Genuine Food and Another Happy Visitor

I've had a new invigorating experience in the Miami design district. First of all, going there on a Friday instead of in the weekend reveales a lot of shop content unaccessible during the weekends. Not only are all the shops open, but all the shops seems to have "more than what the eye can catch in a glimpse" to them. Several shops have another room in the back, in the second floor or in the backyard with something different than what they have in front. Either a gallery, or just different stuff. I found two great photography books in the back of Tomas Maier swimwear and fashion shop.

Most of the shops also have staff that are chatty and welcoming - and very happy to talk about the concept of the store, the background of the designer or artists they represent - without making you feel guilty for not buying anything. It is like walking in a district full of little galleries for you to explore - and if you happen to find an item you can afford to buy, then good for you. If not, enjoy the experience nevertheless.

The reason for being there this time was to show this happening place to my friend Anne Gro who was visitng. She loved it. She bought a pair of shoes in my favorite architecture designer shoes/ contemporary photography shop! I was delighted. I hope she is too. Chances are low she'll ever bump into anybody in our beloved home country wearing the same pair of fabulous shoes. And she says they're even comfortable. So this is what shoes designed by an architect can look like:

All the houses in the design district are quite low compared to other areas of downtown Miami, so the afternoon sun sticks around in the streets until sunset. After strolling around for a few hours Anne Gro and I went to an italian-like place with a nice outdoor bar for a happy hour cocktail. The place is called Maitardi and is decorated with mosaic tiles on round walls with trees perfectly placed around the yard for a light shadow on the sun-warm guest. We were sad to leave before sunset as Anne Gro had to catch her plane back to Norway.

Before getting into the car we did a little iphone photoshoot of Anne Gro's new shoes. A photo-team lined up next to us to shoot some fashion shots against the purple wall in the great low sunlight. It made my fabulous iphone feel very small in my hands all of a sudden ... but I caught the fashion people from the car after we finished our session:

I have to mention one more thing from our visit to the district this Friday afternoon. Before walking around, we had lunch at a new favorite food experience place: Michael's Genuine . It really is what the name implies - A thoroughly genuine food experience.

Most of the ingredients in the food they serve are gathered from local producers. Just the idea of this makes me happy. The food also taste unique, different and ... delicious. I had a shrimp salad with local, juicy shrimp, all kinds of local green leaves, nuts and carrots and some kind of delicate, tasty wine vinaigrette. Wouldn't be able to recreate this salad at home. It was the best salad I've had as far as I can remember.

Anne Gro also had a salad, but with tender slices of local beef strips drizzled on top. She was very pleased as well. Our lunch dragged out simply because we both enjoyed the experience of just sitting there in this peculiar, calm and laid back yet trendy place, absorbing the concept, the people, the mild temperature and the fabulous tastes. I also had a dessert. Of course. A greek (oh! imported) frozen yoghurt with local strawberries and a balsamic sauce. Some things just taste so good that you end up feeling sad when the bowl is empty.

The pleasures of the design district are never ending. But Anne Gro stayed with us for a bit more than a week, so she did more than dining and shopping designer shoes in the district. She also had the famous ride on Helge's Harley,

went shopping in the giant malls nearby,
got a tan,
drank margaritas,
watched basketball on TV in a local sportsbar,
had drinks at DeLano,
observed alligators from a few meters distance ...

explored the Vizcaya castle and gardens ...

and hang out on South Beach and in Fort Lauderdale.

She also witnessed my never-ending aggression against our GPS ... We have a new car (which is very nice, I don't need to feel so intimidated by the big trucks around anymore). But our new car also has a new GPS, which is behaving differently than the old one. It feels like having to learn a new language now that I finally understood the previous one. Luckily I know my way around a lot of places by now and don't need to use it that much. Luckily. Or else the GPS monitor would've be in danger of being broken.

Anne Gro was sad to go home, which seems to be the norm when people come to visit. The sun, the heat and the breeze from the ocean tend to add an ease to life which makes it difficult to feel stressed or upset for a very long time. We might get tired of living here eventually. But for now - I don't really want to go anywhere else.