Hunt for Decent Pizza in Jacksonville, FL

Pizza! For generations everybody has loved pizza. Date night, kids party,
movie night at home or a quick meal.. pizza is a great solution for
any occasion. Yet, finding a great tasting pizza spot in Jacksonville
is still a challenge. Excluding the usual chains (Pizza Hut, Dominos,
Little Caesars, Etc), Jacksonville has quite a limited selection
when it comes to authentic pizza places. Having spent some time in
eating my way through new york pizzeria's.. I have grown quite
fond of the new style pizza. My search for new style pizza has taken me to
most of the "new york style" pizza places in Jacksonville with some
decent results.


Our most recent adventure was after buying a doubletakedeal online
for $10 for $20 of Pizza, Pasta and More at Libretto’s Pizzeria (still available
if you would like to try it out as well Pizza Deal).


My husband and I decided to make a date night out of it and dinned in at the restaurant.
I ordered a pie with spinach and mushrooms while he got a calzone.
My pizza was delicious and I think beat Milanos (the popular choice
in Jacksonville for new york style pizza) due to the sweetness of the sauce.
My husband did not get quite as lucky. His calzone was about the size of a pizza
pocket and although it tasted average we could not justify the price
they charged for the small thing. Their garlic knots (my weakness at all
Italian restaurants) lacked the extra garlic ummff that we are all seek when
risking the carbs and calories to eat those yummy garlic goodness. Next time
I would probably just do pick up for the pizza from Libretto's since it would be more
cost friendly and I could eat what they do best.. pizza.


So the hunt still continues for a good pizza spot. If any of you out there have a suggestion
please pass it along.

Cheap Plans/Ideas For Labor Day 2010 Weekend

Looking for things to keep your self busy (but relax) during the long weekend? Like the rest of Florida, do you presently have tight wallet syndrome? Here are some of my plans for the 2010 Labor Day weekend. Hopefully it will inspire fellow Jacksonvilleans (people from Jacksonville fl, as per wiki answers) :)

1. Pool/Beach Day: The weekend weather is predicting 30% precipitation on Satuday and Sunday afternoon. So a dip after that would be very refreshing!! If you do not have an outdoor pool in your home/community then try to make it to the beach. Atlantic Beach is my favorite since it is small enough that not too many people are around but large enough that you can walk around the beach and the stores in the Neptune Beach Town Center. I would not suggest going too deep in the water this weekend though since the rip currents are supposed to be high due to Hurricane Earl.

2. An Afternoon At The Library: Jacksonville has so many great FREE public libraries around the city. Yet I do not think it is utilized much by adults anymore. I have recently discovered the library again and I must say it is amazing. You can get all the new magazines there for FREE, plus books, movies, cds and more. I have been to most of the libraries around the city and my favorite is the one on Beach Blvd. It has a very open, sunny, welcoming atmosphere with a great selection in all types of books. Its a great place to pick up some reading material for at home or pool day.

3. Zoo Evening - We just purchased tickets to go to the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens this weekend. Groupon has a deal going on today for $6 tickets to the zoo (one entry, expires Jan 2011). Groupon Deal Link will let you get one too if you are interested in going this weekend or anytime this year. I always find it a fun place to visit and it is a great workout with all the walking ;)

4. Shopping - Labor Day has become in commercial America another day to go out and buy big ticket items. Well unfortunately I am presently struggling to pay my monthly bills so maybe this weekend is not the time to go buy major furniture :) If you are in the same economical disaster as I, then it should not mean that You and I should avoid the malls like plague. I think window shopping during Labor Day Weekend is always fun because places such as St John's Town Center have free activities to entice customers to the mall. So we are planning on hitting the mall but only for some window shopping and free goodies. To ensure this, we will be leaving all major credit cards at home and just bringing enough cash to maybe have a nice dinner outside. So if you can spice up some Self Control and Self Restraint, you should really add shopping day to your labor day weekend.


5. At Home Relaxation Day - We desperately seek the small things in life such as sleeping in, watching TV, laying on the couch when we are working everyday. However we are ready to go out everyday during the weekend. My Husband and I are going to try taking pleasure in those small things by sitting at home one day this weekend just watching movies/tv, reading books and eating comfort foods. (Will let you know how it goes).

Have a Great Labor Day Weekend. If you have any idea on cheap plans please comment.

