Not Formal, Not Fussy, Not Fusion: So states the sign that hangs outside on the walls of an old 1920s style bungalow in the heart of Old Hyde Park village. With that motto in mind, Bailey’s Catering & Restaurant is out to please diners in an extremely welcoming environment with high-quality, perfected home style cooking.

Unlike some restaurants that brag of healthy options or small servings, chef and owner Kim Bailey’s dining options complement his diet craze: The North Beach Diet. If you are unfamiliar with this latest idea, just read the title of the book to get a good idea of what he is talking about: “The North Beach Diet: Add Belly and Hip Fat Instantly with Batter Fried Twinkies and More.”

This is not your typical restaurant.

When dining at Baileys, expect the owner to personally welcome you at your table, and be prepared to enlighten him with the dessert selection you plan on devouring that evening, as it is a requirement when indulging at the “big yellow house” on Rome Ave.

The vast menu changes weekly, but will always evoke inner childhood memories with options such as pot roast and meatloaf to fried shrimp and mac and cheese.

On our most recent visit, we started with the Bailey’s AWESOME Corn Fritters ($6.95). Calling them an appetizer is an understatement; the dinner sized portion of fritters were served in a large basket, sprinkled in powdered sugar and served with orange blossom honey. This, in addition to the complimentary black bean humus and pita chips brought immediately to the table after being seated, had me full before I was even able to decide on my main entrée.

Somehow I found enough willpower to opt for the incredible homemade chicken and dumplings for two ($16.95). OK, so it’s not really made to be shared by two people, but the filled platter might as well have been split! The dish came served in a large bowl with a generous amount of shredded chicken, perfectly prepared dumplings and served with 2 sides. My side preferences that evening were the mashed potatoes and the cauliflower / broccoli mash – a must at this place!

If deciding on a menu selection is too hard for you though, don’t worry about deciding on the wrong option – everything on the menu is made fresh from scratch daily, using only the finest ingredients all the way down to Kim’s homemade Madagascar vanilla ice cream.

And don’t forget to wash down your dinner with a reasonably priced bottle of wine or beer. You may say to yourself, no restaurant offers a reasonable priced wine and/or alcohol menu and you’re right – Baileys is BYOB with no corkage fee and therefore YOU choose what price you are paying for your evening’s beverages. No Fuss, indeed!

The only downfall of Bailey’s is that they are only open from Tuesday through Thursday evenings, 5:30pm – 8:30pm. You will crave its tantalizing menu much more often than that.

If you simply can’t live without the food on those nights they are not open, you can always call upon Baileys for your catering needs. Baileys specializes in offering its clients with “delectable food from around the globe” for your corporate meeting or personal gathering at your home.

Bailey’s Catering
815 South Rome Avenue
Tampa, Florida 33606
(813) 254-8018
(800) 977-9423
www.BaileyCatering.com

From Climb Tampa:

Join us for one of the most unique events in Tampa Bay. On March 21, 2009, hundreds of people will huff and puff their way climbing the 42 flights in the Bank of America Plaza in downtown Tampa. This is more than your same old 5K this event is a vertical race to climb 42 floors/914 steps. Whether climbing for a winning time or simply to cross the finish line in honor or in memory of someone with lung disease, this event is a great way to challenge yourself physically. We guarantee that all finishers will have a newfound respect for healthy lungs!

All proceeds benefit the American Lung Association for lung cancer research, education, and prevention programs. Many do not realize that lung cancer is still the number one cancer killer in both men and women.

I write this article every year because I think it is so important to remember pet safety during the holidays.

It is so tempting to “give a dog a bone”… or a piece of juicy turkey, or, gravy covered mashed potatoes or… Well, you get the point. They look at you with those sad, sad eyes and there is absolutely food everywhere! I know! Although the average American gains a pound or two over the holidays, we should not allow that for our canines and felines.

The fresh aroma of turkey basting in the oven, along with creamy gravy simmering on the stove and pies on the table will have your dog drooling. During this month and the next, it is important to watch the health and safety of our pets. Here are a few tips to help avoid an unwanted trip to the emergency vet or a sick pet at the party.

• • Keep your pet on their standard diet. Avoid giving them turkey or other meats, since this can cause an upset stomach, vomiting, or diarrhea, all of which can ruin the celebration.
  • Keep aluminum foil, plastic wrap, plastic bags and wax paper away from pets. Disposing of these items properly can prevent accidental intestinal blockage while trying to lick the last morsel of gravy from the cover.
  • While a wishbone may bring you a great wish, it can bring your dog an unwanted problem. Any brittle or splintering bone, wish or otherwise, can become lodged in their esophagus as well as puncture a hole in their intestines.
  • Discourage friends and family from feeding your dog extra snacks and scraps. Snacks that are high in salt (chips and peanuts) and other fatty foods can cause Pancreatitis, which is a life-threatening condition.
  • While chocolates may taste great, they contain theobromine which can be hazardous to your pet’s health. Baker’s chocolate is the highest in theobromine and can cause the most problems.
  • As with any holiday, see that your pet has a safe haven to move to…away from the festivities. This will give your pet a much needed “Time-Out” from the hustle of the holiday.
  • Make sure that your pet has their identification tags on during all parties or get togethers. With people coming in and out of the house it is very easy for your pet to wander through and open door. It is also helpful to get your pet micro-chipped. Most animal shelters have devices to scan for these chips and to identify the owner quickly.

