The gasparilla cookbook

I love the spontaneous hunt for interesting cookbooks. On a recent trip to the The Book House in Maplewood, I was not following their motto to “expect the unexpected,” but I found it.

Big Guy and I were looking through the comprehensive cookbook section when I spied a picture of a pirate carrying a tray of food. I was intrigued and picked it up. To my delight, the book was filled with recipes from the west coast of Florida.

I was instantly pushed down memory lane as my parents owned a condo in Florida for over fifteen years not far from Gasparilla Island. I read the inside cover and was pulled into the description of the food of the region being influenced by the Spanish, Greeks, Italians, the South, and the snowbirds of the North. I needed this “treasure map” of Floridian food to remind me of the treasure chest of good times with my parents! Mine!