I would say it’s our Third Annual, but the first was 2019 and we didn’t meet in 2020, due to Covid. In 2021 we launched our toilet seat in the Toilet Bowl in the Bay with the words “Girl’s Weekend 2021, because 2020’s Been a Real S**t Show”, complete with a poop emoji. Last year, we couldn’t swing Girl’s Weekend since Chrissy had just started a new job as a Pickleball Pro in Naples and couldn’t take the time off.

But we were able to do a Girl’s Weekend this year- 2023- at my condo in Key Largo. In years past, I knocked myself out a bit with prepping, cleaning and cooking, so this year I was determined to plan a Girl’s Weekend as low-stress as possible. It’s my Girl’s Weekend too, after all! It came on the heels of my Book Club Meeting, so I already had some delicious Chipotle Rosemary Nuts, Summer Sangria and Key Lime Shortbread to bring to the weekend.

Girl’s Weekend started Friday around Happy Hour.

I’d gone down the day before to get things ready. I shopped, changed sheets, set fresh towels out, put little soaps and shampoos in the Guest Bathroom and set out a coconut patty on each bed. Flowers from my Book Club Meeting were brought down and put in vases to spruce up the dining and living rooms, with white twinkly lights and shells adding to the ambiance. Pool toys and floats were unearthed, ready for play! I set the table with raffia placemats , tropical napkins and flower napkin rings. Pandora was playing Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville, of course.

Since I’ve been on the hunt for the Best Conch Chowder in the Keys, I picked up pints of Conch Chowder from three restaurants to have a taste testing and choose our favorite. I picked up some Sourdough Bread you bake at home, at Publix to go along with it. I offered a Welcome Cocktail of Summer Sangria, Rose Prosecco and Sparkling or Still Water and set out an easy Charcuterie Platter.

*A note on cheese. I’d heard a new Trader Joe’s cheese- Fromage Pave Red Chili Pepper-was good so bought it, along with my beloved Toscano in Syrah. I tried a small slice the night before- cold and straight out of the fridge. It tasted like a cold, peppery bandaid. So Friday, I took the cheeses out an hour before serving and it made all the difference. Always let your cheeses come to room temp before serving. It lets the flavors ‘bloom”, especially with this type, a soft-ripened French cheese (like Brie) that’s flavored with jalapeno, cayenne and bell peppers. If you like soft cheeses and you like spicy, this is your cheese.

I served the cheeses with plain water crackers, strawberries, Chipotle Rosemary Nuts, dried apricots and truffle honey. Truffle honey makes anything better, as far as I’m concerned. We sipped, snacked and chatted, since it’s been two years since we were all together. We had our Conch Chowder Taste Testing, which I served in little cups for us all to taste, one by one, with sherry on the side. All the Conch Chowders were Award-Winning, so I was curious to see which one we liked the best.

Between Mrs. Mac’s, The Conch House and Key Largo Fisheries, the overwhelming favorite was Key Largo Fisheries Conch Chowder, but, ironically, it isn’t even made on sight! I served the Conch Chowder with warm Sourdough Bread and butter and a Green Salad with Dijon Vinaigrette.

After dinner, we went down to the chickee Hut to have a drink and watch the sunset. Back at the condo, dessert was a delicious Key Lime Pie Elise had made. We chatted for a while, hit the sack pretty early. I was the first one up the next day, so I set up breakfast.

Coffee before everything (of course!), Orange juice, water with sliced strawberries and cucumber, three kinds of berries, yogurt, Homemade Granola, Blueberry Banana Bread and Eggs, Bacon and Bread for anyone that wanted it with butter and homemade Mango Jam.

Since I love doing yoga, especially in the Keys, I’d requested everyone bring their yoga mats and we did an easy Beginner’s Yoga (Boho Beautiful) in the Living Room. Everyone enjoyed this healthy wake-up to our day and then we got dressed and went Thrifting, another one of my favorite things to do in the Keys (much to my husband’s dismay).

We hit a couple stores I like to visit in the Keys- ReStore and Salvation Army– first. Chrissy, who was totally unsure about the thrifting idea, found a tureen and platter to match her sister’s very hard-to-find china pattern, for twenty bucks. Sweet! We also visited Jolene’s, which I’d never been to before. It’s a consignment store, with new and used things. Thrifting was fun- we all came home with treasures- and we’d worked up an appetite for lunch.

Lunch was the very easy “Make Your Own Sandwich.” I love sandwiches, so got the makings for a variety of options, with Sourdough and Whole Wheat Bread, mustard and mayo. I’d cooked some bacon that morning and had tomatoes and lettuce, in case anyone wanted a BLT. I also got sliced Boars Head Turkey Meat and Swiss cheese, with a slice avocado from my tree, creating a wide range of sandwich possibilities. Cape Cod Potato Chips and Homemade Pickles were the sides, with Iced Tea and Sparkling or Plain water to drink.