Please join us on November 22 from 10-5 for Pet and Family Pictures at Wag. There is a $6 sitting fee for your pictures. You will be able to view and choose your photos online and YES! Holiday cards are available.

We will have a “safe” Thanksgiving feast for your pets that day as well!

Happy Turkey and enjoy your pets!

Jennifer and Abe Fadal
Wag, 304 E. Davis Blvd.
Davis Islands, Fl
www.wagoftampa.com
813-258-9181

CITY FOLK ARE GREENER…. Here’s a bit of news to make you feel a little better about yourself. While it is known that cities are hot spots for global warming, it seems that people living in them turn out to be greener than their country cousins. According to researchers at the Brookings Institution, each resident of the largest 100 metropolitan areas is responsible on average for 2.47 tons of carbon dioxide in energy consumption each year, 14% below the 2.87 ton U.S. average. Now those 100 cities still account for 56% of the nation’s carbon dioxide pollution. But their greater use of mass transit and population density reduce the per person average. Which cities are the best and the worst? Lexington, KY had the biggest per capita carbon footprint with each resident on average accounting for 3.81 tons of carbon dioxide in their energy usage per year. At the other end of the scale was Honolulu, HI at 1.5 tons per person.

POWERFUL UNDERWEAR…. Eco-friendly clothing is supposed to be the next big thing in fashion and it seems that our inventive friends from Japan are on top of it! Triumph International Japan Ltd. has come up with the “Solar Power Bra”, which can generate enough energy to charge a cell phone. The lingerie, which is green in color as well as concept, operates on a solar panel that wraps around the wearer’s stomach. This is not the company’s first venture into environmentally friendly underwear: they have also put out a bra that doubles as a shopping bag. (I can’t make this stuff up)

WEIRD WEATHER…. (From Randy Cerveny’s “Freaks of the Storm”) On July 1st, 1955, Sharon Weron, a nine year old South Dakota farm girl was riding her pony through the grassland prairie. Suddenly a thunderstorm built over the area and she turned her horse quickly back toward her home. Unfortunately, as she galloped to within a few hundred yards of her farm, a tornado struck. She and her pony were whipped into the air, over a hill, and across a valley. The girl’s mother briefly saw them both airborne, being carried over a second hill by the tornado. The pony and youngster ended up being carried over three fences and dropped about one thousand feet from where they were picked up by the twister. Both she and her pony survived with just minor cuts and bruises.

BUT THAT’S NOT ALL….November is “National Raison Bread Month”

Many distressed homeowners may be able to finally breathe a sigh of relief due to rising home costs from expired ARMS (Adjustable Rate Mortgage) or the possibility of foreclosure. Major lenders have created new policies, some even entirely new departments, to alleviate the burden facing many homeowners created by the economy and various markets.

Bank of America and its acquisition of Countrywide Financial have been leaders in this arena, offering innovative solutions to keep people in their homes. New policies, re negotiating interest rates, lowering principals, and the development of Bank of America’s Nationwide Homeownership Retention Program for Countrywide Customers are the latest tools Bank of America has implemented to keep their customers in their homes.

Starting December 1, nearly 400,000 Countrywide borrowers could benefit from the creation of the Homeownership Retention Program that will modify up to $8.4 billion in interest rate and principal reductions. “We are confident that together with together with Attorneys General we have developed a comprehensive program that provides more solutions than ever before to assist troubled borrowers and put them back on the path to sustained home ownership,” said Barbara Desoer, president, Bank of America Mortgage, Home Equity and Insurance Services. “Since acquiring Countrywide in July, we have committed significant resources and developed innovative programs to help as many Countrywide customers as possible stay in their homes.”

Other lenders are developing secured, but inventive, programs in order to offer loans in this tightening credit crunch. One lender is offering occupation specific loan programs, such as a 100% financing loan for Physicians. Wells Fargo is considering alternate underwriting guidelines that would take less emphasis on an individual’s current credit, but consider the individual’s entire credit history. While some of these programs are still in an exploratory phase, lenders are working to find a way to offer money by alternate means than simply immediate credit driven scores.

(more…)

The nationally recognized Florida Kinship Center at the University of South Florida is celebrating its 10th anniversary by throwing its first Tail Gate Party and Pep Rally on Sunday, November 23.

