Hello From Miami, FL

Am in Miami, have been here since Nov, 28th and will stay here through Dec., 22nd. I’m not going to bother you guys with pictures of the place much, because Miami is so well photographed (no end of TV shows and movies filmed here)… and it looks pretty much like you imagine. In fact the only impression I got was that it was far more run down looking than I had thought it would be, other than in places like Miami Beach where the ultra rich own homes.

I’m at an Airbnb in a neighborhood south of the city proper, walking distance from more than a few decent restaurants; that said, I’m finding it incredibly difficult to find a decent bit of fish. You’d think, since I’m maybe a 15 minute walk from the ocean the fish here would be really good, really fresh, and cheap … like it was in Victoria, B.C., but it’s not. Not only that, the fish here is really expensive. Honestly I don’t get it. … oh, and dolphin is a common dish on menus here. It’s a bit disturbing when you first see it, but relax, it isn’t Flipper, it’s Mahi-mahi (aka, the dolphin fish).

The only REALLY good fish I’ve had so far was after walking the length of Miami Beach Island I rewarded myself with a piece of Black Cod marinated in Miso from Nobu’s — but that’s been marinated is miso and sake for a full two days before it’s served, which is sort of cheating.

That said, I got there at 5:30 pm only to discover that the restaurant wasn’t going to be open until 7pm, and did I want to make a reservation? Like I said, I’d walked the length of the island and I have a feeling the girl expected me to go to my hotel room, and shower and change before they’d seat me.  But, she also suggested that if I didn’t want to wait I could get a lot of the same food at the patio bar, whose menu includes the restaurants best sellers. So that’s what I did, sitting out by the back patio’s fountain.

Anyway, anytime I DO anything of note regarding Miami, I’ll post about it. So far I’ve just been walking around the neighborhood, getting situated, running erands, and escaping the 80 degree weather with 70% humidity… it’s supposed to cool down this week.