The afternoon was left for Free Play– Paddleboarding, Swimming, Reading or Napping (I choose the latter) and then we were off to dinner at the newly remodeled Marker 88. Dinner was good (I opted for sushi) and we were back home and in bed relatively early. This Girl’s Weekend was not a wild one! Maybe we’re too old to do wild.

The next morning, Kelley and Elise went Paddle Boarding, while Chrissy went to do Water Aerobics in the pool and I stayed home and read. For our Farewell Meal, Kelley had made an Eggplant Parmesan for lunch. I’d done a whole Spaghetti Dinner the first year of our Girl’s Weekend and it almost wiped me out, so thought I’d be easy on myself and pre-make the Eggplant Parm. Kelley volunteered to make it (our Aunt Josie’s recipe) making it even easier on me! Elise made a salad with avocado, tomatoes and red onion and I made garlic bread with the leftover sourdough bread. As my mother always says: “Many hands make light work.”

Doggy Bags (for husbands and boyfriends) were packed up, hugs were had and we all said goodbye for another year. Or two. We’ll see. I do know this was the easiest Girl’s Weekend I’ve ever had. Here are my tips to stress-free entertaining.

*Girl’s Weekend Tips*

1. Send out an invite or Evite with the Time, Place and Activities planned. This lets your guests know what to expect, what to bring and gets them excited about the weekend.
2. If possible, arrive at the location one day early to shop, clean, prepare and decompress. Doing it all in one day is exhausting.
3. Pre-cook as much as possible, so you’re not spending time in the kitchen. I made the Chipotle Rosemary Nuts, Blueberry Banana Bread and Granola ahead.
4. Don’t forget the special touches. Folded towels next to fresh soap, fresh flowers, scented candles and a coconut patty on the bed all make your guests feel pampered.
5. Eat out at least once or twice during Girl’s Weekend. You don’t want to spend the weekend in the kitchen!
6. Let people help. If someone offers to bring something you need, say yes. Elise supplied dessert Friday night, Kelley made the entree for Sunday. This made it easier on me and let my guests feel engaged and appreciated.
7. Do activities you enjoy. While none of my guests had done Yoga recently, they all enjoyed it and Thrifting was a hit as well. The weekend is about catching up with old friends, but also about introducing your latest hobbies, activities and passions to friends.
8. Make it easy on yourself. For breakfast, I set out a variety of items and Make Your Own Sandwich was a hands-on, easy-peasy lunch. Since I wasn’t sure of what people could eat (last time we gathered Chrissy ate no meat) I wanted to have options available.
9. Go with the flow. One never knows what the weekend will bring. While you want to have a schedule, also be open to the chance to go off on a tangent and explore.
10. Don’t forget to-go containers for your guests to take leftovers. They will appreciate it and their S.O. will be more inclined to let them attend the next Girl’s Weekend!

I just realized maybe I should be less worried about anyone mistaking us for “easy girls” than the fact that I’m calling us “girls” at all, since most of us are past 60 (except Elise). But my Grandmother and Aunts called each other girls till the day they died, so I’m going with that philosophy. Girls forever! Born to be mild.

Up Next: Nutty Blueberry Granola

I’ve always wanted to try Stubborn Seed, the one Michelin starred restaurant helmed by Chef Jeremy Ford, but I don’t get to Miami Beach very often. Ford, who does a delicious-sounding, but pricey, tasting menu (8 courses for $175) at Stubborn Seed, is bringing his talents to my neck of the woods in the former Public Square space. I tried Public Square once and, while it was good, it seemed like Shula’s (former restaurant), with a smaller menu and higher prices, so I’m excited to see something new emerging there.

The restaurant is part of the Grove Bay Hospitality Group‘s holdings, and the new restaurant is to be called Beauty and the Butcher. There won’t be a tasting menu, but there will be small seasonal plates, different meats and the same neighborhood vibe Shula’s, and Jake’s had. The CEO and co-founder of Grove Bay explained: “People who live in South Miami and Pinecrest have disposable income and sophisticated palates” to support this type of chef-driven restaurant. Now we won’t have to drive to Miami Beach to experience it! Beauty and the Butcher is scheduled to open in Fall of 2022.

Girl’s Weekend in the Keys at Kelley’s house in Venetian Shores was another success!

This tradition started more than twenty years ago with just Kelley and I. It branched out to our friend Susie in 2005 and then included our friend Peggy, later. This year’s theme was Hawaiian, since I’d recently returned from Hawaii and brought the group plumeria hair clips and leis. The Drinking Buddies I’d purchased as drink holders many moons ago had eventually dwindled (eaten by dogs and hidden by grandchildren), so last year, I bought some more, which we used for our Welcome Cocktail. I served my Passionfruit Martini, which I’d had all over Hawaii and helped Kelley with dinner the first night.

