The month of December we decided to have a progressive dinner for our monthly meeting and what great fun it was. Two couples did each course at a different house. For appetizers and salad we went to Ron and Shelly's house and boy what a layout we had. They had several different appetizer's ranging from shrimp cocktail to dates that were wrapped in bacon, and all kinds of cheeses. The salad bar that she had was awesome as it had a little of everything that you could want on a salad. A plus was that Ron had several different cocktails for each to enjoy. After this course we arrived at our house where Jane and Jimmy had helped with the main course. We had pork tenderloin wellington, carrot souffle, steamed cabbage, potato's agrution, and asparagus with sesame citrus sauce of course there was plenty of wine to go with dinner. If this was not enough we then traveled to Ed and Laurens house for dessert and after dinner drinks they had help from Pete and Donna. I could have stayed there for awhile with all of the dessert. Cheesecake, pumpkin pie,, chocolate covered strawberries etc. along with this we had Irish coffee, and champagne. I would recommend that anyone in a group give this a try as we all had a great time and would do it again. It makes for many great memories for all or us.

Just reminding everyone that we will be going to the dragonfly on sunday the 15th of november. We will be meeting at 6pm see you there.

blue water bay

We decided to meet at blue water bay for our outing this month and even though only 3 couples showed up we all had a great time. Most of us had the buffet I would say seafood buffet but it did not have as much on it as it used to. I have been there several times and I was greatly disappointed at the buffet that was offered. I would not go back and get the buffet again as I thought the price was not reflective of what was offered. One of our group ordered steak and it was brought late and over cooked. I think that our experience this month was not one of our better choices and I am very sad as I have always liked going to this venue. I do hope that in the future they will try and make some changes to how they are doing things there and maybe then I will give it a try again.

Sunday we met for our August dinner at Leonardo's 706 in Gainesville. It was a place that most of us had not been in a long while. What a great surprise to us all that the food was wonderful along with the atmosphere. We were a group of 14 that had a wonderful time. If you are going with a large group I would suggest that you call ahead for reservations. We did and were placed in the private dining room with just our group. Our server was named Catherine (I hope that I spelled that right) and she was very attentive to all of us at the table. Everyone had a different dish which was nice as we got lots of feed back from each one, and nobody had anything bad to say about the food. The appetizers were delicious as I had the Cedar Key clams that were excellent. I thought that the price for them was a little high 13.95 for a dozen, but again were very good. The dessert is generous in proportion and all of it comes highly recommended by our group as we all tried different desserts and shared them up and down the table. The wine list is good and they also have a full bar to serve you from. I would recommended this establishment to anyone that would like to have a wonderful dinner whether you come by yourself or in a group.

Today I will write about our outing in July and that will catch us up until we meet this month which will be sunday nite at Leonardos 706. What a great time we had in july. Instead of going to a resturarant we decided to try a night of bowling with bowling food. We all met at the new alley called Splitz and it was great fun. The men were one team and the women the other. I have to say it was close on both games but I think the men won. It was fun watching how the men thought they were going to lose and then it was game on. THe food was ok. We had lots of snacky foods to try out. The bowling alley has great accomadations for groups if you are thinking about going. If you go as a group you can bowl by the hour or by the game. I think if we go again we will pay by the game hourly is kind of expensive and if yougo over your hour it is costly to finish your game. If you go as a group be sure and take the side with the couches as a waitress will take care of you and if you are on the other side they do not. Overall I think that all of us had a great time and will do this again it was fun to watch Rodger roll to the wall and jump up like nothing happened. I guess it was a good thing it didn't because we were all laughing so much we couldn't have helped him anyway. Hope if you have a group you will take the time to do something fun like this.

June at Bonefish Grill

Now that I have May done I suppose that I should get June and July done since we meet this Sunday for August. In June we went to the Bonefish Grill in Gainesville . This restaurant was an excellent choice for all of us. Several of us got there early and sat in the bar area. The drinks and appitiziers were wonderful and the service was excellent. After everybody arrived we were escorted into the dining area where we were greeted by a waitress and waiter who were very attentive to us. They were very helpful to all with what to order on the menu as some of us had never eaten there before along with keeping everyone happy during the evening. The price of the dishes are around average for the Gaineville area running from 12 to around 25 dollars a plate. After dinner several of us ordered different desserts and shared them around the table I don't think that there was anything that we did not like. If you are looking for a restaurant that has great food and great service this if definitely a place for you to try.