Proceeds from the fundraiser will raise money and awareness about Kinship Caregivers and the assistance that the Center offers them in terms of support and advocacy. The tailgate buffet includes cocktails, entertainment, raffle and more and will be held at the home of Sandy and Jim Murman from 4:30-7:00 pm. Immediately following the pep rally, guests will join USF football fans at Raymond James Stadium to cheer the Bulls at the University of South Florida’s last home game vs. Uconn. The game begins at 8:00 pm. Tickets to the game are included in the Pep Rally.

Caregivers, who are raising their relative’s (or kin’s) children, strive to keep their families together rather than placing the children into the foster care system. Eighty percent of kinship caregivers are grandparents and many of these are single grandmothers.

Sponsorship categories are: Touchdown Sponsor $6,000, Field Goal Sponsor $3,000, Extra Point Sponsor $1,000, First Down Sponsor $500, and Individual Ticket $100.

For more information, contact Carroll Gossage at the Florida Kinship Center by calling 813-974-4921.

In October the Tampa Downtown Partnership launched the Tampa Downtown Market. Open on Fridays from 10am to 2pm, the market is set for Lykes Gaslight Square using the Franklin Street quadrant for the initial launch. This location offers downtown workers easy access to the high quality vendors offering an array of specialty items.

Tiffany Ferrecchia will be running the weekly market. Ferrecchia is an accomplished organic caterer and executive chef who has been working the past several months on securing vendors, coordinating with the City of Tampa on details relating to site location and organizing special market events, such as arranging for WMNF 88.5 to provide music during the market hours.

The focus is simple… bring to downtown Tampa the best products and produce available in the region while at the same time creating an economic development tool to encourage more people to explore all the downtown has to offer.

The market hopes to serve as a community-gathering place where local farmers, producers, and artisans can offer fresh agricultural and related products to generate a sense of local pride and further the economic development of Downtown Tampa.

With a strong focus on sustainability, the Tampa Downtown Market intends to provide a vehicle to educate the community on the importance of good health as they create more business opportunities and residential benefits.

Long term goals include expanding the market to a second day – Sundays – in order to drive more downtown residents and people in the surrounding communities to downtown Tampa.

For more details about the Tampa Downtown Market make sure to log onto its Web site, www.tampadowntownmarket.com. There you will find a list of vendors, directions to the site and event details.

The Tampa Downtown Market is sponsored by the St. Petersburg Times, TBT Tampa Bay , WMNF 88.5, Trickey Jennus, the City of Tampa and the Tampa Downtown Partnership.

Shoot Video Like A Pro is a new workshop offered to the public by Tampa Bay Community Network. Topics include scripting, focus, lighting, editing and uploading to sites such as YouTube.com. Classes take place at 7 PM on the first and third Tuesday of each month at 1001 W. North B Street, Tampa on the campus of the University of Tampa. A non-refundable advance registration fee of $35 is required. Attendees should bring their own video cameras. Class size is limited so call 813-254-1687 for reservations today and make better video tomorrow.

TBCN is a service of Speak Up Tampa Bay Public Access Television, Inc., a 501 [c][3] non-profit which provides City of Tampa residents with the training, facilities and equipment to produce their own programming on cable television. Programming can be viewed on Verizon channels 30 and 36, Comcast channel 20 and Bright House Networks channels 949 and 950.

Summer in Florida, although portrayed quite romantically to unsuspecting tourists, is a most uncivilized season. The mosquitoes, wasps and weeds to have their run of the land; it is simply too hot to care.

However, sensing just the slightest cool down in the mornings and evenings, we gardeners become giddy with the thought of toiling amongst the overgrown and haggard shrubbery. We all slowly and cautiously emerge from the cool rocks we’ve been “summering” under, and begin to take an inventory of how our yards and gardens have fared this year.

What did well, what didn’t? Why? These questions are just flip sides of the same botanical coin. A plant that’s done well for years may start looking distressed. Something has changed. We address the obvious culprits: add more fertilizer, water more, water less, we ask other green thumbs for advice. We wring our hands, “What to do, what to do?”…we resort to talking nicely to the plant-calm, encouraging words, but still…drooping leaves, dropped flowers, vacancy.

Is it possible that the plant feels fatigued by the monotony of its own existence - grow,
flower, seed, repeat? Can it just get bored of its own life and give up?

They must hope that their gardener will figure it out.

This past April, I bought two milkweed plants at Green Fest at Plant Park. This outdoor gardening festival is quite intoxicating; cheerful flowers that would never normally grow in Florida and hearty plants that have been coaxed into blooming just this one weekend all scream, “pick me, pick me”! I know because I’ve heard their siren call, and have forked over lots of cash in this green seduction.

