Day 26 on Captiva

Wed, Feb 27

Cecilia and I spent another early morning at the beach collecting shells... even better today.... and not as cool. Found a lot of olives and more variety.  Photo on right shows most of what we found.


This morning Al had a massage with his therapist at 10:00 and Cecilia and I used the time to shop at the Tahitian Gardens.  I bought Jacob and Hannah "Life is Good" tee shirts for their birthdays and some cute books. Cecilia bought Hannah the cutest pink cap and Jacob a book about seashells. She also found a box for a treasure chest for him to hold seashells. Their birthday party themes are Pirates for Jacob and Princess for Hannah. Her gifts will tie into their themes. 

We manage to shop most of the stores before Al met us for Brunch at the Sanibel Cafe.  Al had his usual lox and bagel platter. Cecilia and I both had the quiche special of the day served with hash browns.

Then we shopped The Brown Bag (a men's shop) where Al bought a pair of shorts and a shirt. And we also shopped the remaining stores.  Our next stop was Tarpon Bay to see what was going on there. This is the place to go for canoes and pontoon boat tours of DDNWR. Here we saw some Ruddy Turnstones, Osprey, and Piliated Woodpecker.  Not any birds on the water or islands.

The skies were too overcast and cloudy to spend time at the beach today.  It did rain late afternoon so no sunset to see. We decided to go to dinner about 5:30 to Doc Ford's which usually have call ahead seating but we found out they no longer do that starting today.  We had a 40 minute wait but it was worth it.  Once seated, we started with oysters which we shared. Cecilia and I had to have the Mojito.

 Cecilia ordered Cedar Plank Salmon-freshly cut salmon filet topped with a mango chipotle glaze, served with au gratin potatoes, wilted spinach and caramelized mushrooms-which she shared with me.   Al had  Panko Fried Shrimp - with french fries and cole slaw. I ordered the Calamari Salad - lightly battered calamari tossed with mixed Everglades greens, cucumbers, tomatoes, a sweet and sour vinaigrette dressing, topped with crispy wontons. I shared the salad with all.....  

Day 33 on Captiva

No exciting adventures or pictures to report for this post.
Today was massage day for Al.  (Update on his shoulder:  He may have dislocated his shoulder causing the pain but it seemed to pop back in place a few days ago  when he reached for something. His pain is not as bad as it was.)  We drove in to Sanibel for his 9:00 AM appointment.

Afterwards we decided to try another place for breakfast and went to Jerry's which is a food store with a restaurant. We had a great breakfast...no wait....good service....good value.  Al ordered 2 eggs over easy, 2 pancakes, and sausage patties.  I had 2 scrambled eggs, ham, grits, and toast. We will be returning here for more meals.

We then shopped for provisions for meals to cook in.  The early afternoon was too cloudy for the beach but the sky cleared about 3:00 so we did get some time on the beach....was very hot today.  The clouds returned before sunset and it started to rain  around 7 PM.

Felt like comfort food tonight so I made meatloaf using cocktail sauce instead of my regular ingredients since I had a jar of the sauce. It turned out to be delicious but I still like my regular recipe.
Served with corn and tossed salad and garlic rolls.

I watched the DVD "The Help" as Al read and watched some TV.....was not his kind of movie.   I liked the book much better than the movie.....and wonder if I'd even like the movie unless I had read the book?

 

Day 5 on Captiva

Early up this morning for coffee and toast. Al has an appointment with a massage therapist in Sanibel at 9AM.  He has been suffering with pain in his left shoulder from either a torn muscle or rotator cuff injury  (He probably hurt it sawing up a 20+ foot limb that fell from one of our trees the week we left.)  The massage did help relieve some of the pain so we are glad that he went.
We then ate breakfast at Over Easy Cafe, a very popular local spot.  Al had his fave bagel and lox platter and I decided to try the French toast which I did not like....the batter was loaded with cinnamon, way too much for my taste.  Afterwards, we took a short hike through Bailey Tract, a favorite area for birding.   Since it was noon by now, we did not see many birds, just a few ducks including Moorhens and Pied-Billed Grebes and a couple Herons.
Next, we went to Bailey's General Store for some groceries and some fresh shrimp for dinner. And then we headed back to the house. Relaxed the afternoon away.



Tonight, I prepared one of Al's favorites - Shrimp Puttanesca over Linguine - a spicy dish with anchovies, garlic, Greek olives, red pepper flakes, capers and tomatoes.  Served this with green salads, hot rolls,glasses of wine.  Bon Appetit!  I must say that we both enjoyed dinner.

For future reference:
Massage- Charlene Black
 2400 Palm Ridge Rd