Bento Sushi Cafe - New Restaurant in Jacksonville

There is a new Pan Asian restaurant in Jacksonville that is getting a thumbs up from me. My husband and I are always in the St John's Town Center area (as there are such few nice shopping malls in Jacksonville) and when we were there last night we thought we would check out the Bento Sushi Cafe as he was craving sushi and I was just hoping to find some noodles. Well we found so much more! The atmosphere is great with a very urban decor. The food is well priced.. we both ate meal plates and 1 appetizer for around $20 + tip. You order before you sit and they bring the food to your table so service was speedy but good. It is located right next to mochi if you want to get some healthy frozen yogurt late :)

CNN Heroes 2009

Watched CNN Heroes 2009 this thanksgiving with my family and I was just amazed at the people who were nominated. It is really amazing to see people rise from tragedy to do good for themselves and others without wanting anything in return. I know when I finished watching it I was googling the names of the nominees that touched me the most to see how I could contribute and help out. Contribution for most of these organizations can come in various forms including monetary donations, time contribution or just providing a skill/asset that they could beneift from.

Here are the CNN Hero Organizations I am presently researching:

1. Doc Hendley - Wine to Water Campaign
Providing clean water to communities worldwide. Attempting to setup sustainable water systems in less fortunate countries. Has already been involved in proving water to more than 25,000 people in five countries.
To Help: http://www.winetowater.org

To order wine for yourself you can call 1.888.446.3569. They are hoping to be selling wine online
soon.

2. Jorge Munoz - An Angel in Queens

This school bus driver and his family provide food to hungry New Yorkers
helping them make it through tough times. Since 2004, he has handed out more than 70,000 free meals from his mobile soup kitchen.

Here is their website http://www.anangelinqueens.org if you would like to send items or donate money.

3. Andrea Ivory - Florida Breast Health Initiative

This is an outreach program dedicated to educating women about the importance of
breast health and providing them with the resources to beat the disease.
They provide free breast health awareness, education and screening through mobile mammography vans that go door to door targeting under served women.
This group has provided more than 500 free screenings in Miami, Florida.

To Help:http://www.flbreasthealth.com/

4. Betty Makoni - Girl Child Network
Provides a safe place for young victims of sexual abuse from the 'virgin myth'.
These girls are victims of a widely held belief that if a man with HIV or AIDS rapes a virgin he will be cured of his disease. This so-called virgin myth, perpetuated by Zimbabwe's traditional healers, has led to the rape of hundreds of girls, according to UNICEF. The girl child network is attempting to educate people about the myth and has rescued more than 35,000 girls since 2001

To Help:http://girlchildnetworkworldwide.org/

Cyber Monday Shopping? Is anybody actually doing this?

I came back to my computer today after a whole weekend of blogging withdrawal! It is amazing how much you can miss in a couple of days especially with thanksgiving, black friday and now Cyber Monday all over the internet. I have spent the morning looking around for some great 'Cyber Monday' deals and so far have been very disappointed. It seems that Cyber Monday was created by retail marketers as another day to bring in the money that they did not squeeze out of people by the end of black friday! I have been trying to find a good deal for a laptop for my husband and so far nothing has been out of the ordinary. Sites like Dell, Walmart and HP had all advertised great laptops on sale however when further researched they are either rejected computers that will never sell or limited quantity product so only the first 2 people who went to the website got that deal yet! What about everybody else? Seen any real deals out there?

I am thankful for

Everyone thinks about this as we get closer to thanksgiving..and this year due to the economy and tough times we are thankful for the simple things in life. I know I am thankful for my husband, sister, family & friends, our home, my job, my husband's job, dinner on the table every night and every moment of my life this year :)

Happy Thanksgiving Everybody!!

Barefoot Contessa's Thanksgiving Turkey

I love watching the food network channel!! I am amazed at how creative people can get with meals. My husband and I are foodies so we have recently started watching those shows together and then experimenting with our meals. Since neither one of us is working on Thursday we have decided to have a small thanksgiving dinner at our house with some friends. In my attempt to be very adventurous we will be making Barefoot Contessa Thanksgiving Turkey!! I have the episode saved on my DVR and plan to follow it step by step. If any of you would like to check out the recipe or try it out yourself here you go: Barefoot Contessa Turkey . Please let me know if you tried and how your experience was?