So, I planted these two milkweeds in my backyard with the anticipation of having my garden appear on the butterflies’ version of Southern Living. “When passing through Palma Ceia, make sure you stop off for some great local flavor milkweeds to die for!” One milkweed plant just thrived; it swayed in the breeze as if listening to its own spicy iTunes, showing off its yellow and red flowers.

However, its unhappy sibling showed signs of discontent right away. It started forming seed pods immediately as if to say, “I’m outta here!” I watered it more, and it responded with a few perky leaves, but then slowly wilted again-its enthusiasm and water stores were short lived.

I insisted it live; I nurtured this plant with everything I could muster and was determined it would thrive in the location I had selected no matter what. I had something to prove after all; that I was a resilient and intrepid gardener who would face down this botanical challenge. Could I will the plant to thrive? I’d try.

Things always have to hit rock bottom before we even consider concocting a
“Plan B.” Such was the case upon arriving home one afternoon to find my milkweed in complete collapse. It had given everything it had, but now, even its reserves were depleted. What had I done? I searched my mind for possible remedies when my husband piped in, “Why don’t you just transplant it?” My analytical husband David has an uncanny ability to point out the obvious, which has irked and intrigued me for all of our 22 years together. “I don’t know why you keep forcing it to live here; it’s obviously unhappy and has been telling you for weeks now. It doesn’t mean you’re a bad gardener. Just move it!”

I fretted about this for several days. What if the plant completely croaked because of the move? What if it was already too stressed? Perhaps if the plant died, I could justify my decision to move it by finding out if something had attacked it roots.

With my little spade at the ready, I took a deep breath in, and plunged the tool into the earth. Its roots were deep, there were no insects…could it be that it was simply time to move on?

I selected a new location for my fragile milkweed. I’d transplant it on the other side of the house, far away from the misery it had endured over the summer. It would either live or perish near a busy birdbath and Don Juan climbing rose that reminds me of the beautiful roses my parents grew. I didn’t have high hopes, but as my father always says, “It will either get better and live, or get worse and die.” It can be just that simple.

I watered it well and wished it luck but expected the worst. The poor little plant had tried so hard in its former location, and perhaps its will to survive had long since left aboard its seed floating along a Palma Ceia breeze.

The next morning as I was filling birdbaths, I barely noticed the milkweed, but not for the reason you may think. By some miracle of nature, the milkweed had made a full and swift recovery. It showed no signs of stress whatsoever, and instead was filled with potential- a certain courageous presence in nature that speaks directly to your soul.

This little plant had been speaking to me for weeks, but instead of listening, I continued to subject my own personality on the will of the milkweed. I didn’t want to accept what was really happening, and hoped some gardeners’ secret trick could be employed. Ironically, the soil, light conditions and water are quite the same as they were in its former location.

What had changed? My attitude. Even with its deep roots quite firmly embedded, and lots of TLC from me, the plant had to move to live.

I’m not afraid to take inventories of my garden anymore, and I am ready to dig up some of my own emotional roots. Do they need to be transplanted, are they headed for the compost pile, or are they contented with their chosen spot? Fall is a great time of the year to re-evaluate your springs and summers-get a leg up before winter nears. After all, sometimes gardening can be simple: when you’re restless, sad or feeling blue, just move yourself to the sunny side of the street.

Irene Potter grew up on Davis Islands and now makes her home in Palma Ceia.

The HHPNA is having a very busy season.

The Fall membership drive has been quite successful with many new members joining. Comments received indicate a real interest in becoming involved in our many projects and activities.

We have planned a “wine and cheese” get-together for our membership to learn more about what we do and why we do it… and how they can help! The social gathering will also be a great opportunity to meet new neighbors and just have fun.

In addition, the HHPNA Annual Meeting will be held on Sunday, November 9, at 3pm in Hyde Park Village at 1605 Snow Ave. - Right next door to Milagros. Along with refreshments, we will have the General Election of Directors, Membership information, and updates on all of our projects. We will also have a guest speaker. For more details visit our website at ehydepark.org

The Historic Hyde Park Neighborhood Association Holiday Party is planned for December 6 this year. The party in 2007 was such a great success, so we are repeating the same format. Kathy Durdin has graciously offered her huge side yard for this family-friendly potluck event. Rumor has it that Santa Clause may once again show up via an unusual mode of transportation. See our website for updated information.

Save the date: Next month we will begin sharing more information about the annual Home Tour, which is currently scheduled for March 7, 2009.

If you live in the HHPNA district, and have not received a membership application letter, please go to our website at ehydepark.org, where you will find information on how to join the Historic Hyde Park Neighborhood Association. The website also describes the boundaries of the District for those who may not know exactly which district you are in. You will also find the names and contact information for all of your Board members.

We look forward to hearing from you and to seeing you at some of our upcoming events.

Thank you,

Rosemary Henderson
Interim President
president[at]ehydepark.org