I have beem remiss in the fact that I have not blogged about our last 2 meals that we had so I am going to try and catch everyone up to date.
May we went to a resturant that has been around for a very long time. I can remember going there as a child with my parents. It is the Yearling resturant in Cross Creek where Margarie Rawlings lived. It is again out in the middle of nowhere (funny how we keep going to these places). It has beem reopened by a couple of guys that used to run rescue in this county. There is a wide range of food to be offered and there is plenty of it. Everyone had a large time as we were in the back of the resturant. Our waitress was wonderful with explaning everything on the menu and giving feedback as to what we should order. There were many different things ordered ranging from froglegs to steak. I had the froglegs and can say that they do not taste like chicken but were very good. Everyone enjoyed the food and the price was in the medium range plates ran from 15-25 dollars. If you go you should try the fried green tomates they are excellent. THe atmosphere is a little rustic and there was a two piece band playing old folk songs which was fun to listen to. They also have a full bar to serve you from. If you would like to go somewhere off the beaten path for a good florida cracker meal this is the place for you.

Wow, Friday night was our monthly meeting of the minds and what a meeting it was. We had decided last month to try out a place that is in the middle of BFE if you know what I mean. We had to travel to Bronson which is a small town about 40 miles from our house in Alachua. Then on top of that you had to travel 10 more miles past Bronson to get there. We finally arrived on time (not like some of us who turned around because they thought they had gone to far ie Pete and Donna) and had to laugh at the building when we got there. We walked in to find part of our group already there and holding a table for us thanks Rusty and Lori for that. After getting everyone seated we had the most wonderful waitress come and take our drink orders her name was Tina and she was a blast. The bartender (I'm sorry I don't remember your name) made wonderful drinks even though the bar was limited with what they had to offer. Next came the meal, if you ever want a wonderful steak this is the place to go. This is one of the best steaks any of us had ever had. I am not sure what they use to marinate the steak with but it melted in your mouth. If you go on the weekend they had a live band and a small dance floor that we all took advantage of. The owner of the place is very friendly, and was there to make sure that everything you needed was done correctly. Everyone in our group had a great time especially laughing at Donna. I am sure next month it will be someone else that we laugh at even though it was fun to laugh at Donna. If you want to have a great steak meal and you don't want to spend a fortune this is the place for you. If you get lost just stop in town and everyone can tell you how to get there. The prices are very reasonable a 20 oz steak dinner runs around 18.00 which is a great bargin these days, and the best part of all is you don't have to dress up jeans are great. I can't wait to take my family back there for dinner . Watch for next month as we will be going to the Yearling.

LaAvina Mexican Resturant was the site for our monthly dinning experience this month.
We all met on saturaday and had a wonderful time. This is a hole in the wall place in the very small town of Archer, Fl. You can't miss it as it is the only resturant you come to at the traffic light there. The food is wonderful and plenty of it. I think for mexican food it was pretty authinic, and plenty of it. I would suggest that if you are going as a couple to share a dish as each of us had more than half of our dinner left. The service was good but a little hard to understand. This could have been because of the band that was playing at the time. I think that the place is run by a family but not sure. The prices were excellent. You can get almost any dish for under $10.00 and as I said earlier there was more food than you could eat. Everyone in our group gave the overall score of 8 or above to this place which is saying alot for us. The only draw back is that they do not have a bar but they do sell beer and wine. I think that we will all agree that this is an establishment that we would all like to go back and try again. If you are in this area and looking for a great mexican place to eat I would recommand it to anyone. Hope you find this post helpful. Have a great month, we will be going to Bronson next month to Willards to try it out as it was written up in the Gainesville Sun as having wonderful steak. I guess we will see soon.

Just to let everyone know we are going to dinner tonight with our group to a mexican place in Archer, fl. I will be letting everyone know how things go sometime during the middle of this week. This is a new place for several of us to go and it should be alot of fun. Stay tuned for more.

