Mother Daughter Orlando Weekend Getaway Recap

You already saw the sweet hotel room and the fun we had at IKEA, but Mom and I stirred up much more trouble during our vacay last weekend.

Check it out!

Friday night, Wine Room of Winter Park with Jenna and her mom, Eileen.

I actually go to Wine Room pretty frequently, or rather as often as I can, whenever I am in Otown, but it is pretty hard to take pictures. If you aren't familiar with the premise of Wine Room, let me explain real quick like: It's a do it yourself wine tasting place. You load a card with a certain amount of money and then can choose from 100's of wines that are just loaded and waiting for you to taste them, love them, buy a whole glass of them (which is actually the best deal, fyi).

If that didn't make sense, let's try it in pictures (admittedly blury....between the low lighting and my need for a 4th or 5th hand at this place, it's a wonder I got any shots!)

Browsing the "interesting reds" section, this label catches my eye.

Boom Boom Shiraz. So I read the description:


Sounds like my kind of wine, layered with flavors, including Chinese 5 Spice!

So I chose the middle pour, which is a 2.5 oz glass.

Oh, this was soooo good! I am now on the hunt for it in the stores (fyi- you can buy the whole bottle at Wine Room, but they tend to be a touch inflated in price). Hand down, the best wine I had all night, even better than the Malbec I tried, to continue my current Malbec Obsession and the Bridesmaid Blend that Jenna suggested I get- haha, love you Bride to Be!

Speaking of Jenna, here is a cute shot taken by the cute bar tender of our Mother-Daughter crew

The Blonds and the Brunettes: Mom, Me, Eileen, and Jenna!

Notice all those empty plates? Well, they sure didn't start that way. The four of us split a 3 cheese plate, plus two starters.

Goat Cheese Bruschetta


Margherita Flatbread with Balsamic Glaze



Our Fromage Plate Consisting of:
Rogue River Blue (Oregon)
Drunken Goat (Don't recall the origin)
Lavendar Cheddar (Oregon)

All of the three plates were happily consumed and I really liked the earthiness that the goat cheese added to a traditional Bruschette. Of the Fromage Plate the Rouge River was my favorite, both the Goat and the Cheddar where a bit mild for my personal preference, but it worked out well, as Jenna and Eileen are reluctant cheese lovers!

Overall it was a great night, and such fun for Jenna and I to finally introduce our Moms to one of our favorite venues in Winter Park, as neither of them had been before.

I think Mom really had a great time...here she is trying to decide which of the Malbecs she liked better, we each got one, although I didn't write down what they are, so of course I've forgotten now, but I think we both decided that "hers" was better. :D


Fast forward past our IKEA trip and a few more shopping stops, including some great buys for mother-dearest at Urban Outfitters and a Fabulous Dress for me at my the beloved Anthropologie-( pictures to come, when I wear it...hopefully soon, it is too blasted cold right now!) we met up with Jenna, Jesse, Panda, Sarah and a co-worker of Panda's- David, at Blue Martini.

I had my standard fare of 2 Dirty Gin Martini's plus an order of the Fruit and Cheese plate for the table to share, and then splurged and got a "round" of the Jumbo Shrimp Cocktail for Mum and I (we hadn't eaten since our very early, and light, lunch at IKEA that morning). Unfortunately, (or fortunately) the food, drink and company was so good I didn't take a single picture. This is why I'm not the best "food blogger" at times, since I get wrapped up in the moment and don't want to pause life to take a photo. I'm not apologetic about this though, because I think living every moment of everyday is more important that photographing food I'll order again other night!

We said our goodbyes as everyone split up for various dinner destinations. Mom and I had a serious goal in mind: PIZZA! Mellow Mushroom to be exact! (PS. seriously, click on that link- they have the best website- so fun and interactive!) Ever since our Mellow closed in Gville back in the fall I've been having serious withdrawls- so we cruised back up the the Winter Park location (which luckily is only a few blocks from our hotel).

I love the hand made pretzels, which I knew would totally ruin our dinner, but what the hell! A 1/2 order was ordered, with a side of crack, I mean Esperanza dressing. Whoozer! Totally the worth the 35 cent extra charge on our bill (seriously though, who charges for a side of dressing?)

I enjoyed a pint of the local Orange Blossom Pilsner, which is brewed right in Orlando and I adore, while Mom sampled a paddle (four 4oz pours) of Purple Haze, Seadog Blue, OBP and Great White Ale- none of them earth shattering to a beer connoisseur, but all full of the wheat/fruit combo we both love!

Apparently the martini's at Blue hit me harder than I realized because these are the only two pictures I got of our meal at MM:


One lonely pretzel (the 1/2 order is 3) and the remaining 1/2 of our 10inch pesto base, half- Mega Veggie and half- Magical Mystery Tour. Both were divine and we left floating high on garlic, tufo, jalapenos and love.

A little too "high" if you will, since I woke up the next morning at 5:45am not sure if I had locked the car, etc.

After recovering from my self induced (or in-drunked if you will) panic attack I nooshed on some leftover pizza and then got cleaned up to wander amoungst the stalls of the Lake Eola Famer's Market and drag Mom along to drool over all the craftsman houses in Thorton Park.

After all the dragging and drooling we hit up Dexter's for brunch with Jenna, Jesse and Jerry (Jesse's Dad). You guys know how much I love Dexter's. I have raved about it many-a-time here on the blog.

Started with a Bloody Mary of course.

I ordered one of the specials- the Frittata Sandwich- which was literally a chorizo sausage and veggie frittata served on French Bread with Avocado Creme, lettuce and tomato.

With a side of delicious potato pancakes! LOVE.

Phew! That was a mega-post, but it was a Mega-Weekend and totally worth every penny and calorie! I love my Momma, and Orlando, so what a great combination!

Love to all,
~the very lovey, Jess