Theater, croquetas, mezze

Hi there! Happy Friday, I’m back in your inbox to tell you about some fun adventures from this past week plus, a few restaurants you might want to try and plays you may want to see.

Dos Croquetas sandwich

Croquetas (what’s left of them) with sauces from, you guessed it, Dos Croquetas!

Let’s start with Saturday and Vance and I’s lunch/snack at Dos Croquetas in Westchester. While Nick watched his Special Olympics buds practice bowling at Bird Bowl, we drove just a few blocks up Bird Road and grabbed a bite. I had a trio of croquetas — spinach, media noche and Mexican street corn flavors and yes, the media noche tastes just like the sandwich. Also, each of them come with a specialty sauce for dipping. Vance had one of their breakfast sandwiches with perfect scrambled eggs, melty cheese and their garlic aioli. He also treated himself to a salted caramel shake. Click on the link above to check out the menu and see their two other locations in Little Havana and Medley. And btw, there’s free bowling for kids this summer at Bird Bowl, click here for info on that.

Go see the hilarious Summer Shorts, it ends this weekend and they’ve got discounted tickets.

Mezze platter from Habibi Kush Falafel House.

Vance in his new favorite t-shirt

Then Sunday was Father’s Day and Vance chose to spend his day at the theater, attending Summer Shorts . That’s CityTheatre’s annual short play festival, many of them written by Miami writers. It was hilarious and if you want to have a great time, laugh and be moved, go see it at The Arsht Center. There are discounts for this final weekend. After that we stopped in at Habibi Kush Falafel House on NE 9 Ave. and 79 St. for a bite. We split the Mezze platter which was very, very good. I’ve been driving past this place for years and had always wanted to try it. So glad we did. And check out the picture of Vance in his Father’s Day gift from Elizabeth. It’s his new favorite t-shirt.

That iconic “Les Miserables” image on the Playbill cover of the show at the Arsht, rainbow colors added at top to honor Pride Month.

The rest of the week consisted of more theater outings for me, two to be exact. Tuesday night, I returned to the Arsht Center, this time with my niece Elena, to attend the media preview night of “Les Miserables,” the classic Broadway show. It was a fantastic production and the company was even better. Turns out Elena, who was a New Yorker for seven years and saw tons of plays while living there and has also read Les Mis, is a huge fan of the play, as am I. It was one of the first big Broadway productions I ever saw. It ends this weekend if you want to go see it.

The stage for “Laughs in Spanish” at GableStage at The Biltmore Hotel.

My “artsy” shot of the iconic Biltmore Hotel pool.

And last night, I went solo to see the hilarious, all local production of “Laughs in Spanish” at GableStage. The show was written by a Miamian, produced by a Miamian with a full Miami cast. GableStage is located at the historic and gorgeous Biltmore Hotel so I had to snap a shot of their gorgeous pool. And once seated in the theater, I had to snap a photo of the stage. I bought myself a discounted ticket in the front row! Prior to the show, I was invited to their happy hour reception at their gorgeous bar where I met some really nice people. There was Elena who was so friendly as we walked over to the theater and who I hope to see at next week’s Community Arts Program concert at Coral Gables Congregational Church and Raul who did all the carpentry for the show and is an actor. He told me he was a cast member in last year’s Summer Shorts (the City Theatre show I mentioned above). BTW “Laughs in Spanish” also ends this weekend and they’ve got discounted tickets too! I highly recommend it, it’s hilarious!

I did feel sad to have to skip Naked Angels this Tuesday but seeing Les Mis with my niece was totally worth it.

Elizabeth in the pink hat with her friend Zoe adventuring in Alaska. They’re traveling with Zoe’s parents on a Celebrity cruise.

Cute crab spotted on this morning’s walk.

And above, a few parting shots… one of Elizabeth with her best friend Zoe, living their best lives while on a cruise to Alaska and a picture of a cute crab I spotted while on my very hot and humid walk this morning during which I forced myself to jog a bit.

Phew! That was a lot, luckily today was a quiet day at home, busy and productive but quiet nonetheless. That’s all for this week, see you right here next week where I’ll tell you about the community concert I’m attending on the 27th and whatever else I might discover this coming week. Until then… xoxo