We recently took a trip to St. Augustine. Our oldest daughter, Ashleigh had been there when she was in the fourth grade, but when Steph was in the fourth grade her teachers decided to go on a couple of different field trips to study the history of Florida. So, since she hadn’t been we went.

It was a great trip. We stayed at the Hilton Historic Bayfront hotel. It is within walking distance of nearly everything, Castillo de San Marcus Monument, Spanish Quarter Village Museum and Flagler College. The Hilton has a restaurant but, it was suggested to us to try Mary’s Harbor café for breakfast. It is a quaint little restaurant the serves breakfast and lunch. We really enjoyed the food there and went back every morning while we were there. My husband sometimes teases us about going to Mary’s for breakfast; mind you we live about 2 hours from St. Augustine. There are several really nice restaurants along Avenida Menendez; we tried Harry’s seafood bar and grille. The food is New Orleans style. It was very good and since not everyone likes seafood in our family, we all were able to find something on the menu we liked. Another restaurant that is very good is OC Whites Seafood and spirits. My husband and I have eaten there and we really like the food.

Here is a recipe for Cocoanut Shrimp that you might like; it is pretty close to what they serve.

Coconut Shrimp
1 cup flat beer
1 cup self-rising flour
2 cups sweetened coconut flakes
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt 1
2 jumbo shrimp
oil for frying
Combine flour, beer, 1/2 cup coconut flakes, sugar and salt in a medium bowl. Mix well with electric mixer, cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Prepare the shrimp by deveining and peeling off the shell back to the tail. Leave tail as a handle.

When the batter is ready, preheat oil in a deep pot or deep fryer to about 350 degrees F. Use enough oil to cover the shrimp completely.

Pour the remainder of the coconut into a shallow bowl. Be sure the shrimp are dry before battering. Dip one shrimp at a time into the batter, coating generously.

Drop the battered shrimp into the coconut and roll it around till well covered. Fry four shrimp at a time for 2-3 minutes or until shrimp become golden brown. Flip the shrimp over halfway thru cooking time. Drain on paper towels. Serve with the Marmalade Dipping Sauce below.

Orange Marmalade Dipping Sauce #1

1/2 cup orange marmalade
2 teaspoons ground mustard
1 dash of salt

Combine in a small bowl and refrigerate for at least one hour before serving.

While we were there we went Castillo de San Marcus, Ripley’s, Fountain to Youth and Flagler College. Castillo is a wonderful fort; they have people dress in period clothing and demonstrations going on all day. My girls really enjoyed Ripley’s museum, it has all the oddities that Mr. Ripley collected from all over the world. Some stories might be a little untrue, but it is worth seeing. I like the Fountain of Youth. There is a cross placed there is 1513; they have a nice garden area and lots of peacocks. The best part is you can actually try the water from the Fountain of Youth, if you dare. My husband and I have been to St. Augustine many times before but we never visited Flagler College. It is the most beautiful building in all of St. Augustine; Mr. Flagler was way ahead of his time. It definitely is a must see. The architecture, the art work, stained glass by Tiffany and so much more. Make sure this is on your list the tour is wonderful.

Here are some things to do in St. Augustine:

Wed, Jul 29th – Aug 2nd Pub Crawl Ann O’Malley’s Pub, 23 Orange St.

Friday, July 31st Friday Night Fiesta Sea Oats Caffe, 1075 A1A Beach Blvd

Saturday, August 1st Fort Matanzas’ Living History Day 14 miles south of St. Augustine on A1A South

If you can’t make this summer try to make it for the Holidays. The city St. Augustine is beautiful this time of year, with all the lights down town and the Christmas festivities. Go to www.augustine.com for more info on St. Augustine.