At Girl’s Weekend, everyone contributes. Peggy is the Cocktail Queen, mixing up her assorted specialties at the bar. We had a Beach Bum Cosmo drink to start off, a favorite from last year. She also brought delicious fish and shrimp spreads with crackers, for appetizers. Dinner was Teriyaki Steak (Foodie in Miami recipe), Shrimp and Pineapple Skewers, Baked Murasaki Sweet Potatoes with Miso Butter, Blistered Shishito Peppers, Spring Mix Salad with coconut, walnuts and a Miso Vinagrette and Hawaiian Rolls. Susie made a Key Lime Pie for dessert, which we had after dinner. It was quite a feast to start off the weekend, followed by an enthusiastic game of Heads Up!

Saturday, we drove to Marathon to take the trolley to Pigeon Key. Pigeon Key was an island that was occupied by men who worked on Flagler’s East Coast Railway, more than a hundred years ago. The only way you used to be able to get there was by ferry, but they recently completed a road (to the tune of 44 million dollars!) that takes you over the water and to the island. It was great fun, until a sudden rain shower soaked us in the trolley. We dried off and listened to an informative talk of the history of Pigeon Key by Julie. The island is now used for tourists to visit and for a children’s sleepover camp in the summer.

Lunch was Muffuletta Sandwiches Kelley had made the night before. It was a HUGE sandwich, made on rustic Italian bread, jam-packed with cured meats, cheeses and an olive salad. It was a New York Times recipe (https://cooking.nytimes.com>recipes>8587-muffuletta) and a definite winner! Not that we really needed anything else, but we also had chips and peaches to go with our lunch. The view couldn’t be beat at our little picnic and, in no time, it was time to return back to the trolley and civilization.

Dinner that night was at Marker 88 in Islamorada. Marker 88 has been totally re-done and, as always, is a beautiful spot to eat dinner, on the white sand beach, especially at sunset. The menu, however, has shrunk and the prices have gone up, much like other restaurants. The wine prices, especially, caused sticker shock. For Pinot Grigio (my usual order) it was $12 for a 5 ounce pour, $22 for a 9 ounce pour. You’d be better off getting the bottle at $52. And their Featured Red was even higher at $25 for a 5 ounce pour, $36 for a 9 ounce pour. When did a $36 glass of wine get to be a thing? Geez!

Consequently, we all got cocktails. Two in our group ordered Mai Tais, in keeping with the theme, but one person really felt her Mai Tai was watered down, so she got a new one. My Margarita was good, as was my Onion Crusted Mahi Mahi at $30. My complaint about Marker 88 is that besides Mahi and Tuna, there wasn’t any other fish listed on the menu, which there should be an abundance of in the Keys. Also, their famous mashed potatoes have disappeared from the menu, replaced by French Fries, Sweet Potato Fries and Potato Chips, so fried, fried and fried. I got the Lime Cilantro Rice as a side.

Everyone enjoyed their entrees and there was live music, as there is every night. Thankfully, the one-man-band wasn’t too heavy on the Jimmy Buffet. Our service was good and Marker 88 is dog friendly, another plus. Marker 88 also has the best Key Lime Pie of any restaurant in the Keys- light, fluffy and piled high with meringue, but, even though Peggy was celebrating a birthday, they didn’t bring any dessert. Disappointing!

Peggy had brought Pumpkin Bread for breakfast, served with some Mango Jam I’d brought and Kelley whipped up a delicious Spaghetti Sunday for our Farewell meal. Pasta with Meatballs, Sausage, Sauteed Peas, Salad and Bread finished our weekend meal. We all said goodbye, left our Drinking Buddies behind and went our separate ways until next year.

We’re up all night ’til the sun We’re up all night to get some We’re up all night for good fun We’re up all night to get lucky.

Daft Punk

Up Next: Passionfruit Martini

It’s an event that has been going on since for at least 18 years, since before I was married to hubby #2. It started at my sister Kelley’s condo in Key Largo and was originally just the two of us, wanting to take a break from our lives. It progressed to inviting our friend Susie and then Kelley’s friend (now mine) Peggy from Tallahassee. The party moved from the condo to Kelley’s home in Tavernier several years ago.

The normal turn of events is: Arrive Friday afternoon, blow it out Friday night (aka drink too much), recuperate Saturday and leave on Sunday. On one of our first Girl’s Weekends, we decided to become a Female Detective Agency (a la Charlie’s Angels), until we found out what was actually entailed. Our goal? Bust cheating husbands. On another Friday night blow out, we booked flights to Saint Thomas, Virgin Islands, to set Susie up with someone Kelley knew, only to wake up the next morning, regretting our drunk dialing decision. We still had fun, at Girl’s Weekend and Saint Thomas.