After canceling and then rescheduling several times, only six of us were available for dining at the Northwest Grill on February 28, 2009.   While some members had to work, others had no baby sitter and others were caring for sick relatives, the rest of us met and enjoyed an excellent meal.  Debbie told me I should say whether or nor there was a full bar, I'm not sure.  Our group only had wine or beer, whether by choice or necessity, who knows?

I had the shrimp and scallops, which were excellent, some of the best I've ever had.  Jimmy had steak and lobster tail and enjoyed it very much.  Rusty ordered grilled shrimp and wished he had ordered them fried, like mine.  Lorrie and Donna had steak and both said they were very good.  Pete had stuffed grouper and said it was excellent.

Even though we were all stuffed we ordered desserts from the dessert tray.  Donna, Lorrie and I had cheesecake which just made our butts bigger but was worth it.  Jimmy and Rusty had some kind of brownie with ice cream and whipped topping.  Pete had some kind of fruit tart with ice cream that he requested special.  Everyone agreed the desserts were exceptional.  

We found the atmosphere to be comfortable, making conversation easy.  

The restaurant was a little pricey averaging around $100.00 per couple including drinks, dessert and tips.

We all agreed that we had a great time and would like to meet at this restaurant again.  Hopefully the whole group can go next time.

northwest seafood grill

Just a short note to let everyone know that we will be going to NorthWest Seafood Grill for our monthly dinner this weekend. I can not wait to try out their menu as I have heard great things about this place. We will be going on Saturday and I will post our results by Wednesday of next week. Just wanted to give everyone a heads up for next week.

North West Seafood Grill

I am letting everyone know that we will be going to dinner on Saturday Feb. 28 at the northwest seafood grill. I hope that the food is going to be as good as I have heard that it is. We will be posting our findings about this venue next week. I did try to get in touch with the manager and could not.

Jane and Jimmy's oyster roast

Last month we decided to go to one of our members house for an oyster roast. What a great time was had by all. Jane and Jimmy provided the oysters and everyone brought something to go with. Thank goodness we have Shelly who will call and make sure everyone is not bringing the same thing. If you are looking for something to do with your group this is always alot of fun. We had a great time at the bonfire that Jimmy worked so hard to get bigger and better than the last one. I know that everyone had a wonderful evening and can't wait to get together again next month.

For all of you that were looking for the month of February and did not find it here is the reason why. We did not go to any venues for this month but decided to go to one of our members house for an oyster roast. What a great time we all had. Jimmy and Jane were gracious host and not only was the food wonderful but you never know what is going to be talked about by this group as all of us have been f riends for around 30 years, it can get pretty exciting some times. If you are looking for a great time get your group together with a hugh bonfire and watch the fun begin. I can't wait for all of us to get together again next month. You never know what will happen.

December Dinner 2008 - Melting Pot

Melting Pot

418 E University Ave

Gainesville, FL 32601

(352) 372-5623

In the month of December we visited the Melting Pot in Gainesville, Fl. There were 5 couples that went. We were treated to the wine loft upstairs before our meal which we all enjoyed. Our server was very attentive and told us about the different kinds of wine that they had and what we may enjoy trying. We were then directed to our table for our dinner. Our dinner consisted of 4 courses. We enjoyed a salad, cheese fondue, main course fondue, and then dessert. The drawbacks to going with this many couples were the fact that we had to share 2 fondue pots. For the cheese and chocolate this was o.k. but for the main course it got kind of crowded with each person having 2 skewers in the pot together. That meant that at times there were 10 to 12 skewers in the pot which were to many . The atmosphere was excellent and everyone in our group had a good time even if some of us wanted to go by McDonald's on the way home. I think that was just a joke on his part. If you are thinking about going to the melting pot you should make sure that you have a reservation first and that you only go with one or two couples. The other thing that you need to know is that they only serve wine and beer as far as alcholic drinks. The price is in the middle of the road. A couple should be able to have a complete meal for around $100.00 We all had a great time and everyone said that they would come back to have dinner there again.