I anxiously opened my Food and Wine newsletter this week to discover who was awarded the title of Best Food City in America. To my surprise and delight, it was Miami! They considered attributes such as “affordability, diversity, accessibility and quality”, used 28 separate metrics and compared 182 cities to reach their conclusion, so this was quite an accomplishment. Miami was at one time, considered a food wasteland, but obviously, we’ve come a long way baby!

“Miami is the best city for foodies, leading the country when it comes to the availability of affordable restaurants. It also has an extremely high number of restaurants per capita,” says Food and Wine. “In the best foodie cities, there are tons of unique culinary experiences to try from food trucks, to specific food tours to Michelin-starred restaurants.”

It makes me proud to be a Foodie in Miami!

In another Food and Wine newsletter, they listed the best Italian products to buy at Costco. I rarely visit Costco these days, but I will Insta Cart from it.

Recommended Italian Food Items from Costco

1. Centro Tomato Products (Essential for Italian cooking and sauce-making)
2. Giovanni Rana Brand Products (Such as their ravioli and tortellini)
3. Parmesan Reggiano Cheese (My Aunt Josie used to buy the Locatelli cheese at Costco as well).

There was a boycott of big companies on February 28th and some continue against brands such as Target, Walmart and Amazon. I’ve been trying to avoid shopping at Publix lately, mostly because their prices are through the roof, unless you get a BOGO. So I’ve been shopping at Whole Foods (still expensive, but at least it’s organic) and Trader Joe’s. I had a previous blog about getting good deals at the grocery store and I’ve also heard Aldi has great deals, so I need to check them out.

While at Whole Foods searching for celeriac (I found it!) I picked up a loaf of rye Zak the Baker bread. The only problem? It was a whole loaf, but I wanted slices. I was delighted to discover they had a bread slicer available, where you put your loaf in and it comes out sliced!

I wanted the celeriac (celery root) to make a celeriac salad, like one I had in New York at French restaurant Le Rivage. Celeriac is a root vegetable and it tastes faintly of celery, but is more delicate. Apparently, it’s a common winter vegetable used in France. I made a salad by julienning it and making a dressing of mayonnaise and Dijon mustard. You must put the sliced celeriac in water with lemon to prevent it from turning brown. I added sliced apples and roasted walnuts to my celeriac salad and it was delicious.

I’m trying to get out of my vegetable rut of always eating the usual suspects. Unfortunately, my first attempt to buy celeriac resulted in me buying a white turnip! They look similar; it was still good, roasted. This time, I found a tell-tale celery sprout erupting from the top of the gnarly celeriac root. Voila!

I was talking to Emma at lunch the other day and she said: “Not my circus, not my monkeys.” And I thought about Wyatt and Phoenix living with me and thought: “This is my circus, these are my monkeys.” What to make with monkeys? Banana Bread of course. I found a copy of the Gullah Geechee Home Cooking cookbook by Emily Meggett, the Matriarch of Edisto Island, for a steal ($5). I’d read about her and the cookbook in the New York Times food section and tried the Benne Cookies, which I loved (and posted about earlier). So I tried her Banana Bread, which was made with lots of bananas (some from my garden), lots of butter and lots of sugar.

I made two loaves to sell at The Villager’s Garden Tour last Saturday. I put a cooled one in the freezer and left the other out to cool, as I did errands. When I returned, a sheepish Phoenix came out and told me he had taken a bite out the banana bread. I had wanted to try it and had to fight Zeke away from it at lunch and I figured a bite is as good as a mile, so we sliced it up and all had a taste. It was very good. Luckily, I also made some Lavender Shortbread Wreath Cookies to sell at the Villager’s Garden Tour. They are pretty and also taste delicious.

If you are interested in shopping local, the Coral Gables Farmer’s Market is back in town and the Coral Market, selling Vintage furniture and Homewares, is on Saturday March 15th from 11 to 5 at the Merrick House.

As for me, there are so many new restaurants in South Miami to try, I want to get out there as Foodie in Miami (apparently the BEST place to be a foodie) and eat!

Some guys have all the luck, some guys have all the pain, Some guys do nothing but complain. Rod Stewart

Up Next: Banana Bread Recipe