Say hello to my new friend!
How cute is Babe? I knew we would be friends immediately when I saw that his name matched one of my all-time favorite movies.
He said “Hi” to us and everything. Such a talented little guy.
We saw Babe outside of Jerry’s, a local grocery store on the island. Jerry’s is located in a shopping plaza and cages with a bunch of exotic birds are scattered among the stores. The birds are quite interactive and one macaw even made us scream when it squawked surprisingly loudly after being very quiet for everyone for the longest time.
I then decided that if I were a parrot forced to live my life in a cage, I’d spend my days messing with people, too. I’m sure watching people jump and freak out is a lot more entertaining than watching people say, “hello” to you 20 times in a row.
We headed to Jerry’s after lunch to pick up food for dinner. Naturally our minds turned to our next meal immediately after eating our first.
The Island Cow
Lunch today was great! A bunch of you guys recommended The Island Cow and we followed your suggestions and were seated at a booth inside of the eclectic restaurant.
We got a pretty big kick out of the cow-themed décor and especially loved this sign:
We each had one of their muffins to start that actually tasted like funfetti cake with cranberries!
I wasn’t too hungry because I visited the continental breakfast at the condo after eating my own breakfast, so I stuck with a salad topped with fruit, veggies, blackened scallops and shrimp.
I cleared my plate and also shared some of the marinara mussels and buttery garlic bread that my mom ordered.
It was great! If we go back before we leave, I’m ordering the mussels.
While out and about on the island, we also stopped by The Bubble Room gift shop (we’ll be returning for their famous dessert tomorrow) and had a good time playing around with the trinkets and silly hats.
(I picked the pig hat in honor of Sadie’s love for pigs. 
)
When we arrived back at the condo, we headed out to the pool where I spent some time reading and relaxing before going on another long beach walk with my sister.
And then it was dinnertime!
I was in charge of dinner tonight and made broiled salmon, roasted curried cauliflower and roasted Brussels sprouts… served with pita chips just ‘cuz they’re delicious.
Time for dessert!
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Haha, I love that “Unattended Children” sign. My sister has it in her house!
I made brussels sprouts tonight also! they are so healthfully delish! that little gift shop looks right up my alley. i appreciate the need to wear pig hats and share them with us 🙂
Ha ha that sign cracks me up! Muffins that taste like funfetti?! That’s definitely fine by me! 🙂 I swear the cornbread muffins at the restaurant Sticky Fingers tastes like funfetti too!
Your food-both the “Island Cow’s” and your own cooking-looks amazing.
I would LOVE to try those mussels.
And, seriously, everything you made sounds friggin’ awesome.
what a fun day! is there anything better than warm buttery bread? i think not. especially when used to mop up some marinara sauce!
I’ve been to the Island cow! It was about 11 years ago… haha so I don’t really remember anything about the food.
You are killing me with this trip to sanibel. I.love.it there
Jerry’s has good donuts!!!
yummm!! lots of yummy food= exactly what a vacation should be!! have a great time 😀
I love fun restaurants that are found on vacation! I hope you’re having a good relaxing time!
We had an African Grey in our house when I was a youngin’. Her name was Lucy and she was such a sweetie!!! Always singing and always happy! Sanibel looks like it would be so relaxing to visit!
aw, i love the name lucy!
I saw that sign at a coffee shop recently and loved it! I need to find that pig hat, they are my favorite animal, I am sure my boyfriend would love to be seen with me rockin that one 😉
Looooove the Island Cow! But you must try Lighthouse Cafe for breakfast one day. Order the whole wheat blueberry pancakes. I promise you won’t regret it!
I vote too on the Lighthouse Cafe, but my favorite there is the creamed chip beef which I think they only do on one day of the weekend. All of their breakfasts are awesome.
Ask at the Bubble Room and they may let you just take a walk throughout the restaurant…..it is much more eclectic than the Island Cow.
we definitely want to eat there! i’ve heard such great things!
Ha! Our favorite coffee shop in WIlliamsburg has the same “unattended children” sign. I also took a picture the first time i saw it!
That unattended kids sign is AWESOME! HAH.
Have a delicious dessert 🙂
These posts make me so happy. My grandma has a timeshare down there that our family gets to visit every 3 years. We missed a few of our rotations, but I was able to visit 2 years ago (conveniently, I got appendicitis right as they were about to leave, so I flew down mid-week to recuperate – best paid sick leave ever). I recognize all these places!
Makes me feel like I’m on vacation all over again.
how fun!! it’s such a neat place to visit and it seems like many of the people who come love to come back again!
I’m so jealous, I wanna come on the next trip hehe.
Ha, if I were stuck in a cage I would probably mess with people, too. One of our family friends had a parrot. At the time it seemed cool, but thinking back that bird was probably miserable being stuck in Wisconsin!
Love the funny hats! All the food looked delicious! I’m so glad you’re enjoying yourself on vacation!
That unattended kid sign is hilarious – and the blackened shrimp look fab!
I loved the Island Cow when I was in Sanibel and I actually got the same meal that you did! My Mom got the shrimp tacos…they were SO good. Oh, and those starfish look amazing!
The people who live next to my parents used to have an African Grey Parrot and in the summer, when all the windows were open, you could hear it singing scales (like: Do, Re, Me, Fa . . .) and saying all kinds of little phrases. They’re a hoot! 🙂
I absolutely love your pig hat! Too cute!! And that salad looks delicious! I would never have thought about mixing seafood and fruit (like cantaloupe) on a salad. I’m going to have to try it!
I know you spend a lot of time reading other people’s blogs and finding new ideas online and wanted to share something with you. There is this website called Kyoo that aggregates all sorts of social media information onto one page so you can read all sorts of Facebook posts, Twitter posts, blog updates and more all on one page. They have one for nutrition that I thought you might like and wanted to share it with you and all the other readers! http://kyoo.com/nutrition
Hopefully you can find some great new ideas! Have a great time on Sanibel Island!
Looks like such an awesome fun time! I love that sign in the restaurant – too funny!!
I think we walked through the same store when we visited Captiva… have you been to “Sunny Side Up”?
the elephant hat wins. mostly because I love elephants.
Aren’t those African Greys awesome? My boyfriend’s family has one. They can live up to 80 years!!!
That restaurant looks so cute! I love unique restaurants like that! Love the hats! 🙂
Mmm..brussels sprouts look so good! I miss eating them. I haven’t been able to have them cause of health issues but once I’m feeling better I am definitely bringing them back into my life.
I’m a Florida girl too, but our family vacations at Sanibel every summer and have for years and years. It holds a very special place in my heart. I’m loving all your posts from this week because I’ve been everywhere you are! As for food, check out Doc Ford’s…seriously the best fish tacos (among other goodies) that I’ve ever eaten!
Once upon a time, my family took a 3 week long vacation that involved driving out to the San Juan islands in Washington. We stayed at this really…I don’t even know the right word…motel-y place right outside Glacier National Park in Montana (got our room upgraded for the night to a suite that had a FREAKING TEEPEE in it. Coolest motel EVER!). Anyway, the dining area of that motel had a macaw, and my brother and sister and I got a kick out of trying to communicate with it. He wouldn’t talk to us for the longest time, but I do believe we eventually got a “hi” out of him. Good times.