Hey Lovebugs,

I told you I was back. does dance I feel like I have been having a mental blockage when it came to blogging because so many things were happening and I felt like I was drowning. So now that I am no longer treading water I am going to write everything that I haven’t gotten to share… backward.

I will end up in Chicago in July at the Jill Scott and Anthony Hamilton. I’ll know if you don’t read this part when I see the comments congratulating my rekindled relationship… don’t be that person.

First up, let me tell you about the amazing brunch I had last Sunday with the odd trio (me, George and Donna) for my birthday. We were supposed to have it on my actual birthday but I took a last minute trip to Phoenix with Jai to ring in my new year (remember we are working backward). So this was a little makeup… brunch.

Since I have been out of the loop, George, Mr. Brickell got us reservations at Quinto La Huella. It is great Uruguayan restaurant on top of the East hotel. It is a part of the new Brickell City Centre near downtown Miami. As I walked from the train to the hotel I was amazed by all of the restaurants and shopping that had popped up. I must say that I didn’t know much about the restaurant beforehand so I stalked the yelp reviews to give me the deets. Obviously I didn’t stalk well enough or I would have realized that we had a 10:30 reservation for 12:00 brunch.

I did however know that I wanted to try their pulpo (octopus) as several yelpers had told me it was “a must try”.

As I arrived into the restaurant I was pleased to see the beautiful decor that mixed modern styling with more traditional pieces of wood and wicker. George and Donna were starting without me because… I was late. Well… as late as you can be when you are an hour early.  We cheered to our long overdue catch up and had a round of mimosas on Jai. She promised it to us as mea culpa for making me cancel the week before.

Before we knew it, it was noon and brunch could officially begin. We moved from the lounge to the outdoor oasis where the brunch was set up. It was beautifully intimate with vines from the tops of the posts and jazz music playing.

First up, the cocktail options. There are two options, 25 dollars for unlimited wine and 35 dollars for unlimited mimosas and cocktails. Donna continued with mimosas while George and I moved on to caipiroskas  – vodka, fresh lime, and cane sugar.

The buffet of food was definitely plentiful and delicious. While they did have the brunch staples of fresh mozzarella and tomatoes and deviled eggs, they punched it up with items like the octopus escabeche. It was fresh and crisp, making me go back for seconds. Our waitress brought us a platter of the choice meats to try so that we didn’t have to wait in the line at the meat cutting stations. We all know I am not a meat girl, but the selected pieces of beef, chicken and sausage were succulent and flavorful.

Despite being completely full, my heart was only missing one thing… the pulpo. We were told that though it wasn’t part of the brunch menu, the chef could prepare it… for an extra cost. The three of us looked at each other, birthday glee came over me, and moments later I got MY OCTOPUS. It was beautifully cooked on a bed of potatoes and light oil.

My birthday was complete… until the rain came.

Though we were saved by the automatic roof, we became “drenched” in more mimosas and champagne. We were covered with the AMAZING service from both our server and the jazz band who dedicated several birthday songs to me. Everyone was so gracious and personable from the servers to the manager who came by to chat with us. We laughed and listened and enjoyed each other like it hadn’t been two years. We relived the stories of the last time we had done a service project together and were grateful we could do it again. As the brunch was over, we went arm and arm down the elevator…to be reminded it was still raining. Luckily, George lives a block or so away,  so we walked fast and laughed hard as we continued our revery … in the next post.