook. Wait a minute… I have many notebooks! How pro-mis-cu-ous… I guess writing is exciting!

Writing makes me a focused person. Or not really. Sometimes I want to write a novel. Other times I want to keep up with this blog about life in Miami. Certain nights I dream of creating the perfect science fiction + spiritual adventure, some sort of “Harry Potter meets Left Behind” book. Many days I want to write about the joy –or misery- of being a woman. Well… writing makes me go to the shrink more often. (I love you dear shrink).

I’m really happy when I’m writing because it is therapy. It is a way to express and let out all my random thoughts, the reflections of a disorganized mind that lives more somewhere else than… in Miami.

Cool spot: Gigi

I lived on the beach for a long time and it is still my favorite neighborhood in Miami. However, when it comes to restaurants, the Design District and Midtown offer much more than SoBe. I’ve been two times to Gigi, once on a busy Saturday night with southern boy and once on a Monday night with the girls. Here are some pics from my first visit: delicious buns, fresh raw fish, crunchy frog legs and spicy Caribbean shrimp pad thai.

Where: right next to Bardot: 3470 North Miami Avenue, Miami, FL 33127

Cost: everything under $20

Website: http://www.giginow.com/

What to eat: todo. From the fluffy buns, to the tofu, the braised short rib meatloaf. The menu changes constantly.

Ambience: loud, busy, vibrant, high turnover, the open kitchen keeps you staring, especially at chef Jeffrey McInnis ;)

Art Basel 3: Seven, Miami Independent Thinkers and Rainbow City

After watching a twenty something getting a tattoo at Hello Kitty World, we headed to Seven, a collection of art of seven galleries from New York and London. I enjoyed this collection very much, especially a picture that said:

"the same day they signed the divorce papers...

... a tornado hit the house"

Here are others from Seven

I also loved the chalkboard were visitors wrote what artists are:


After Seven we went to Miami Independent Thinkers at Casa Wynwood. It was my overall favorite from Art Basel, very Miami.



This was the piece I adored the most from everything I saw:
 “Dina & Paul" by Rainer Lagemann (stainless steel squares, welded, nickel plated)

And here is another one by the same artist


We ended our Art Basel tour on Sunday sitting for a while at Rainbow City, hand eating a nutella/strwberries crepe from Cazacrepes from some of the very in-style food trucks.



I apologize again for posting these pics a month after Art Basel but like I said, I was on finals, graduation and obvi, the holidays. Happy 2011 Miami.