Girl’s Weekend is a chance to catch up on all the events that have transpired from the year before. Yes, there are Zoom Happy Hours, phone calls, texts and e-mails but nothing can replace one-on-one time that is face-to-face with another human being. During the time we’ve been together we’ve dealt with: Break-Ups, Marriages, Selling Businesses, Starting Businesses, Retirement, Weddings, Health Scares, Surgeries, Becoming Grandmothers and Kid’s Issues- large and small.

We normally talk ourselves silly until the wee hours of the morning, trying to solve the world’s (and each other’s) problems. The one constant is that we all look forward to this little oasis carved out each year to spend together. I enjoyed it so much, I recently started my own Girl’s Weekend in the Keys at my condo in Key Largo.

Girl’s Weekend is also a License to Chill.

There are no kids, husbands, pets or grandchildren to cater to. There are cocktails, wine, snacks, relaxed dining, paddleboard rides, neighborhood walks, playing Head’s Up, dominos, card games, reading, hanging out in the hammock, watching Chick Flicks, going out on the boat or shopping at Shell World; these are all activities we’ve enjoyed over the years at Girl’s Weekend. There was also the time we went out on Kelley’s boat and pulled Stone Crab traps to harvest their claws, a traumatic experience for me (not to mention the stone crabs!). We boiled them and ate them for dinner.

Last year, 2020, was the first year ever we didn’t have a Girl’s Weekend. Thanks Covid! But this year it resumed, albeit a calmer and gentler version. Kelley made an Ina Garten recipe for Lobster Cobb Salad and I made Ina’s frozen Key Lime Pie for our Friday night Dinner, which Ina said was her “all-time favorite Summer” lunch. Peggy had brought other salads (quinoa and orzo with garbanzo beans), which we added to the mix with Challah bread, for a very chill (and chilled) first meal for Girl’s Weekend. And, for the first time, we didn’t blow it out Friday night!

There is always a Welcome Cocktail, thanks to Peggy, our resident mixologist. This year she experimented with three different cocktail ideas before settling on The Beach House Cosmo, a delicious and refreshing drink that is reminiscent of Pink Lemonade, but with a kick. It was a little sweet for me, so I added some La Croix sparkling water, to make it like a Pink Sparkling Lemonade- even better! We used to have little plastic men in Speedos (called Drinking Buddies) that I’d bought as drink markers for our cocktails, but Kelley’s granddaughter Grace played with them and they disappeared, so this year, no little men. Another first. Bye Chad!

Our plan Saturday was to take Kelley’s boat (Playin’ Too) out early for a picnic at Alligator Reef and get back in time for the U.M. game at 12. When we were almost to Alligator Reef, the engine started making a buzzing noise. We stopped and after numerous calls to husbands and sons, decided to try to idle back home. Alas, right before the Sandbar, the engine quit and wouldn’t turn over. We called a boat towing service and waited. We ate delicious Muffaletta sandwiches (NYT Food recipe) Kelley had made, munched on cold watermelon slices and drank Coors Light as we waited.

The high school aged boy who came to tow us said:

Now, just sit back, relax and enjoy the ride.

Nelson with Boat Tow USA.

As we arrived home, a neighbor on a nearby dock said:

How’d you kill a Yamaha? I thought they were indestructable.

A**hole neighbor.

Kelley’s next door neighbors were out of town and had told her she could use their pool while they were away. After our Tow of Shame, she wanted to take a dip in the pool and rinse off the salt water, but the OTHER next door neighbors (a couple) were already firmly ensconced in the inviting blue water. They stayed there ALL DAY. Kelley’s neighbors had told them they could use the pool too, but they were being kinda greedy. We watched U.M. and U.F. lose, went to dinner at Lazy Days and came home to watch the best Chick Flic ever- Bridesmaids.

So, the next morning, we staked our claim at the neighbor’s pool early, putting towels down around 9 a.m. We entered later in the morning and when Kelley offered to bring us Beach House Cosmos (there was still some left in the pitcher) we said “Why not?” There was nothing left to do but float in the pool, drink our welcome cocktail and relax. And that is what Girl’s Weekend is all about!

Beach House Cosmos

Recipe by The Beach House CookbookCourse: CocktailCuisine: AmericanDifficulty: Easy

Servings

10

servings

Prep time

10

minutes

Cooking timeminutes

Calories

206

kcal

Ingredients

• 4 cups prepared limeade

• 2 cups Vodka

• 1 cup cranberry juice (we used light)

• 1/2 cup of Triple Sec

• 12 slices fresh lime

• La Croix, Key Lime flavor

Directions

• Mix all ingredients in a pitcher. Place in refrigerator and let chill 2 to 3 hours.
• Pour mixture into in Martini glasses 3/4 full.
  
• Top with La Croix (or other sparkling water) and garnish with a lime slice.

Up Next: Boat Food