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A Dishy Weekend

By staff April 14, 2008

Food finds, friends—and fashions, too.

By Judi Gallagher

Last Friday night it seemed that the Columbia on St. Armand’s was THE place to be. It was nice to see Dick Vitale relaxing with his wife Lorraine over dinner after receiving his induction into the College Basketball Hall of Fame. That-a-way BABY!!! Famed harpist Bonnie Kaplan was also there preparing for a weekend concert and no doubt enjoying a little 1905 salad and sangria to keep her in tune. While I cannot say The Columbia is a favorite for service, don’t you just sometimes need to settle in on St. Armands for all that garlic in a 1905 and watch the world go by?

A great find on St. Armand’s is the Miami Rice Pudding Store. The store offers 20 rice pudding flavors, including Key lime, traditional, (my two favorites) tiramisu, pumpkin, and coconut. I appreciate that their rice puddings contain only natural ingredients -- milk, rice, sugar, fat-free milk, eggs, natural vanilla and salt.

Each serving contains half the fat and about two-thirds the calories of an equivalent serving of ice cream, but if you sample all 20 flavors before you decide on one in particular, do those calories count at all?

With the weather absolutely Chamber of Commerce perfect this past weekend, it was a real treat to model good friend Vicki Rollo’s fashions from Heart’s Desire on Saturday at Village of the Arts in Bradenton. A perfect little relaxing getaway for a lunch under the trees in the courtyard and stylish fashions.

Vicki and Katherine enjoy lemon drop martinis at the Village of the Arts lunch and fashion show.

We have had many requests for information on summer dining deals. Coming up on the web site under Ask Chef Judi, you will find a local listing of some great prix fixed menus around town, so stay tuned.

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