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FLORIDA FUN: AN OVERNIGHT ESCAPE TO MELBOURNE AND CAPE CANAVERAL (at the Port)

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Exploration Tower's ode to the ocean hanging sculpture. photo by Karen Kuzsel

Exploration Tower’s ode to the ocean hanging sculpture. photo by Karen Kuzsel


This begins my new “column” called Florida Fun. I realized when I was on this overnight getaway to Melbourne and Port Canaveral that I have written about many wonderful day trips, events, restaurants, adventures and venues, without drawing attention to them as tourist and group destinations within Florida and without including theme parks in the same breath.
Not that I don’t write about theme parks elsewhere in my blog or for magazines. I love theme parks. I consider myself a theme park-aholic without being obsessive, but I also realized how many Florida places I visit that perhaps others would enjoy knowing. So, here it is, the premiere of Florida Fun.
My husband and my recent 30-hour adventure began when he booked us into the Residence Inn Melbourne, located near Read more

HOTEL HAPPENINGS & PROGRAM PROMOTIONS – SEPTEMBER

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California Grill Dragon Roll with spicy and tataki tuna, shrimp tempura, bell pepper, avocado and chili-soy glaze. California Grill in the Contemporary Hotel at Walt Disney World Resort. (Jimmy DeFlippo, photographer)

California Grill Dragon Roll with spicy and tataki tuna, shrimp tempura, bell pepper, avocado and chili-soy glaze. California Grill in the Contemporary Hotel at Walt Disney World Resort. (Jimmy DeFlippo, photographer)

September in Florida (where I’m based) is hot, sticky, humid, rainy and for those of us in the hospitality, meetings & events, and entertainment industries—it’s a time of hanging on til convention season reappears. September also means Magical Dining comes to Orlando for the entire month, whereby upscale restaurants host a three-course prix fixee’ meal for $33 and my husband and I celebrate our anniversary by enjoying as many of these meals as we can. Visit Orlando and the participating restaurants partner to both highlight their cuisine to locals during this corporate and leisure shoulder season and to raise money ($1 from each meal) for Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children.

I know most of you aren’t in Orlando, but for those of you who are, I’ll talk about these restaurants later in this blog. Last year I covered them after the month ended and by then it was too late for you to personally check them out.

So, with food ever-present on my mind, I think I’ll just jump into news about a hotel whose opening I’ve been eagerly awaiting, with dreams of spending a bit of time there.

HOTEL HAPPPENINGS     

The hotel is called Epicurean and it officially opens in December in Tampa, FL. As you may expect by the name, food will be a central theme of the 137-room boutique hotel. There’ll be cooking classes in the Epicurean Theatre, wine tastings, craft cocktail courses and celebrity appearances. The food-centric Epicurean Hotel, the first newly constructed property in the United States to join the Autograph Collection®, is in collaboration with Bern’s Steak House, a Tampa gastronomic icon since 1956. Epicurean Hotel’s website has launched and is taking reservations for stays, booking meetings or social events in the 2,000 sf Grand Cru Ballroom, the Epicurean Theatre or the second Read more

HOTEL HAPPENINGS & PROGRAM PROMOTIONS – JANUARY, 2013

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You can see forever from Scrub Island

You can see forever from Scrub Island

The beginning of January is a lot like Spring cleaning. There’s a forced necessity to let go of the old to make room for the new. In the hospitality, meetings & events industries, January rushes at you like an Amtrak disgorged from the tracks. While you’re still purging old emails, there’s a plethora of conferences, association meetings you meant to attend last year and never found time for but this year is going to be different, and a reassessment of how to bring in more business in 2013. So, here’s my belated gift to you: some destinations you may want to travel to, hotels to book, and promotional offers that are enticing, whether you are a planner looking to bring your group or an individual seeking new experiences.It’s no surprise that millions of people around the world either travel to NY’s Times Square or watch on television the New Year’s Eve countdown to midnight. That iconic ball drop may be why New York City ranks number 1 as Americans’ most romantic holiday destination in December, at least according to a survey of 8,000 readers of destination-dating site, MissTravel.com. See if you are as surprised Read more

Simple & Savory Fall Faves from Spa Chefs focus on Healthy(er) Choices

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Individual Vegetable Pizzetta from Golden Door (Spa)–a savory snack to put a smile even on a meat-lover’s face!

If money and time were as plentiful as the weeds trying to overtake my yard, I’d take cooking classes around the world from culinary master chefs –particularly if they share delectable but low-calorie recipes, and I’d wallow in spa service treatments bent on improving my emotional spirit while unknotting muscles cramped tighter than a woman wearing high heels during a day-long shopping binge across tiled floors.

With the impending escalation of activity that scurries in with Fall, time seems to becomes as stretched thin as a resistance tube just before it snaps harshly apart. Menu selection and preparation becomes as painstakingly deliberate as planning battlefield strategy: how many people, what’s the occasion (school lunches, executive dinner, client meal, tail gating party, or holiday banquet), the budget, the environment, and for goodness sakes, how many different dietary selections should be offered?

Don’t panic. Even if you’re not a gourmet cook, don’t have the budget Read more

With Seafood this good, I don't have to learn to fish!

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Mahi Mahi Picatta


                I was willing to celebrate my anniversary night celebration on the wrong night just so I could indulge in Big Fin Seafood Kitchen’s Monday night $13.95 special for a one-and-a-half lb steamed Whole Maine Lobster. I even fantasized about eating two of them by myself just to mark the occasion as extra special. My husband had a better idea as it turned out. Celebrate on the correct night, but begin the feast of food during Big Fin’s daily happy hour, from 5-7 pm. Big Fin is located in the Dr Phillips area at the Dellagio Town Center. Whether you dine in at the Trophy Bar or outside at the Bar-A-Cuda Patio and Bar, cocktails and appetizers were a pocket-pleasing $5 each.
                As the weather was muggy that night and we dressed up, we chose to sit inside at the Trophy Bar, a casually-friendly eclectic mix of décor. Rich dark woods frame contemporary light fixtures that render a subdued glow.  A large blackboard states the night’s fresh offerings. An eye-popping checkered black & white floor design runs into the white marble bar counter and the column bases separating the bar area from the main dining room. I like the whimsy of Big Fin. The food is seriously good, but the décor has a relaxed feel Read more